Here at Crikey, Summer begins not with the first day of December, but with the first delivery of the First Test at the Gabba.
New Zealand, for so long our bullied and tormented little brother, faces an Australian team in transition — and for the first time is potentially vulnerable.
Question marks exist over many aspects of the Australian team and barring the intervention of weather the Australians are expected to continue their domination of our Tasman rivals — but will it be that simple?
One player to watch from New Zealand is right arm swing bowler Tim Southee — a 19 year old whose potential has excited New Zealand legend Richard Hadlee. He may be a handful on a greenish Gabba deck — especially if New Zealand bowls first.
And the weather? Overnight rain has placed doubt on whether play will start on time. Keep an eye on any potential rain here (courtesy of the BOM).
What the pundits say: Fairfax’s Peter Roebuck writes that it’s time for Ricky Ponting to deliver to Australia the kind of team it deserves – competitive but fair and
Malcolm Conn, writing in The Australian, looks towards the return of Australian cricket’s prodigal son, Andrew Symonds.
Bored at work? Cricinfo’s always excellent ball by ball coverage is a must for all cricket tragics trapped in the office. And if you don’t have a dictatorial IT department then listen to the coverage live via ABC Grandstand.
Punter’s corner: Sportsbet have the Australians as $1.50 favourites, with the Kiwi’s at an interesting $2.50 (which is not as juicy as I would have thought). Value in Michael Hussey at $7 for most runs scored in the match and I do like $13 for Tim Southee as highest wicket taker.
Anyway let the games begin.
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As predicted there’s been a delay to the start of play due to the outfield being wet. Cricinfo are saying that leaf blowers are being used to dry the area directly beside the pitch.
Looks like being a 45 minute delay.
UPDATE: New Zealand just win the toss and has sent the Aussies into bat. Keep an eye out for Tim Southee — he should swing the ball — might make things interesting.
Thank God the summer has officially started. Looks like swing bowler Tim Southee is living up to the hype.
Are we permitted to nibble on a small serve of Schadenfreude with the Aussies at 3/58? Why yes, I think we are.
Southee has quickly dismissed the Australian top order (Hayden 8, Katch 10, and Pointing 4). Hussey and Clarke are doing better, but Australia is still in trouble at 3/58.
Was Hussey out?
Not playing a shot doesn’t help…
Enjoy, Firstdog. Is it just me or do Aussies not mind seeing the Kiwis do okay at cricket, whereas we can’t abide seeing the Poms do well? Seeing the Kiwis beat the English or the South Africans seems to be as much fun for Australians as for New Zealanders.
Good point Dave. I think that might change however if they get up in this series. Should be an interesting day.
DAY 2: Play’s about to get underway. The weather is beautiful and the pitch is still quite green with a few small cracks.
The Aussies will have a fantastic opportunity to the swing the ball around early — bowl good lines — and use Johnson, Lee, Clark and Watson to intimidate the Kiwis. But will it work?
The Kiwis won yesterday convincingly — they have a chance to put the sword to Australia today. Its backs to the wall stuff and Australia are being challenged on their home turf like it was the 1980s again.
What a fantastic and intriguing day ahead.
Sillly point: The Guardian’s Andy Bull describes Australia’s day as “calamitous” and Fairfax’s Peter Roebuck lauded Daniel Vettori’s daring.
UPDATE: Clark gets a wicket first ball of the day — amazing!
According to Glenn Dyer in today’s Crikey email, 458,000 people watched the first day of the First Test yesterday on television. They are very good numbers. Cricket Australia and Channel Nine will be happy.
(oh and Brett Lee just got a wicket).
Lee dismissed Taylor LBW in the first over after lunch. New Zealand are 5 down now, and it’s hard to see them getting a significant lead, if any at all, on the first innings.
New Zealand all out for 156. The Kiwis may have already had their high point of this series.
Yep — all over — NZ will be dissappointed — 58 behind. Aussies have the upper hand now. Southee will have to rip through the Aussie top order again for the Kiwis to have a chance.
What’s your highlight so far Greenthumb?
Hayden out first ball of 2nd innings. A great ball from Martin that got the egde.
Given the next highest score in the match is 40, Clarke’s 98 was very good, but my highlight so far is Vetorri’s captaincy. Sending the Aussies in at the Gabba has turned ugly a number of times for touring teams, so it was good to see him have the courage to bowl first, and then to get rewarded for it.
More generally it is good to see batsman struggling for their runs after the domination of bat over ball in the series in India.
Don’t worry, Katich will save us!
Firstdog – you might be the one eating Schadenfreude after this one.
Let’s hope so Mattyboi!
It seems it’s always Western Australians who seem to have to save Australia.
North, Marsh, Ronchi, Voges and Pomersbach need to come into this Australian team.
Disclosure: The author of this blog is a proud ex-pat Sandgroper