Day 1 Report

Australia named Glenn McGrath as their twelth man, whilst New Zealand were forced to replace Chris Cairns after he announce his unavailability. Paceman Simon Doull came into the team further weakening a Croweless batting lineup. At Lunch Australia was 0- 67.

Thanks to: Phil.Shead (drinnen@deakin.oz.au)

Chris Cairns was given the final decision himself as to whether or not he he would play. His heel obviously suffered a reaction from yesterday's workout and he sensibly withdrew. He was also offered the option of playing as a batsman only. In the end, he was replaced by Simon Doull with Chris Harris retaining his place. Australia scored in excess of 100 in each session on a pitch which was drier than average, and gave the quicker bowlers very little help. It had a mottled, unevenly grassed look and had a bit of bounce for the first half of the day. Only in the final hour did New Zealand manage to put some break on the scoring when Boon was in the 90s and with the loss of Slater's wicket. The New Zealand effort was poor today. Only Morrison and Pa- tel bowled anything like respectably.

Morrison got the very new ball to move away, and the older one to move in but he was not backed up by the field. Taylor on 10 was missed by Pocock at 3rd slip from an fiddle outside off, and Slater on 27 by Greatbatch of an attempted late cut. But generally the new ball was wasted. All told four(?) catches went down and a stumping was missed. Ironically, Morrison himself held a very good one at point from Slater off Patel's bowling. Patel was able, as at Perth, to get a bit of drift away and a bit of turn. The Slater wicket came immediately after a switch to round the wicket.

Slater was deceived by the new angle as well as the flight and drift and sliced it. Patel also bowled a well flighted top-spinner to Boon at 1-198 which resulted in the Blain missed stumping. Earlier, Taylor was caught in the gully by one of Su'a's few good balls of the day just after he had replaced Morrison downwind. It moved away off the pitch. Su'a was the least accu- rate of the bowlers today. None of the new boys had a happy day with the ball although Doull bowled some good deliveries, espe- cially yorkers. Alas, he mixed these up with too many ``4-balls.'' De Groen bowled some tidy overs, but was caned in others, and never looked likely.

The New Zealand ground fielding was sloppy all day and this did nothing to help the morale of the bowlers. Australia batted as well as they were allowed to, and some. Their effort was very even. Boon hit most of his fours on the off side, both square off the back foot with cuts, and also off the front foot straight. But he milked an awful lot of wayward bowl- ing for ones and twos to leg. He would have been delighted to be the first Tasmanian to get a test hundred in Tasmania. Slater got 16 fours all told, mostly in the ``V,'' off all bowlers. Apart from that one chance, and a silly spell just after he reached his 100, he batted flawlessly and delightfully all day. He was always prepared to hit the half volley hard and straight. Taylor played his part in getting the innings off to a good start. Prospects for tomorrow: The general opinion of the wicket is that it will get lower and lower as the game goes on. It doesn't take much to work out that Australia will be looking to get about 650, declare, and then give New Zealand an awkward final hour. But the new ball is due, and a good first session for NZ could turn the game around.

It looked a little dodgy early on as first Pocock and then Greatbatch dropped easy slips catches but Slater was going well. After drink Su'a swapped ends to bowl with the hot NW wind at his back and he immediately got a 'Rash stroke' from Taylor and was caught at gully by Jones. This brought in BOONNIIEEEE! Things slowed down a little but it was still 1 for 104 at lunch. By Tea it was 1 for 212 or so. The most fun was when Boon got 65(6000 test runs), then the 100 partnership, the 200 and then Slater got to 99. He was facing Patel who got him out on 99 in Perth and we was obviously nervous. He hit one to mid-wicket, Boon was concerned about helping him get his century and set off for a run, ... AND fell over, he got his bat back in the crease and Slater had to swiftly regain his ground and luckily the throw from Morrison was a little high (over Blain's head!) and Slater was safe and then scored his 100. He then went a little mad and scored his next 50 from less than 45 balls I think...quite fun.

