**Official** New Zealand v Australia

[Somerset]

Australia complete the victory, by 122 runs. Predictable final result, Australia win the series 5-0.

 

[Deja moo]

Mccullum goes.

Am I alone in thinking it's BS that Sri Lanka will become no.2 in the world at the conclusion of this series?

I would think so. Aus didnt dominate SL like they have dominated NZ.
And SL did beat SA to the dust.

 

[MoxPearl]

when do SL and NZL play next ?

Only one way to tell

What happend in the last game that we played ? i cant remember

 

[Deja moo]

The last time NZ played in SL, they encountered completely non-SL conditions and unexpectedly NZ romped home to victory over SL and Pak. And SL playing in NZ is always going to end up in a NZ victory given NZ conditions.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Craig Cumming goes to a questionable LBW decision. Really, Lee had no right to celebrate the wicket in the way he did, that certainly is intimidating the umpires IMO.

I think it was plumb personally, after watching many replays. And Lee had him absolutely dead and gone in his first over with the ball before the 161kph deliveries.

Also, what the hell was up with that McMillan thing? Symonds took the catch and claimed it, the umpire put the finger up and McMillan refused to go, and then rather than referring it to the third umpire or anything play just went on. One of the most inexplicable moments I've ever seen in international cricket. Unless Symonds told the umpire he didn't catch it or something, which seems unlikely given that he claimed it when he took it, Shephard should have preferably just told McMillan to get a move on back to the pavilion as he had been given out, or at the very least referred it to the third umpire and had him confirm that the catch was taken. Why he just let McMillan keep batting I have no idea.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

The last time NZ played in SL, they encountered completely non-SL conditions and unexpectedly NZ romped home to victory over SL and Pak. And SL playing in NZ is always going to end up in a NZ victory given NZ conditions.

There was nothing particularly menacing or unusual about the conditions in this series. There was one slow wicket that was tough to bat on and four flat batting decks, basically. I don't see why Sri Lanka would struggle there any more than Australia or England or any other place outside of the subcontinent.

 

[Scallywag]

I think it was plumb personally, after watching many replays. And Lee had him absolutely dead and gone in his first over with the ball before the 161kph deliveries.

Also, what the hell was up with that McMillan thing? Symonds took the catch and claimed it, the umpire put the finger up and McMillan refused to go, and then rather than referring it to the third umpire or anything play just went on. One of the most inexplicable moments I've ever seen in international cricket. Unless Symonds told the umpire he didn't catch it or something, which seems unlikely given that he claimed it when he took it, Shephard should have preferably just told McMillan to get a move on back to the pavilion as he had been given out, or at the very least referred it to the third umpire and had him confirm that the catch was taken. Why he just let McMillan keep batting I have no idea.

McMillan should be banned for the next three test matches.

 

[Blaze]

The last time NZ played in SL, they encountered completely non-SL conditions and unexpectedly NZ romped home to victory over SL and Pak. And SL playing in NZ is always going to end up in a NZ victory given NZ conditions.

NZ conditions?

All of the pitches have been flat in this series. Look at the scorecards

 

[Deja moo]

NZ conditions?

All of the pitches have been flat in this series. Look at the scorecards

The pitches didn't seem so flat when SL played their aborted tour recently.

 

[NikhilN]

I don't know why they'd want to let the pressure off. Sure, they'd won but I'm sure they'd rather see the usual frontline bowlers at the crease than a few part timers.

Mills goes with four balls to spare.

It would have been fun to see ponting bowl...since no matter what New Zealand werent gonna win so why not just try him self out and see how good he really does in a game...he might have picked up a wicket also...who knows?

 

[Somerset]

The pitches didn't seem so flat when SL played their aborted tour recently.

It was simply poor batting, New Zealand had no problem scoring the runs. I certainly don't think the pitch was to blame for Sri Lanka's disappointing total at Eden Park.

