Australia Tour of New Zealand 2024

[asprin]

Extraordinary last wicket partnership. Wish I could have watched it live.

 

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

Glen Phillips showing McCullum what actually PhilBall looks like!

 

[asprin]

This day had everything. Fightback from Australia, collapse from NZ batsmen, getting very close to follow-on score and to cap off the day a last ball drop catch off Henry.

 

[Jay OTT]

Based on this extremely small sample size, the clear solution to our opening dilemma is to have Lyon bat #1.

 

[asprin]

Cricket on Amazon Prime is god send. No pesky ads between overs. Happy to watch shots of the ground, crowds and stats on screen instead.

 

[Aislabie]

Copying this over from a Reddit comment I posted last night:

I watched this as a neutral, but I was really disappointed by New Zealand pretty much throughout the match.

• Problems started at the start when Kuggeleijn was picked. Firstly the fact that he was there at all was just straight-up grim, but also the fact that he was selected over Santner when every pitch this NZ summer has taken turn was genuinely really strange.
• After working really hard for the first day to get even in the game at 267 for 9, some truly dire captaincy and game management from NZ allowed Green and Hazlewood to take the game away entirely. Glenn Phillips did not bowl at all in this innings despite the pitch turning a lot when Ravindra got a couple of overs and Hazlewood being a left-hander, and Phillips' Test bowling average at the time being 19.
• Awful awful batting in the first dig, apart from Phillips and Henry. Seems harsh to single anyone out, but Latham's game looks shot to pieces and Young has now played 15 Tests averaging 28. Neither is looking like the answer right now.
• A really spirited fightback in the second innings, slightly undercut by Nathan Lyon somehow scoring 41 as nightwatchman which is something you hope to avoid. More worrying was Will O'Rourke hobbling off. Also, Phillips finally gets a bowl and takes 5 for 45 because of course he does: bowling average watch is now at exactly 16.00.
• Jesus wept, the second innings was limp. Batted like they had a tee time at 1pm that they couldn't miss.

Still, any pleb can point out the problems. The hard bit is pointing out the answers. To that, I'd pick out the following:

• Opposition: Try imagining that Australia are actually Austria and that you don't have an enormous mental block about the whole thing. Or try imagining that you are actually India and have beaten this rabble before.
• Opening batters: Yeah that's a problem. I don't have any easy fixes; I can honestly think of worse options than just picking both O'Donnell brothers and sending them out to open together. Or maybe Dale Phillips? No easy fixes here though, and both Latham and Conway both earned a pretty long leash based off prior performances.
• Middle-order batters: Williamson-Ravindra-Mitchell is absolutely fine. Blundell is also the best option in NZ for his role and shouldn't be changed. I also like Phillips counter-attacking at seven, works well for batting with the tail.
• Spin bowlers: fearsome tweak it, pick two. The pitches are taking spin, while Phillips and Santner are the two hardest working and most improved bowlers in New Zealand. Play both and back them, why not.
• Pace bowlers: Southee looks absolutely cooked. Kuggeleijn shouldn't be wearing a NZ cap. Henry and O'Rourke (please wrap this man in cotton wool) look absolutely golden though. If Jamieson's fit he obviously walks back into the side, but if not then Ben Sears looks like he could be a good choice. In the case of players who are good but not super durable, consider playing them in alternating Tests, for example if you had Lockie and Sears competing for one place in the side.
• Captaincy: Southee ain't it. I'd be tempted to give it to Glenn Phillips. Bloke loves cricket more than anyone else I've ever seen, and is all about putting in whatever hard work it takes to improve his game. He also fears no opponent and understands how to take wickets against the run of play. Could be a good shout.

Southee seems tired. I still have a huge amount of respect for him, it's just that ultimately 16 years, 100 Tests and 4,000 overs take their toll.

That's okay. Give him a big send-off at Hagley, celebrate his career, and then make a fresh start afterwards.

