2007 Chappell Hadlee Game 2: New Zealand chase down 337 to win trophy

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It just gets worse and worse for Australia as today they lost to New Zealand by 5 wickets, lost the Chappell Hadlee trophy and their #1 ODI ranking to South Africa. Stephen Fleming will I'm sure be on Graeme Smith's Christmas card list later this year.

Australia's innings was a huge improvement on Friday's debacle as Mike Hussey led us to an imposing 336. It was good to see Mr Cricket scoring a big innings, knocking up 105 off 84 balls (well, technically I didn't see it as I don't have Foxtel - I listened to radio coverage). His batting average had fallen to almost mortal proportions (67.5) so hopefully he can pip it back up over 70! Hodge offered great support, reaching 97 not out before running out of overs. He needs to talk to Michael Bevan about timing his run scoring - this is the second time in a few weeks he's finished a few shy of a century. Cameron White also came in at the death and smashed 42 off 19 balls - exactly what he's in the team for. As far as batting goes, things went pretty much to plan.

However, our improved batting only served to highlight our inability to defend large totals. Relative newcomer Ross Taylor continues to excite as he bettered Hussey's innings, scoring 117. This guy could be the next Martin Crowe and may torment Australia in the future. When he fell, McMillan (52 from 30 balls) and Fulton (76 from 65 balls) prevented the New Zealand's innings from faltering with some big hitting at the death, chasing down 337 with an over to spare.

It's hard to know how to react to Australia's results of late. Shall we blame Buchanan's over-training or Cricket Australia's over-scheduling? Hussey's 0% win record as captain? Chalk it up to injuries to Symonds, Clarke and Lee? Write it off as Ashes hangover? Or maybe Australia just isn't any good anymore. One thing's for sure. Punter and Gilly, get on the next plane to Hamilton!

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Posted by JC on Sun 18 Feb

5 comments

Bowling shocking today. Watson did enough and Mcgrath was good until the second last ball. Jaques dropped us the game.

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Posted by TA on 2007-02-19 00:03:10

I am not so sure about the bowling JC. It was bad allright but the small ground made it worse. And after seeing a number of threes being run in Australia, some of the boundaries today were shockingly easy. Almost like a kids game in the backyard.

And I am not sure what to make of our form. It isnt bad certainly but it isnt great either. I have a feeling it will take one good performance for the team to get back into top gear. Not panicking yet but mighty close to it.

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Posted by jethro on 2007-02-19 03:40:33

Unfortunately I couldn't watch the game or even listen to the radio commentary on the NZ innings (family get together) so I don't have a real fix on what went wrong. But it's a telling statistic that the 3 greatest run chases in ODI history are all against Australia and all happened with the last 14 months. Buck can stop worrying about our bowlers being challenged and instead figure out how they deal with it when challenged - they certainly don't seem to have any working solutions at the moment.

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Posted by JC on 2007-02-19 11:33:36

I was really happy to see that Hussey, Hodge, Hadden and White all batted well. The fact that we posted 336 with Symonds, Clarke, Ponting, Gilchrist out of the side shows great depth in our batting. Hodge has always seemed like a very focused, calm player and I think he's shown that he can really deliver if the selectors give him enough games. And from looking at the scorecard, it seems like White did a good job of making up for Symonds absence with some big hitting when it was required.

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Posted by Chris on 2007-02-19 14:33:22

AUSTRALIA ur cooked!

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Posted by sid on 2007-02-22 20:34:54

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