 

[Somerset]

It would have been fun to see ponting bowl...since no matter what New Zealand werent gonna win so why not just try him self out and see how good he really does in a game...he might have picked up a wicket also...who knows?

He might've, we'll never known, but why give Brendon McCullum, Daniel Vettori, etc some easy batting practice?

 

[Blaze]

The pitches didn't seem so flat when SL played their aborted tour recently.

Sri Lanka played very poorly in that one game. On a good track too. They are no match for NZ IMO. Especially with NZ at home. (ODI's only)

Sri Lanka are very average away from home remember.

 

[Somerset]

The last time NZ played in SL, they encountered completely non-SL conditions and unexpectedly NZ romped home to victory over SL and Pak. And SL playing in NZ is always going to end up in a NZ victory given NZ conditions.

So Sri Lanka shouldn't be forced to adjust to New Zealand conditions, but New Zealand should never be ranked number two because they supposedly can't beat Sri Lanka at home (which they did anyway)? Makes little sense to me.

 

[Deja moo]

Sri Lanka played very poorly in that one game. On a good track too. They are no match for NZ IMO. Especially with NZ at home. (ODI's only)

Sri Lanka are very average away from home remember.

Hence this :

And SL playing in NZ is always going to end up in a NZ victory given NZ conditions

 

[Arrow]

Id say this is a devastating blow to NZ cricket because they seemed to fancy themselves against australia, when its been shown they are not even in the same class.
The thrashings got worse by the match.

 

[Somerset]

Sri Lanka played very poorly in that one game. On a good track too. They are no match for NZ IMO. Especially with NZ at home. (ODI's only)

Sri Lanka are very average away from home remember.

Very true, they certainly weren't spectacular after being tipped to perform brilliantly in the Champions Trophy just recently too. As I also said, their collapse in that ODI was due to their own fault rather than because of a poor batting track.

 

[Deja moo]

So Sri Lanka shouldn't be forced to adjust to New Zealand conditions, but New Zealand should never be ranked number two because they supposedly can't beat Sri Lanka at home (which they did anyway)? Makes little sense to me.

When did I ever imply that ?

What I'm saying is that in the normal course of events, SL would beat NZ at home and vice versa. But SL conditions in the Sl-NZ-Pak tri series were not the usual conditions SL are used to at home, and surely you could see that they were more suited to NZ ?

Also given that Sl were more competitive vs Aus than NZ were (albiet on flat decks), and that SL walloped SA 5-0, I dont see why NZ should automatically question SLs spot at two?

 

[Somerset]

When did I ever imply that ?

What I'm saying is that in the normal course of events, SL would beat NZ at home and vice versa. But SL conditions in the Sl-NZ-Pak tri series were not the usual conditions SL are used to at home, and surely you could see that they were more suited to NZ ?

Also given that Sl were more competitive vs Aus than NZ were (albiet on flat decks), and that SL walloped SA 5-0, I dont see why NZ should automatically question SLs spot at two?

So because Sri Lanka weren't suited to those conditions, the series should be completely forgotten? You're effectively saying Sri Lanka cannot play in conditions other than dust bowls. A side ranked number two can hardly automatically slot into that spot if that's their mentality.

 

[Deja moo]

So because Sri Lanka weren't suited to those conditions, the series should be completely forgotten? You're effectively saying Sri Lanka cannot play in conditions other than dust bowls. A side ranked number two can hardly automatically slot into that spot if that's their mentality.

I'm not saying that SL are to be "automatically slotted" into positon two. All I'm doing is questioning those who seem to deem it unthinkable that SL could make it so high. The rankings are not arbitrary. They do take into account the conditions and the quality of opposition.

And its too close to call, sort of like choosing between the lesser of the two evils. A side that cannot play well in one set of conditions, but can compete well with the top ranked team, versus a side that can play relatively well in an alien set of conditions (but were obviously not tested in those conditions at all in the recent past), but is also subject to serious thrashings from the top ranked team.