CRICKET. AT LAST

ODI tonight vs the Zimbos and SA vs Australia kicking off in earnest soon too (does anyone really care about T20 results?)

About freaking time! Pretty sick of the oval ball

Watched both T20s (replays)

Zimbos are fucking atrocious. Can't bowl straight, can't hit a thing. Look like club players. Awful technique, very embarrassing. Dropping simple catches. Ridiculous runouts, no enthusiasm and no brains.

That should give you an idea about how excited I am about this series, despite my adoration for the gentlemans' game.



gc.

Yup I agree....theres not much fun to be had watching BMac swagger about owning fish

Anyone know if we are getting the SA/Aus series on SKY?

Fuckin better!

been on the sports channells a bit and aint seen it advertised

Hopefully the Proteas get all brutal on them! The aussies have got a couple of cocky sounding younger bowlers

Jason Geoge any prem cricket news? Can you take us through how you got Marshall?

Well I only watched until 10pm but it was cool to see a Bracewell in the wickets column again. he looked pretty good too (even if appeared to be flogged later)

Game changed as soon as we bought on the spinners? Although it may have just been the ball got soft. Perhaps could have bowled the quicks for a bit longer to try for the killer blow

Very Decent start for Nicol too, unbeaten century on debut

Just going to sneak this in here...

But how the fuck did Patel make the Test Team again.......

Dude hes been out of favour for ages. No contract and isant really even taking wickets for Wellington. Shame cos I kinda liked him when he 1st showed up

Oh wat...chronic misread. Thought you said "why didnt he"

ummmm didnt even know he was in. Does seeem weird they didnt try some young fulla, guess he is impressing in the nets lol

A thing to remember is that these ODI's are using the new ball rules which are that two new balls get used in the game, one from each end.

Well the second ODI is now over, and while RSA was dominated in the first one they dominated AUS in the second one.
As its only a 3 games series (thank the champions leauge for that), it's winner takes all in the last game on early
Saturday monring NZ time...

good to see Zimbabwe bounce back, but unfortunately it's only a 3 game series.

No Mills or Southee. By god our bowling was shit. *sight*

Loving: Watching Williamson's beautiful batting technique. Traditional and (cliche alert) elegant. His feet and elbows are always *exactly* where he wants them to be.

Not loving: Watching McCullum try and pull a short delivery waaaaaaay the fuck outside off stump onto his stumps. For gods sake man, if it ain't quite there, just leave it! Another will always come, this is test cricket!

Not Loving: Williamsons weird_casual way of getting out on 49

Loving: South Africas new 160 km/hr fast bowler whose name is ...."Faf" .......

I thought he was a batsman

Just going on somethign *Re-Action* poste don my facebook. Thinks hes an up and comer rather thn an established player

He's a batting allrounder

also, isn't he a spinner?

/reads wiki profile. Yes it seems so.

Bloody *Re-Action* .....prob just fking with me with a story about a leg break bowler sending down 160 kmhr thunderbolts for lols

Pfffft. What does *Re-Action* know about cricket anyway? :>

Martin Crowe = awesome.



Gold!

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10764210

Love the new Bracewell! 1st time I have seen him bowl and really dig his action

Ponting's last innings in this test?

Hopefully! The sooner I see the back of him the happier I will be. Never liked that prick.

Mind you with all these young fullas coming into the Aussie team, I'm running out of players to hate. Luckily there is still that cunt Watson.

So we play Australia on December 1.

So IIRC Trent Boult is just another 130ish trundler right? Calling him that 'quick' these days is getting a bit tired. My only memory of Boult is watching him bowl the 'bowl off' over to Auckland and got spanked for somewhere in the late 20s.

Average.

Any more supplemental anecdotes?



gc.

Trent Boult is a 140km/h bowler. He deserves to be there and we need a left armer who can actually swing the ball. McKay has consistently proven that he can't swing the ball and tends to get spanked. I wouldn't mind seeing him in the team for a bit of variety to our attack.

