Aus v NZ; First Test, Brisbane, Nov 5-9

[yuppie]

Comfortable in the end.

Nice to see Smith call out Starc on his behaviour.

As for Ian Smith, can not stand him commentating. He is just so whinney and biased. There must be a better NZ commentator out there.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Danny Morrison?

[Durhamfootman]

Oh the ignomy of it

not losing to Australia......... getting out to Mitchell Marsh

hang your heads in shame!

[shankycricket]

Great win. Even more convincing than the 205 run margin suggests. Even the "8 wickets lost" tally does rather injustice to Australia's batting performance. The last 5 wickets were lost when batsmen were looking to slog for a declaration. Very clinical performance all round, without a major contribution from the captain. Good to see Lyon picking up key 4th innings wickets too. Is he finally starting to mature into the 4th innings matchwinner? Very encouraging all round. Can't let the guard down though, Australia's record at Perth isn't that great in recent times (although mainly against SA) and this NZ side are known to be very resillient and have a habit of bouncing back from heavy defeats, such as in the UAE last year or England this year. Don't expect it to happen this time around but I hope Australia are on the money.

[shankycricket]

Comfortable in the end.

Nice to see Smith call out Starc on his behaviour.

As for Ian Smith, can not stand him commentating. He is just so whinney and biased. There must be a better NZ commentator out there.

Hopefully, that should silence McSlogga's "immature" jibe. Now just need him to respond with the bat in the next Test.

BTW McSlogga played a horrible innings today in the circumstances. Good for his average and "aggressive captain" reputation, very little to help the team. He showed in England this summer and again here that he clearly doesn't trust his game to play a "proper" Test innings against a good pace attack. Slightly different against legends like Ishant Sharma and Mohammad Shami.

[GarlicJam]

Comfortable in the end.

Nice to see Smith call out Starc on his behaviour.

As for Ian Smith, can not stand him commentating. He is just so whinney and biased. There must be a better NZ commentator out there.

Without a doubt, Bryan Waddle. He's great. Ian Smith is New Zealand's answer to Ian Healy - or vice versa might be more accurate. Have you heard him doing Rugby Union? Not good.

[GarlicJam]

But I agree with Smith on that one - a bit of petulance from Starc (I assume that this is about throwing at the batsman?). Stupid.

[mikesiva]

Australia won't mind McCullum flinging the bat around. They've got more than enough runs in the bank to buy his wicket. Keep letting him slog and eventually one will go to a fielder. There might be ten boundaries on the way, but with a 300 run cushion, who cares?

Out now. Don't want to criticise him as he did score 80 but it certainly wasn't the smartest of innings.

In a way, it's a typical McCullum innings...that's probably why his Test average isn't that great. He's an outstanding limited overs cricket, but in Test cricket he's an exciting but average player.

A good allround performance by Australia...surely, they must be unchanged for the next Test.

This does not augur well for the West Indies tour Down Under at the end of the year....

[Aidan11]

I see the weather didn't save NZ then.

[GarlicJam]

Comfortable in the end.

Nice to see Smith call out Starc on his behaviour.

As for Ian Smith, can not stand him commentating. He is just so whinney and biased. There must be a better NZ commentator out there.

Ah, I thought you were referring to Ian Smith. Bloody Smiths, they all look the same to me.....

Yes, it was good to see the captain publicly rebuke one of his players for poor behaviour. He didn't go over the top, but made his point. Also to have a short whinge about the bowlers not performing as well as they could have. I don't want to see him hanging dirty laundry out, but I was impressed with his openness and honesty yesterday.

[Arthur Crabtree]

A point being made is that a couple of years ago, he kept being told he wasn't aggressive enough, and had to be nastier, now he's throwing the ball at the batter (allegedly).

[dan08]

A point being made is that a couple of years ago, he kept being told he wasn't aggressive enough, and had to be nastier, now he's throwing the ball at the batter (allegedly).

Did it to Pollard before.

[GarlicJam]

A point being made is that a couple of years ago, he kept being told he wasn't aggressive enough, and had to be nastier, now he's throwing the ball at the batter (allegedly).

Did it to Pollard before.

I'd be so bold to leave out the "allegedly", Arthur.

Starc's actions yesterday were worse (imo) than against Pollard - it was appropo of nothing, he hurled the ball at the batsman, and it was a test. Pollard invited action along those lines, and it was only IPL.

[braveneutral]

Danny Morrison?

Definitely effervescent.

[Aidan11]

Yeah.