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

[NZTailender]

Befitting their enduring loyalty to McCullum, New Zealand's effort was never less than wholehearted. This was epitomised by Neil Wagner's continued bouncer assault on the tourists, despite carrying what had been revealed to be a broken left hand from a Burns shot that burst through his fingers on the fourth evening.

Australia claim No. 1, Brendon McCullum exits | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo

holy ****, WAGner

 

[straw man]

Looks like the crowds in NZ have been far from sporting.

Obviously this is not on.

 

[straw man]

Australia claim No. 1, Brendon McCullum exits | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo

holy ****, WAGner

Thought it was *just* a broken finger. Amazing effort.

 

[_Ed_]

Obviously this is not on.

Indeed, but it's not and has never been limited to crowds here in NZ. That sort of stuff happens all around the world. You get knobheads in sports crowds everywhere.

 

[Moss]

Australia claim No. 1, Brendon McCullum exits | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo

holy ****, WAGner

Respect. Salute. He better be second name on the team sheet next time.

 

[Athlai]

TBF it's not like Wagner needs his left hand to bowl.

I'm aware he is left handed. #allheart​

 

[91Jmay]

there's a difference between "struggles with the short ball" and "struggles with some south african maniac bowling at your head non stop with a 2-7 field"

Good job that wasn't the case then isn't it.

 

[91Jmay]

It was a good spell and he made a few non-fatal errors trying to get his side home safely to the end.

Been watching too many English batsmen

He got hit on the head, arm and glove by a bloke bowling mid 130s.

 

[Spark]

He got hit on the head, arm and glove by a bloke bowling mid 130s.

That's mostly because his tactic against the short ball is to take it on, though, and the field setting (plus his first innings dismissal) meant that he decided to shelve that.

With social here. That angled prod outside off stump with a gap between bat and pad is definitely what you want to target, not his pull shot.

 

[Skyliner]

Superb article from Chris Rattue. It won't please the fanboi's and apologists who are gearing up for a no-doubt riveting 'NZ vs Zimbabwe 2016' tour thread but Rattue is right on the money.

Chris Rattue: Aussie smokescreen fails to paper over the Black Caps' cracks - Sport - NZ Herald News

How convenient. A couple of Aussies lose the plot and, hey presto, it's a handy smokescreen for a dire New Zealand performance over five tests against Australia.

I'm p@##$% off all right, but not at bad-mannered Josh Hazlewood or Steve Smith. The Black Caps were a test disaster, and maybe even distracted by the Brendon McCullum celebrity tour.

Sure, the Aussies take their competitive attitude too far sometimes, but a lot of our blokes haven't taken it far enough.

A potentially great cricket test series, which could have been a landmark, turned into a dud. McCullum is a great Kiwi sports character, but save all the pats on the back until after the series. There was a job to be done, a contest to get into, and New Zealand failed miserably.

The vital combo of attitude, planning and skill was woefully short of the mark. Neil Wagner's second test onslaught was a belated signpost to his teammates, although I'm not sure his short-ball methods will bring sustained test success and it was an ugly, hamfisted way to go about the game, quite frankly.



But his heart and stamina were admirable and there is a skill, of sorts, to what he does. Others, well, not so much. The vaunted new ball attack of Tim Southee and Trent Boult was rubbish. The spin bowling situation is embarrassing. Some batsmen, led by the captain, simply took a punt.

For three big test series, against England once and Australia twice, New Zealand have failed to hit the ground running. McCullum's addiction to slogging and Southee's social league attitude to batting are roll-the-dice methods that don't work. The second innings dismissal of Martin Guptill in Wellington epitomised the problems. Rather than riding out on white charger, McCullum is actually leaving a test mess.

Yes, the lure of Indian T20 money has had an effect and, yes, it has been a long year for some of the players since the World Cup. But if you can't get off the floor to give it everything against Australia, something is amiss. McCullum and coach Mike Hesson's side has been disjointed and looked poorly prepared.

As for the Aussies, they step over the line of acceptable behaviour and need to take stock. But that is nowhere near as annoying as the McCullum-led move to position New Zealand as cricket behaviour-saviours if it leads to the surrender we've just witnessed.

Australia's relentless drive for victory is a huge part of what makes world cricket tick. I love watching them play, and they have been brilliant in this series.

