Key events
3rd over: New Zealand 11-0 (Latham 8, Young 3) Starc is straight, looking to get one to spear into the pads. Young keeps him out and clips for two into the leg side off the last ball of the over.
2nd over: New Zealand 9-0 (Latham 8, Young 1) Josh Hazlewood shares the new orb. Will Young is watchful, allowing the ball to pass through and defending off the front foot when required. A nudged single off the last ball sees him get off the mark/pinch the strike.
“Evening James”
And to you, South London’s Andrew Cosgrove. Maybe we are on the same street?
“Don’t listen to Wignall. He’s right about gibbons, but baboons very definitely are monkeys. I don’t have anything to contribute to the cricket discussion (yet).”
What about a funky gibbon? Billy Gibbons? I’m being a daft apeth.
1st over: New Zealand 8-0 (Latham 8, Young 0) Mitchell Starc begins with the new ball. There’s decent carry and some nice movement in the air too. Tom Latham – face daubed in white zinc – opens the face and runs a length ball wide of gully for four. New Zealand are away. Shot! Nothing more than a defensive push from Latham to an attempted yorker from Starc, the ball evades mid off and runs away for four. Two boundaries off the first over, plenty in it for bat and ball.
Richard Hadlee rings the bell and gives a hearty wave, he looks trim and fit, almost like he could do a job with the new ball.
Geoff Wignall has put me and my preamble firmly in our place.
“Sorry James, but neither gibbons nor baboons are monkeys. They’re apes.”
I stand corrected… said the man in the orthpedic shoes.
The players emerge under cloudy blue skies for the anthems. Ben Sears looks like a nice bloke. Well, of course he does.
Batting first at Hagley Oval after a toss win for Pat Cummins. Ben Sears (Cap #287) to make his Test debut and Tim Southee and Kane Williamson become the fifth and sixth New Zealanders to play 100 Tests 🏏 Follow LIVE in NZ from 11:00am with @TVNZ+, DUKE, @SENZ_Radio. #NZvAUS pic.twitter.com/Gvg3BAEWWY
— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) March 7, 2024
“Love these Tests!” enthuses Daniel Kalucy in the OBO mailbag. “Perfect timing for those working the late night euro bar job. Which is obviously why they’re held!”
Absolutely. I’ll have a Guinness Dan, and chuck in some of Jamie Dornan’s chiselled good lucks for good measure why don’t ya? Oh and a bag of bacon fries. Do you have them?
So, New Zealand will have the chance to post a score and set up the game. They’ll have the small matter of Australia’s gun bowling line up steaming in on a green top to negotiate first thing.
Best coin toss ever! You could have heard a pin drop as the entire ground went dead quiet. No exageration – zero noise. Followed by a groan from kiwi supporters. #NZvAUS pic.twitter.com/rddxMAVKun
— Anthony Sherratt (@AnthonySherratt) March 7, 2024
Teams:
Australia unchanged once again. New Zealand have replaced the injured O’Rourke with the debutant seamer Ben Sears.
New Zealand 1 Tom Latham, 2 Will Young, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Rachin Ravindra, 5 Daryl Mitchell, 6 Tom Blundell (wk), 7 Glenn Phillips, 8 Scott Kuggeleijn, 9 Matt Henry, 10 Tim Southee (capt), 11 Ben Sears
Australia 1 Usman Khawaja, 2 Steven Smith, 3 Marnus Labuschagne, 4 Cameron Green, 5 Travis Head, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Alex Carey (wk), 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Pat Cummins (capt), 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Josh Hazlewood
Australia win the toss and will… bowl
Pat Cummins calls correctly and sticks the Kiwis in.
Ten minutes or so until the toss. More than enough time to dig into this piece about Steve Smith’s velcro mitts and the joy of catching. Written by some quill wielding oik called James Wallace?
Me either.
It is bright and clear in Christchurch. The pitch has a green hue but don’t be fooled too much by that, it’s normally a belter for the first few days at least. Kiwi bowler Ben Sears looks set to make his debut. Poor old Mitchy Santner.
No real intensity in Mitch Santner’s training this morning. Looks like New Zealand are sticking with Scott Kuggeleijn with Ben Sears making his debut #NZvAus pic.twitter.com/OOsOP77FG1
— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07) March 7, 2024
Preamble
James Wallace
Hello and welcome to the day one OBO of New Zealand v Australia from Christchurch’s Hagley Oval.
“It is nice to get the monkey off the back” said Ireland’s Test captain Andrew Balbirnie a few days ago after his side notched up their first victory in the format with a six wicket win over Afghanistan at Abu Dhabi’s Tolerance Oval.
Ireland’s historic victory came at the eighth time of asking, which is actually pretty darn quick in the grander scheme of things. Seven losses though was enough for Balbirnie to be summoning the imagery and heavy burden of the primate in his post match press conference. Which begs the question: if seven losses on the trot is a monkey (or an ape!) – a medium sized gibbon rather than a burly baboon say – then what exactly is one victory over your neighbouring rivals in the last 30 years?
Last week’s 172 run loss to Trans-Tasman rivals Australia only added to New Zealand’s woeful record against their beefier bigger brother. Since their five wicket win in Auckland way back in 1993, the Kiwis have conquered those in baggy green on one solitary occasion – an arse nipping seven wicket win in Hobart in 2011. Forget monkey, New Zealand have a hulking great albatross complete with green and gold bill tethered round their necks, squawking with glee and defecating down their back*.
The next five days will see New Zealand get their last chance of sticking one back to Australia in Test cricket for at least a couple of years and what better way to do it than in the game where former and current captains Kane Williamson and Tim Southee reach their 100th Test match?
Australia are vulnerable in the batting department, the spotlight particularly is on a chronically out of form Marnus Labuschagne and a sputtering Alex Carey. The bowling though? Australia’s bowling attack is ridiculous. Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood and Lyon have been good enough to bail a mis-firing batting card out time and again over the home summer.
There’s plenty to get into then as we tick around to the teams and toss in Christchurch. Play starts at 11am local/9am AEDT and 10pm here in London. Jim here on the tools for the first half of the day before Angus Fontaine tags in later on. Please do Email or tweet @Jimbo_Cricket with your musings and missives. Righto, let’s take the plunge, shall we?
*Apologies if you are reading this with your muesli, it is post watershed where I am in the UK. Squawk!
