Australia v New Zealand 1st ODI: Australia Player Ratings

After suffering some humiliating defeats in the last few months Australia breathed a sigh of relief having started the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy 2016 with a win in the first ODI. Having won the toss skipper Steve Smith decided to bat first. Australia didn’t get off to the best of the starts with opener Aaron Finch departing for a first ball duck. But skipper Steve Smith and the lower-middle order got things back in control by some expressive batting.

Led by the skipper from the front who scored an unbelievable hundred they managed to post 324/8 from a point where they were 92/4 in 20.1 overs. Australian bowlers were up for the task as well and despite the fact that New Zealand opener Martin Guptill scored a brilliant century – 114 from 102 deliveries they pulled things back with quick wickets and didn’t let the Kiwis get along the chase despite the surface being a good one for the batters. Here we look at the ratings of the Australian players after the game.

David Warner – 4/10:

David Warner was in red hot form in the last ODI series they played in South Africa, despite the fact that they were washed off 5-0, he scored a couple of centuries in the last series and was coming here on the back of some really good performances. He lost his partner in the very first over and while a lot was expected of him all Warner contributed was 24 runs before dragging on a ball from Lockie Ferguson.

Aaron Finch – 0.5/10:

Aaron Finch’s stay in the middle was just for one ball that was the delivery he was dismissed on. The third ball of the match and the first he faced from Matt Henry, it was a 135 kph delivery and Finch chopped it on back to his stumps. It was a full delivery that moved back in but irrespective of the moment he went for the drive, with his feet unmoved in the crease. The ball took the inside edge and crashed into his stumps from the gap between the bat and his pads.

Steve Smith – 9.5/10:

Skipper Steve Smith saw three partners walk back to the pavilion without making much of a difference to the team total. He stood there, let the initial phase pass and accumulated runs as they came. He played some really unorthodox shots, the ones a Tennis player would be proud of, swatting the ball around. Once he got to his half century, runs started to come easier and after the century he started to play his shots and really pumped the run rate up.

It was Smith’s effort that took them over the 300-run mark from a point where they would have happily accepted an offer of 250. He eventually got to his 150 and bettered the best score at the SCG record previously held by AB de Villiers and was dismissed after scoring 164 with 14 boundaries and four sixes. Smith was also spectacular on the field grabbing an unbelievable catch at point to dismiss BJ Watling.

George Bailey – 3/10:

George Bailey making a comeback in the Australian team after quite a lay off batted with quite an unusual batting stance. If side-on wasn’t side-on enough he took guard with his back facing the bowler and turned as the ball was delivered. It didn’t appear like it had done a lot of good to his batting since he would really struggle to drive the ball and would certainly be slower with his timing. Bailey edged a Jimmy Neesham delivery to wicketkeeper BJ Watling after scoring just 17 runs.

Mitchell Marsh 5/10:

While Mitchell Marsh was purely unlucky with the bat, he was caught short of the return crease while backing up a bit too far out. Steve Smith hit one straight back towards Neesham who managed to deflect it to the stumps and Marsh was nowhere near. He got another opportunity to make an impact in the game and grabbed a couple of wickets removing Watling and the last man Ferguson to wrap the game up for Australia.

Travis Head – 7/10:

Travis Head played a perfect partner to Steve Smith. With the skipper playing a steady knock at the other end, Head also stayed composed to score 52 from 60 balls, it was a sixless knock quite unusual from his own standards but he did manage to send five balls rolling through the boundary ropes. His half century and the 100+ runs partnership with the skipper took Australia over 300 and towards a formidable total.

Matthew Wade – 7/10:

Matthew Wade who was in news over the last one week for not being an encouraging skipper and asking an accomplished batsman to bat lower in the order made quite a point with his quick fire inning today. He played the ramp shot, slogged the ball and made sure his brief stay at the crease did propel the team score to one that was out of the reach of the Black Caps. He scored 38 from 22 deliveries with just one boundary and three sixes.

Pat Cummins 5/10:

Pat Cummins who was making a comeback into the team having been off for quite a while recovering from injuries. After a heavy start with the ball, he got two wickets towards the end of the inning to end the game on a high. His first scalp was Matt Henry who played a cameo scoring 27. Cummins then had Colin Munro on 49. Munro went for the big shot on a slower delivery, but only managed to find Bailey in the deep.

Mitchell Starc 4/10:

The spearhead of the Australian pace bowling attack Mitchell Starc just got one wicket in the game. It was Jimmy Neesham who swung at a good length delivery but couldn’t get enough to clear the long-on fielder and Josh Hazlewood took a regulation catch in the deep. The wicket broke a crucial partnership that was just starting to worry the Australians. Neesham had added 92 runs for the 4th wicket with Martin Guptill. Starc returned with figures of 7-1-37-1.

Josh Hazlewood 6/10:

It was Hazlewood who was the pick of the bowlers for the winning team tonight. He bowled beautifully and at some decent pace and kept challenging the batsmen. He got them the first breakthrough with the wicket of Tom Latham in the second over of the inning. In the third over of his spell he struck big and this time his prey was the opposition skipper Kane Williamson. Coming back to bowl the second spell in the last part of the inning he got the wicket of Grandhomme which was the 7th blow to New Zealand and with that the hosts had almost pocketed the game even before it officially ended.

Adam Zampa 5/10:

Leg-spinner Adam Zampa was on the expensive side as compared to the bowling figures of the Aussie pacers, but in a game where close to 600 runs were scored an economy of 6.6 isn’t as bad. With the batsmen clearly going after each and every bowler he managed to grab a couple of wickets. At one stage Martin Guptill was running away with the chase scoring all around at his free will but he misjudged a flick off Zampa to be caught by substitute Glenn Maxwell. That wicket quite literally changed the course of the game. He then removed Mitchell Santner for a duck and completed his spell with figures of 10-0-66-2.