Australia tour of New Zealand - Feb 2016

[Dr Cricket]

hopefully the ball seams as well.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Nice picture on cricinfo of the Aussie thinktank on all fours trying to unlock the secrets of the Christchurch pitch, which is bright green!

[backfootpunch]

Nice picture on cricinfo of the Aussie thinktank on all fours trying to unlock the secrets of the Christchurch pitch, which is bright green!

probably mystified as to what the green stuff is, they havent seen it in a while

[GarlicJam]

Nice picture on cricinfo of the Aussie thinktank on all fours trying to unlock the secrets of the Christchurch pitch, which is bright green!

except they are still on the North Island. Next test is ChCh.

Back to Wellington for today.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Ach! I meant to check but forgot. Kiwi places mostly seem to be named after places in the uk I'm not quite sure where they are. Easy to mix up if you don't know anything about NZ.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Twenty minutes to the toss.

Unless I'm wrong.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Back to Wellington for today.

So someone's going to have to bowl into the wind...

... drawing on famous cliches about Wellington.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Brendon's 100th Test match is apparently his hundredth consecutive.

Big toss...

[Arthur Crabtree]

NO!!!!!!!!!!!

Australia win the toss and bowl.

[backfootpunch]

NO!!!!!!!!!!!

Australia win the toss and bowl.

i was deciding who to put a quid on for MOTM

was deciding between boult and bird

went with bird since the aussies won the toss even though i want new zealand to win

siddle, hazlewood and bird isnt exactly the most imposing aussie bowling line up though

i would say boult, southee and bracewell is better

[bigfluffylemon]

NO!!!!!!!!!!!

Australia win the toss and bowl.

i was deciding who to put a quid on for MOTM

was deciding between boult and bird

went with bird since the aussies won the toss even though i want new zealand to win

siddle, hazlewood and bird isnt exactly the most imposing aussie bowling line up though

i would say boult, southee and bracewell is better

Aussies have clearly gone horses for courses here leaving out Pattinson for Bird. Expecting some swing and seam.

[GarlicJam]

NO!!!!!!!!!!!

Australia win the toss and bowl.

Maybe Smith (and Co) has been conned by the greenness of the pitch.

I have heard that it is expected to be quite firm underneath and will play a lot less green than what it looks.

[Arthur Crabtree]

The Aussie coach said Pattinson wasn't fully fit.

NZ have only beaten Australia once at Basin Reserve.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63530.html

[backfootpunch]

have to say with no ross taylor NZs batting line up looks much weaker

i would be thinking get williamson out early and you have a great chance of knocking them over for less than 200

on this pitch i think i would have played matt henry instead of criag who is a bit of a pie chucker

[GarlicJam]

NO!!!!!!!!!!!

Australia win the toss and bowl.

i was deciding who to put a quid on for MOTM

was deciding between boult and bird

went with bird since the aussies won the toss even though i want new zealand to win

siddle, hazlewood and bird isnt exactly the most imposing aussie bowling line up though

i would say boult, southee and bracewell is better

I'd have to agree, but not by a huge amount. The spinning dept. is decidedly Aus'.

On paper, the two teams are quite well matched. On a greentop in NZ........?