**Official** New Zealand v Australia

[benchmark00]

Good to see Cricket Web is getting some more visitors from Wellington at long last

Looking out my office window now and it's raining and the fog has got worse!

You have an office?

 

[Ming]

On metservice's rain radar, there doesn't seem to be any rain at Welly at the moment...

 

[Blaze]

Yeah I live in the region and it is blue sky here

 

[Ming]

Good.

Hopefully we will get play at 10am....

 

[mavric41]

Clarke's an all rounder...

And Ponting and Martyn can bowl medium pace - doesn't mean they should.

 

[anzac]

I read on Cricinfo that Macca says he's not all that worried about his spot in the side - doesn't think this match will have much impact - after all he scored 60 against them 3 matches ago...............

sounds like the same old Macca to me - all bluff & ********!!!!!! if he believes what he's saying then he's as big an idiot as Parore so far as his attitude goes.............one semi-decent innings per series and he seems to think his sh*t don't stink & he walks on water!!!!

hasn't any one told him that if it looks like a lemon, smells like a lemon, and tastes like a lemon then it isn't a bloody orange!!!!

 

[anzac]

In the same article it quoted Fleming describing what Macca needs to be doing regarding finding the balance between aggression & defence - firstly to 'get in' b4 deciding what to have a go at etc...............

hells bells Macca's 28 & has been playing intnl level for about 9 seasons now - if he can't work that 1 out for himself & execute some sort of plan within 1 series then my guess is he never will!!!!!

sure he's having difficulty, but I have no sympathy or provision for giving him any extra time when he says that he hasn't changed a thing in his approach when out of the side..................how he expects anything to improve when he does that is beyond me (& basically tells me that he thinks he's right & everyone else is wrong) - and an intnl series is no place to start to try to make fundamental changes to your game.......no wonder the Aussies were laughing..............

 

[Tim]

I get sick and tired of the management continously pulling out his average of 38 as an excuse to keep him in the side. Haven't they realised that it has dropped from 44 to 38 over the last 2 years which tends to suggest that he's performed poorly. He got that one bumper series in India a couple of years ago on some of the flattest tracks i've ever seen to make sure his average didn't drop even further.

I suppose in 3 years time, he'll be down at 32 & they'll still be saying he's worthy of selection.

They've also been harping on about how he performs well against Australia..I can only recall two innings where he scored around 50 runs. Big frickin deal.

We've got the perfect opportunity in August against Zimbabwe to bring in a couple of new batsmen & I really hope we don't blow it by keeping McMillan.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

And Ponting and Martyn can bowl medium pace - doesn't mean they should.

Clarke is a fair bit more useful than them, and he's improving. He's much closer to Lehmann in terms of ability as a part-timer than Ponting, who is for all intents and purposes useless. Hussey isn't a bad part-time medium bowler.

 

[mavric41]

Clarke is a fair bit more useful than them, and he's improving. He's much closer to Lehmann in terms of ability as a part-timer than Ponting, who is for all intents and purposes useless. Hussey isn't a bad part-time medium bowler.

Lehmann just did fractionly more with the ball than David Boon and his nude nuts. Martyn used to be quite a regular bowler for WA and took quite a few useful wickets.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Lehmann just did fractionly more with the ball than David Boon and his nude nuts. Martyn used to be quite a regular bowler for WA and took quite a few useful wickets.

Lehmann was a very useful bowler when the pitch was taking turn - same deal with Andrew Symonds. On a flat deck he was completely useless of course, but even then I'd prefer his darts to keep the runs down to Martyn's "hit me" short of a length mediums.

 

[benchmark00]

I wanna see Matty Hayden thrown the ball again!

 

[Linda]

Theres really nothing better than seeing Ponting, Hayden and co have a go with the ball. A rare treat. That doesnt include Martyn, however... I usually look away when that happens. Its just too traumatic. And because of that, Rob Key is a really special batsman in my eyes.

 

[Tim]

Big seam movement this morning. This will be a good test of the Australian batsmen if the NZ bowlers get it right.

Encouraging signs from Chris Martin so far.

 

[Tim]

What the hell was Fleming doing!? Sometimes I wonder with Fleming whether he's thinking too much about the game & not concentrating on the basics.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Wow, the ball is REALLY zipping around out there. I hope Hayden makes a bundle so TEC and Richard have to try and explain it.

 

[Tim]

There shouldn't really be any excuses for Martin, Franklin & O'Brien. These are the conditions they enjoy. Franklin & O'Brien in particular should do well since this is their home ground.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Is it just the CricInfo commentary or are the slips too far back? Seems like there have been at least 3-4 drop short of slips and not all of them were soft-handed defensive shots.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Is it just the CricInfo commentary or are the slips too far back? Seems like there have been at least 3-4 drop short of slips and not all of them were soft-handed defensive shots.

Could be, but it just looks like bad luck really. A couple of them have been played with soft hands, and the Hayden one last over just kept quite low off the pitch and hit the base of Hayden's bat. And of course Fleming dropped one of them off Langer.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Martin's bowled pretty nicely this morning. A bit short maybe, but he's bowled good lines and used the pitch well. Unlucky not to get a reward for it.