*Official* Australia tour of New Zealand Feb-Mar 2024

[Athlai]

You've got to give credit to Marsh and Carey for ensuring they wouldn't need to worry about facing a second new ball. The acceleration of their innings was some great cricket on their part.

 

[Bahnz]

The key thing there was that the second new ball did the trick. The new ball caused issues all the way through. Could NZ have scored a bit quicker against the older ball?

No, I don't think so. It's not like Australia weren't bowling well, and Rachin and Mitchell were actually pretty proactive.

 

[Flem274*]

If we won I was going to praise the middle order tbh. They're clearly the strongest part of the side and they did stand up as a unit in a game where no one scored a ton.

I can't help but look at the performances with bat and ball of both captains and ofc the 30 odd runs in 3 overs conceded before lunch by the bloke who clearly can only enforce against drunk women.

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

Is Kuggface going to be gone forever, I want to enjoy posting about the cricket.

 

[Bahnz]

Well put it this way, either Sp goes or Southee goes, because whatever else you can say about Southee's captaincy he certainly knows a spud when he sees one.

Huh I can't believe I only just realised that you can't spell spud without SP

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

Michael Bracewell

 

[TheJediBrah]

The key thing there was that the second new ball did the trick. The new ball caused issues all the way through. Could NZ have scored a bit quicker against the older ball?

England might have won cause they would have got the new ball after 25 overs. NZ unlucky

 

[ashley bach]

Michael Bracewell

Wait what?? You said it! What's happening to you?

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

Huh I can't believe I only just realised that you can't spell spud without SP

 

[Athlai]

Michael Bracewell

Said his name

 

[Flem274*]

Daryl Mitchell said some corporate speak post game that fired up Smith and Coney. I just read it. They're correct, because the **** out of Dazza's mouth is at complete odds with his big Chad energy at the crease.

I know what he's trying to say, but in the end your career is defined by achievements.

 

[morgieb]

Rating time

Latham 5/10 - played bloody well at Hagley actually. Got NZ off to a solid start on the morning of day 1, and then set them up beautifully on day 2. Still can't pass 80 to save his life, but honestly, who else is there who can make it to 30? Certainly not...
Young 2/10 - only scrapes to 2 by virtue of the fact that he manage to chew up a decent number of balls during his stays at the crease. Just not a test opener. Maybe a decent test 5, but with Daz in the side he's not getting a shot.
KW 4/10 - crushing series for those of us who insisted so ardently that he's not a minnow basher. You can probably give him a pass at the Basin, but at Hagley he finally had a guilt edged opportunity to leave his mark on an NZ v AUS test, and one moment of misjudgement was all Patman needed.
Rachin 7/10 - looks the goods. Still raw as a freshly gutted fish, but hopefully he'll learn. Needs to work on his fielding drills though.
Mitchell 6/10 - the numbers don't look that flash with a sub-30 average but played 2 really gritty 2nd innings knocks in extremely challenging circumstances. Probably the 2nd best bat in the side.
Blundell 2/10 - boy Blundell's had a **** 12 months since that epic series v England. Keeping looks a bit sloppy as well, even if he remains pretty sharp to any stumping opportunities.. Hopefully he can take some inspiration from Carey's innings today and turn things around.
Phillips 6/10 - very mixed bag for Glenn. After a great start he ended up with pretty disappointing returns with the bat for such a talented guy. His spin bowling was borderline batting all-rounder quality though, and he brings so much in the field to what is otherwise a dreadful set of catchers.
Henry 10/10 - couldn't realistically ask for more. I'm not surprise he gassed today, he'd been bowling 9-10 over spells 3 days in a row, can't blame him that the rest of the attack couldn't capitalise on the opportunities he created.
Southee 1/10 - thanks for the great career Tim!
Kugz 0/10 - **** off SP!
O'Rourke - 5/10, bowled with surprisingly good pace. I think he's actually a naturally quicker bowler than Sears, the ball seems to come out much more effortlessly, feels like he could bowl in that high-130's low-140's range with comparatively little effort. His lengths were all wrong for day 1 at the Basin, but he didn't leak too many runs and picked up a couple of important wickets.
Sears 7/10 - now that's more like it! Youth (well comparatively, he is 26), enthusiasm, aggression. Couldn't get the job done but showed a glimpse of the fast bowling potential he has, and the wider talent that's floating around in the Plunket Shield. Wayward admittedly, but a lot to like, hope he gets more opportunities.

Can't find much to disagree about here.

