***Official*** New Zealand in Australia 2011

[straw man]

Yeah can't see Australia having two poor innings in a row...

Or NZ having two excellent turns with the ball either.

At least we have four quicks. Australia essentially had two for most of our innings.

 

[Zinzan]

Only 20-30 short of what NZ would have been happy with in the end.......Australia slight favorites, but very slight. It's really up to the NZ bowlers to determine how this match plays out now, it's still a sporting wicket.

Boult to open btw

 

[benchmark00]

.........and Hughes, Hussey and Warner.


Yeah, u is mad.

Don't have an avatar with them though brah.

 

[hazsa19]

There's this bloke called Chris Martin at the other end.

****. Plenty of 2s on offer with the field set back, easy single off the 4th or 5th ball.

No problem chancing it to against Siddle; beat the infield and get a boundary.

 

[Spikey]

Don't have an avatar with them though brah.

wait your av isn't warner?

 

[straw man]

Don't have an avatar with them though brah.

I could swear that was Warner in your avatar...

Edit: you **** spikey

 

[Briony]

U mad?

Come on, there's only one seasoned bowler in this attack called Siddle. And he's not known as a gun bowler. Three recent debutants - Pattinson, Lyon and Starc. The latter has proven to be clearly out of his depth. Sans Watson there is lack of depth and variety. To succumb meekly twice regardless of some assistance in the pitch is manifestly poor. There was a time when batsmen could survive against swing, or when the sun wasn't burning brightly.

 

[Spikey]

I could swear that was Warner in your avatar...

 

[Faisal1985]

this is going to be a thriller....

 

[KiWiNiNjA]

Come on, there's only one seasoned bowler in this attack called Siddle. And he's not known as a gun bowler. Three recent debutants - Pattinson, Lyon and Starc. The latter has proven to be clearly out of his depth. Sans Watson there is lack of depth and variety. To succumb meekly twice regardless of some assistance in the pitch is manifestly poor. There was a time when batsmen could survive against swing, or when the sun wasn't burning brightly.

Have you even been watching?

Methinks not.


Go back to drowning puppies.

 

[Zinzan]

Yet another pathetic batting performance from the kiwis. It's now just a matter of whether or not Australia can be more pathetic.

It's a shame you haven't been able to watch any of it......it's quite cool seeing cricket on a green bowlers deck from time to time..

 

[straw man]

I don't know what you're saying, but I laff

 

[Scaly piscine]

That session showed the difference between letting someone bowl at you and being positive which shifts the pressure on to the bowlers. Australia let New Zealand bowl in their first innings, I can't see them doing it again. Note there's a difference between positive and smacking it to a guy on the boundary. That's one of the strengths of England's lower order, they're aggressive but if you shift the field back they'll happily pick up 1s and 2s with the odd 4 as well and they'll still score at 4-5 an over.

 

[Flem274*]

Come on, there's only one seasoned bowler in this attack called Siddle. And he's not known as a gun bowler. Three recent debutants - Pattinson, Lyon and Starc. The latter has proven to be clearly out of his depth. Sans Watson there is lack of depth and variety. To succumb meekly twice regardless of some assistance in the pitch is manifestly poor. There was a time when batsmen could survive against swing, or when the sun wasn't burning brightly.

James Pattinson bowled brilliantly all series. Stop scorecard watching.

QED.

I'm off to the pub chaps, for real this time. Hope we do it, though Australia are easily favourites for mine. Good luck kiwis.

 

[Bahnz]

The brightness of that sunshine has me very worried tbh. Australia to get there 6 down with Hughes on 147*

 

[Faisal1985]

December 9, 2011
The umpire strikes back
Posted by Jayaditya Gupta 1 day, 14 hours ago in Umpires
Those watching Australia’s pre-Test nets at the Bellerive Oval on Thursday could have been forgiven for think Waqar Younis was giving the Australian batsmen a workout. It was in fact umpire Aleem Dar, a dead ringer for former Pakistan fast bowler, who was sending down a few fast ones at Michael Clarke and David Warner. You could call it an unequal battle, given the fact that Dar is third umpire for the Test, and he was treated with due deference – Warner even curbing his instincts to pull the couple of bouncers he received.

Dar, officially the world’s best umpire, is more than a Sunday bowler. He bowled legspin in a 12-year first-class career in Pakistan and has a full-fledged Astroturf nets on the roof of his house. But bowling in the Australia nets is possibly tempting fate, the rate at which Aussie bowlers are getting crocked - there could be a strong temptation to pull in a Waqar lookalike and hope for the best.

Source: The Buzz | Cricket Blogs | ESPN Cricinfo

Pretty kool...

 

[straw man]

Match reminds me a bit of this one.

After we collapsed in the second innings I remember thinking we still had a competitive total. But Pakistan did it eeeaaaasy. Class players at 4 and 5, exactly like Oz.

 

[Briony]

It's a shame you haven't been able to watch any of it......it's quite cool seeing cricket on a green bowlers deck from time to time..

Yes I love greentops too but my point is in the past batsmen didn't quiver when the cloud cover was there or there was juice in the track. Today when the pitch isn't a road they have a propensity to collapse. My point is that modern day techniques, maybe allied with a healthy dose of patience and judgement isn't always evident.


Look at what's common in Australian collapse and you'll see it's pitches which offer the bowlers something. This happened even in the dominant era. Yet the same players would play like champions on roads, or easier surfaces. It's not good enough for teams to be succumbing like this.

Anyway yesterday afternoon the conditions weren't that difficult, the sun was out, Starc looked benign yet Ryder gifted his wicket to a part-time trundler.

 

[Nate]

Not at all confident.

C'mon Dave.

 

[Zinzan]

The brightness of that sunshine has me very worried tbh. Australia to get there 6 down with Hughes on 147*

Well I'm going to be uncharacteristically optimistic & predict NZ are to get up for an unlikely victory here, just have a feeling things will go our way this time, you watch.