New Zealand’s tour of Australia 2008 – The Review

I really was looking forward to the Kiwis tour across to Australia as the Aussies were under the pump this time after their disastrous tour to India (rather enjoyable for me, I should add). Danny Vettori has always been a fighter & i thought the Kiwis could give the kangaroos a real run for their money this time around. The teams were exciting & the prospect of a upset was definitely on the cards. but again it was not to be, as the black caps disappointed yet again.
The first test was a real good contest. Very enjoyable riveting cricket. The Kiwis bowled with great heart & stuck to their basics on a lively Gabba surface. But true to its nature the Gabba wicket did not improve & made run scoring as difficult for the tourists.
When they lost I was very angry at the Kiwis for letting the match away from their grasp but it’s hard to blame them too. The Aussie bowlers enjoyed the Gabba after months of toiling on the dusty dry wickets in my country.
Hell, it was a pretty even contest & we’ll let it go at that..

As for the second test, it was purely New Zealand’s fault that they lost.
They depend too much on Vettori, & as much as my sis adores him, he’s not superman. Letting Haddin get away to a 150+ was very sloppy. to say the least. He was attacking every ball. A good self respecting test match bowler should have got him out. It was a pretty one sided affair which i watched purely because of Lee. He was back to his menacing best & bowled as he loves to do-fast.
But there were a large number of positives for the black caps. Mccullum was brilliant behind the stumps, even though he didn’t perform with the bat. He’s a class player guys. He’ll get it right soon. Danny was good as usual. Aaron Redmond is a good prospect. I hear he’s been dropped from the squad for the tour to the carribean which i find hard to believe. Well,I won’t go on about selection politics but Jesse Ryder will definitely be a good limited overs player. I dunno about his test career.

Looking ahead, the South Africans are gonna tour Australia & lets see how that pans out. People here say the Aussies will not be as dominant anymore. It’s possible sure, but I doubt it. Just one good spinner & they’ll be back on track.
Enough for this series, but I’ll be back with more cricket soon.