FML! :/

Also, can anyone confirm speeds for

Philander
Cummins

Chur



gc.

Fair enough. I'll believe it when I see it. Not saying he doesn't deserve to be there, but just that all articles keep calling him QUICK, and compared to other sides in the world we seldom deliver on this.



gc.

Media refer to Martin, Mils and O'Brien as 'pace' or quick too....

Philander is 130ish He'll probably struggle on flat wickets when the ball isn't swinging

Cummins is quick. 140+

Fucking hell he's only 18.

Imagine facing someone bowling that speed (or near enough) in 7th form!



gc.

Over/under how many tests he will play in a 10 year career?

I say 30. Injuries.

Our bowlers are inconsistent

I have seen Mills hit 142 in a ODI - vs South Africa back in 2004 or so
I have seen O'Brien and Martin hit 140+ in tests

Yet I'd say, average speeds... Mills 125? O'Brien 132? Martin 130?

I'd say Martin over the last 2 years has been consistently our quickest. With the new ball can consistently average late 130s and has definitely hit 145 before. Quicker than O'Brien, for sure. Although O'Brien got lumped with the donkey end all the time to be fair.

Yeah if they overbowl Cummins he'll def fuck out. Who knows, could be a pretty natural action, in which case he'll be fine.



gc.

from what the commentators said of his action, it's an injury waiting to happen... however I haven't seen it myself.

Sounds like a history of lower back problems too. The kid is fucked (yussssss).

On a side note, I'm really looking forward to watching Martin and Mills bowl Punter back into form.

Anyone want to wager against Punter getting a 100 at the G?



gc.

Huge injury list for Aussie coming into this series. Cummins out, Watson and Johnson more than likely ...

Black Caps made 423 in their first innings against Australia A including 70-odd for Bracewell! Nice to see another big hitting lower order batsman in the team. :>

So Rossco and J-Ryder just put Aussie A to the sword! 23 sixes between them and 16 for Ryder alone. Hopefully we can carry some of that through to the tests with a pretty unproven frontline Aussie attack.



gc.

TODAY !!!!

Weather forecast looking pretty shabby though

Fucking iSky is buffering like crazy here at work :/

Good to see nothing changes for Brendan McCullum.



gc.

Someone should explain to him what TEST Cricket is.

Another brain explosion from Taylor

...and here comes the collapse

Horrible cricket ...

Classic Taylor and McCullum. Absolutely typical of both of them.

Expected a bit more from Ryder, though.



gc.

Danny to rescue the day?



...as per?

Just came in to post that Dalai... scary to think how poor NZ would have been in recent times w/out his lower-order batting

All the channel 9 commentators were in awe of the fact that he averages over 40 in his last 48 tests heh.

Also someone want to explain to me why we decided to bat first when the conditions were going to be cloudy with a chance of rain? Surely that's bowling weather in SE Queensland. Clouds and humidity = swing bowlers best friend.

Runs in the pitch mate - everyone has said so. NZ trying to be aggressive and put the young bowlers under pressure.



gc.

Yip, all the interviews I listened to and articles I read about that pitch were saying the same thing: batting first is the best option... all you need to do is bat with some fkn discipline and survive the first couple of hours.

McCullum et al. just don't have a fkn clue how to bat like that

Yeah they think that they need to be 110 at lunch on the first day... Idiots.



gc.

If only we had another option and could banish McCullum down the order until he learns to play a test innings.

Andrew Mulligan on twitter: Does anyone know where McCullum needs to be?

McCullum averages around 50 as an opener. He's not going anywhere.

I know that *historically* it's better to bat first at the Gabba but they also said that for this game, attention needs to be paid to the conditions. Which were low cloud, humidity and a chance of rain. The pitch is a little green and it's definitely seaming. I'm just saying that I would have bowled.

yeah, he averages 51.36,

but if you take out that one double hundred he scored against India and it drops down to 28.3.

Sure, he's only opened in 13 innings, but half his runs are from one try. I don't think that makes him a very solid opener. Did he get lucky once or was he unlucky 12 times?

