Cricket Tri Series

Anyone watch the game last night?

Was a complete performance from the Black Caps... they excelled in every aspect of the game. Ok, so conditions were in their favour... but still, they made the most of it. Bond & Tuffey are a world class opening combination.. shame Bond is injured, but will give Mills or Adams a run....

Vetorri bowled brilliantly too, and two great catches from Styris.

Batting is a bit harder to tell. The baseball pitcher bowled 10 overs, 0-41 so we've got to be happy with that. Nevin looked good... I really think he's the long term solution as an opener, and should've gone to the world cup. He just needs to stop getting out in the 20's and 30's.

Was a very good performance. Akhtars last few balls were shocking, even by his standards. He should try for a contract with the New York Yankees. They pay more. As you say, although the pitch suited us we also palyed far better, especially our bowling. I hope Mills doesn't play until they sort out his action.

A great effort from the Black caps, the Pakki's played very average

Only downer from what I hear, is that Shane Bond picked up an injury.

another game this avo i think... msut be us vs sri lanka...

could be very interesting

just a side note, i think most of the pitches are going to be dodgey as this wasn't the original location for the tri-series... and all of these pitches are making international debuts you might say... it was supposed to be playied in columbo but they had to move it away from the monsoons... :/

our batting line-up is shakey at best! they should drop mccullum or vincent and play horne - give nevin the gloves, give him a safe position and secure him in the team, then he'll perform to full potential

Can't see any sense in having nevin and McCullum in the team. Looks like Bond is out for a while and our own chucker is back in the team, damn.

Mills' action isn't anywhere near as bad as Chucktar's.. but still dodgy...

Big game tonite... I think we should go in as favourites... I think Nevin should become a specialist batsmen.. at least for a while. We really need a quality opener. Except Vincent, all our top 6 has had form during this tour (and actually, even Vincent looked good in the last game). I'm actually not too worried about it.

After seeing the footage of Ahktar bowling from the other night, I have no idea how this guy can be continued to be allowed to bowl. He is a blatant cheat! It is so fucken obvious to everyone that he throws the ball half the time!

And only slightly less obvious the other half of the time.

The University of Western Australia used scientific mubo jumbo to prove he doesn't throw the ball from tests they did. Of course that was in their lab where he tried to bowl properly. To me cricket in the 90's up until now will be viewed in the future like the east german athletes up to the late 1980's. Records of people like Akhtar and Muralitharan will be regarded as jokes, as will many of the results given the matchfixing scandals. Hopefully soon the ICC will grow some balls and deal with it. India needs to be worked on as they are the only sub-continent team without cheats in it.

I actually don't think Murali is that bad... I mean, yes, he's a chucker, but I don't think he gets a lot out of it... it's really a fast bowler thing... The only one that gets a huge advantage out of it is Akhtar... it's really a joke...

Bond, Carins, Astle

All our top players keep getting injured, if we could consistenly get our top team on park week in week out, we would be more of a threat in world cricket!

look at the Aussies, how often do you hear about their key players getting injured??????? (bugger all)

The aussies have injuries all the time - they just have so much cover, you hardly ever notice....

I think we're starting to get better depth in our team... if you look at the team (the playing 11), there's no one there who is not really up to standard... maybe Vincent, but I think he'll be a top player in a couple of years time.... And when you think we've left McMillan behind, without an injury, it's not bad. It wasn't so long ago when we couldn't afford to drop a player like McMillan.

The only area we really lack depth is spinners.

Mutant try throwing a ball and spinning it and then bowling and spinning it. I think the advantage is at least as much actually. His record would indicate that.

Sure you hear about an Aussie getting injured, but then he comes right & he's sweet for a couple of years.

Carins & Bond seem to be injured every 5 mins

top performance by the black caps, but why is it that when we need him most Bond always gets injured

Well you have too ask, does NZ have a proper Medical & Fitness staff inplace?

This Tri-series just showing on Sky? any chance there are at least highlights on TV3.
*crosses fingers

Start delayed because of rain, but should start at 5pm. Sri Lanka won the toss and put us in... I think Fleming wanted to bat anyway... it's the same pitch that pakistan won on... slightly dryer than the last game, altho the rain might've changed it.

Mills is playing you will be delighted to hear justahalf & smf

looking forward to watching him "bowl" later on tonight

bugger!

fleming out in the 2nd over

A bad loss for the black caps, but I think this series is going to be a complete letdown. The toss will deide most of the games and bowlers will totally dominate. How long since we've had a good one dayer to watch?

NZ got smashed by the Sri Lankans yesterday, pretty poor performance if u ask me

The Black Caps, backing up a good performance with a poor one

Same old story

Man we play like crap against SL in O.D.I's

I didn't think we played *that* badly, but there were some soft dismissals. I think Adams should come in for Harris in the next game. We need another seamer, and Harris isn't really contributing anything of value.

these sorts of pitches will be the death of one day cricket! no one wants to watch a game that is pre-decided by the toss...

mutant: to imply that muraliy gets no benefit out of his action is one of the more ludacris statements i have heard regarding the situation in a very long time... his action is everything, thats how come he can 'bowl' off-spin but turn it more than anyone to play the game, EVER... and he has also produced a miracle ball that spins the other way - if you practise enough you can do it, but not with a straight arm...

