**Official** New Zealand in Australia 2015

[SteveNZ]

****ing nailed it!

Cricket has to be the only sport where guys who aren't international standard still get to play international standard. I mean, if you wanna play top level soccer, rugby, etc. you have to be elite but the mis-match of top bowlers against tail-enders is surely unique in sport and why it's so cool seeing **** like a Chris Martin cover drive against a bloke who's probably one of the toughest guys to drive.

Haha spot on. I remember walking into Uni Oval in 2012 (arrived a few minutes late to the day's play and heard the most uproarious cheer I've heard in all my years of following sport. I think we were 7 down overnight so I had no idea what it was...rushed to the gate to see a replay of Tommy Martin pushing one into the covers, taking a dicey single which turned into five when the Saffers threw one down to the boundary. Honestly, it was deafening. What a gun Tommy was.

Ps Australians attract flies. And unattractive women.

 

[straw man]

Massive series for both Taylor and Southee really. Both are on their third tour of Australia and their knowledge of these conditions and overall experience simply needs to be put to good use. Sure, McCullum has toured three times before and it'd be nice if he brought his A-game, but IMO he's not as crucial to NZ's chances as those two.

Southee's our most crucial player if we are to be competitive this series imo. I'm fairly confident Boult will bowl well and if the two of them are at the tops of their games working together then we are always in with a chance. Southee needs to be right at his best.

I'm more zen about our batting - not because our lineup is chock full of all time greats and oozes confidence but just because it's such a novelty to have a top-7 that *could* score runs against Australia in Australia. Even if they play well they'll probably be knocked over relatively cheaply once or twice in the series but that's good enough if our bowling fires.

 

[NZTailender]

Have a feeling it might be a series, or at least a game, where Australia will go hard at the usual suspects - Southee, Boult, Taylor, Williamson, McCullum and possibly Bracewell, leaving it open for Latham, Watling and Craig to make the biggest impacts. Possibly Jimmy Neesham too - but not in the discipline you'd be expecting/hoping for at that point in the match.

 

[hendrix]

Have a feeling it might be a series, or at least a game, where Australia will go hard at the usual suspects - Southee, Boult, Taylor, Williamson, McCullum and possibly Bracewell, leaving it open for Latham, Watling and Craig to make the biggest impacts. Possibly Jimmy Neesham too - but not in the discipline you'd be expecting/hoping for at that point in the match.

how good is it to have that second tier though. when did that happen.

 

[Hurricane]

One Network News reports surprise surprise that yes Australia will be sledging in this series based on some player interviews. I take it as a compliment that the Aussies feel it will be a competitive series and will need to be at their pugnacious best.

One of their chips will be the world cup final.

 

[Gnske]

It won't be that intensive, Starc and Hazlewood only sledge **** players so I'd say only 9 or 10 Kiwi players out of the 11 are at risk.

 

[Flem274*]

Apart a few smith/warner partnerships, one Johnson froll and a newbie scoring a 50 our bowlers will walk all over them.

#earnedtherighttobeaggressive

 

[nevermind]

Australia v New Zealand: David Warner calls out 'Mr Nice Guy' Brendon McCullum for spirit of cricket comments - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

IT'S HAPPENING

"One, he's never played in an Ashes series, and two he doesn't know what it's like to play an Ashes series. He should actually just watch the game and try to work out what they have to do to try and beat us instead of commenting on it."

What cowards these New Zealander's really are. Do they do anything on the field? I for one, stand with David Warner.

They barely ever tour here and when they do they don't even finish games. Disgraceful. No wonder they choose not to play in Ashes series. What a joke, wouldn't even know what its like to play real cricket.

 

[duffer]

404 - image not found

Heh

 

[wellAlbidarned]

Australia v New Zealand: David Warner calls out 'Mr Nice Guy' Brendon McCullum for spirit of cricket comments - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

IT'S HAPPENING



What cowards these New Zealander's really are. Do they do anything on the field? I for one, stand with David Warner.

They barely ever tour here and when they do they don't even finish games. Disgraceful. No wonder they choose not to play in Ashes series. What a joke, wouldn't even know what its like to play real cricket.

what's the point in playing more than two days when that's australia's typical game time?

 

[SteveNZ]

D.Warner. The only man in world cricket whose batting position outweighs his IQ - regardless of whether he's opening or in the middle order.

 

[NZTailender]

Teams playing in this series that lost their last Test series to England: Australia

 

[hendrix]

D.Warner. The only man in world cricket whose batting position outweighs his IQ - regardless of whether he's opening or in the middle order.

I actually agree with Warner in this case. McCullum's thoughts on the Stokes run-out are totally bizarre. Smith was right in not withdrawing the appeal, and it's weird for McCullum to have commented the way he did, and perhaps a bit inappropriate tbh.