When Slater finally got out the excitement was left to watch Boon get his ton. This took a while as Mark Waugh hogged the strike, but finally all us Taswegians got what we had dreamed off - watch Boon get a century in Tassie. The applause went on for ages - (a few balls!). The crowd raced off then as it was after 6 since the poor Kiwis had been quite slow in the humid hot conditions

Thanks to : Tim Astley on r.s.c.

Australia took advantage of a placid pitch and a pedestrian at- tack to climb to 329 runs in the day. The only trouble being from Danny Morrison who had both openers dropped in slips early on, and then dropped a caught and bowled chance. With Tony Blain missing a stumping chance off Boon it was a day of missed oppur- tunities.

Slater's nerves got the better of him as he ap- proached the hundred but after he reached his hundred and just before lunch he lifted the tempo with some sloggish shots. After lunch he main- tained this tempo but with more techni- cal style before he found the only man who had a half decent game Danny Morrison. Boon and Mark Waugh took them through the stumps highlighted by Boonies century. Earlier Murphy Su'a bowl- ing his normal junk somehow got a wicket when Taylor guided a ball to Jones. Dipak Patel was the most effective of the bowlers later in the day with Morrison effective and unlucky early. The unfortunate aspect is that Dipak Patel appears to have suf- fered a knee injury and left the field late in the day.

Thanks to: Phil Shead on r.s.c.

Day 2 Report

The wicket played much as yesterday, but a few from the downwind end have started to keep low. There is a little bit of slow turn. The wind was an even bigger factor today, especially late on. It blew at gale force all day and during the NZ innings the bails had to be dispensed with. This had an effect on the ac- curacy of the bowling. The first session was an action replay of yesterday's first session. One wicket fell - caught in the gully by Jones; Great- batch and Pocock each dropped a catch; the bowling was wayward; Australia scored at will with one partic- ular batsman getting on the front foot with all the time in the world.

At lunch it was 3-470 with Australia scoring 141 from 29 overs, or almost 5 per over. Boon went early - not getting over a cut off Doull, but Mark Waugh was the star. He is one of those players whose power comes from timing and getting into position. He played shots all round the wicket because of the wayward bowl- ing, but his best shots are through the off side off either foot. He looks to play across it a bit on leg stump, but that is a com- mon fault. Fittingly, he brought up his 100 with an off side 4 on the last ball of the session. Border, by contrast, struggled for a little while but soon found enough rubbish bowled at him to get his cuts, pulls, and sweeps going. In the end he was scoring as quickly as Waugh. Both bats- men were dropped. Border was missed at 10 by Great- batch (a difficult one) at slip off the luckless Morrison, having a bit of a fiddle at a good one. De Groen finally got Waugh to hit across one on middle and leg, but Pocock at shortish mid- wick- et couldn't hold on.

After lunch New Zealand took three wickets with de Groen get- ting both his from mistimed lofted shots to mid-on. Border was out c&b to a Morrison slower one. Australia pulled out about 30 mins prior to the scheduled tea inter- val, sacrificing a harder follow-on target for a longer time at a tired dispirited New Zea- land batting line up. Australia managed 42 overs at NZ in the extended final ses- sion. They got just the two wickets and caught the NZ disease by putting down THREE catches (none easy). Greatbatch was caught early on at square leg from an uppish flick off McDermott - a spe- cial trap for him, this placing. Pocock was all at sea against most of the bowlers he faced and it was no surprise when he was lbw to Mark Waugh, playing from the crease for the umpteenth time. At 2-47, New Zealand still had a fair way to go to the end of play. With only four specialist batsmen this put enormous pressure on Jones and Rutherford. They opted for survival today, but almost fell between two stools. Rutherford was put down twice, once by Healy from an edged cut off Mark Waugh, and once by Warne at square from an uppish pull off the same bowler. Jones, too, had a life. Boon at bat-pad did well to get his hands to an edge off May but couldn't hang on. Warne only got on for four overs at the end, but posed no problems. May with his drift and a bit of turn was more effective. McDermott got the new ball to swing more than any of the NZ bowlers, and Mark Waugh also bowled well.

