*Official* New Zealand in Australia 2019/20

[honestbharani]

Reminds me of the 2004/05 series; NZ had lost 3-0 in England earlier that year and were on the decline but still had a strong reputation in Australia based on how well they competed in 01/02 and how respected Fleming's captaincy was so expectations were high for a good series. The first couple of days were relatively competitive but Australia destroyed them after that

You have to put it down to something mental right? They are not bad players, they play at a much better level against other opposition of similar, if not better, quality and yet they seem to just funk out against Australia. I was personally expecting this to be the Boxing Day test that will go down to the wire but the other one did. I am a big NZ and esp. KW fan but questions have to be asked of what exactly is happening with them when they play Australia. From the 2015 WC final to now, even I feel little crushed, inspite of just being a neutral fan who only has a passing interest in NZ cricket,

 

[thundaboult]

There definitely is some mental block for our guys whenever they play in AUS. All the way from that MCG final to now. Not a single win there since 2011 across all formats I believe. Couple of competitive performances but yeah that's about it. Winning matches in India, South Africa, Australia are our biggest challenges...with Aus being the toughest. Something just happens to us there.

In other news, Somerville called up for the Sydney test.

 

[Moss]

Yeah, bit of a mea culpa with Somerville being called up for a withdrawn quick bowler. Will be interesting to see if he makes the starting lineup.

 

[Moss]

Not insignificant that the NZ players who've played Australia a lot over the past decade (Taylor & Southee on their 4th Test four of Oz) with little success were largely the biggest disappointments. They've been consistently disappointing in contests against Australia home and away for the past decade so it's not that surprising they failed to deliver.

Obviously the standout performer this series was Wagner who came with the right aggressive attitude and genuinely seemed to shake up and get in the heads of some of the opposition batsmen. As some observed, that Oz between Tests were making references to 'Bodyline' tactics and getting their own back against him was a sign of how successful Wagner had been. For all their skill, Boult and Southee seem the polar opposite in temperament required to succeed against Australia.

Exaggeration to say Taylor has been 'consistently disappointing' in contests against Australia, he's played some invaluable innings over the years, not just the 290 (the half century in Hobart 2011 was priceless). I think everyone agrees that his last 3 innings on this tour have been rather feckless, but it's not been the story of the decade. More inclined to agree on Southee, day 1 at the Gabba 2008 and Perth in this series aside doesn't appear to have the tools to succeed here. Boult's fitness has been an issue on both this tour and the last, Australia haven't seen the best of him.

But yeah, the larger point about players having familiarity with Australia and getting muddle-headed as a result is well taken. Wagner and Blundell have prospered by trusting their respective gameplans and not letting the Australians get to them in any way, they seem to have quite relished it. KW on the 2015 tour certainly did.

 

[jcas0167]

Yeah, bit of a mea culpa with Somerville being called up for a withdrawn quick bowler. Will be interesting to see if he makes the starting lineup.

So happy to visit this forum and learn Sommerville has been picked. At last!

 

[Flem274*]

thats a good point tbh. the best performances of this lot in aus tend to occur on their first tours. now that could be lack of familiarity hiding weaknesses, but i think there's a freedom aspect to it as well. kane just showed up and played in 2015 and sent johnson into retirement whereas here he's playing very un-kane shots. (2015 was his second tour tbf).

i don't think his backlift is a huge issue. he's been perfectly fine around the world post 2012 with it.

i dunno, the senior players just look tired. its a good thing the noob wicketkeeper just came in and showed the way. aus will be disappointed they fed his pads so much but blundells game plan was to force them to so good on him.

 

[Flem274*]

we should play somerville as the only spinner and have a look at jamieson tbh. he's not fast but he's very tall and swings it, he bats #8 for nz a too which is useful.

if he's good then yay, if he gets spanked maybe it will inspire him to put on 10kph and become the monster he was born to be.

 

[Jezroy]

So, so crushingly disappointing. Worse NZ teams have been much more competitive in Australia than this.

I think this is the worst part of it. We know this NZ team is so much better than they are showing. The lack of skill, fight, and patience from the batting line up especially was really unexpected, and if it wasn’t for Blundell in the second innings, I think Melbourne would have been more embarrassing than Perth.

