2nd Test NZ vs Aussie - Wrap up

As I said yesterday we need to make a mental note NOT to hassle Mitchell Johnson next time he is here.  I put forward a motion that the phrase "Johnson's a wanker!" gets banned forever!

The enevitable crumbling of the NZ batting order was completed yesterday at the hands of Mitchell Johnson and we were soundly beaten again by the Aussies. 

Yes we need to get better.  Yes we want to beat the Aussies.  No we are not good enough.   That's the bottom line - we are just not good enough to beat the Aussies in a test match.  I don't buy the view that we just need to apply ourselves more because the reality is we just don't have good enough players to compete with Australia.   The fact we haven't beaten them in a test since 1993 is clear evidence to that fact.

Should we throw in the towel?  Absolutely not!   We are definitely not good enough but we should strive to improve ourselves in order to become more competitive.   But at the same time we need to be realistic.

To me, our biggest weakness is our bowling attack.  To win test match cricket you need to take 20 wickets and against quality batsman we struggle to do that.   Ricky Ponting pointed exactly to this issue where he indicated the biggest difference between the sides was NZ's lack of a strike bowler.  He said he has the luxury to call on three different bowlers who can bowl 140km /hr + at any given time while at the moment NZ has none.   

The injured Andy McKay may provide some light at the end of the tunnel in this regard but it must be said that we generally lack quality bowlers in the first class scene.  I see Peter Ingram who was all at sea against the Aussies came back into our domestic competition and scored 178.  That is a clear indictment on the quality of our bowling stocks.

I think if we take a look at the Australian tour there were some real highlights for the Blackcaps.   Brendon McCullum's (he bought me a Heineken once) century at Christchurch in the second 20/20 was magnificent.  That innings along with Southee's blockhole bowling ensured we drew that series 1 all.

The ODI's were generally disappointing for NZ particularly in light of our success over the past few years in these encounters.  After we won the first match on the back of a Ross Taylor 70 it was pretty much downhill from there.  Thanks to Daniel Vettori we nearly got there in the second match only to fall 12 runs short before we were outplayed in the third match.   The fourth ODI in Auckland has to be one of the most disappointing batting displays of the summer.  McCullum and Guptill rocketed out of the gate only to see the rest of the batting order collapse once again thus handing the game to Australia.  We restored some pride in the final game and it was finally good to see our bowlers take wickets  (Bond and Southee both got 4) to dismiss the Australians for 190.

The only real highlight of the first test match was McCullum's century in a match that Aussie smashed us by an innings.   The second test match saw an outstanding first innings bowling effort led by Southee and Vettori with 4 wickets each.   Taylor smashed an oustanding 138 but had no support from the other batsmen.  The bowlers were then subjected to a torrid time as Australia amassed 511 runs.  It was a forgone conclusion from there as we put up little resistance to finally lose by 176 runs.

Blackcap's player of each series (in my opinion):

20/20's: Brendon McCullum - the century was simply outstanding
ODI's: Scott Styris - initially not wanted by the selectors, he came back in and averaged 49 with the bat
Tests: Ross Taylor.  Excellent century and averaged 51 for the series.

Overall player of the series has to be Mitchell Johnson.  He consistently took wickets at key time and was the chief destroyer for the Aussies.