Australia made 343/5 from 50 overs.

In New Zealand’s last game against Australia poor fielding cost them a chance to win the match, something even captain Stephen Fleming admitted. In their latest outing against Australia once again poor fielding has cost them any chance to win the match. Early on in the game Daniel Vettori dropped Matthew Hayden while he was on 0, and shortly after Hayden was again dropped by Ross Taylor while on 4. Hayden went on to make 117.

Adam Gilchrist was dismissed early, falling to a good catch at cover by Jeetan Patel, but from there it was all Australia. Hayden and captain Ricky Ponting put on 200 for the second wicket taking Australia from 28/1 to 228/2 with both batsmen reaching their centuries. Andrew Symonds hit a rapid fire 24, then Michael Hussey smashed the New Zealand attack to all corners of the ground scoring 29 off 16 balls.

New Zealand’s bowling was dreadful with too many boundary balls bowled and not enough containment. All of the bowlers took a pounding at the hands of the rampant Australian batsmen except for Daniel Vettori who once again showed his class finishing with figures of 1/34 off his 10 overs, and taking the prized wicket of Hayden. The bowling attack also managed to give away 18 wides with two deliveries in one Mark Gillespie over going for 4 wides.

For New Zealand to overhaul this massive Australian total they will need their top order to fire, something it hasn’t done all summer, and for the Australians to bowl and field poorly, which also hasn’t happened this summer. The required run rate is 6.88, meaning the pressure will be on the New Zealand batsmen from the very first ball.
I won’t be staying up to watch the result as the time difference means the game will finish well after midnight. My prediction: Australia by 160 runs.

Shortly the first leg of the double header from Perth gets under way between New Zealand and Australia. Both teams are coming off convincing defeats of England but New Zealand’s top order batting woes were still evident in their last outing.

Against England, the New Zealanders lost their first 5 wickets for only 67 runs. Nathan Astle’s retirement and the recall of Lou Vincent will do little to bolster a batting line up that has struggled all summer with no batsman showing any constancy and some being woefully out of form. The Kiwi’s bowling has been good this summer with Shane Bond back to his best and Mark Gillespie as the fast bowling find of the season.

Australia have continued to roll over anyone in their way dominating with both bat and ball throughout the Commonwealth Bank Series. Neither England nor New Zealand have really tested the Australians and it is a trend that looks to continue for the rest of the series.

The Waca pitch is traditionally a very hard and bouncy pitch offering help to the fast bowlers. The Australian fast bowling stocks are extremely deep with Brett Lee, Glenn McGrath and Nathan Bracken all bowling well, while New Zealand has Shane Bond as their only real world class bowler. However, the Perth pitch can offer batsmen who are patient the chance to score a lot of runs as the bounce and pace of the wicket are consistent, despite being fast.

It looks like Australia have won the toss and elected to bat first. It’s about time Ponting won a toss! Very hot and humid in Perth today with the temperature reaching over 40. Will be hard work for the New Zealanders in the field.

Australia have gone with four fast bowlers, while New Zealand are playing two spinners. New Zealand are also without the services of Shane Bond today as the team are concerned about his back standing up to two games in three days. It appears the Kiwis are targetting the game against England on Tuesday.

Teams

New Zealand

1. Lou Vincent
2. Stephen Fleming
3. Peter Fulton
4. Ross Taylor
5. Craig McMillan
6. Jacob Oram
7. Kyle Mills
8. Brendan McCullum
9. Daniel Vettori
10. Mark Gillespie
11. Jeetan Patel

Australia

1. Adam Gilchrist
2. Matthew Hayden
3. Ricky Ponting
4. Michael Clark
5. Andrew Symonds
6. Michael Hussey
7. Cameron White
8. Nathan Bracken
9. Brett Lee
10. Mitchell Johnson
11. Glenn McGrath

New Zealand have won the toss and chosen to bat.

This seems to be a trend for New Zealand who seem to far prefer batting first. The wicket looks a good one, far better than Sydney on Sunday. Adelaide is known for its short square boundaries so there will be plenty of runs out there for the batsmen if they are prepared to wait for the bad balls to come.

