Excellent piece, Michael. I would disagree only on one issue - Hughes' problems after his change of technique appear to be quite similar to that of Haddin

Lovely article Mr. Jeh. I couldn't agree more with you. Off all the chaps in the side, Haddin is the one most overdue for the axe. At 34, he isn't exactly a bright prospect and he's gifted his wicket away once too often in the recent past. To me, he's the one who ought to go rather than Ponting/ Hussey.

The Indian batting may be serious in its approach and might get runs but the their bowling stocks look thin in Australian conditions. Zaheer bowling 40 overs in the Boxing Day test? Unlikely. Ponting and Hussey failing again and again? Unlikely.

Nicely put - "this Australian team is vulnerable"

By the way, almost everyone lambasts Indian cricket (including Tony Greig - on air during this Aus-NZ test) - but absolutely everyone forgets (or ignores) the fact that Indians watch more cricket than anyone else on the planet - and not necessarily Indian Cricket.

I know more of my friends (Indian) who followed the Aus-NZ (and Aus-SA before that) tests than the India-WI one-days. With the time difference. This globalization of interesting cricket is owed all to Australia (and their downfall from dizzy heights). Watching international tests, rather than my own nations' one-days, or even domestic cricket - lamentable at one level I suppose, but I believe, that's good for Test Cricket.

Mate, that is a good piece of writing. Hope you write more on Ind Aus tests. What will be intresting to see is if India will try to change thier 'Lose our first Test' syndrome against 'BBL prepared' Aussies. At least the host can rely upon India's record of never even trying to win thier first Test on tour.

Isn't it possible to turn the man of the match award given to Warner into a fan favorite award and officially name Bracewell the man of the match.

dont sack ponting.. let him choose his retirement date.. he deserves it

Love the way all the comments (bar one) revolve around India v Aus. Seeing this is a blog about a test series between NZ and Aus. Seems the Indian fans are just as blinkered as Aus fans. Why not just have a Indian and Australian forum and let the rest of us discuss world cricket.

"I'd like to think Australian cricket fans (as opposed to fans of the Australian cricket team)"

YES

Katich arguably ditched a tad too early. Australia could do with his solid temperament and technique at the moment. Hughes has signed to play county cricket which is a brave and smart decision. He will get worked over, especially early in the season where the ball swings around corners, it will make or break him.
The Aussie top six hasn't looked this vulnerable since the mid 80's, a combination of old players on the wane (ponting,hussey) and young players not quite up to scratch yet (khawaja,hughes). Haddin too appears to be at a crossroads, Tim Paine must be close to becoming the new gloveman. Also a pretty long tail if Johnson doesn't play. Only the new clutch of quicks is making other nations sit up and look. Interesting times for Aus cricket.

This Aussie tour could be the last chance at redemption for the Indian team after this summer's debacle. If two out of the trio click consistently and if the openers can do a decent job, this team can be pretty competitive. I am going to be optimistic on the bowling attack. Remember that in England, the bowlers did a far better job than the more experienced batsman. In the first two tests, the Indian bowlers were much better than the final scoreline suggested. The problem was in sustaining the intensity - an off-color spinner didnt help - and in taking out the tail. Again, with Zaheer carefully preserved for short spells and Ishant performing the workhorse roles and no one getting injured, this attack could actually perform.
As a sideshow, it is going to be interesting to see the likes of Tony Greig laying into this team at the slightest pretext,SMG losing all objectivity in commenting, and the likes of Gautam Gambhir and Virat doing something reckless on the field.

i think the Aussies have just lost their aura. To be honest their aura has been on the wane since 2007/8. That does not make them any weaker. They still have good batsmen and some very good bowlers. On the Indian team turning out on the boxing day test match - the older guard know that this is their last tour to Australia. They would like to sign off with a victory. But the bowling I think is simply not experienced enough. On Tony Greig talking trash about India - he often puts his foot in the mouth. Mr.Greig seems to forget his gaffes that come back to bite him with interest.

