Skies clearing here in Welly, which is a little surprising 'cause we had reasonably heavy rain this morning and there was talk of a shortened game. At the moment it looks as if we'll get 50 overs each way (though with NZ weather this can never be certain..)

My other concern is the pitch which is a drop-in. Unusual for Wellington, but the NZRFU decided to schedule a Super 14 game in the same venue tomorrow. They've gone with a drop-in over their usual block to avoid the possibilty of having someone spear-tackled into the strip the following night. NZFRU do this mainly to sabotage NZC's gate sales, but if the pitch is crap and ruins the game I'm sure they'll take it as a bonus.

Conspiracies aside this should be a good game - most Chapple-Hadlee games have been so far. Lots of Aussie top string players missing for various reasons, though 'second stringers' like Haddin, Jaques etc would probably walk into the NZ team at the moment. Remember Hussey was a 'second stringer' two years ago...

I reckon both teams still have something to prove from the CB series; the Aussies weren't expecting to lose the finals, while Kiwi's weren't expecting not to be there.

Clouds gathering again now, I'm off to the ground...

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never believe anything until it is officially denied . . .

Anyone know where I can keep track of the game on the internet?

The match link: http://content-nz.cricinfo.com/ci/en...ch/251494.html

Meanwhile nz are off to a rocking start, Australia are at 31/2 with Bond bowling well.

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- VVVRulz..

Thanks.
Yeah, australia already out of batsmen, doesn't look good.
Watson is still in, but with 4 runs off 20 balls it just reitterates my opinion that he isn't a batsmen.

New Zealand are on their way to victory here.They bowled Australia out for 148 and are now 23-0 in 5.3 overs

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Karthik Venkatesan

After 10 overs,New Zealand are steady at 47-0.Good 10th over for them,2 fours and a six!

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Karthik Venkatesan

10 wicket stroll.

Aussies looked a total shambles,dropping easy catches and mistakes all over in the field.They need to sort it out quickly or the World Cup won't be defended.

What a thumping. This must surely be the biggest hiding Australia has recieved in recent times. Shows that the Aussises "think" they have depth. Nice to see Johnson smashed all over the place. I always felt that he was another over hyped player like Hodge and the very very poor Shane "I can bat and bowl" Watson.

To some up, like a guy on cricinfo said. New Zealands WC preparation is suffering due to a lack of decent competition from their opponents in the Chappell Hadlee series LOL.

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434, world record for the shortest period. Whos choking now?

and I am sure you SOOOOOO enjoyed yourself...

Vincent hitting a 6 to make it a 10 wicket victory for the Kiwis! (Yeah!!!) in only 27 overs. Vincent remains unbeaten on 73, Fleming on 70* Congrats Black Caps.

Only one more defeat, and the Aussies lose their position at top of the ICC ODI table. (to the Proteas)

Me thinks they have already lost it...