Aus vs. NZ, 1st ODI at Wellington, 19th Feb

[Seamer]

Originally Posted by Seamer

Giving the tourists hell can be fun. I did it a fair bit in my younger days when ********** and thouroghly enjoyed myself. But to do it to this Aussie team is asking for trouble. They will now use it as a motivational tool and the poor old Kiwi cricketers will pay the price. The Aussies will go this whole tour undefeated just to spite the crowd. Normally, the Aussies find it hard to motivate themselves against the Kiwis. A bit like playing your little brother in monopoly. They have plenty if motivation now.

Seems my prediction is on track. Kiwis 4-0 down and calling for psychologists. Never awaken a sleeping giant

[Chuck Palumbo]

The NZ bowling attack looks very weak without a number of key players. Wilson looks like he is clearly not up to it at international level and the likes of Tuffey, Hamilton, Mills and the part timers are getting a bit of stick and Chris Cairns who you would have expected to step up to the plate, has also been dissapointing. The only bowler that has come out of this series so far with some credit is Vettorri who has bowled some economical stuff.

They are definitely missing Jacob Oram's bowling, at ODI level he is a very effective bowler who you can usually rely on to produce 10 econimical overs. The absence of a strike bowler like Bond or Butler is also hurting NZ at the moment...it just shows that when NZ have their full strength team out, they are a match for any team in the world in ODIs, but when they pick up a few injuries, their lack of depth in their squad is there for all to be seen.

[vvvrulz]

Thats the problem with such a small ocean of players, even a New Zealand 'A' team would be somewhat mediocre. They keenly rely on a select few. In saying that, the likes of Cairns and Fleming could have done better.