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Looking Ahead :
New Zealand in Australia 2004 |
A Preview to New Zealand's
tour of Australia by Stephen Brown
In over a week the triumphant returning
Australian side who returned from a tough tour
of India, will take on a weakened but defiant
Kiwi side. Looking at both sides Australia on
paper looks like outclassing New Zealand on
their home turf ,but New Zealand comes as a
surprise packet short on experience but fired up
by Trans Tasman rivalry. The captaincy of
Stephen Fleming kept Australia to a a nil all
draw last series, so Australia will be mindful
of the captaincy credentials of Fleming.
Australia won 2-1 in India and 3-0 in Sri Lanka,
1-0 Vs Sri Lanka in Australia, so one thing for
sure, what Australia may lack is fresh legs. New
Zealand come off from a 2-0 loss to England and
a 2-0 win over minnows Bangladesh.
The Australian side will have a familiar look
about it, record breaking openers Langer and
Hayden, Ponting at 3 who is followed by sub continent centurion
Damien Martyn. The next two batting spots will
be fought out by the fully fit Darren Lehman,
the dependable Simon Katich, the enigmatic
Michael Clarke, and Gilchrist at 7. The bowling
attack will be led by McGrath and Gillespie,
while Kasprowicz and Brett Lee will fight it out
for the 3rd bowling position, with Shaun Tait
breathing down their neck. There has been a talk
that Australia may play 4 speedsters in
Brisbane, but the odds are Australia will play 3
pace men and 1 spinner. With his triumphant
return of figures of 6 for 9, all rounder Michael
Clarke may do a fair bit of bowling as well .The
spinners' position may be open and with Warne
nursing a broken finger, the obvious replacement
is Stuart MacGill or the young Mumbai debutante
Nathan Haurtiz. Nonetheless Australia goes into
the series with a strong side into the Brisbane
and Adelaide tests, New Zealand otherwise looks
shallow.
The Kiwi side is without 4 key players Cairns,
McMillan, Tuffey and Bond as well as young
opener Michael Papps. It will be interesting
which players will step up to the mark.
The dependable and gritty Mark Richardson will
open up with International discard Mathew
Sinclair. Captain Steven Fleming will come in at
number 3, and in the in and out of form Nathan Astle will bat at number 4. Scott Styris will
bat at 5, allrounder Jacob Oram at number 6
replacing Cairns, while Hamish Marshall will act
as a back up batsmen, and McCullum will bat at
number 7. The bowling attack will open up with
Franklin and Chris Martin who have both had
recent success, with Mills and Butler fighting
it out for the 3rd bowling position. Oram
will be the 4th bowler in the attack and will
be a key factor to New Zealand's success. Vettori will play a
big role in the New Zealand team with his left
arm spinners and will bowl a lot of overs, he
will be backed up by medium pacers Styris and
Astle.
Whilst New Zealand doesn’t look much on paper
they do happen to give Australia the element of
surprise, so don’t go expecting a white wash.
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