 

[Believe]

As a Kiwi, I agree wholeheartedly with pretty much everything you just said. I personally think Southee should never have been Test captain, it should've gone to Latham. But there has been talk of Southee pondering retirement alongside Boult, and the Captaincy was a way to make him stay on... Santner has improved immeasurably in Tests, and definitely should be playing every match in NZ at the moment, these pitches of ours have been as good for spin as they get, but our stubbornness and the old "It's always green in New Zealand" has held us back hugely. Phillips at 7 I am unsure on, I think Blundell has a better mindset for batting with the tail, but there could be worse choices still. Kuggeleijn... Even though I'm not up in arms about his history, I do think we have better options for Red ball than him. Duffy would have been my first choice. Though, obviously Wagner should be there for these 2 Tests. Yes he didn't look great against SA, but we desperately need someone to step up, and though Mitchell and Rachin have the confidence, and ability, when we were down they couldn't bring us back up. Wagner can. Not sure what the answer is though, it's just our old mental block against Aus in redball. I'd say we're definitely carrying RSA's World Cup knockout tag.

 

[Bevab]

As a Kiwi, I agree wholeheartedly with pretty much everything you just said. I personally think Southee should never have been Test captain, it should've gone to Latham. But there has been talk of Southee pondering retirement alongside Boult, and the Captaincy was a way to make him stay on... Santner has improved immeasurably in Tests, and definitely should be playing every match in NZ at the moment, these pitches of ours have been as good for spin as they get, but our stubbornness and the old "It's always green in New Zealand" has held us back hugely. Phillips at 7 I am unsure on, I think Blundell has a better mindset for batting with the tail, but there could be worse choices still. Kuggeleijn... Even though I'm not up in arms about his history, I do think we have better options for Red ball than him. Duffy would have been my first choice. Though, obviously Wagner should be there for these 2 Tests. Yes he didn't look great against SA, but we desperately need someone to step up, and though Mitchell and Rachin have the confidence, and ability, when we were down they couldn't bring us back up. Wagner can. Not sure what the answer is though, it's just our old mental block against Aus in redball. I'd say we're definitely carrying RSA's World Cup knockout tag.

Yeah, that tracks with all of the rumours of Southee getting the captaincy to placate him when he was pondering going as a freelancer like Boult. The right call would have been to let him go even then.

 

[Jay OTT]

Australia going 4/34 > 7/281 is sure to be remembered as one of the great escapes in Test history. Would've liked Carey to be rewarded with the century for it, (98* and Patto stole his winning runs), but at least he's been given player of the match.

 

[Umair7]

Australia going 4/34 > 7/281 is sure to be remembered as one of the great escapes in Test history. Would've liked Carey to be rewarded with the century for it, (98* and Patto stole his winning runs), but at least he's been given player of the match.

Carey told Cummo to finish the job

 

[wasteyouryouth]

Fell asleep watching shortly after Sears double strike. Was convinced, when I woke up briefly, that New Zealand had won.

 

[Aislabie]

Fell asleep watching shortly after Sears double strike. Was convinced, when I woke up briefly, that New Zealand had won.

I think I fell asleep with 30 to win - absolutely bollocksed this morning.

Huge credit to Australia, I side where no matter what the situation, someone stands up to get shit done. Even the Shamar Joseph Test, Smith stood up - it just took a unique performance from Shamar to get every single other player first.

Some thoughts on individual players:

• Smith: is tired. His form isn't an opening issue, it's a wall-to-wall high stakes cricket since June job.
• Head: played all the highest stakes innings in all those high stakes matches.
• Carey: is still the right man for the job. If a keeper averages 30 and holds his catches, that's already excellent. Deserved a ton.
• Cummins: real captain's innings under pressure. Hats off to him.
• Young: may have played his last Test. It's unfortunate to spend your career as a perennial reserve batter. Truly thankless.
• Henry: is a god amongst men
• Southee: should absolutely retire from Test cricket before he's stripped of the captaincy and dropped (because he should be).
• Phillips: should replacw him.
• Sears: loiked completely at home at Test level, imo. Would complete an excellent pace battery with Henry, Jamieson and O'Rourke.
• Kuggeleijn: managed to bowl a maiden that went for 10 runs. Even when it's "no runs", it means "yes runs"