NZ Story ICC 2008 Version(Normal)

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Cheers Graham I think your message got the boys over the line!

3rd ODI vs West Indies

NZ Innings
297/6 J Ryder 117, P Fulton 86
R Emrit 2-55, D Bravo 2-56

WI Innings
289(49.2) S Chanderpaul 66, C Gayle 59
I O'Brien 3-59, K Mills 3-65

NZ win by 8 runs

An outstanding series deciding match that everything, great batting and bowling which led to great drama. A great partnership between Fulton and Ryder gave as a great total and put us in a commanding position. Unfortunately the West Indies put up a good fight with their big guns on fire for a while. Our bowlers held their nerve however and victory was secured.

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Next up was the quite lengthy tour of Australia. With more of the first class season having been completed at the time of the selection of the 18 man squad, form came into the equation. The tour schedule is as follows:

3 day friendly vs NSW
3 Tests
One Day Friendly vs NSW
Tri Series with Aus, South Africa (3 matches vs Aus, 3 vs SA + 3 match final series)

The 18 man squad has just been announced:

Openers
P Fulton
J How
A Redmond

Batsman
R Taylor
I Robertson*
C McMillan
M Sinclair
J Ryder*

Allrounders
J Oram
D Vettori
J Franklin
S Styris

Wicketkeeper
B McCullum

Bowlers
K Mills*
I O'Brien
S Bond
T Southee
M Gillespie

*these players are classed as allrounders but this is their main area.

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We will use the NSW match to try and get the test lineup into form so this team will pretty much be the test side to take on the Aussies in the 1st test.

P Fulton
A Redmond
R Taylor
J Ryder
C McMillan(c)
J Oram
B McCullum(wk)
D Vettori
J Franklin
T Southee
I O'Brien

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Tour Match vs NSW

NSW 1st Innings
319 E Cowan 66, N Bracken 53
J Franklin 4-65, I O'Brien 3-86

NZ 1st Innings
240 A Redmond 75, D Vettori 38
D Bollinger 4-40, M Cameron 3-63

NSW 2nd Innings
223/4dec M Clarke 100no, D Thornely 45
J Franklin 2-43, J Oram 1-40

NZ 2nd Innings
278/8 J Ryder 121, B McCullum 43no
Cameron 3-87, D Bollinger 2-44

Match Drawn

We batted poorly in this game, albeit against a reasonable bowling attack. Our bowling was much more impressive but ironically it was a batsman who nearly got us a surprise win. Set 302 to win in 73 overs we were struggling at 42/2. Ryder then came in and belted 121 off 126 balls to get us closer tahn we ever imagined. A flurry of late wickets however led to the chase being called off and settling for a draw. Redmond showed glimpses of the application required to open the batting at test level while Franklin's bowling was impressive, despite calls from many that he doesn't deserve his place in the test team.

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We will go into the 2nd test with the same lineup as the tour match as we are trying to build a good test lineup. The Aussies team is:

P Jaques
M Hussey
R Ponting(c)
M Hayden
S Katich
A Symonds
M Johnson
B Haddin(wk)
B Lee
S Tait
S Clark

This is a very strong batting and bowling lineup with Haddin batting at 8 and 4 quality pace bowlers in Lee, Tait, Clark and Johnson. I would just love to have 1 of those bowlers in my team!

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1st Test vs Australia at Brisbane

Australia 1st Innings
327 M Hussey 111, M Johnson 52no
J Franklin 4-82, T Southee 3-84

NZ 1st Innings
227 B McCullum 66, D Vettori 46
S Clark 4-47, B Lee 3-65

Aus 2nd Innings
465/7dec P Jaques 143, M Hussey 77
D Vettori 4-154, J Franklin 1-91

NZ 2nd Innings
345 B McCullum 117no, J Franklin 55
B Lee 5-83, S Tait 3-105

Australia win by 220 runs

Another sub-par batting performance has let us down again in a test match with Vettori, McCullum and Franklin getting the majority of the runs. To Australia's credit they bowled very well with all their seamers contributing and their top order just all class. I now have a big decision whether I keep the faith in this top order or bring in new players. Can anyone open tthe batting in this country!!!!

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I made only 1 change for the 2nd Test with the impressive Robertson(with a FC average of 66 from 11 matches) replacing the out of sorts Ross Taylor, who has averaged 25 from 6 tests this year. Robertson will slot in at 3.
The Australian side has remained unchanged.