Too early to decide how good Doug Bracewell is.His bowling was not so impressive in Brisbane.Hope Kiwis build up confidence from here on and provide a good contest every cricket summer.I feel Tim Southie should be dropped and Vettori after comes in.Boult seems to have some Venom in his bowling

I guess the issue of spectators in the ground and online (TV, internet) should be discussed more. In my opinion, dearth of on-ground spectators should not be considered as the demise of test cricket because there are much more people watching it around the globe.

Ihe IPL set Indian cricket back by about a decade. The travel from Kochi to Jaipur and Kolkata to Pune -- such varied weather conditions in India, a high number of T20 matches with its own brand of intensity, flat wickets, and a packed schedule. IMHO, Indian bowlers' performance was certainly affected (even if contrarians argue that bowler-injuries are not a product of IPL). I hope the Australian authorities know what they are taking on with the BLL. Pat Cummins, Pattinson and Siddle are good news for cricket. But administrators in the 10 Test-playing nations simply aren't.

Although obviously you can't argue too much with a century, especially in fairly difficult conditions where nobody else managed one, I didn't think Warner's batting inspired much confidence. He always looked like getting out. He also didn't seem to make a very good job of farming the strike when batting with the tail-enders. They seemed to get more of the strike than he did, in fact. The only connection with farming that I noticed when he was partnered by tail-enders was the agricultural nature of the wild heaves he was playing at nearly every ball. How he managed to carry his bat in that innings I'll never know.

After a tough series in SA, Australia were expecting to just turn up against neighbors NZ, and worst still anticipated the Kiwis to roll over, wither and die owed largely to an old reputation, which is quickly vanishing and how, of being ruthless champions. But that was not to be. The Australian wickets fell in rapid succession after lunch thanks to some fantastic swing bowling from the NZ. Let's face it, for the Kiwis it was like bowling in Dunedin as the conditions were similar to that of Hobart with the afternoon sea-breezes off the Derwent River assisting the swing. Hobart was as perfect a setting NZ could have hoped for, and they used the conditions to register their second-only win against the Australians in Australia.

Traditionally, Hobart has also helped bowlers who know how to swing it. No one could know these conditions better than Ben Hilfenhaus, a swing bowler himself, who played his first ODI at Hobart, also his home ground, to to get his maiden wicket of McCullum.

Would have been nice if this piece was posted before the match started.

we observe that Australian Team is suffering from pride. Now the lean period has started for Australian, like what happened to West India. Fortunately, now country is in a dominating position like Australia, which made watching cricket boring.

Now because of a match with South Africa earlier, and ,now this match, test matches will become interesting. More spectators will come to grounds to see the drama. After all, it is a sport and one should enjoy the twists and turns of the game. Only this type of grounds will reveal the steely abilities teams and players to withstand and survive.
India's to face the music in Australia. If one remember's what happened in England and one can imagine the results. India is again depending on Sachin, Dravid and Laxman, probably will not tour Australia again.

Let us hope the upcoming series will be lively and interesting. It always happens in every series somebody's fate is sealed and others open. Let us see who it is from both the teams.

Man of the match decided by public poll? Would they be using the same method during the India series as well? All the Indians will vote for Sachin, and Aussies won't get anything. Remember, Indian cricket fans outnumber the Aussies by a BIG margin. Oh wait, they won't let Indians vote. What a joke! Why have a popularity poll for it to begin with? Might as well replace the DRS with a similar public voting to decide if the ball pitched outside leg stump or not.

The loss was less of a surprise than our win in SA to be honest.
Looking forward to India, it is good to see Australia have set themselves up superbly to target Sachin's Achilles Heal - getting out to rookie bowlers. That said - my money is on Sachin to get his 100th hundred in Perth - his 187th test.

A pithy,insightful and blunt style of article. Mike keep writing your articles. It provides tremendous satisfaction to readers like me.

Isn't it possible to turn the man of the match award given to Warner into a fan favorite award and officially name Bracewell the man of the match.

I really enjoyed the contest and stayed up late to watch the final moments. I have been following all test playing countries for long time. It seems to me that Australian team does not have that type mental toughness and batting skills that those make them such an invincible team in 1990's. I think this is good for exciting test cricket.