Agree with your first comment smf. Í was looking forward to this series but have spent more time channel surfing that watching the cricket so far. I want to see a game where the first teams scores 250 plus and the second team has to chase it on a good pitch. Chasing scores of under 150 is very boring cricket.

Lots of runs is what makes ODI worth watching

250+

NZ scorced 7 boundaries in their total of 139, BORING

I'm sure they could have scorced more runs, if they had of gone out there for a slogg fest.......

Low scoring games can be good for test matches, but agree - make for a yawn fest for odi's.

I think it was my fault we lost. I watched the game till we were 4 down, then went away and did something - Vincent & Oram had a bit of a partnership - turned the radio on, and at that exact point Oram got out. Turned it off again, went away and did something, Vincent & Harris had a bit of a partnership - turned the radio back on, and at that exact point Vincent got out.

Sorry!

NZ 19/1 batting first against SL, nevin is out.

If we can get through the first 15 without losing too many wickets, we can still win this. SL are backing up from a game yesterday, and history shows sides rarely win doing this. If we win we're in the final. Lose, and we have to beat Pakistan tomorrow....

Very good win in the end. Good to see McCallum producing his best effort for NZ, and the best innings of the series to date, with vettori also producing a top effort. The bowling after the first few overs was very good. Hope we can repeat the effort in the finals.

what a great effort from the Kiwi's

Firstly the batting towards the end, Plus our bowlers & fielding was outstanding, Dan Vettori was going off.....

Is anyone gonna score any runs, I think not,it's a bowlers paradise

NZ qualify for the Final

Quite an entertaining game in the end, particularly enjoyed the 2nd to last over that Mills “bowled”

Pretty good going in those circumstances to pull out a maiden in the 49th

Im not impressed with Harry either…….. that pitch was taylor made for him and he bowled like a fool

I favour dumping him

Mills was bowling to a #11, that looked like he needed his eyes tested, the guy couldn't get within two feet of the bat, Mills was bowling well tho, after going for 17 off his first two overs, he came back strongly.......

i quite enjoyed mills' first over. where he 'bowled' four balls, half trackers, no balls and wides. very indicative of his ability i thought.
i also enjoyed it when the comentator couldn't say his name right - kyle 'miles'... very amusing for the lads, as we ALL hate kyle mills...

i'm sick of picking these no talent having half wits in our cricket team.

death to kyle mills.

I was about to go to bed but decided to stay up, glad I did, it was an awesome game,imo.

Vettori was AWESOME

Stephen Fleming did NOTHING but confirm he is one of the best captains in world sport

I thought his decision making was excellent at the end.

btw, who thought the commentators sucked? I thought they were boring as hell

agreed smf, mills is all cake.

yeah, there are definitely better bowlers than mills around... I guess I can understand the selectors wanting to be consistent, and mills did come back well, but considering he's got a dodgy action, and just about lost us the game in his first 2 overs, it's just not worth it.

If Adams and Oram are injured, I don't think we can afford to drop Harris. In fact, if the pitch is anything like this one for the next 2 games, we'll probably need to play Wiseman. A pitch where Harris and Styris can turn it square has got to be dodgy.

Why though?

I watched his action closely last night and OK its still not perfect but it has improved……….. and its nowhere near as bad as Chucktar or even fuckwit Lee

Mills had got an average of 25 and an ecomony rate of under 4 and we all know how rare that it

AND hes played the majority of his games on the sub-continent

AND he haven’t seen the best of him with the bat yet

Im as against chucking as anyone but if his action gets fully legit will you still hate him?

Almost smacks as a personal vendetta, did he pepper you guys in a club game or what

Maestro: he's prone to being expensive at critical times.... and we've got a huge pool of medium pacers to choose from for the moment.

I agree, if he sorts his action out, and works on his concentration / consistency, he'll be a great player of the future. But I'm not sure why he's being given so many opportunities when there are so many other bowlers around who haven't even been given a chance.

Expensive at critical times........... you could say that about Darrell Tuffey, remember the 1st ODI in the World Cup against Sri Lanka?

Who do you think should be given a shot at being a Black Cap?

BTW Im unavailable for “personal reasons”

http://www-aus1.cricket.org/link_to_database/ARCHIVE/2002-03/NZ_LOCAL/STSHLD/STATS/STSHLD_2002-03_AVS_BOWL_MOST_WKTS.html

Some of these guys maybe?

A web link listing them all aint your opinion Mutant dude

Im looking forward toseeing Matthew Walker being given a shot cos I know he will

One of our rare cricketers with attitude that boy

Any of the top 4 would do well to get a run... I suppose it's not a good idea to blood a player in Sri Lankan conditions though....

