Well at least NZ have forced ponting to change his "always bat first" theory. Not that surprised really! Aus will chase down these runs no worries, unfortunately

Great to see so much go spirit in these comments - all cricket fans, no-one having a go or mentioning under-arm… y2jabroni - as an Aussie I can confirm that Watto is just about the most unpopular bloke in the country. FIGJAM would be an appropriate nickname. The main interest in the test series over the summer was in him not getting his hundred. In fact, much of this team hasn't really captured the hearts of the public, probably due to their filthy behaviour v India a few years ago. But yes, Aussie fans have no injuries to complain about. We all knew about Pups lack of ticker, but Lee is finished and Bracken only seems to be in the team so people watch the AB Medal. Heres hoping that we get a good-close game of cricket, much respect to NZ - easily the best TEAM going around, as opposed to the best group of players. Vettori for President of the World.

Posted by   on (March 08 2010, 23:59 PM GMT)

"It's probably the most important game of the series. The team that can go 2-1 up only needs to win one more to take out the series so we're trying to put everything in to this game." Thanks for that, Dan.

NZ would wipe the floor with Australia if they hadn't had such a rotten run of injuries. Aussies know that, too. They should go back to playing the Windies 12 times a year to make crybabies like Johnson and Watson feel better about themselves. Go the Black Caps - the next ODI world champions.

Loving this tour. I would rather see Aus lose in the types of games we are seeing, than watch them win game after game by 100 runs etc as we saw for most of the summer so far. Some good efforts by several players, but Daniel Vettori is just a stand out. Fantastic to see two sides go hard at each other on the field without the whining, blame, and victim mentality associated with some other international teams ...

and lets not forget the CH series last year in Australia. NZ didn't win it but they won the first 2 games, more than can be said about any of their other opposition. Test matches are a different story. NZ doesn't have a true pacey strike test bowler. Aus will dominate the tests. Neil Broom is a proven domestic player with huge scores which DOES justify selection. Its a matter of moving his game to international level. Past players like Fulton and Sinclair have similar problems, both of them are still scoring huge in domestic but play without confidence at int. level. I'm not sure hopkins is the right pick unless they really plan on keeping mccullum away from the sticks. Better to get an allrounder in there.

Ok ok, I'll give you Kiwi's credit where its due. You make a good ODI team when playin us Aussies. It is one one the best series we have especially when playin in NZ on a cold Autumn evening. I will say this though, Australia 'A' will go close to beating the top Aussie XI, the depth is so good that you would barely notice the difference.

@amdtelrunya, Gareth Hopkins may have been only averaging 8 or whatever for his ODI career, but he played very well in the 20/20 including a key partnership with McCullum, and batted well in the last ODI too under considerable pressure. And his keeping has been pretty tidy. So when Vettori talks about him having done well form few chances, it is these latest innings he is referring to. He's certainly done better than some of the so-called specialist batsmen like Broom or Ingram. The guy is nuggety and doesn't give his wicket away cheaply like certain others tend to do!

LoL boonys army, sounds like you have had a couple too many VBs on the plane there ;) some of the players you mentioned that are not avaliable have not been playing for some time, such as bracken and lee.. Clarke is out due to personal reasons also, and hasnt been in the best form in ODI format You are right in hinting towards australia having better depth, but saying Aus A will beat us when clearly thier top teams have been close to losing and hav elost games, it taking it a bit far ;) If NZ takes the series which could happen, would you still say the same thing?

I agree Its okay for NZ to say they arent able to field their first choice team due to injury. but Aussie too have the exact same problem. Convenient to not recognise this. Good series and NZ punching far above their wieght . looking forward to todays game.