Mike you forgot to highlight the fact that Aus was lucky in brisbane to get out

Indian bowlers will bring aussie batsmen back to form.Don't see potential in their bowling attack. Their spinners won't be as effective as they were against windies at home.

having watched the game. warner did have a good knock. but i counted 18 play and misses and 1 dropped catch during his innings. so without his knock they would have been in a sorry state and whatsmore hes a very lucky boy to go on and score a 100,and get the motm award.

very well written article, im really looking forward to boxing day

very well written article, im really looking forward to boxing day

Have to agree with most of what you had to say Micheal but would like to add that i think that if New Zealand had batted better at the Gabba they might've walked away with a test series victory and not a drawn series. That said the Aussie youngsters shows much promise and i look forward to how my fellow countryman will shape their futures as their coach, especially Pattison, Cummins and Warner.

Correction it's BBL circus, not BLL circus.

Hobart presented New Zealand with home-like conditions, and they won!!! Isn't that to take away from New Zealand's genuine achievement,especially in light of the till now impeccable Aussie Test record at Hobart?

When it comes to the Ind-Aus series, two things worry me. First, I don't think India has the bowling to get 20 Aussie wickets in a match. Even if we can get through the top order, the likes of Haddin, Pattinson and company will prove to be very difficult to dislodge for a (by-then) tired attack with no genuine quicks. Second, my nightmare scenario for Boxing Day is MS winning the toss and - as has happened so many times in the past with India and with other visitors to Oz as well- opting to field first, and spending the next two days chasing leather. We have to hope that either MS loses the toss (as he so often does) or has the guts to say we'll bat, never mind the conseqs.

Wow! What arrogance! (1) Its good we lost because we were previously so high and mighty that everyone was losing interest. Now, thanks to us again, we've done good to the world and revived interest in the game - by losing. You are welcome, world. (2) Although New Zealand sucks, it was a greenish Hobart deck that obviously helped them by simulating home-like conditions - so really, we didn't REALLY get beaten by #8 at home. (3) We have the best domestic system in the world. So our bad players aren't a result of bad selection or a reflection of the deteriorating domestic standards, but just bad form. He'll get over it. On another note, interesting to see Australians making excuses in advance - "oh, we had the BBL, so we weren't quite prepared!"

Lets concentrate now on Ind-Aus series, good thing coming out from Aus-NZ matches is that Aussies can be vulnerable, they have new faces but their advantage i
s home pitches. Indian players must put in little extra effort with bat and fielding, they can be the Aussies in Australia. Our bowlers know to swing the ball, that is more important that the speed of 140 or 135, the bowler who can hit the deck more often will get the wickets, i wish Irfan Pathan had gone with them, he looks a much improved swing bowler, he showed it against WI. I am hopeful this Indian side will do wonder this time.

Great article, nice to see the NZ team given some credit instead of simply bashing the Aussies like most of the media seem to have done. Also great to see how much support we have from people in India, really nice to know there's international interest in our cricket :)

really nice article here, honest and transparent keep it up, two thumbs up bro

Top notch article, the world isn't coming to an end for Australian Cricket. The impact of the Argus Report will lift our international performance, it just may take up to 5 years for this to happen.

Cricket Australia have a lot to answer for in regards to the way they have commercialized the game to its own detriment. Picking a 17 man test squad before the 1st Ashes test instilling doubt in everyone's mind, scheduling the BBL smack in the middle of the domestic season meaning no first class cricket for nearly two months (how on earth are they going to determine who is in form and who is not should they need to make the inevitable changes to their test line up in the Indian series?), split innings in the domestic one day competition making the game into something that doesn't even resemble ODI's or T20I's (thank heavens they saw the light - well almost) and the final insult - viewers choosing the man of the match - PLEASE. I'm all for people power but this is beyond a joke.

This team got to be the most UNINVINCIBLE Australian Team.

finally a good, well written piece that doesnt blame the result entirely on the australians. and in paticular ricky ponting

Seriously, all the comments about anything to do India are bloody annoying. I'm not anti-Indian by any stretch of the imagination, but this test DID NOT INVOLVE THE INDIAN CRICKET TEAM! Aman's comment on Indian viewers was certainly interesting, and a welcome change from parochial Indian keyboard warriors and Australians wanting to focus "on the real thing".

