Aus v NZ test series

kryogen

Good start to the 1st test from the Aussies

Clarke is unbeaten on 100 (10 fours and 2 sixes) great strike rate, 100 off 141 balls

Aus finished the day at 316/4


Phil Hughes who was in for the injured Watson was the first to go

as they lost Ponting to a silly run out 41

Hussey made just 4 before he went

Australia were 115/3 at that stage so it was a good recovery

play resumes tomorrow

kryogen

Day 2 match report from SSN

Australia pressed home their advantage in the first Test after another dominant day against New Zealand in Wellington.

Touring skipper Ricky Ponting made a bold declaration on 459-5 before tea on day two, however the decision was justified as his seamers made quick inroads to leave New Zealand toiling on 108-4.

Left-armer Doug Bollinger took two quick wickets and the Black Caps once again had captain Daniel Vettori (42 not out) to thank after he rescued his side from 43-4.

Earlier in the day, Michael Clarke (168) and Marcus North (112no) picked up where they left off the previous afternoon as they increased their magnificent fifth-wicket stand to a Australian record 253.

Deserved
Clarke moved from 100 at the start of the day to153 by lunch, while North had comfortably reached 84 having resumed on 52.

Neither batsman encountered many problems in the opening session at the Basin Reserve and the tourists cruised to 405-4 at lunch.

Clarke surpassed his previous best of 166, but perished to the off-spin of Vettori shortly after when stumped well out of his crease by Brendon McCullum.

North then brought up his well-deserved century with a boundary, his fourth Test century taking 192 balls and also including two sixes.

Shortly after that Ponting called his batsmen in and let his bowlers loose on New Zealand's top order.


And the gamble paid off immediately, Bollinger (2-21) trapping opener BJ Watling for a duck with the fifth ball of the innings.

Mitchell Johnson followed up that early blow with an agile piece of fielding which ended with the pace bowler kicking the ball on to the stumps to leave Peter Ingram (5) short of his ground.

New Zealand limped to tea on 20-2, however the tourists struck twice more after the resumption to take total control.

First, Ryan Harris (1-23) claimed his maiden Test scalp when Tim McIntosh edged to Mike Hussey, and then Bollinger got back in on the act when he had Ross Taylor caught at third slip by North by with the first ball of his new spell.

Vettori and Martin Guptill (19no) survived to the close, putting on a valuable 65 runs, and will need to provide more of the same grit and determination on day three.


caught most of this, the declaration was another example of great captaincy by Ponting, he has been very aggressive in that regards lately

Clarke was excellent, North showed what he can do again when he gets in in a test

Bollinger imprssive again, well supported by Harris and Johnson

New Zealand will need something special to get a draw here imo

Should be interesting to see if they can be bowled out cheaply or if they have the determination to hang on and make a game of it

booth70

Finally NZ show some fight....could be an interesting last day if NZ can set the Aussies something like 200 or so in about 50-60 overs

Mothman

booth70 wrote: »

Finally NZ show some fight....could be an interesting last day if NZ can set the Aussies something like 200 or so in about 50-60 overs

McCullum only added 10 to his overnight 94
NZ 7 down with a 90 run lead.
Still 90 overs left.

Make that 8 down.

Aus will win with more than a session to spare

kryogen

Australia are blasting them away at the moment

Hughes has 76 runs off 61 balls!

18 overs gone, Australia 94/0

They need another 12 runs to win

Mothman

Katich playing against Bangladesh and Hughes in playing a 20/20.
Scored 86 (off 75 balls) out of 106 and Aus win by 10 wickets and 2 sessions to spare

kryogen

match over

23 overs is all it took in the Aussie second innings

excellent batting from Hughes

he hit a very impressive 86 off 75 balls, shame he didnt get a 100, would have been great to see

Katich had a Trott like innings of 18 off 65 balls! but he was mostly just letting Hughes score the runs tbh, he was happy to drop anchor

booth70

Another drubbing in sight for the Kiwis:(

NZ, Bangladesh,West Indies and Pakistan:mad: should be stripped of their test status allowing Australia,India,South Africa,England and Sri Lanka to play REAL test cricket more often:o

TrueDub

booth70 wrote: »

Another drubbing in sight for the Kiwis:(

NZ, Bangladesh,West Indies and Pakistan:mad: should be stripped of their test status allowing Australia,India,South Africa,England and Sri Lanka to play REAL test cricket more often:o

Turn the clock back 5, 10, 15 years and you could include India and Sri Lanka in the first group, and West Indies & Pakistan in the second. Everything is cyclical. Hell, even the Aussies were rubbish at one point!

Rjd2

New Zealand are just not that good at test cricket really. They have a horrid top order of mediocrity with Watling, Mc Intosh and Matthew "king of the journeymen" Sincair.
Guptil is adapting to test cricket very slowly. They will persist with him as he is talented and they don't have many other options really.

Their bowling is pretty average as well, Martin looks finished these days.

kryogen

The top order has been NZ biggest problem alright, just not enough in it really

still though, happy to see the team continue its good form, the confidence will be sky high for the big competitions to come if they can keep the momentum going and that is of course hugely important

Cremated

Hope you don't mind me asking the question here, it could be very obvious,

I want to ask it anyways, Ireland seem to play the longer versions of the game better to me, when there is more time to set things up,

do you think Ireland could give New Zealand a fair go at a Test match, with the likes of Ed Joyce and Kyle McCallan possibly coming back,

or the West Indies or Bangladesh etc...

TrueDub

Cremated wrote: »

Hope you don't mind me asking the question here, it could be very obvious,

I want to ask it anyways, Ireland seem to play the longer versions of the game better to me, when there is more time to set things up,

do you think Ireland could give New Zealand a fair go at a Test match, with the likes of Ed Joyce and Kyle McCallan possibly coming back,

or the West Indies or Bangladesh etc...

Depends on your definition of a fair go. We could compete with Bangladesh, and could probably put up a credible showing against the others, but I think we'd need more experience of multi-day high-quality cricket to be competitive across the board.