Prospects for tomorrow: Hobart is a city very easy on the eye. The pictures from Bellerive over the Derwent are very reminiscent of Wellington - especially one particular view. That wind is the clincher.

Australia continued on their slightly more free scoring way on the second morning of the test despite the early loss of David Boon who failed to get over a cut shot and was caught by the only man interested in catching. Danny Morrison's miserable tour was continued when he had Allan Border dropped by Greatbatch at slip when Border was on 3. This was followed by Blair Pocock matching Greatbatch's two when he put down an easy chance from a Waugh on drive. Waugh and Border took the score along easily to lunch, on the stroke of which Waugh cover drove the final ball for four to bring up his hundred. Appearing to be interested in getting the scoring rate even further but misjudged a straight on drive that lobbed easily to Simon Doull who decided to volley the ball be- fore taking the catch. A short while later Border hit a simple chance back to Morrison who finally claimed his first wicket of the match. There after followed some unnecessary verballing from both players as Border left the ground. Ian Healy played little part matching Mark Waughs dismissal. After an initial set- tling in period Paul Reiffel and Steve Waugh started lifting the tempo be- fore a surprising declaration. Suprising because the batsmen were scoring freely and so close to tea that in fact an early tea was taken. This negated any possible small period of attack the Aus- tralians could have used before tea. The early tea left a 2 and a half hour sesssion. Greatbatch started well before he flicked a ball straight to May on the legside. He appeared slightly surprised by his dismissal. Jones and Po- cock look to have the bowling in hand until just after the umpires decided to remove the bails because of the wind when Po- cock played around a ball that would have taken somewhere around middle&leg. From here Aus- tralia got a bought of the dropsies similar to New Zealand.

Early in Ken Rutherford, Ian Healy put down a relatively easy chance, he got his right glove to it but it jumped back out. Mark Waugh was the unlucky bowler, he also had Rutherford dropped on the hook, one of the most obvious ploys with Warne standing just backward of square, Rutherford who had been repeatedly bounced by Waugh fi- nally hooked one to Warne's right about waist high. Warne tho' failed to take the chance. In between these chances, Tim May bowling in the midst of a tight dozen overs between he and Waugh had Jones dropped in a very difficult chance by Boon. Jones edged the ball into his pads and the ever aware Boon moved to his left, but the ball bounced out of his hands, and away from his desperate dive. The Australian attack had seem infinitely more potent that the New Zealand attack (execpting Morrison) with Tim May and Shane Warne turning some deliveries and some from the pacemen keeping low.

Although as pointed out by the radio commen- tators, these were generally pitch outside any worring lines. New Zealand were in serious trouble in the second Test after losing two quick wickets replying to a massive first innings to- tal from Australia. At the close of the second day at the Bel- lerive Oval, the Kiwis were 81 for two in reply to 544 for six declared, with Andrew Jones on 34 and stand-in captain Ken Ruth- erford on 15 after being dropped twice. Jones was lucky to sur- vive a bat pad chance that David Boon failed to take off the bowling of spinner Tim May. Allan Border declared just before tea Australia were only eight runs short of their highest total against New Zealand.

Thanks to: Phil Shead on r.s.c.

The highlight of Saturday's play was a majestic 111 from Mark Waugh, who needed just 129 balls to bring up his century with a flashing cover-drive off the last ball before lunch. That made him the third Australian century-maker of the innings following Michael Slater's 168 and David Boon's 106. Boon was snapped up by Andrew Jones at gully off Simon Doull after adding a single to his overnight score but the Kiwis were unable to capitalise on their early success. With Border and Waugh at the crease, Australia piled on 141 runs in the morning session, helped by some ragged bowling and fielding from the tourists. Border was dropped by Mark Great- batch then Blair Pocock spilled Waugh at mid-wicket off Richard De Groen when the Australian was on 52. The pair was quickly broken as Australia lost three wickets in the space of 17 runs after lunch. Waugh was caught by Doull off De Groen and Border fell to a caught-and-bowled effort by Danny Morrison. Ian Hea- ley, caught by Doull off De Groen, also went for one before Steve Waugh and Paul Reiffel regained the momentum. Gale force winds forced umpires in the second Test between Australia and New Zealand to remove the bails for the final hour of play on Saturday. With winds gusting up to 78 kmh (approx 48 mph) continually dislodging the bails, match umpires Darrell Hair and Bill Sheahan took the unusual step of removing them altogether.