Why does Warner deserve the MOM? He scored a century on a raging greentop, that's why! Both Bracewell and Warner positioned their respective teams for the win, but Warner did it against the odds. If Bracewell had taken those wickets on a flat dustbowl, I'd change my tune.

Great article mate...

I feel sorry for Hughes, he made a bucketload of runs in Sheffield Shield with his weird batting stance and shuffle to the leg side, so it was working for him. He then went and played in South Africa and made two huge hundreds, but the second he was out cheaply in a couple of innings (i.e. 2009 Ashes), everyone blamed his technique and he was sent packing. I would like to see him go back to the shuffle towards leg as it does work for him, and ignore all the know-it-all commentators. He seems to be in two minds at the moment about whether to have a traditional technique or play like he always has.

How come in the rest of the world, the Test grounds are empty, but in England, you can't get a Test match ticket to save your life!

"All New Zealand have done is to remind us that this Australian team is vulnerable. Very vulnerable. And that's good for cricket."

Don't agree with that at all. That's just a line that Aussie cricket bashers use.

Nice Article.
Australia need not worry too much about their batting form. Indian attack is a medicine which has transformed many ordinary batsmen into great ones. With new ball bowlers bowling at 125 kph, and the spinners bowling slightly slower, things are not going to be as difficult for the Australians as they were at Hobart.

Excellent piece mate. You are right on the money. It's all good for World Cricket. Hope India keeps up the good work done by NZ and beats Australia. That will spark a HUGE interest in test matches. For test cricket to survive India needs to go back to #1. Cos BCCI>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>ECB. LOL.

You are right. This pitch was the closest New Zealand could find to home conditions and they seized the opportunity with both hands, while Australia was found wanting and losing four wickets for close to nothing in the middle did their chances no good. I think Haddin has completely lost it and with both Hussey and Ponting failing Australia needs a better wicket keeper and a more solid batsman. I think Australia should look carefully at Ponting and Hussey though both may come good as the Indian bowling is a bit untested at this point in time though I expect Ashwin at least to do well. Australia should feel happy that all the youngsters whether Cummins, Pattinson, Lyon and Warner have done enough to justify the faith the selectors have in them. I think Hughes is really, really suspect against top class seam bowling but where is the top class seamer in India given the fact that Zahir is just returning from injury? Great contest in the offing and the team with better bowling will win

The argument against BBL and IPL sometimes doesnt hold that much substance. Warner and Ashwin are 2 examples that comes to mind. Both are T20 products, that too from playing in the leagues which feature less international and more 1st class cricketers. It is hard to imagine Warner playing even ODIs for OZ if not for his rise through T20 cricket. We sometimes make cricket look like rocket science. In the end it is a battle between bat and ball that takes place between 22 yards in the middle and few inches between the ears. Any talented player with good cricketing skills and sound temperament will thrive irrespective of the format.

India has the edge because of their batting strength and its quality. In bowling, both teams have good fast bowlers and I think both teams are even on that front. Though Indis is most likely to prevail, I would expect a well contested series

South Africa won one Test against OZ as did NZ; may I criticize the scheduling of just two test matches in a series? What are countries trying to do? Kill Test cricket by having even numbered Test Series only? What on earth happened to Odd numbered Test Series? What is wrong with 3 and 5? Is everyone so afraid of losing? What kind of sport encourages a tied Test Series again and again? Now India is 4 is that right? I find it amazing and frankly a little fishy. It just does not make sense to an old-timer like me used to Pakistan vs England 5 Test Matches. As far as NZ congratulations for a truly gutsy performance winning without your Captain and best all rounder. Vettori would've been worth 50 runs let's see Oz win without their Captain oops wrong analogy as for India their bowling is not as good as NZ and no where near as good as SA so don't get your hopes up. Don't worry, maybe you can bat out four draws. Now there's a great advertisement for Test Cricket. Stick to 20/20 or ODI's.

