Bugs Malone picks his squad to take on india in the upcoming series.
no real suprices and the sqaud looks as follows
S Flemming (c), M Horne, M Bell, C Mcmillian, M Richardson, S Flemming, C Harris, R Twose, G Stead, M Sinclair, A Parore, D Nash, A Tait< K Mills, N Astle, C Cairns & S O'Connor.....
Bugs Malone got big things for this international team that has sort of been below par in previous years but he is willing to inject everything he knows to get New Zealand cricket at the top of all the icc rankings.
Malone went into the first game @ wellington full of confidence and the side to play was named as follows,
17 dec 2002
New Zealand
R Twose, M Bell, S Flemming (c), N Astle, C Mcmillian, C HArris, C Cairns, A Parore,
S O'Connor, D Tuffey C Drum.
India
S Abbas All, S Ganguly, R Dravid, S Tendulkar, V Laxman, P Dharmani, G Dutta, A Kumble, H Singh, N Singh, A Nehra.
India has won the tos and put New Zealand into bat.
Lets go to the action.
New Zealands opening pair got of to a solid start, not explosive but at the 10 over mark where still there and where moving along @ 3.5 runs per over. H Singh come on ealry and the boys took 8 of his first over. N Singh come on early and picked up R Twose for 23 of 38. New Zealand 1 - 44 of 11 overs. In comes the skipper. He didnt last long and NZ where 2 - 55. Needing a solid partnership M Bell then went for 30(57) and NZ where in all sorts @ 3 - 57 of 17 overs.Astle and Mcmillian at the crease. Mcmillian went 2 overs later and NZ where struggling @ 4 - 57. Malone was seen with his head in his hands probably asking why has he accepted one of the toughest international jobs, but he soldiers on with harris at the crease. Astle fell for 8 (31) and @ 5 - 69 of 26 overs could C Cairns save the Blackcaps. Harris and Cairns started the come back but harris fell for 14(39).6 - 94 and getting into the tail. Cairns was hitting them well with 16*. Parore went for 10(35) when they where slowly getting to get a decent total. NZ 7 - 118. Cainrs was the only one to show some sort of resistance and when he fell for 33 (56) india where definately on top and into the tail. The bowlers tried and C Drum hit 2 splendid 4's but when Tuffey went for a duck it was the end of an innings and NZ AO 134 (48.3 Overs).
Not the greatest start to Bugs Malones International Coaching Campaign but he was talking up a good bowling performance and they where still in this game.
NZ struck back early and got S Abbas ali for 0(7). well bolwed C Drum. 1 - 11. Ganguly was going nuts. 11(12). India where doing it easy and NZ where just going through the montions, when C Harris picked up Dravid for 44(59) india where still in control at 2 - 84 of 20 overs, and in walked the little master blaster. Gangully picked up his 50 (72) in the 24th over and india where crusing at 2 - 101 needing a further 34 runs for victory. Harris then bowled the price wicket of Tendulkar for 5 (9). It was a good reward for some fine bowling form the vetrean all rounder.
INida finished up the total with 22 overs remaining and ganguly finished not out on 72(88).The pick of the bowlers was C Harris with 2 - 30 of 6.5 and S O'Connor also bowled well without luck with figures of 0 - 19 of 8 overs.
In the end india win by 7 wickets in what was a very one sided affair.