Hmmm... It's not like we are brimming with successors... Altho Jeet Raval for Auckland is putting his hand up in domestic cricket.

Altho on recent evidence, a decent argument could be made for a straight swap between Vettori and McCullum!

Whilst I love Vettori's rear-guard innings, it has to be said that he does get a lot of in comparison to a few of our top order players. I think a lot of it has to do with the state of mind and sharpness of the opposition... We say he is 'positive' and creates his own luck etc, but the likes of Taylor and McCullum get lambasted for poor strokes when really they're not being a lot different to Dan... There's just a lot less pressure on him.



gc.

Fuck.



gc.

He does open the batting for ND.....

/devils advocate

NZ never fail to ruin it just when they look like they are digging themselves out of a hole.

Not in the long form... And even in one dayers it's infrequent. He also bats @ #3 at times.



gc.

Yeah I don't take it seriously as an option, it's just amusing how many times he has dug us out of a hole and made the top order batsmen look stupid.

Couldn't Southee at least have attempted to stick around with Brownlie? Now he's going to be stuck out there with Martin.

Has McCullum given up the gloves permanently in the long game, or is he just injured or something?

Yep, he has given up the glove sin test cricket. Its to ease up the pressure on his dicky back.

well if he wants to play as a specialist batsman then he better learn to act like one....

Grrrr young better not be another Hopkins. What happened to my man bracewell suiigh at missing this series. Fucking Ponting! Die!

Grrrr young better not be another Hopkins. What happened to my man bracewell suiigh at missing this series. Fucking Ponting! Die!

http://www.espncricinfo.com/india-v-west-indies-2011/engine/current/match/536932.html

Sehwag!!!! Fuck he's a beast

Yeah epic huh. Very appropriate that it's him!

How are we thinking we will go today lads?



gc.

I don't care if the Black Caps lose, as long as the batsmen show some fucking backbone and fight for their wicket ffs :/

The toss will be crucial if the pitch is as green as they anticipate.

Not holding much hope (which is the best way with the Black Caps really) but yeah, to see some fight would be good.

We have too many nice bowlers too btw. Southee was the only one who was getting in the batsmen's faces. Bracewell and Martin are too nice. Vettori loves a bit of gamesmanship but you're not going to get intimidated by a spinner, unless he's got the reputation and the repertoire of Warney.

Fuck, lost the toss and we're batting AND we've lost Vettori. :-/

*SIIIIIGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH*

This pitch is seaming like a motherfucker! I'd be shitting myself if I were next in the batting lineup. :-/

Taylor and McCullum's chance to show their worth; I don't doubt that they're good enough if they're willing to graft for their runs...

Fuck. Our best plan here is to get out as quick as we can to get the Aussies in on this pitch. :-/

Im sure it wasnt the plan but they did that anyway. useless cunts ...

Suspect the ICC will revoke their test status soon

Sickening... Just outclassed by bowlers who are too quick for our batsmen. The extra 10km that these guys bring to the table just put too much pressure on our batsmen and they are not good enough to cope. They can't handle the swing or the intensity.

That said, there were some great deliveries (Guptill, McCullum), bad luck (Williamson, Young)... And a fucking terrible decision by the 3rd Umpire. Ryder got utterly fired.

Will see how we bowl tomorrow before I get too scathing - I think there's enough in the pitch to believe we can hold them to < 220 or so. Then it's down to the frail top order to disappoint us one last time.Heh.



gc.

Cmon boys, foot tonthe throat time! Bowl braces out too surely this wicket is ideal for him

lol :>

Well! Looks like even in defending out boys I did them a disservice. Excellent bowling performance to match the same from the Australians. I don't think there have been too many examples of "bad batting" by either team in this match. Unbelievable lapses in judgement from both Punter and Clarke, but even Haddin can be forgiven for actually trying to move the innings along.