Teams

New Zealand

1. Stephen Fleming
2. Nathan Astle
3. Ross Taylor
4. Peter Fulton
5. Craig McMillan
6. Jacob Oram
7. Brendan McCullum
8. Daniel Vettori
9. James Franklin
10. Mark Gillespie
11. Shane Bond

England

1. Andrew Strauss
2. Ian Bell
3. Mal Loye
4. Paul Collingwood
5. Andrew Flintoff
6. Ed Joyce
7. Paul Nixon
8. Jamie Dalrymple
9. Jon Lewis
10. James Anderson
11. Monty Panesar

As you probably might have noticed I didn’t post anything during the innings break or after the New Zealand vs Australia game on Sunday night. The reason was quite simple, I went out because I really thought New Zealand were going to get thrashed. When I left New Zealand were 4/53 and in deep trouble. I don’t think a single New Zealand supporter thought that Craig McMillan would play the way he did and help New Zealand on to a defendable total of 218.

However by all accounts poor fielding cost New Zealand the match. Without ace fast bowler Shane Bond the Kiwi attack had the Aussies in deep trouble at 17/3, but were unable to capitalise and dropped catches and missed run out opportunities saw victory slip away from the Kiwis.
Today we look forward to the battle for 2nd place resuming between the English and New Zealand. England will be without captain Michael Vaughan who is out with a torn hamstring while New Zealand’s top bowler Shane Bond appears to have made a remarkable comeback from a serious back injury. This match is an absolute must win for the Kiwis who are rapidly running out of matches in which to score points.

The experiment of playing an extra batsman against Australia appeared to fail as extra batsman Hamish Marshall was dismissed for a duck. Look for Jeetan Patel to return to the team on a turning wicket in Adelaide with Michael Mason also making room for Shane Bond. Fortunately this summer’s other experiment of Brendan McCullum opening the batting has been scrapped leaving McCullum free to hit boundaries and run quick singles towards the end of the innings.

England’s batting this summer has been very inconsistent with Andrew Flintoff often relied upon to anchor the innings. With the added pressure of captaincy on Flintoff’s shoulders today, one of the other English batsmen will need to step up and score some runs. The English bowling attack has slowly been getting better with Jon Lewis and James Anderson taking wickets and bowling well in their last outing against Australia.

I’ll be back with the teams and the toss of the coin later this afternoon.

New Zealand have won the toss and elected to bat.

Looks like an excellent wicket for batting, with a few green patches to encourage the seam bowlers. Australia have decided not to go with two spinners and left Brad Hogg out in favour of Stuart Clark, probably something to do with the green patches in the pitch. It’s an extremely hot day in Sydney today, so it will be very uncomfortable for the Australians in the field.

New Zealand have left out Shane Bond with a back injury and also Jeetan Patel, bringing in Michael Mason and Hamish Marshall. This leaves the New Zealand team 1 specialist bowler short so expect Nathan Astle and Craig McMillan to pick up the slack.

Teams

New Zealand

1. Brendan McCullum
2. Nathan Astle
3. Stephen Fleming
4. Ross Taylor
5. Hamish Marshall
6. Peter Fulton
7. Craig McMillan
8. Daniel Vettori
9. James Franklin
10. Michael Mason
11. Mark Gillespie

Australia

1. Adam Gilchrist
2. Matthew Hayden
3. Ricky Ponting
4. Michael Clark
5. Andrew Symonds
6. Michael Hussey
7. Cameron While
8. Brett Lee
9. Stuart Clark
10. Nathan Bracken
11. Glenn McGrath

Later today the 2nd half of this weekend’s double header sees Australia take on New Zealand from Sydney. New Zealand’s top fast bowler Shane Bond is still in doubt with a back injury and may not play today, while all rounder Jacob Oram comes back into the team. Oram provides some big hitting at the death as well as useful medium pace bowling.

Australia will look to continue with their rotation policy that saw captain Ricky Ponting sit out Friday’s game against England. Given Sydney’s reputation as being a good spinner’s wicket it is likely to see Australia continue to play leg spinner Cameron White and possibly bring in left arm spinner Brad Hogg.

New Zealand will continue with their spin twins Daniel Vettori and Jeetal Patel. But bowling has not been New Zealand’s problem in this series, batting has. New Zealand’s batting during this series has been poor with no single batsman consistently scoring. Ross Taylor scored 84 against Australia last time the two teams met in this series but received very little support.

If New Zealand are to win this game they need their batsmen to fire with at least one big score and several good supporting scores. Given the current form an Australian victory seems far more likely.

Australia won by 4 wicket in 38.4 overs.

Australia began their chase of England’s modest total of 155 poorly, losing wickets at regular intervals. Both Jon Lewis and James Anderson bowled extremely well getting both swing and bounce. For the first time this summer the English bowlers did not have a weak link in their attack with Anderson and Lewis getting excellent support from Flintoff and Tremlett.