National Umpires Director Tony Crafter, who officiated in 33 Tests, said he could not remember a similar occurrence in inter- national cricket. Hair, a senior umpire for eight years, could recall removing the bails due to strong winds in a match in Sydney some years ago, but that was only a brief interlude. ``We persevered as long as we could but in the end it got ridiculous so we took them off,'' said Hair. In the event of a run out or stumping, a field- er would not have had to remove the stump, only disrupt the wick- et, he said. Border will now look to spinners May and Shane Warne to put Australia ahead in the series after the drawn first Test in Perth. The final Test starts in Brisbane on Friday.

Thanks to: vasa on r.s.c.

Day 3 Report

The Australian spinners have put Australia on top in the morning session of the test, May claimed three whilst Shane Warne picked up two wickets as New Zealand slumped to 7 for 137. Crowe's replacement Chris harris performed up to rsc expectations lasting little more than an over. Rutherford started it when in the second over of the morning he pushed forward noncomittally and the ball found the edged bounced off Healy's glove into Mark Taylor's plentiful stomach. A while later Andrew Jones play inside a straight one that took the outside edge. Healy again fumbled but managed to recover the ball. This brought new man Harris to the crease and he looked uneasy and before a ball came off his pad onto glove to mark Waugh. Dipak Patel played a ball to Taylor from Warne and just before lunch Murphy Su'a did likewise.

Thanks to: Phil.Shead (drinnen@deakin.oz.au)

The wicket played the same as yesterday a little bit of slow turn, but still a good batting strip. The wind, a cross-wind today, calmed during the day. This is a difficult day to comment on. New Zealand lost a to- tal of 13 wickets for 207 runs today, and 11 of these were to the spinners May and Warne. New Zealand's lack of depth has been mer- cilessly exposed in this game. There are 4, possibly 5, arguably 6, players of test quality in the side that NZ has been forced to field for this game. Some of the others are whole-hearted triers. It is best to leave that subject for a follow-up posting. It is not often that most of this team has had to face quality, and varied, spin from both ends. Accepting that NZ was comprehensive- ly outplayed on the day, and making no excuses for that, it is best to leave it at that and concentrate on the quality of the bowling. After all, this is what the day's play was all about.

So, what did May do? Five wickets in the first innings. The first was from the wrong end for him, the breeze not helping his drift away with the arm. He nevertheless got a loopy one to do just that to Rutherford who followed it slightly, then found it turning into him a shade. Outside edge to Taylor off Healy's gloves. With Warne on, May was able to change to his favoured end. He bowled a flatter, faster one to Jones which hurried on (possibly a top-spinner) and Jones was caught at the wicket playing defensively. Harris, the left-hander, was beaten more by the flight and was out, pad-to-bat, caught by Mark Waugh close in. May also bowled a few round the wicket to the right handers for the variety, and for the lbw decisions.

It was one of these which got Morrison. He was out to another pad-bat, but it was 50/50 whether he was lbw as well. A five-wicket bag for an off spinner would not be complete without a catch at long-on, and Warne ob- liged to remove Blain, who was taking the long handle to him at the end with the no.11 in. May also got one of the five in the 2nd innings. This was another typical off spinner's wicket - an attempted sweep which hit Patel low down right in front. May showed flight, drift, turn, variation, and, above all, control. He hardly bowled a bad ball all day.

