Sports After Dark

Black Caps stumble ahead of Chappell Hadlee defence

Posted by Hamish McBrearty on December 12th, 2007

In their last warm up match before the Chappell-Hadlee Series, New Zealand and Australia met in a Twenty/20 international at the WACA Ground in Perth. Amid the party atmosphere at the game, Australia won by 54 runs on the back of a brilliant innings by Andrew Symonds.

Man of the match Symonds anchored an excellent Australian innings with an unbeaten 85 from just 64 balls and the five pronged Australian pace attack proved too much for the New Zealand batsmen to handle, finishing all out on 132 in the 19th over.

After Australia won the toss and elected to bat first, it was New Zealand who made the first break through, dismissing danger man Adam Gilchrist thanks to a brilliant catch by Jeetan Patel in the second over. Michael Hussey and Michael Clark kept the scoreboard ticking over until the fielding restrictions were lifted and once Symonds came to the crease a big score was on the cards.

Symonds was ably assisted by partners Adam Voges, who made 26, and Luke Pommersbach who smashed 15 from just seven deliveries. Pommersbach has intended to watch the game as a paying spectator but was called into the team just hours before the match after Brad Hodge injured himself in the warm ups.

The New Zealand bowlers did a good job, for the most part, but let themselves down by bowling too many bad balls, undoing all their hard work. Captain Daniel Vettori was the pick of the New Zealand bowlers, taking 1-24 off his four overs; a staggering economy rate for a slow bowler in this form of the game.

Needing a shade over nine runs an over, the Black Caps’ chase got off to the worst possible start with opener Lou Vincent dismissed off the first ball of the innings. Wickets fell regularly as the New Zealand batsmen struggled with the extra pace and bounce of the WACA pitch, at one stage sitting precariously on 5-31.

All rounder Jacob Oram steadied the ship with a rapid fire 66, clearing the boundary six times, but ran out of partners as wickets continued to tumble at the other end. Australian fast bowlers Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson and Shaun Tait all picked up two wickets, while debutant Ashley Noffke claimed three.

The match was played in front of a good sized and good natured crowd who were entertained between overs by performers on stilts, a brass band and one unfortunate Black Caps fan who was dropped into a tank of water every time an Australian batsman hit a six. Fans watching on television were also treated to some extra entertainment including interviews with recently dismissed batsmen, as well as banter between the commentators and Symonds, who was wearing a microphone while batting.

Both teams now head to Adelaide where the Chappell-Hadlee series begins on Friday with the first of three One Day Internationals.