Auz V NZ ICCCT match

[Richard Jenkins]

Good weather and looks like a crunch match;
Who ,will get the chop, Lee or Mcgrath?
Play starts soonish. post your comments/queries/ideas/bragging/congratulations here.

[Richard Jenkins]

Lee ,Harvey and Hogg aren't playing today, Ricky ponting calls correctly and decides to field/bowl.
Play is at the Oval, a fairly bouncy wicket, flat and will take some turn .
Well all eyes on Flemings performance .

[Richard Jenkins]

H Marshall is the new batsman in

McGrath to Astle, out Lbw!!, fuller length ball and nipped back in, Astle came on the frontfoot and looked to on drive it and got trapped .

After the end of the seventh over, its 32/1

[Richard Jenkins]

Second wicket goes
Marshall out for a duck, he'd been hit the ball before, LBW to McGrath
new batsman styris
37/2 off 9.0 overs

[Richard Jenkins]

Styris is Caught by Clarke out for a duck and its 49/3 off 13.0 overs
G McGrath 7.0 - 0 - 27 - 3
J Gillespie * 6.0 - 1 - 22 - 0
C McMillan is new batter in.

[Richard Jenkins]

Flemings gone for 29, caught by gillespie at mid on, Kaspers first wicket in his first over
J Oram comes in, takes a cheeky single, 50/4 off 14.0 overs

[Richard Jenkins]

Deary deary me, the wheels have come off,
Oram C and B by kaspa and its 79 for 5

cairns comes in, and is out LBW! omg its amazing, kaspa on a hat trick, and its 79/6 off 21.4 overs

hattrick ball then, Harris is in.
Kasprowicz to Harris, 1 run, good length on the off and moving away, gets on the front foot to defend, outside edge falling just wide of Ponting, !! very close !!, ball goes to third man (crickbuzz)


well it's going to be tough now 4 NZ to get a sore on the board. need to settle down and drop anchor for the remaining overs

[Zainub]

It was business as usual for the Aussies today. They win so many matches like this - by just doing the simple things right. Often when you bowl in helpful conditions as did today Australia when early on the pitch was a bit damp most teams will end up trying too hard. When they should be just trying to bowl in the same area 6 times in a row they try to be over smart and out fox the opposition (e.g. world cup final). Australia today however, did just the opposite; despite the relative flier the Kiwis had got themselves off to, there were no signs of any one pressing the panic button. There were no dramatic bowling changes, nothing fancy, just the plain old fashioned waiting game. If any other new ball bowler would have gone for 18 in his first 3 overs most captains would take him off - not Ricky Ponting, and especially not if the bowler is Glenn McGrath. Result in showing just a bit of patience; the experience of over 200 one day appearance for Pigeon pays off as he bowls what turns out to be a match winning spell in the end. When batting often when you chase down small totals and you lose an early wicket it sends the cats amongst the pigeons (e.g. 3rd Nat west Challenge ODI India vs. England) but not with Australia. What do they do? Same thing again; just wait for the opposition to make mistakes. As easy as it gets, 3 good partnerships and you end up winning comfortably with over 12 overs to spare. This for me is where Australia are so far ahead of any one else - mentally- . They hardly seem to be affected by the pressure of the situation. They just play it cool, and instead transfer back all the pressure there is on the opposition.

Classic win this, typical Australia.

[NZBeth]

I knew this might happen. Damn! Australia do it again. Oh well, all eyes on the other team now I guess. I knew it was a tough pool to be in with Australia. It always was going to be a make or break game. No use reassuring myself that we beat them last time in the ICC championship trophy. All the best for the rest of the tournament.

[Big Merv]

Glenn McGrath and Michael Kasprowicz picked up three wickets apiece as New Zealand set a disappointing 198 for 9 after losing the toss. Andrew Symonds then crashed an unbeaten 71 from only 47 balls, with four sixes, to guide Australia to victory with more than 12 overs to spare.