I didn’t think we’d win the series, but this has been a pants down spanking.

 

[Jezroy]

Please, oh Lord, let us not select Santner for Sydney. Hopefully we put our car on cruise and lay back cos it’s Somer Time.

The Astle/Santner different mindset from KW/Stead thing actually makes a bit of sense sadly.

Be nice for Henry to get a roll too. Hopefully he can put on a jolly good show.

 

[NZTailender]

The times we've looked good this series, with the bat, is when we've attacked. Taylor in the first innings at Perth, 2nd day. The next day he was more defensive and got out fairly meekly (good nut, but still). Blundell looked to attack both innings and Nicholls was a bit more positive early on. Australian bowlers tend to get a bit off when they get a fight. Some Bmac ballsy intent would've been quite interesting, but you get the feeling after a top order failure everytime guys like CdG probably aren't going to play their natural game, which is a shame.

 

[Immenso]

https://www.facebook.com/abcgrandstand/photos/a.156743400975/10156834768410976/?type=3&theater

What a guy.

Thanks, just ordered one. A grip was on my list of tasks these holidays.

Good one, Tom.

 

[wellAlbidarned]

tom blundell (and watling before he got a really good one) have shown the obvious template. no drives unless it's pure trash, make aus bowl to your strengths aka test batting against quality bowling 101

this is a reserve wicketkeeper who plays for one of the worst shield sides ffs

the reason this approach works for blundell is he has a killer pull shot. Most of our batsmen can't pull 140kph reliably hence rely on off side shots for the runs and can be dotted up with back of a length into the body easily. Our batsmen should be drilling the bowling machine at 145kph into the chest every day before an aus seires.

 

[Gnske]

Somerville to turn the series on its head

 

[wellAlbidarned]

also cummins is basically mccgrath with the ability to bowl 145kph. not fair.

 

[Flem274*]

the reason this approach works for blundell is he has a killer pull shot. Most of our batsmen can't pull 140kph reliably hence rely on off side shots for the runs and can be dotted up with back of a length into the body easily. Our batsmen should be drilling the bowling machine at 145kph into the chest every day before an aus seires.

Then just duck it or block it depending on how much it bounces, and pull them when they're tired

idgaf if they take 2 whole days to scrape 500, put some ****ing runs on the board

 

[wellAlbidarned]

Then just duck it or block it depending on how much it bounces, and pull them when they're tired

idgaf if they take 2 whole days to scrape 500, put some ****ing runs on the board

this could be me making **** up but I reckon even if your gameplan is to duck and block, it gives you a massive mental edge over the bowler to know that you CAN play it if needed. 90% of of the time I see an NZ batsman try to pull a genuine quick they're noticably late on the shot. bowling a bouncer is too easy for the bowler if they know with certainty that a batsman can't score runs off it. We saw that in blundell's innings - the aus quicks lose a bit of spring when they can't go to their plan b of hammering away at short of a length.

 

[ataraxia]

Tail hope:

8. Southee
9. Jamieson
10. Somerville
11. Wagner

What's actually gonna happen:

8. Astle
9. Southee
10. Henry
11. Wagner

 

[Spikey]

Look forward to Somers Somerville being named 12th man

 

[Spikey]

I would also like confirmation that Somers Somerville wasn't just in Sydney anyway

 

[Spark]

thats a good point tbh. the best performances of this lot in aus tend to occur on their first tours. now that could be lack of familiarity hiding weaknesses, but i think there's a freedom aspect to it as well. kane just showed up and played in 2015 and sent johnson into retirement whereas here he's playing very un-kane shots. (2015 was his second tour tbf).

i don't think his backlift is a huge issue. he's been perfectly fine around the world post 2012 with it.

i dunno, the senior players just look tired. its a good thing the noob wicketkeeper just came in and showed the way. aus will be disappointed they fed his pads so much but blundells game plan was to force them to so good on him.

It's not a huge issue but it is a very slight vulnerability IMO. Which obviously has been greatly compounded by external factors, but when great players suddenly stop scoring runs, it's rarely just one thing that's gone wrong.