his eye is in warner

not that full, late swing but right off the mete of the bat through the covers for four

warner out for 41

pretty excellent innings from warner despite not getting a well deserved 50

new ball seen off and there could be an opportunity for the aussies after lunch

I've gotta say I know the commentators are complementing wagner but I call bs. Its bodyline and it should be no-balled

If you see wagner in the street throw a rock at his face 50 times. Apparently that makes you a great competitor (eyeroll)

(In case there are any kids reading, don't actually throw a rock at his face. That was sarcasm)

I once had someone bowl every ball short during a net session to be a jerk because the coach wasn't watching. I didn't have a helmet but I pulled/hooked every ball anyway. Fortunately i didn't get hit. People need to understand that there is a lot of machismo in cricket culture which means pressure to pretend you aren't bothered by that sort of bowling lest you come across as letting the bowler get inside your head. So all the pressure is to say "its fine, I have no problem with these tactics"

Thats why its up to the fans and media to call out these bodyline tactics. They don't make you a "great competitor" they make you a poor sportsman against the spirit of cricket

I mean people forget that these are people out there in the middle, who cares about the entertainment value. We had someone die from a short ball with full modern protective gear.  I get why we can't make things perfectly safe 100% of the time in life and the short ball is here to stay. But I've never seen the short ball used so frequently.

Whether it happens in this series or when NZ play some other team, sooner or later there will be a serious injury or worse.

ugh more bodyline after lunch

Maybe I should wish he causes a couple of non-serious injuries to the indians so the bcci have a whinge and stop this

I hope at least it gets confined to the kiwis and these anti-cricket tactics don't spread to other teams. I definitely hope Aussies don't do this, I'd have half a mind to boycott

17 off that santner over

Gday all
jj- will keep out of Paine discussion, said enough previously.
My query is re Burns - if he has another failure, is he doing enough to retain his spot?
Labu could obviously open with Warner & would you then move Smith to 3?
Wade becomes 4, then who is 5? - Head I don't think is a 5 & should an allrounder come in at 6.
Current weak spots that could be changed to strengthen the team (keeping out of the Paine discussion)
to me are Burns & Head.
Interested to hear others thoughts

Hope you all had a great Xmas & not too many sore heads

good bowling from grandhomme, back to back edges go for 4

Labu leaves a length ball to de grandhomme and gets bowled

won't be 4 in 4 but still a good innings. Still Australia in a very good position here

hope you had a good chrissy too!

Been a great pitch for cricket for good play apart from the bodyline

australia's session but nz not out of it. Its been their good cricket that has kept them in it rather than their anti-cricket tactics. If Australia get to 300 odd on this pitch it could be tough to chase down

on burns he could have failed against a weaker delivery but that delivery seemed sharply and was a beauty first ball

Gday gb
jj - If the umpires are not judging tight bowling to the body as wrong, then
theoretically there is nothing wrong with it.
If their bowling is considered within the rules, is this just good cricket on NZ's part to
stop our batsmen getting into a rhythm.
One could argue that these days with all the protection & helmets nothing wrong with it.
Bouncers are limited however they are usually body/head aimed at & we seem to think that is OK,
& expect our bowlers to serve same up, all the time expecting batsmen's helmets to save them.
Personally I don't have a problem with it & it's our turn next.

another edge for four

not easy out there

labu and smith have edged quite a bit. (Another reason to not resort to bodyline on a grassy pitch)

another edge for four against southee

soft hands to be fair straight to ground

NZ has anti-cricket tactics?

I am guessing you mean our Mitch Johnson replica at 20 km slower and close to a foot shorter?

200 up for just 3 and you would think the match and the series are slipping away from team bodyline

umpires permitted the original bodyline too

quite frankly if we do over 50% shortballs against a 6-3 legside field I'd boycott the match even though its the boxing day test match

Player safety isn't worth bodyline tactics. That would be 10 times worse for me than sandpaper gate

Interesting view, Grazor. 

I was watching at a TCA mate’s place with a lot of cricket members. They all say hello to Baggers!

I don’t think we thought the batters were threatened by Wagner’s short balls.  It was more a question of having shots restricted against shorter balls. That is my opinion anyway.

If the pitch was truer, I’d expect more players to hook and pull Wagner. 

I was impressed with Wagner and De Grandhomme’s bowling. 

Interesting thoughts, JJ. 

Regarding Burns he has played at least one huge innings this summer. 

When he gets in he he seems to go on and score big. 

It was a beauty bowled by Boult!

lol

Without Ferguson, they aren't really a serious threat.

It seems that Wagner bowls very accurate short balls and seems to hit the pitch hard for a bowler of moderate pace. So many of his balls need to be played.  Conversely, our quicker bowlers, often bowl short balls that don't need to be played or over head high at speeds of 135 - 145kph.

I think 4-250 odd is a reasonable day's return for a team put in.


Not a bad day for Aus. The Kiwis stuck to their task too.

I'm quite a fan of De Grandhomme. He would  be a handy number six for us. I'm not sure of his batting average?  He bowls a lot of tight, accurate, clever balls in a day with a lovely,  seven pace run easy action  that takes nothing out of him. 

Yeah - Dutchie is very popular with NZ test fans. He is a viable new ball option too. Gets swing and nibble.

Before this series he averaged under 30 with the ball and over 40 with the bat, with the highest sr in the history of test cricket, more than Afridi!~

Most of the world does not notice CdG...

Not much of a team-mate!

Heck of a cricketer, CDG.