(Ken Rutherford, blah blah)

got 'im, 'es gone!!! haha fuck off you bastard!

pakis 16/2 a wicket each to mills and tuffey.. mills 1/4 off 3

What about some of these guys

http://www-aus1.cricket.org/link_to_database/ARCHIVE/2002-03/NZ_LOCAL/STSHLD/STATS/STSHLD_2002-03_AVS_BOWL_BEST_ECON.html

or these guys

http://www-aus1.cricket.org/link_to_database/ARCHIVE/2002-03/NZ_LOCAL/STSHLD/STATS/STSHLD_2002-03_AVS_BOWL_BEST_ECON.html

Averages and economy are the best measure and mills is 4th in one and 5th in the other. I don't like him because of his bowling style, but he has earnt his place. He also rates right up there in both categories for the black caps.

16/2 nice

I better go home & watch it

final next week, NZ vs Pakistan

yesterday the Pakis beat NZ, but Shoib Ahkar has been questioned for ball tampering

Bugger. Losing by a few runs was annoying. At least they are in the final ...but I really would like to see a nice consistent performance from start to finish for once.

Sri Lanka got knocked out of their own tournament?? How amusing

yeah its pretty tough to analyse our performance at the moment, given the level of our injuries... i'm not usually one to mention injuries too much, but it wasa little out of hand yesterday

bond, adams, oram all injured, styris hurt his hand, vettori even had to have a runner!

also these pitches are very hard to guage, i think fleming made the right decision in bowling first, but the pakistani batsmen applied themsleves and showed that sometimes runs can be scored - didn't think the bowlers did too much wrong...

thought styris was well unlucky to get caught ont he boundary... good shot - even better catch, it was all over after that, but the game plan was there...

not too fussed about this loss, it just seems we were slightly outplayed on the day.

as for shoaib akhtar - the commentators all round the world seem to love this man, and always talk about how lovely he is, and how good for the game he is... he is nothing but i FILTHY CHEAT.

I can't believe how much of a cheat Akhtar is... he's making a mockery of the game... he should be banned for several months.... apparently, he'll be getting 4 games...

Pak got 80 runs off the last 10 overs from there tailenders, that's where the game was lost.

Thats happened a few times now, we pulled the same trick in the last game

Seems to me watching the games, if you swing the bat hard….. particularly across the line youre a lot more successful than poking and proding and trying hit down the ground?

We are better off against Pakistan than Sri Lanka in the final anyway. Im expecting the boys to win out 2nd ever overseas ODI tournament

Well, the cheat has been banned for two matches for ball tampering. That guy is a fucking disgrace and should not be playing international cricket ...at least it works in NZ's favour.

First we had shoaib chucktar, now shoaib scratchtar. Whats next, bowling from a metre in front of the crease and claiming its racist when hes no-balled? The guys cheating is unbelivable, the biggest disgrace to the game since hanse cronje and yet the ICC still don't do anything about him.

this made me laugh



Is there anyone who truly believes bullshit like that?

Abnormally flexible elbow? What the hell does that mean? My elbow is pretty flexible, its like this big joint that I can bend and then straighten to throw a ball, yes, its quite flexible ...just like Chucktar's.

Well, the claim is that he can bend his elbow backwards... and if you look at his action, it does look like it's bending the wrong way, but it's still chucking...

2 games is no where near enough... it should've been a month... he's done it before...

If he bowls with a bent arm then straightens it then its chucking. I thought thats what the definition was? It shouldn't matter if he bends his arm normally or backwards, he still gets an unfair advantage through throwing the ball.

Same bollocks as Muli and his "withered arm"

and Casey Martin and his use of a golf cart

Absolute BS over-PC double standards that compromise the integrity of two great sports

paki's batting first again... gonna be a tough game for us...

would be so nice to win, but we've haven't won any of the 8 tri series finals we've been in...

yes!!!! tuffey in the first over again!! 11 times in 50 matches!!! what a legend!!!

Couple of wickets now. Lets hope that they can keep this up.

Woah NZ win by 4 wickets in the 45th over With Flemming continuing his great batting form with 65. I believe the first time in the series that a sucessful 200+ run chase has been achieved, even if there were 44 extras. Dan Vettori wins a new Lancer, very nice

Latest link if anyone is interested in the scoreboard

http://www-nz1.cricket.org/link_to_database/NEW/LIVE/frames/NZ_PAK_BAC_ODI-FINAL_23MAY2003.html

Great, a win in an overseas tri-series and a deserved one at that. We were the best team throughout and good to see only bowlers playing in the final with mills and akhtar out. Mills action has improved though which was a good sign.

its good to see NZ win.

I have to say that the tri series was one of the most boring tri series i have seen in a long time

Was better than the world cup, but that was THE worst series ever (or fairly close to it).

A good win... in tough conditions...

The series in India will be much more interesting... although I can't see us doing as well... especially if we still have so many injury problems...