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***Official*** Australia in New Zealand 2016

Hurricane

Hall of Fame Member
Agree about forcing field back in ODI games and sometimes in tests, but don't see the need to do this in a test where you are batting for the draw and managing to work the spinner for some singles (Latham 11 (39) vs Lyon before dismissal) and have one of their quicks struggling with a ankle injury. With a 200+ run lead the NZers would have needed to hit several over the top before Smith dropped the field back, especially after getting Guptill early in the innings. So I think the risk / reward equation means you shelve hitting the spinner in the air unless he bowls a half-tracker.
"(Latham 11 (39) vs Lyon before dismissal)"

They took away his single to mid on. Warner kept creeping in further and further and then almost ran Nicholls out.

I don't know if you are suggesting that NZ should bat like SA and score at 1 run per over and just block out Lyon and everyone else? But New Zealand clearly made a decision there was too much time left in the test match for survival. The only chance was to score 500-600 and send Australia back in.

Take Australia's inning. When Craig came on to bowl on Day 2, Don Voges hit him over the top in the first over he faced and forced Trent Boult back to the rope. It was the only time he did it and then for the rest of his 200 plus runs he just milked Craig along the ground.

There is a risk free way you can spread the field but it rarely works. If you use your feet and have a fierce drive you can puncture the field with laser like shots all along the ground and send people scurrying back to the boundary. It is tough to do.

At the end of the day I hear you when you say this " With a 200+ run lead the NZers would have needed to hit several over the top before Smith dropped the field back, especially after getting Guptill early in the innings."

Smith is a smart smart captain. If Latham had've hit one over the top he wouldn't have blinked. That is what screwed up Corey in the first inning. Corey hit it once bounce for four and then was bewildered as to why the field wasn't changed and he started thinking I will have to hit another one, and ended up playing a half shot.
It was Smith who was responsible for Corey's wicket not Lyon. Smith seems to get the playbook on spin, he understands that the recommended play is for the batsman to push the mid on and mid off back and hence he tries to leave them up as long as possible.

Nonetheless If Latham could've peperred 4 or 5 over the top Smith would have wilted. But yes acknowledge the point in bold as a good one.
 
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jonbrooks

International Debutant
"
Take Australia's inning. When Craig came on to bowl on Day 2, Don Voges hit him over the top in the first over he faced and forced Trent Boult back to the rope. It was the only time he did it and then for the rest of his 200 plus runs he just milked Craig along the ground.
I believe Craig had already set the tone for rubbish bowling from his first delivery. It was a long hop outside off which Smith put away for 4.


22.1
Craig to Smith, FOUR, there's his fifty, off a controlled cut shot. That's the adjective best suited for this innings. His control. In leaving balls outside off and in finding scoring opportunities on the leg side. This one though has the stamp of his range as he plays a lovely late cut
 

Hurricane

Hall of Fame Member
I believe Craig had already set the tone for rubbish bowling from his first delivery. It was a long hop outside off which Smith put away for 4.


22.1
Craig to Smith, FOUR, there's his fifty, off a controlled cut shot. That's the adjective best suited for this innings. His control. In leaving balls outside off and in finding scoring opportunities on the leg side. This one though has the stamp of his range as he plays a lovely late cut
Watching Craig live is a lot different than watching him on TV I discovered. His "long hops" aren't that bad and not that attrocious. It is a testament to the skill of the world class batsman in the Australian and other opposition teams that they are able to pounce on the slightest mistake.

Nonetheless the crowd gave him the gears intermittently throughout the day and I doubt he left the ground feeling proud of his work.
 

Flem274*

123/5
Speaking of which I'd like to see some ABDV Amlaesque stonewalling tomorrow by Nicholls and Watling. 90 runs for the day should be fun.
nah craig mcmillan on the radio was stressing the importance of intent and that you can't get bogged down and just dead bat everything.

which means BJ Watling has been ignoring him since 2012 which i think is funny.
 

Hurricane

Hall of Fame Member
In other news, Brendon has lost his mojo and the only way he will ton up in CHCH is through a Sehwag style inning. He has lost confidence in his defensive system and is probably retiring at the right time.
 

jcas0167

International Debutant
In other news, Brendon has lost his mojo and the only way he will ton up in CHCH is through a Sehwag style inning. He has lost confidence in his defensive system and is probably retiring at the right time.
It does seem like the right time. He also hasn't had that much time in the middle coming into this test series after missing much of the Sri Lanka and Pakistan games.
 

hendrix

Hall of Fame Member
Lyon is gun. As is Hazelwood.

It is tremendously disappointing from NZ though. Hesson and McMillan really need to cop some criticism for this performance, as well as the players obviously.
 

Hurricane

Hall of Fame Member
Lyon is gun. As is Hazelwood.

It is tremendously disappointing from NZ though. Hesson and McMillan really need to cop some criticism for this performance, as well as the players obviously.
I don't know that New Zealand has been that terrible. Disappointing yes, mediocre yes, but not terrible. After being sent in we were always going to be in strife.

(I don't disagree with your point Hendrix I am just making conversation)
 

kiwiviktor81

International Debutant
The Aussie player that has impressed me the most on this tour has been Hazelwood. McGrath would have been proud of some of the overs he bowled to our openers yesterday. Metronomic accuracy, just doesn't have the nous or subtlety of McGrath yet.
 

TheJediBrah

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Wish I could be bothered going back and finding kiwiviktor's pre-series assertions about how much Aus will struggle in NZ and that Voges wouldn't make 50 runs for the series

or maybe it was Hurricane

Probably both of them tbh
 

kiwiviktor81

International Debutant
Before the series started we thought it was only Lyon who we had to get out twice. No-one knew Voges was also on the list.
 

Zinzan

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Yeah I must admit I've cringed with embarrassment a lot recently at how much some of my fellow Kiwis have been overrating/stating our test side in the last year or two. It's no real surprise though considering we were so bad for so long & then improved a great deal - which can often lead to such an overreaction.

The fact remains we are about where the test rankings suggest, about the 5th best test side, certainly not in the top 3 vicinity IMHO. I'd say it's quite clear we're behind Aust, SA & England & I'm not sure we're definitively ahead of India and Pakistan either.

Some of the pre-series hype & predictions by the likes of KV and a few others prior to both the away and home series have well & truly seen us with our tails between our legs.

Ftr, not all of us see Southee as one of the top 2-3 seamers in the world anymore, 2012-13 is a long time ago now. How he's managed to remain that good for that long by some NZ'ders based on form 2-3 years ago is beyond me.

Still not ruling out a comeback in Christchurch and a drawn home series would be a successful result at home against Australia.
 

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