New Zealand v Australia: First Test Preview

All supporters look back longingly to the good old days when their team won every game and ask "where did it all go wrong?" For New Zealand fans the golden age is easy to recall as it took place either side of Millennium Eve, a two nil victory in the test series against the West Indies being followed by another clean sweep in the ODI series.

Where did it all go wrong? Simple. The boys in green and gold showed up, winning four ODI's to one, all four victories by margins ranging from comfortable to easy. In reaction some New Zealand cricket fans, displaying a memory span of which a goldfish would be ashamed, have called for mass changes in the team and a culling of the selectors.

The start of a three test series, the first between the countries in New Zealand for seven years, gives the Black Caps the chance to restore confidence. Sensibly, continuity of selection with the test team that has won three of its last five series has been maintained. Changes from the squad that won the Boxing Day test against the West Indies are limited to the return of injured parties. Matt Horne replaces Gary Stead as opener. Simon Doull comes in for the injured Dion Nash, whose bowling and assertiveness will both be sorely missed.

Three players dropped during the course of the one day series, Spearman, MacMillan and Parore, keep their places in the test team. Of these the biggest questions concern wicket keeper Adam Parore, whose keeping in the one day series suggested that he was marketing a new line of boots and gloves made of concrete. His replacement, Chris Nevin, kept well and scored a fifty in the win in the final game.

Parore's defenders have made much of the fact that he claimed more test victims than any other wicketkeeper in 1999. As he played four more tests than any other gloveman last year, this figure tells us little. More relevantly, his batting average for the same period was only 17. A solid performance will be needed if he is to retain his place for the rest of the series.

Australia, on the other hand, have such a profusion of talent that injury makes the selection process easier. Damien Fleming hurt his knee in the warm up game at Hamilton, so Brett Lee will share the new ball with Glenn McGrath. Damien Martyn plays his first test for six years as replacement for Ricky Ponting.

Other selection issues will be determined by the nature of the Eden Park pitch. It was said to be very dry three days before the game and there is no doubt that it will turn. The only question is 'how early?' Off spinner Paul Wiseman will partner Daniel Vettori for the Black Caps. Shayne O'Connor is the likely twelth man.

Colin Miller, who turned the ball sharply in Hamilton, joins Shane Warne for the visitors. Few players have shown the ability to bowl at test level in two styles, fewer still change in mid-spell as Miller can.

Warne should get the opportunity to take the five wickets needed to overtake Dennis Lillee as Australia's leading test wicket taker. Vettori needs nine more to reach the hundred mark, though he misses being the youngest ever to this landmark by a few weeks.

In the one day series the Kiwis appeared somewhat in awe of the Aussies. It is vital that they play their own game, treating the opposition with a respect earned by performance on the day, not by reputation. So are there any encouraging signs for them?

Australia have had problems against the turning ball in the sub-continent in recent times and might not relish chasing a reasonable total in the fourth innings. Winning the toss would be a good move for Stephen Fleming. In Cairns, MacMillan, Fleming, Astle and Sinclair (current test average 214) New Zealand have batsmen who can adopt a positive approach and take advantage of Eden Park's short and eccentrically shaped boundaries. They are good enough to exert pressure through excellence in the field, though did not do so in the ODI's.

For all that, anybody predicting a New Zealand series victory might as well add an order for a strait-jacket. The Australians combine strength in all departments with immense self-belief. No other team would have recovered from 125-5 to score 369 to win a test, as they did against Pakistan at Hobart in November.

That victory was one of a consecutive run currently standing at seven. An eighth would equal the record of Warwick Armstrong's team of the early 1920's. For a team with a commendable sense of its own place in cricket history, this will provide added motivation, as if any were needed.

The Auckland match also marks the debut as a test umpire of Brent 'Billy' Bowden. A flamboyant, demonstrative character, Bowden umpires as if he is the son Dickie Bird never had. This season he has quietened down considerably, getting more decisions right than most of his colleagues. He deserves his chance at the highest level.

A final point. The teams are contending for the unromantically named Trans-Tasman Trophy. What about renaming it after Clarrie Grimmett, the New Zealander whose leg-spinners took 216 wickets for Australia in only 37 tests between the wars?