Let's bring this thing up to date.
After that series Australia whipped SA 3-0. Next up is the tri-series! I miss having those in real life.
I had to keep the same squad, unfortunately. Was looking at the one day stats and thinking of including a couple of bolters. Never mind.
The XI I used throughout the series:
M.Guptill
C.Spearman
P.Fulton
R.Taylor
L.Vincent
B.McCullum *+
J.Oram
D.Vettori
K.Mills
J.Patel
A.McKay
And the results were as follows.
Tour Game: NSW v NZ
NZ 334-3 (Spearman 133)
NSW 127 (Jaques 53)
Game 1: Australia v SA
Australia 245-9 (Ponting 42, Botha 5-36)
SA 130 (Duminy 44, Lee 5-38)
Game 2: Australia v NZ
NZ 256-8
McCullum 83*
Oram 66
Lee 4-46
Johnson 2-35
Australia 169
Hussey 42
Jaques 33
Oram 4-27
Vettori 2-34
NZ won by 87 runs.
MOTM: Oram (66 & 4-27)
We had a bit of a collapse in this game, we were 64-5. But Oram and McCullum put on 117 and really got us going. Ideal start to the tournament for us.
Game 3: NZ v SA
SA 168
Duminy 71
M.Morkel 19*
Mills 5-23
Vettori 3-25
NZ 169-3
Spearman 72
Fulton 36
Botha 2-16
Van Der Wath 1-39
NZ won by 7 wickets.
MOTM: Mills (5-23)
Firing on all cylinders, great stuff. SA seem to be a bit **** though.
Game 4: Australia v SA
SA 185 (Duminy 67, Lee 3-39)
Australia 189-6 (Katich 67, Van Der Wath 3-37)
Game 5: Australia v NZ
Australia 243-8
Hussey 50
Haddin 39
McKay 2-42
Oram 2-51
NZ 211
Guptill 51
Vettori 48
Watson 5-19
Lee 2-43
Australia won by 32 runs.
MOTM: Watson (5-19)
Crashed back down to earth a bit here. Thought we bowled well on a batting-friendly pitch but we really threw it away in our chase.
Game 6: Australia v SA
SA 206-8 (Botha 72*, Watson 4-34)
Australia 208-4 (Jaques 95*, Harris 2-23)
Game 7: NZ v SA
NZ 219
Fulton 105
Spearman 58
Harris 3-37
Ntini 2-34
SA 193
McKenzie 94
Amla 41
Vettori 4-28
Mills 3-26
NZ won by 26 runs.
MOTM: Fulton (105)
Again our batting was worryingly poor - a great start by Fulton and Spearman but a woeful collapse. But Vettori and Mills were superb and we got away with it. SA really are amazingly poor. But looking at the FC stats of their other players this year they'll probably be a lot better in the near future.
Game 8: Australia v NZ
Australia 231-6
Hayden 101
Jaques 33
Mills 3-50
Patel 1-39
NZ 232-3
Fulton 91
Taylor 51*
Johnson 2-48
Lee 1-33
NZ won by 7 wickets.
MOTM: Hayden (101)
That's more like it! Pretty much a flawless performance. Hope we haven't peaked too soon.
Game 9: NZ v SA
NZ 275-9
Fulton 115
Spearman 38
Botha 4-52
Steyn 2-42
SA 174
McKenzie 74
Duminy 54
Vettori 7-21
Oram 1-46
NZ won by 101 runs.
MOTM: Vettori (37* & 7-21)
Unbelievable bowling from Vettori. Still can't believe it, best ODI performance I've ever had in any version of ICC.
And that's it for the tri bit of the tri-series. SA head home, and it's a 3-match finals series between Australia and NZ.
I'll provide a report for those games tomorrow.