For Australia:

Smith 2 - one decent start at the Basin, but other than that was very disappointing. Looks a bit of a walking wicket and there's definitely going to be questions around whether he should be opening.
Khawaja 4 - made starts and ate up time, but it feels like he's running out of options to actually score runs and usually got out before freeing up. Without Warner it seems that he's gone into his shell massively.
Labuschagne 5 - just when the knives were starting to come out, he produces an excellent 90 in the first innings at Hagley and was unlucky to get out when he did. That has to be the standard for him going forward.
Green 8 - finally he delivers. Actually that's a little bit harsh in that he has had good Test series before, but his recent form had been very no roundery-ish and he probably hadn't had that big daddy ton to justify batting 4. Instead, he set up the Test win at Wellington with by far his best innings at Test level and made contributions in some of the other innings too. With the ball while he wasn't used that often he did play the partnership breaker role in style.
Head 3 - apart from a century at Adelaide his form has been pretty poor recently. Seems to be throwing away starts too which isn't something that was common for a while. One that will have questions asked about his spot if he starts the India series poorly.
Marsh 6 - not consistent, but the partnership with Green was really important in ensuring that Green could get going and play the match-winning innings, and while he was lucky here he still managed a really important 80 to help set-up a win.
Carey 6 - just when it looked like he was about to play himself out of the team, he pulls a Gilchrist in winning Australia a game from out of nowhere. Keeping remained solid to Lyon but did drop a catch that could've been really costly.
Starc 4 - had his moments but lacked consistency. His bowling in particular seemed to get worse and worse throughout the series and he looks significantly overplaced at #8. Certainly the kind of series his haters will take some joy in.
Cummins 7 - he's a great leader, isn't he. For the most part he wasn't quite at his best but his spell in the second innings ensured New Zealand wouldn't run away with things when they were threatening to, and showed real determination in his 30 here to help guide Australia to an unlikely win. Just pure clutch stuff all round.
Lyon 9 - the craziest thing about his series was that I'm not even sure he bowled that well, certainly at Wellington he did bowl a few pies. But the Basin in particular was perfect for his kind of bowling and he capitalised superbly to take a 10-fer. Back seat role on the spinners graveyard that is Hagley but still took important wickets and ran through the tail which hasn't been that easy for Australia recently. Also managed some key blows when playing as a nightwatchman.
Hazlewood 9 - his spell on the first day here ensured that New Zealand had to play really well to pull off a win. Managed a really important partnership with Green at Wellington to turn a 50/50-ish position into a pretty dominant one, and in other innings generally bowled pretty well too. Even in the second innings here where he was a bit off the pace he still took a really important wicket just when things were threatening to run away from Australia. In career best form and is making a big claim

 

[Niranjan Bhargav]

Very poor performance from New Zealand openers,there opening order always fails.

 

[Daemon]

Can't find much to disagree about here.

For Australia:

• Smith 2 - one decent start at the Basin, but other than that was very disappointing. Looks a bit of a walking wicket and there's definitely going to be questions around whether he should be opening.
• Khawaja 4 - made starts and ate up time, but it feels like he's running out of options to actually score runs and usually got out before freeing up. Without Warner it seems that he's gone into his shell massively.
• Labuschagne 5 - just when the knives were starting to come out, he produces an excellent 90 in the first innings at Hagley and was unlucky to get out when he did. That has to be the standard for him going forward.
• Green 8 - finally he delivers. Actually that's a little bit harsh in that he has had good Test series before, but his recent form had been very no roundery-ish and he probably hadn't had that big daddy ton to justify batting 4. Instead, he set up the Test win at Wellington with by far his best innings at Test level and made contributions in some of the other innings too. With the ball while he wasn't used that often he did play the partnership breaker role in style.
• Head 3 - apart from a century at Adelaide his form has been pretty poor recently. Seems to be throwing away starts too which isn't something that was common for a while. One that will have questions asked about his spot if he starts the India series poorly.
• Marsh 6 - not consistent, but the partnership with Green was really important in ensuring that Green could get going and play the match-winning innings, and while he was lucky here he still managed a really important 80 to help set-up a win.
• Carey 6 - just when it looked like he was about to play himself out of the team, he pulls a Gilchrist in winning Australia a game from out of nowhere. Keeping remained solid to Lyon but did drop a catch that could've been really costly.
• Starc 4 - had his moments but lacked consistency. His bowling in particular seemed to get worse and worse throughout the series and he looks significantly overplaced at #8. Certainly the kind of series his haters will take some joy in.
• Cummins 7 - he's a great leader, isn't he. For the most part he wasn't quite at his best but his spell in the second innings ensured New Zealand wouldn't run away with things when they were threatening to, and showed real determination in his 30 here to help guide Australia to an unlikely win. Just pure clutch stuff all round.
• Lyon 9 - the craziest thing about his series was that I'm not even sure he bowled that well, certainly at Wellington he did bowl a few pies. But the Basin in particular was perfect for his kind of bowling and he capitalised superbly to take a 10-fer. Back seat role on the spinners graveyard that is Hagley but still took important wickets and ran through the tail which hasn't been that easy for Australia recently. Also managed some key blows when playing as a nightwatchman.
• Hazlewood 9 - his spell on the first day here ensured that New Zealand had to play really well to pull off a win. Managed a really important partnership with Green at Wellington to turn a 50/50-ish position into a pretty dominant one, and in other innings generally bowled pretty well too. Even in the second innings here where he was a bit off the pace he still took a really important wicket just when things were threatening to run away from Australia. In career best form and is making a big claim

