The opening test of the series got the first day of summer underway with the Aussies taking on the sheep shaggers. A new look Australian line up spent the first day in the field with three debutants donning the baggy green for the first time. Openers McCullum and Guptill replaced the velcro gloves for batting gloves and made their way to the crease confronted with the new ball partnership of Pattinson and Siddle. Pattinson impressed with brisk pace and movement in the air and off the deck, while Siddle played role of workhorse with plenty of hustle and bustle, he is a modern day Mervyn Hughes.... without the penchant for Big Macs and salted fries!! He managed to nip out Guptill to Haddin for just 13 runs.
A left handed, darked haired quick named Mitchell came on at first change and praise the lord his last name wasn’t Johnson, that bloke has dished up more loose balls than a swingers party. This Mitchell was a 'Starc' contrast to his namesake bowling with consistent swing and control; his fastest ball clocked 146 on the gun and was delivered from a height. He picked up two fortuitous wickets much in the vane of Johnson caught at point but that shouldn’t diminish his performance, he bowled with swing, pace, lift and most importantly control. He could be a star of the future....
The last prong to the attack was added to the bowling attack just before lunch... The 'Gabba' known as a fast bowlers dream on the first morning of a test was no distraction for Nathan Lyon who came on and impressed with drift, drop, bounce and spin. Like Swann of England he has a knack of dropping the ball out of the sky and exploiting lazy footwork, if he can continue his rapid improvement hopefully we will have a full time fixture in the spin department.
The Kiwi's were reeling before lunch at 5 for around the tonne.... former black cap international Chris Cairns must have gone to lunch eating humble pie after spraying the Aussies and embattled number four batsmen Ricky Ponting earlier in the week at the XXXX beer promotion in Queensland, one can only assume a few too many amber ales had impaired his judgement.
After lunch the Kiwi's staged a gutsy comeback with former skipper Daniel Vettori leading the way, apart from his impressive left arm spin he offers great value down the order with the willow in hand. It took him a while to get his batting career started but with 22 half centuries and six tonnes under his belt he has turned into a genuine all rounder. An all rounders value can be judged on whether their batting average is higher than their bowling average, with figures of 30.27 with the stick and 33.61 with the leather shows his class.
Unfortunately the day was brought to a halt by inclement weather and bad light, hopefully today’s proceedings with brighten up the day!!
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