Warne? He got five wickets in the day and amongst these were typical leg spinner classics. There was a standard outside edge to an over the wicket leg break which bounced a little (Patel). There was a stumping after a play and miss outside the off stump (Pocock). There was an arm ball down the leg side which bowled Rutherford around his legs when it hit the bowlers footmarks and spun sharply. There was a top-spinner, or ``flipper'' which hurried on and left Doull totally dumbfounded (and lbw). And just for a bit of variation he got the left-hander Su'a out with a drifter which spun back just a shade and took the outside edge. A mirror image really of May's effort against Rutherford in the first innnings. Also, one should not forget the piece of Border captaincy which got Jones out. Mark Waugh got him AGAIN for the third time in four innings. This time the uppish hook trap was set just backward of square. Waugh gave him one to hit - which he did. The next one was the real bullet, and Jones obligingly hit it straight down Border's throat. So Australia are expected to wrap this game up sometime tomorrow and NZ will have a lot of soul searching to do for the final game. But all games are different.

Thanks to: Geoff.Bethell (srlnser@*gns.cri.nz)

Shane Warne and Tim May spun Australia to within five wickets of a second Test victory at the Bellerive Oval on Sunday. The Kiwis, made to follow on after being skittled for 161 in their first innings, lost a total of 13 wickets for 207 runs on the day to close at 127 for five, still 256 runs adrift of Australia's first innings total of 544-6 declared. With the Kiwis' last recognised batsman, Chris Harris, at the crease alongside wicketkeeper Tony Blain, Australia seem certain to go one up in the series with an innings victory sometime on Monday.

All but two of the wickets to fall Sunday went to May or Warne. May, who returned 5-65 in the first innings, finished with six wickets while leg-spinner Warne entered the history books with his five wicket haul. His second wicket of the day, a Murphy Su'a's edge to Mark Taylor at slip, gave him 56 Test wickets this year, more than any other spinner. The previous mark of 55 had been shared by two other Australian legspinners: Arthur Mailey (1921) and Richie Benaud (1959). Warne advanced the record to 59 by the end of the day. But even with the final Test in Brisbane to come he will not threaten Dennis Lillee's mark of 85 wickets, set in 1981.

``If you do pass a few things from history, it does give you a buzz but I don't go out looking for those statistics,'' Warne said. ``The important thing is to be bowling well and I feel fairly confident against the New Zealanders.''

After an ignominious first innings where only Andrew Jones (47) and Blain (40) resisted to any degree, Ken Rutherford, standing in for the injured Martin Crowe, played a captain's knock of 55 in the second innings. But once he was bowled around his legs by Warne at 103 for four, any prospect of a New Zealand fightback disappeared. Dipak Patel soon followed for 16, trapped leg before by May.

Resuming their first innings at 81-2, New Zealand lost eight wickets for 80 to finish 383 runs shy of Australia's near record tally. May and Warne, the scourge of England's batsmen with 55 wickets in this year's Ashes series, enjoyed a field day on the minefield Bellerive pitch. May's 5-65 came off 31.3 overs with 10 maidens, while 24-year-old Warne captured 3-36 off 18 overs. Only a resolute display by Blain, whose rearguard 40 included four fours off one May over, helped New Zealand rally from a far lower total. May took two crucial wickets in the first hour. In his first over of the day he drew Rutherford into edging a catch to Taylor at first slip and within the hour Jones had also gone, caught behind, to leave the New Zealand tail at the mercy of the spin duo.

New Zealand, who have held the Trans-Tasman Trophy since beating Australia in a one-off test in New Zealand in 1989-90, now look sure to go into the Brisbane Test, which starts on Friday, needing a victory to retain the trophy.

Thanks to: vasa (vasa@sun.com)

Day 4 Report

Kiwis crushed by Australia

Hobart Australia trounced New Zealand by an innings and 222 runs with a day to spare in their second Test to take a 1-0 lead in the series. Leg spinner Shane Warne took the last four wickets for three runs in just 14 balls to end the Kiwis' misery at the Bel- lerive Oval. It was Australia's biggest ever winning margin against their rivals and the Kiwis' worst defeat in 221 Test matches

Thanks to: goo-chie (jdw5@*.ukc.ac.uk)