I would have recommended this on facebook but for the lack of provision to do it. Its the same story again and again right, batsmen failing to cope up to some lively conditions for a change.

Ind vs Australia promises to be a cracker with everyone licking their lips in anticipation.

What do you expect if the Aussie crowd is given the chance to nominate the man of the match? Do you think that the Aussies will agree to indian crowd nominating the man of the match for matches played in India. Bracewell was robbed. CA are a bunch of idiots to think that the Aussie crowd would be fair. Take the case of Murali.After all the jeering and bad comments, by the Aussies the Aussies want him to coach.Ha Ha Ha

As much as the Aussies seem vulnerable, they are playing India at home. With Zaheer not having match practise the load will be between Ishant Yadav and Aaron , which looks to be a bit thin. Ashwin may enjoy the hard bouncy pitches, as he is a Kumble like bowler, but that is that. Kumble became venomous over the years and with experience. On that count its early days for Ashwin. AS bad as their current form might be, I believe Ponting and Hussey will come good in this series. Warner is in the Sehwag mould. Clarke more often than not clicks against India if not with the bat , with ball. And unlike the Indian tail, the Aussies pack a sting and a bite in theirs ..so its going to be tough going for India

Nicely written Michael! As a die hard fan of the traditional type of cricket (meaning test matches) I could not agree more! Of all the comments, Siva's are the most pertinent. If, Zaheer, God forbid, lets India down again in the middle of the match with an injury or something and leaving them with three bowlers, I am going to SCREAM! And wish that the selectors do not let him anywhere around an Indian team in the future.

Justin, interesting conclusion you draw from this article. It was never intended to come across like that but you obviously read it that way. Chip on shoulder mentality springs immediately to mind but I'll banish the thought. A chip on both shoulders would provide good balance! There's a job in politics beckoning if you become really good at twisting words and adding your own spin.

Very good article Nz wickets nothing like Hobart Aussies have always struggled on seaming wickets and the swinging ball.Hobart was supposed to suit aussie pace attack but they bowled too short whereas Bracewell was more patient and bowled a consistent line and length as would hae McGrath if he had been there Look at Bracewells for the match 9wicketsfor 60 runs.If nz had held their catches and Clarke had been out on 23 that result could have been alot closer at Brisbane .Now that Warne isnt here to bowl on the last day the wickets may have to be a lot greener to assist your pace attack

Australia are the most watchable team in the world right now, Pakistan have lost their crown! Any thing can happen at any time..... both to them or the opposition...are they going to come good? are there still champions still in the team, are the young guns going to amaze? who will be dropped? why keep with so and so! hell I could go on and on forever and still wouldn't know any of the answers until the end of each game.... up too the last ball even!
Should be a major TV drama series instead of test matches.

As mike said, coulda looked different if Katich had been on the team in Hobart.

Parts of this article I disagree with as a Blackcaps fan....there is a misconception that NZ pitches are all seaming greentops which is simply not true...most of our wickets are very similiar to aus pitches..bouncy, fast and a little movement....I hate how everyone is saying nz played out of our skins in hobart....we bowled well no doubt...Bracewells spell was superb....but we batted poorly-Aussie just batted worse-7 runs worse...Looking foward to when our top order clicks and shows the class which they didnt show in oz....

Great article. Your observation on the way the batsman are playing (on the up, away from their body) is spot on. It is easy to blame this on T20, ODI cricket, etc., which may have some merit, but to me the issue is more fundamental. It would appear that the mindset "to be positive and play your shots", cascaded through all ranks of cricket in Australia does not come without its downfalls. Sure, it is great to follow this mindset when you are batting on flat decks all the time, but it's a different story on a green top. In testing conditions, while it can pay dividends sometimes to keep the same old mantra (Michael Clarke's 150 in the 1st test in SA while all the others struggled was quite something), it can equally have disasterous consequences ([insert Australia's recent double digit innings vs. PAK, ENG, SA here]). Grafting an innings is a test of your character requiring patience, courage and determination. Just hope the "new school" coaches today aren't forgetting to teach this

At last, smoenoe comes up with the "right" answer!