But then by saying what he's saying he's being completely hypocritical so there's that.

 

[Skyliner]

I actually agree with Warner in this case. McCullum's thoughts on the Stokes run-out are totally bizarre. Smith was right in not withdrawing the appeal, and it's weird for McCullum to have commented the way he did, and perhaps a bit inappropriate tbh.

But then by saying what he's saying he's being completely hypocritical so there's that.

Perhaps McCullum was trying to get under Smith's skin with a view to the impending series. He's called him immature, and as a captain he is just a baby compared to where McCullums at. I remember Flemings very targeted sledge of a young captain in Graeme Smith which was out of character for Fleming, but very much a plan. And you'd have to say it worked. You hunt for an oppositions weak spots and a McCullum / Smith tension has now been manufactured, and may play out further during the series.

 

[Skyliner]

The aim of sledging is to get under your opponents skin, to get them thinking about something other than the job at hand, it's mind games.
And the NZ attitude to sledging, and the plaudits it's won, it's getting under the Australians skin. The whole attitude is "who the hell are these upstart Kiwis and who the bloody hell do they think they are"? So it's got the Australians thinking and it's got them commenting. They are itching to get at us but at the same time they are nervous because they have players like Khwaja with his average of 25 and so on, so there is an interesting dynamic there. There is pressure on the Aussies to sledge and teach the upstart Kiwis a big lesson, but have they got the players to do it? Will they go too hard and fall apart at the seams, while the Kiwis go about their work quietly and with steely determination?

 

[SteveNZ]

I actually agree with Warner in this case. McCullum's thoughts on the Stokes run-out are totally bizarre. Smith was right in not withdrawing the appeal, and it's weird for McCullum to have commented the way he did, and perhaps a bit inappropriate tbh.

But then by saying what he's saying he's being completely hypocritical so there's that.

At the time I was very strong in condemning what McCullum said about the Stokes dismissal. I could have forgiven a journo for taking that view because they'd never been in the heat of the battle. McCullum has, and with the Murali/Mpofu incidents and being in the Elliott v Sidebum game, he knows the line can be blurred and there's not a couple of hours to sit on hands and consider all views. I thought it was pretty poor and still do.

But Warner is a mug. He says it's not on talking like that yet does exactly that (as you point out), recycles the word immature because he can hardly speak the language he asked Rohit Sharma to, tries to pretend like Australia didn't say anything in the WC final then apparently if you don't call people ****s or give them send-offs, you're trying to play some sort of soft arse tea and scones sort of cricket. If we win the series and Boulty/Tim rips him up, I'm chartering a plane to Hobart to have a beer with Davey and remind him all about it. And I'll bring a wig, just to really piss him off. Dead-set imbecile. And he was once considered as the next captain. Straya!

 

[Fuller Pilch]

It won't be that intensive, Starc and Hazlewood only sledge **** players so I'd say only 9 or 10 Kiwi players out of the 11 are at risk.

Is **** code for 'good'?

That Australian top 7 is possibly only better than the Zimbabwean and West Indian batting lineups. Sri Lanka's might be worse too, but all the other teams (Bangladesh included) look better on paper.

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

Perhaps McCullum was trying to get under Smith's skin with a view to the impending series. He's called him immature, and as a captain he is just a baby compared to where McCullums at. I remember Flemings very targeted sledge of a young captain in Graeme Smith which was out of character for Fleming, but very much a plan. And you'd have to say it worked. You hunt for an oppositions weak spots and a McCullum / Smith tension has now been manufactured, and may play out further during the series.

Might be the case but there is a limit and how you are conducting it. If that was McCullum's intention then he went over the top and rightly deserves to face some sweet chin music

 

[Flem274*]

if nz were crap australia wouldn't be opening their mouths because they wouldn't need to. they talk a lot about aggression and toeing the line (the one that moves for their convenience) when they feel threatened.

relax. everything is going to be all good. mark craig has a better batting average than most of their team. chris martin can hit their premier fast bowler for four. we've got this. stop getting your knickers in a twist over warner like lehmann wants you to.

 

[Black_Warrior]

I think a lot of the problem stems from current cricketers writing columns about current cricketing events. I am sure a lot of other cricketers might have had the same opinion on Smith as McCullum but they are not writing columns criticising Smith. I think current cricketers, if they have to write columns should focus on purely cricketing matters like Misbah is writing now, just to avoid the bad blood when you face the guy you criticised in the field in a few months time.

Having said that, Warner calling someone immature is.. I mean what can I even say about this..pot calling the kettle black might only be a gross understatement. Clint Eastwood once said about Spike Lee, 'a man like that should keep his mouth shut' and that's what I feel every time he opens his mouth. His batting just about makes him tolerable, don't make it any harder for us.