Plsfix

 

[thierry henry]

Partly, but it's also mostly cope

Basically rationalisation to avoid accepting they're a better team, we just always lose to them because mental reasons

I’m probably off-topic but I’m not talking about an Australia-specific mental block. I’m talking about predictably soft, weak, lazy, dumb cricket that NZ have been playing since 2021.

In this test for example I had no expectation we’d win, based on the 2 sides. Once we got to a firmly match winning position though, it should be reasonable to ask that we don’t colossally **** the bed with the finish line in sight. At least just play at something close to the level you’ve been playing at, don’t completely melt because you caught a glimpse of an unexpected win.

The reason it’s so predictable that we will colossally **** the bed is not because of an Australia hoodoo or a lack of ability, it’s a generalised softness that has always been our thing to an extent but has become a chronic problem lately.

We did the same thing 3x in a row against a pretty average England team. It’s not about saying we should be as good as Australia, it’s just saying can we stop losing all brain and motor function as soon as things get a bit tight and we’re not beating Bangladesh by an innings at Hagley or whatever.

 

[Nintendo]

I’m probably off-topic but I’m not talking about an Australia-specific mental block. I’m talking about predictably soft, weak, lazy, dumb cricket that NZ have been playing since 2021.

In this test for example I had no expectation we’d win, based on the 2 sides. Once we got to a firmly match winning position though, it should be reasonable to ask that we don’t colossally **** the bed with the finish line in sight. At least just play at something close to the level you’ve been playing at, don’t completely melt because you caught a glimpse of an unexpected win.

The reason it’s so predictable that we will colossally **** the bed is not because of an Australia hoodoo or a lack of ability, it’s a generalised softness that has always been our thing to an extent but has become a chronic problem lately.

We did the same thing 3x in a row against a pretty average England team. It’s not about saying we should be as good as Australia, it’s just saying can we stop losing all brain and motor function as soon as things get a bit tight and we’re not beating Bangladesh by an innings at Hagley or whatever.

Yeah honestly nz have been kinda mid for a whole despite looking good on paper. In the past few years they've dropped a test to Bangladesh at home and where literal.imches away from dropping a game to SL. If Kane doesn't make a million runs there usually ****ed.

 

[thierry henry]

Daryl Mitchell said some corporate speak post game that fired up Smith and Coney. I just read it. They're correct, because the **** out of Dazza's mouth is at complete odds with his big Chad energy at the crease.

I know what he's trying to say, but in the end your career is defined by achievements.

I honestly think what he said might be quite telling in terms of explaining how they’re playing. Certain things, like SP/Henry/Southee only trying to hit 6s irrespective of the field or the match situation, are such repeated and concerted ‘errors’ that they have to be deliberate. It sounds like they’re trying to do what feels ‘positive’ or what fits with ‘how they want to play’. I know that’s the modern way but what really bothers me is I think it’s deeper than just an attitude and actually forms part of team plans. Maybe I’m just being dramatic though cos surely they have like, analysts and stuff telling them what’s actually most likely to succeed, right? Right?

 

[Socerer 01]

Yeah honestly nz have been kinda mid for a whole despite looking good on paper. In the past few years they've dropped a test to Bangladesh at home and where literal.imches away from dropping a game to SL. If Kane doesn't make a million runs there usually ****ed.

this is sorta what i meant with my comment on the mental weakness excuse but worded it poorly

 

[thierry henry]

this is sorta what i meant with my comment on the mental weakness excuse but worded it poorly

If what you mean is we have been generally quite poor and it’s not just an Australia thing, then I entirely agree. I just think that throwing away an opportunity like this when it would be such a big result for us is also par for the course.

 

[Nintendo]

Nz test win rate with kuggs playing: 0%.

There is justice after all.