Last week New Zealand took the last game of a three match series against Australia. Let's review the first match that saw a dominant performance from the Kiwis.
A night to forget for captain Steven Smith and his young Australian squad, after they were embarrassed by New Zealand on the 3rd of February this year at Eden Park in Auckland. Chasing 309 off 50 overs, the tourists were never in the run chase, losing 6 wickets before they had reached the 50 run mark.
However, this was all set up by a superb batting display from New Zealand and in particular, their openers. Martin Guptill and Brendon McCullum put on a 79 run opening stand before McCullum was clean bowled while trying to drive James Faulkner through extra cover. Williamson fell close behind for a duck, before Guptill went on to make it to the nervous nineties before being run out by Glen Maxwell in an extraordinary piece of fielding. Mitch Nichols batted solidly in the middle order before an Australian fightback left the Kiwis wondering if they had made enough.
Matt Henry and Trent Bolt both picked up three wickets to rattle the top order in the Australian innings. A typical Australian middle-order fight back got them to a respectable total before Anderson took a major break through by dismissing Mathew Wade, which lead to two consecutive Mitch Santner wickets to secure a series opening victory.
In the post game press conferences, Henry spoke about how they were able to bowl in partnerships and work together as a bowling unit. Steven smith was not so happy, stating 'I'd like to forget tonight, to be honest'. Smith spoke about his disappointment in the pitch saying that they weren't prepared for lack of swing in the pitch.
Australia took the second game convincingly before New Zealand fought back in the final game to claim the Chappell-Hadlee trophy. The teams are currently locked in an intense test match where Australia has the upper hand.
No comments:
Post a Comment