Brad Hodge fell to a brilliant delivery from Anderson and an even better catch by Jamie Dalrymple at backward point, while Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist holed out to quality outfield catches by James Anderson. Michael Hussey played his usual stabilising role, collecting runs with good support from Andrew Symonds and Michael Clarke. But Hussey could only watch as wickets continued to fall at the other end and could count himself extremely lucky not to be given out caught behind. In what appeared to be yet another home town decision Hussey was given not out on a ball he clearly edged to wicket keeper Paul Nixon.

In the end though, England’s total simply wasn’t enough to defend and the result was never really in doubt. Australia made hard work of the chase but with Hussey there to steer the team home. Australia secured a bonus point by achieving their total within 40 overs, virtually assuring them of a place in the final of the Commonwealth Bank Series.

The next match is on Sunday between New Zealand and Australia from Sydney, traditionally a spinner’s wicket. This could even up the match with New Zealand likely to play their 2 spinners Daniel Vettori and Jeetan Patel. We’ll see you then.

England 155 all out after 42 overs.

England got off to an excellent start with Mal Loye looking impressive on debut. Loye made 36 runs and helped England through to 52/0 before the English batting fell apart. Between some brilliance from the Australian field and some poor batting England were rapidly reduced from 52/0 to 71/5 in 7 overs. Brad Hodge took a stunning one handed catch to dismiss Strauss, while dreadful running and an outstanding throw from Cameron White led to Bell’s run out.

Once again England left their batting hopes in the hands of Andrew Flintoff. Unfortunately for England, Flintoff was unable to repeat his batting exploits from Tuesday and was out for 27. With Flintoff out the English tail was able to add some runs but was never going to post a competitive target. Jamie Dalrymple provided some resistance, scoring 31, but the damage was done.

The English batsmen once again all looked tentative and nervous, hardly surprising for a team that has won 1 game on tour this summer. Mal Loye was the pick of the batsmen, and as the Channel 9 commentators pointed out he came into the game without any baggage. In fact he came in from the Auckland team who have been winning games in the New Zealand domestic competition.

Australia bowled extremely well with Nathan Bracken and Glenn McGrath each picking up 3 wickets. Bracken was especially devastating to the English tail who struggled to pick his slower ball. Brett Lee was fast but inconsistent for his 10 overs picking up 2 for 53.

Australia require 156 from 50 overs, or 3.12 runs per over. A paltry target that Australia will be sure to over haul before the 40th over, ensuring they score a bonus point in the competition.

My prediction: Australia by 8 wickets in the 32nd over.

England won the toss and elected to bat in today’s day night game from Brisbane.
With Michael Vaughan out with a torn hamstring Andrew Flintoff has assumed the captaincy role once more and Mal Loye has been brought into the team. Loye has been playing for Auckland in the New Zealand domestic competition before being called into the England team as cover.

Australia have rested captain Ricky Ponting, promoting Adam Gilchrist to captain for this match. Also coming back at pacemen Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath who should be able to take advantage of a fast bouncy Gabba pitch. While the pitch will be fast it plays true meaning the if batsmen can get there eye in, the runs will come.

Teams

England

1. Andrew Strauss
2. Mal Loye
3. Ian Bell
4. Paul Collingwood
5. Andrew Flintoff
6. Ed Joyce
7. Paul Nixon
8. Jamie Dalrymple
9. Chris Tremlett
10. Jon Lewis
11. James Anderson

Australia

1. Adam Gilchrist
2. Matthew Hayden
3. Brad Hodge
4. Michael Clarke
5. Andrew Symonds
6. Michael Hussey
7. Cameron White
8. Brett Lee
9. Mitchell Johnson
10. Nathan Bracken
11. Glenn McGrath

Now that everyone has played everyone else once I thought I’d post a few of my thoughts about the series so far. Here they are in no particular order.

• Will anyone beat Australia?
• Which English batsman will be injured next?
• Does anyone else hate those new Australian uniforms?
• How many more home town decisions will we see?
• Can the New Zealand batsmen put up a decent total?
• Will Brendan McCullum be moved back down the order before he loses all confidence?
• Will any bowler other than Shane Bond trouble the Australian batsmen?
• Would New Zealand or England beat an Australia C team?
• Is there another team in the world who can deny Australia the World Cup?

All in all it’s been a good series so far, and although the result is not in doubt, it is actually quite entertaining. I look forward to Friday’s game from Brisbane between Australia and England. See you then!