SUN IS OUT now and hopefully we can just get a decent partnership together and push into day 3 where we can finally start to slowly turn the tide. However all hope should be tempered by a healthy dose of cynicism about our batting, as I mentioned earlier. At least I think we are in a position, now, where the pitch is not a total mine field and we can occupy for a while.



gc.

Was a great effort from our bowlers. It was a disciplined performance, not unlike what the English did last summer.

Unfortunately I still see us losing, simply because the Aussies are going to get the best of the batting conditions. It was a hell of a toss to lose...

Best time to be wrong EVA!!

What the fuck!?!? Missed all the epic action

What a fantastic day of cricket. So much steel shown from the boys. Very impressed.



gc.

BRACEWELL!!! I told you cunts! He is awesome

Gutted I missed it but was glued to iPhone cricinfo

Owned Ponting, you little rat! Was that his last test? Or just his last at home

Neither... possibly his last at Hobart though

Chappell was saying that either Punter or Hussey has to go from this batting lineup... Crazy! Fact is, you take Hughes out of that side and put Watson in, and they get about 20x better. Let alone bringing Cummins back for Starc. They still have great depth in the bowling department (injuries aside)... There are some fucking good players sitting on the sidelines atm - Cummins, Harris, Johnson, Bollinger... Hell they've even got Stuart Clarke still ripping pins for the Blues.

Khawaja looks a bit like a NZ batsmen for me. Good, solid player at domestic level, but really seems just a fraction out of his depth at test level. I think with Watson and Warner opening, they can slot Shaun Marsh in at 3. Personally I would keep Punter and blood a new #6, and potentially replace Haddin too.

But more importantly, on to us... Rigor made a very good point on the cricket show the other night - that a pitch like this brings the 130kph bowlers into the match. It levels the playing field for an attack like ours because we are used to playing in those conditions, and for the most part there is no expectation for anyone to score BIG runs (which we have proven we are largely incapable of, even on flat decks). That said - we still had to do the job.

As well as Bracewell played, we should have equal praise for Southee and Martin. It's a bit of a boon that the Aussies have 4 out of the top 6 batting left handed. We all know Tommy Martin bowls much better to the lefties, and just look at what a freebie Phil Hughes was for the whole series. Playing with that stupid angled bat, and Martin's natural angle just meant that Aussie were playing with 9 wickets the whole time. Hughes has played his last game in the baggy green, surely.

Also a big win out this series - Dean Brownlie. Nice to know that we have someone who values their wicket to help arrest our frequent top order collapses. I can see a few partnerships between him and Vettori developing over the next couple of years hopefully!

So we won a match IN Australia... Can we take one off South Africa? SA / England / India are quite clearly ahead of the rest of the pack when it comes to tests, I believe. As far as our series goes against the Saffers, I am just too concerned about our batting. Our bowlers will be well equipped to limit/restrict the SA batting lineup (without getting on top), but Steyn, Morkel & co will just be a bit too much for us to handle with the red pill.

See if we can smash the Zimbos like they should first.



gc.

Agree with many of your thoughts (and Rigors, as per) .......our bowlers really get their backs up when they know they just have to bowl it in the zone to have a chance...theres no reason why we cant produce those sorts of tracks in NZ either. Now if only our top order could score heavily we might have a cricket team that belongs in that top tier u mentioned

I'm doing Fantasy HRV cup on cricketweb.net if anyone else is keen!

SMASH YOUSE!

:>

gc.

fkn Glenn McGrath, I hate that cunt so much. Prediucting a whitewash of the Indians

Also siiigh at Jesse Ryder, time for that fat fool to go loco on his fitness or give it away. Sure he might have a slow metabolism bla bla kinda sucks for him, but to me that just means he has to want it more and go all out. Strict diet no beer whatsoever and sever arobic sp training. Gotta be done, could easily see that roll of fat on him in his latest limp off. Not good enough

No such thing.



gc.

I watched 30mins of the cricket last night and SL lost 6 wickets...

Wrong. At rest, bodies have differing rates of calorie consumption
(not an excuse, just pointing out that we do have differing rates of calories consumption at rest i.e. slow metabollism)