 The second ODI between Australia and New Zealand will be played at Auckland
on Saturday. Rather surprisingly, New Zealand lead the series 1-0 and will need
to continue with their momentum after having beaten the Aussies in the second
T20I as well.
It was not as if Australia had done something too drastically wrong
in the first ODI. It was just that the New Zealand side out-batted and to an
extent out-bowled their opposition in the Napier ODI, making it a 1-0 result
in their favour. The Australian side will feel that they were hard done by the
manner in which they failed to get a kick-on after getting a decent start from
their top-order.
Click Here to Watch New Zealand vs Australia Live Unfortunately for the Aussies, the problem has been of acceleration during
the middle overs, with Michael Clarke struggling to either score the
big runs or score them at a good pace, which means that the Aussies struggle
to get a move on. Also, one gets a sense that Cameron White could be given a
promotion up the order such that the acceleration happens even during the time
when the Powerplay overs are not on.
From the Aussie bowling perspective, one thing is for sure. And that is, if
the opposition bats well enough, they can take apart the Aussie quota for the
fourth and the fifth bowler. It was still a surprise that Nathan Hauritz
bowled only three overs, probably due to the fact that the pitch was not assisting
the spin bowlers.
For New Zealand, Daniel Vettori had missed out on the previous game, whereas
Jacob Oram had walked out during the game after bowling only seven overs with
a twisted knee. In all probabilities, Vettori will come back into the side to
lead the New Zealand team, and Oram may miss out on the rest of the series.
There is also a good chance that Oram may not be fit enough to play in the IPL
and the New Zealand and the Chennai Super Kings could be looking at replacements!
Scot Styris proved that his class is not as temporary as his form, and played
what he himself described as one of his better innings. His batting matches
his aggression and his run-in with Mitchell Johnson made for interesting
viewing. One can expect that the sparks will continue to fly in the second match.
It is not often that the Australian side finds itself behind in an ODI series,
especially not after having won 11 successive ODIs. Things could get really
interesting at Auckland!
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