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2nd Test vs Australia at Adelaide

NZ 1st Innings
482 J Ryder 171, Oram 125no
M Johnson 4-142, B Lee 3-107

Aus 1st Innings
536 S Katich 147, P Jaques 97
J Franklin 4-98, T Southee 3-120

NZ 2nd Innings
444 I Robertson 130, A Redmond 71
M Johnson 5-116, S Clark 3-96

Aus 2nd Innings
121/6 M Hayden 41, S Katich 22
I Robertson 2-14, I O'Brien 2-37

Match Drawn

We gained a morale victory here with 2 good performances with the bat, and a great finish with the ball means that even though we didn't win, we can still be proud of our efforts. The selection of Robertson at first drop was the catalyst for our good performance as he set up both innings well with scores of 61 and 130. He also snared 2 wickets in the closing stages with his tidy offspin to press his allround claims. An extra spinner to back up Vettori would be an excellent bonus. Johnson toiled hard on a flat deck but didn't get the support from Australia's other seamers. A great test for us but we need to perform to this level at least in the 3rd test to have any chance of victory.

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Both teams retained the same lineups for the 3rd and final test in Sydney

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3rd Test vs Australia at Sydney

Aus 1st Innings
577 S Katich 178, B Lee 111
T Southee 4-159, J Franklin 3-146

NZ 1st Innings
298 D Vettori 71, C McMillan 65
S Clark 3-70, M Johnson 3-77

NZ 2nd Innings(following on)
537 I Robertson 158, J Oram 77
S Clark 3-99, M Johnson 3-134

Aus 2nd Innings
259/3 M Hussey 117no, M Hayden 53
J Franklin 2-41, D Vettori 1-71

Australia win by 7 wickets

A bad toss to lose and a lack of bowling penetration has cost us any chance of drawing the series. We couldn't finish off the tailenders, with their 10th wicket partnership scoring 131 runs, with Brett Lee scoring 111. Our 1st innings batting was abysmal, with the top for batsman contributing 21 runs. Vettori, McMillan and Franklin gave the score some respectability but it was not enough to avoid the follow on mark. Our 2nd innings was much better with Robertson showing once again he is a class act and Fulton making a confidence boosting 71. We couldn't quite bat for long enough to save the game and Hussey made a possibly tricky chase on a turning pitch look like a walk in the park. O'Briens bowling form has really dropped off and Bond may be in line for a recall for the tri-series. Openers is still a major problem, with a major review of all NZ first class openers going to occur after the Tri Series vs South Africa and Aussie, watch out for that as I will require some feedback on who to choose. Australia to were too good in this series. They win 2-0

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With our next match exactly 1 month away, I have time to upskill my younger players using technique coaching. Players wll also travel back to NZ and play a few FC games for their province before crossing the Tasman again in early January(currently December 8th).

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We have made just 2 changes for our warm-up one dayer vs NSW at Sydney with Bond coming in for O'Brien and Taylor coming in for Robertson. Robertson performed well in the tests but he is a very defensive batsman and is not the ideal man to have batting at 3. Taylor has played very well in one-dayers this year and is a proven performer at this level. The team lineup is:

P Fulton
A Redmond
R Taylor
J Ryder
C McMillan(c)
J Oram
B McCullum(wk)
D Vettori
J Franklin
T Southee
S Bond

NSW have named a strong team with 8 of their players having represented Australia. Jaques, Clarke, Clark, Lee, Haddin, Bracken, Bollinger, Katich

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Tour Match vs NSW- One Dayer

NZ Innings
267/7(50) J Ryder 89, R Taylor 89
M Cameron 3-47, B Lee 2-67

NSW Innings
184(41.4) S Katich 49, M Clarke 31
J Oram 3-48, J Franklin 3-59

NZ win by 83 runs

The most pleasing thing about this game was the dominance which our batsman showed over the Australian bowlers in the side, Lee, Clarke and Bracken, with all of them going for over 5 runs an over with only 2 wickets between them. Taylor and Ryder put on a very impressive partnership and all our bowlers got a wicket. An impressive start to the one-day leg and hopefully we can carry this form through to the tri-series.

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Naturally i kept the same side for the 1st match of the tri-series, vs Australia. Their are question marks over Bonds bowling and our top order batting but hopefully the team steps up as we are facing tough opposition in this tournament. Australias team is:

P Jaques
M Hussey
R Ponting
M Hayden
S Katich
A Symonds
M Johnson
B Haddin
A Noffke
B Lee
S Clark

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1st ODI vs Australia

Aus Innings
288/8(50) P Jaques 120, M Hussey 46
J Oram 2-37, J Franklin 2-55

NZ Innings
289/7(47.3) R Taylor 68, J Ryder 59
B Lee 2-69, A Symonds 2-76

NZ win by 3 wickets

An outstanding chase has given us an outstanding start to the series. Going in as severe underdogs against the top ranked Aussies, they got off to a flier with their openers Jaques and Hussey top scoring for them. Jaques in particular was impressive. We did well to restrict them with a flurry of wicket through the middle and latter stages of their innings. 300+ was on the cards before some solid death bowling held the Aussies back. In reply we managed to always be up with the run-rate, and that payed dividends towards the end when we were 232/7, but only requiring about 4.5 runs an over. Franklin and Vettori both scored 30no to guide us home to victory!