Usman Khawaja is a joy to watch, a lazy-looking left-hander who evokes the great David Gower. The Adam Voges phenomenon is a story in itself. Their fast bowlers were superbly skilled, and one James Pattinson over to Guptill will live long in the memory.

Australia are No 1 and New Zealand a long, long way from that.

 

[NZTailender]

lol who are the fan boi's and apologists? Pretty much every NZ poster on this forum has panned our performance.

 

[Kippax]

Anyone who's not a middle-aged depressive quoting Joy Division lyrics in his sig, obvs. Anyone who doesn't think that we need a renaissance of 1980s New Zealand, with its Hadlee chants, Stubbies shorts, Judy Bailey and Jeremy Coney as genuinely fretful and emotionally invested newsreaders, rather than these titillating short-termist modern ratings whores.

 

[jcas0167]

Haha, Mark Reason's at it again! Now he's suggesting - based on absolutely nothing of course - that one of the reasons why Bond left the NZ bowling coach position was because he didn't like Brendon McCullum. Also threw in his "McCullum caused Boult's stress fracture" line again for good measure. I mean, wtf not right?

Reason: Unable to be Brendon McCullum, Kane is able to be Richie McCaw | Stuff.co.nz

By Reason standards that is a surprisingly positive treatment of McCullum I think Reason might be being a bit harsh on Mascarenhas, I like some of the later suggestions later in the column though:

But McCullum had similar problems when he tried to open. The answer may well be for Guptill to replace McCullum at five, and swing the bat. Can Henry Nicholls be persuaded to open? India had success converting Virender Sehweg from a middle order batsman. It can be done. One assumes the return of the 31-year-old Jesse Ryder, the yang to McCullum's yin, is an impossibility.

I would also like New Zealand to consider playing Mark Craig as a batsman who can bowl. He averages over 40 in test cricket with a string of not-outs and looks technically better than most. Steve Smith practised bowling leg spinners until his fingers bled, but in the end he accepted he could only make it as a batsman. It's a bit later in the day, but Craig's conversion could allow Williamson options when Mitchell Santner (himself a schoolboy opener and another future possibility) comes through.

 

[Athlai]

Does Reason only know cricketers that play for NZ or something? Nicholls open? WTF?

 

[Hurricane]

Anyone who's not a middle-aged depressive quoting Joy Division lyrics in his sig, obvs. Anyone who doesn't think that we need a renaissance of 1980s New Zealand, with its Hadlee chants, Stubbies shorts, Judy Bailey and Jeremy Coney as genuinely fretful and emotionally invested newsreaders, rather than these titillating short-termist modern ratings whores.

Major LOL.

She did have that expression on her face like everything was a grave concern.

She started off on top half. A most underrated show.

 

[Bahnz]

Any sort of comparison between Henry Nicholls and Virender ****ing Sehwag is almost as lolworthy as the fact that Reason apparently couldn't be bothered doing a 10 second google search to find out the correct spelling of Sehwag.

The one point in his article that I can actually get behind is his suggestion that NZC work out ways of getting Shane Bond involved in the NZ team again, even if it's only in a long-distance consultant role.

 

[Gnske]

That's mostly because his tactic against the short ball is to take it on, though, and the field setting (plus his first innings dismissal) meant that he decided to shelve that.

With social here. That angled prod outside off stump with a gap between bat and pad is definitely what you want to target, not his pull shot.

AWTA

His back foot game is pretty good, as you would expect from someone who plies his trade at the Gabba. His biggest issue is his inside edge/off stump area imo, intensely better chance of bowling him than bouncing him out without going for runs.

 

[Bahnz]

That's mostly because his tactic against the short ball is to take it on, though, and the field setting (plus his first innings dismissal) meant that he decided to shelve that.

With social here. That angled prod outside off stump with a gap between bat and pad is definitely what you want to target, not his pull shot.

Yeah. Even when he was well set at Hagley, I half expected the ball to go flying to the slips cordon everytime he played that shot.

 

[Immenso]

lol who are the fan boi's and apologists? Pretty much every NZ poster on this forum has panned our performance.

Indeed. That's the most sensible Rattue article ever. Maybe reading cricket web.

Less than the sum of their parts, punching below their weight .... etc etc etc etc

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

Superb article from Chris Rattue.

I recognize these words but my brain can't parse the sentence.