1st Test...Aus v NZ

[Cow Corner]

Kiwis have won the toss and have elected to bat.
This will be one of the first series first day openers that I can't get too...off to support the boys tomorrow though.
Should be a belter of a match on a very sticky and green gabba wicket.
It was a real bummer to see Ben Cutting miss out today and carry the drinks, as a qlder he should have played.
On the other hand it is great to see James Pattinson get the nod with Mitchell Starc, I have seen all three of these kids come up through the ranks during my time as a umpire.
I am a aussie cricket fan but I have snapped up the $5.50 for the kiwis to win this test....this will be riveting test cricket in the first session!
Here comes the first ball.

[Cow Corner]

Great to see so many cricket fans here!
 
 

[ajlaird]

I'm here!

First session definitely went Australia's way after a poor start, but better line and length drew some poor shots from the Kiwis. In the second session, luckily for them Michael Clarke dropped a slips catch, and Daniel Vettori set about restoring some sanity to the innings. Points to NZ for that session.

Hopefully Australia can find the right line and length this morning and break through early. Anything under 250 would swing the game Australia's way, anything over 300 probably gives the edge back to New Zealand.

[rads]

Couldn't understand why clarke swapped ends with siddle early.  Probably the only time i have seen him shape it and look threatening.  NZ should never beat us when you look at relative populations.  The margin will tell where we are at in the real world.  Early prediction is for hughes to make no more than 20 for the match.  He is a flat track bully with a shocking technique. If the sheep shaggers put two gullys in and shape it he will struggle.  We can never be a good side with him in it.  Bonus that Johnstone the over rated looooooooooooooong term project broke a toe and is out.  I wonder which side of his camel that was?  As for Cutting, go down the local u12s with a speed gun and pick one of them.  If I wanted to watch a pie thrower all morning I would head there

[Cow Corner]

Johnson...I doubt you will see him again in a baggy green the tide is turning towards youth, he was a very over-rated bowler anyway..an athlete( javelin  i think) turned into a bowler at a later age..no wonder he is breaking down so much. Top guy but no mongrel in the tank...he is a pussycat.
Siddle is ok but  without his mongrel he would be very very ordinary indeed.
To think if all our quicks were fit Siddle would not even get a run and then Clarke tosses the first over of the new rock to Patto....lol. With regards to the swapping of ends...well clarke is a pretty ordinary captain.
Starc looked good and Cutsy was very unlucky not to get the nod over Patto...he would have taken a bagfull yesterday if picked. A lot of the kiwi wickets can be put down to ordinary strokes chasing just as ordinary balls instead of awesome bowling.
You don't have to bowl fast on the gabba to take a stack of poles.
Set up nicely for day 2!

[rads]

Do I get any points for my hughes prediction?  They give away baggy greens maybe one of them.

[Cow Corner]

Do I get any points for my hughes prediction?  They give away baggy greens maybe one of them.

..yes you do.
Strange old day.....Starc and Patto couldn't handle the 2nd day deck...it needed a bolwer with mongrel and Siddle did a great job to restrict the runs and grab a pole.
Lyon was very good...Strac and Pattinson went missing.
Would have been nice to see Vettori get a ton..threw his wicket away.
Kiwis fight back with the ball until punter hit back with some quality batting...clarke bolwed off a no ball...2 days with the last session lost to bad light.
It's all happening
Adv Aus.

[ajlaird]

Nice bowling by Lyon, great to see a spinner (yes, an off-spinner at that) doing well as the game needs it.

Clarke was lucky to be recalled to the crease when he was thought to have been bowled off the bat onto the stumps but Bracewell overstepped which was picked up on the video review!

Ponting looking good for a century, should keep him in the team as long as he wants...

Australia definitely has the advantage with the pitch flattening out and coming into the best batting day. We should be looking to get 150 to 200 in front as long as we bat sensibly.

[Retropin]

In all honesty..... Australia should never lose at The Gabba... it favours their style of cricket too much. I always look at the gabba match as an indicator as to how well the team is... lose or struggle here and you can pretty much write off the series to whoever they are playing.
a GOOD Aussie side should trounce any opposition at first test - Gabba.

Prediction.... Ponting out caught in slips within first hour todays play

[Cow Corner]

I think most touring sides are stymied to a certain degree by the wickets in Brisbane and Perth to a lesser extent. Many teamas have beaten themselves menatlly before stepping onto the field on day one.
The Gabba is firstly a new ball deck and then a spinners deck later in the match, always has been and the kiwis showed scant respect for that on day one when most of them threw thier wickets away chasing rubbish dleiverys. They are still not out of this one but they need to show some more patience with thier top order batting in the 2nd dig, I think ther kiwi bowlers are doing a good job with the resources they have.
Test cricket is a patience game not a longer version of 20/20.
Ponting is looking very good at the crease, some of his cover drives were vintage punter and his feet seem to be moving quicker.He is stil falling over a touch on the push forward but he is looking the goods, I tip a punter 100 and clarke to fall early.
I think we will prob have a lead of between 50- 100 runs.
Nathan Lyon will be man of the match for mine, I think he will grab another 3 or 4 poles in the 2nd dig.

[rads]

Hughes should never play for Australia again

[Cow Corner]

Hughes should never play for Australia again

I bet he gets another chance in hobart...that would have to be the last one though.