Martin Crowe on his way to the century that rescued New Zealand against Australia at Eden Park in the opening match of the 1992 World Cup. Photo / NZH
Martin Crowe on his way to the century that rescued New Zealand against Australia at Eden Park in the opening match of the 1992 World Cup. Photo / NZH
We've beaten them before ... please do it again
To commemorate the most eagerly awaited ODI in New Zealand since the 1992 World Cup semifinal, we look back at some classic encounters between us and Australia at Eden Park. There have been 16 one-day internationals between the teams, and New Zealand have won only five. Please make it sixtomorrow.
February 22, 1992 World Cup
New Zealand 248 for 5 (MD Crowe 100*, Rutherford 57, McDermott 2-42) beat Australia 211 (Boon 100, Larsen 3-30) by 37 runs
Andrew: That game. The one that set us alight for the tournament, only for Pakistan ... oh never mind, let's just revel in the glory of a Martin Crowe rescue job and, crucially, the quick running and five boundaries from Chris Harris (14 off 15), Ian Smith (14 off 14) and Chris Cairns (16 off 11). We can't sneak up on the Aussies tomorrow like we did to start the 1992 tournament.
Mark: While this game is the Mac-daddy of Eden Park ODIs and historic, it is also a disgrace and the sooner the current lot supersede it the better. Fancy stuffing the great Australian team with pies delivered at 110km/h. I'm sorry but this is just not cricket. Yeah, we won and it launched the tournament for our boys and we are still dining out on it but if that is the way we want to win then I want no part of it.
February 18, 2007Chappell-Hadlee Trophy 2nd ODI
New Zealand 340 for 5 (Taylor 117, Fulton 76*, McMillan 52, Watson 3-58) beat Australia 336 for 4 (Hussey 105, Hodge 97*) by five wickets
Andrew: These were extraordinary times for the one-day game in New Zealand with well over 300 being posted and then chased down. This Eden Park special gave us a rare look at Aussie struggling to stop our chase. Peter Fulton was at 5 and Ross Taylor was at his elegant best. Sure the Aussie team wasn't at full strength and Mike Hussey had a mixture of exasperation and bewilderment etched on his face for most of the series but after beating the Aussies in Wellington in the first ODI of the series by 10 wickets (Shane Bond 5-23) this confirmed that we had a team of fighters. Notably Craig McMillan and his innings-saving 52.
Mark: Ha-ha! Hussey ya loser. Captaincy not so easy eh. Sure you got a hundred and your team a million but ya couldn't defend it, eh? Mr Cricket my backside. A real Mr Cricket surely would defend 336. And as for you Andrew, two words - Peter Fulton. The great man not only played his part in this one but had a major hand in chasing down more in Hamilton in ODI 3. You have attacked this solid Cantabrian on a shameful personal level for so long, foolishly neglecting to acknowledge his contribution to transtasman success. The All Blacks should have taken note of this series because it occurred before the Rugby World Cup of 2007 and Australia had indulged in rest and rotation and we beat them three zip. Shame Graham Henry and co took no notice of the Aussies' plight.
Andrew: Chris Nevin, the wicketkeeper/opening batsman was man of the match when he crafted a big 72 after Damien Martyn scored 116 of Australia's 191 runs. If you must quibble, Australia had already won the best of six series 4-0. The best bowler was Chris Cairns with 3-33 off nine overs, Stephen Fleming guided them home with 60 not out. I like to think Brendon McCullum was watching Nevin on TV at home and thinking "I can do that". By the way, what chance will we have of hosting Australia for six ODIs again? I'm going with "zero per cent".
Mark: Chris Nevin, eh? I was once billeted with the Nevins at the North Island Under 14 cricket tournament. It was in Wellington and it was very windy. We had McDonald's every night for dinner. (Sorry, Mrs Nevin, I know I promised never to tell but it was bound to come out one day. I feel quite relieved more than anything now.) McCullum, eh? Yeah, he got his go not so long after and ran himself out on debut. Or was it me who ran him out? Oh well, doesn't really matter, does it? Right, where were we. Oh yeah, Nevin. Nevin, Really? Wow.
March 28, 19935th ODI
Australia won by 3 runs Andrew: Here's what happened in this game:
•Australia scored 232 runs in their 50 overs.
•Rod Latham (Rod Latham!) got 5 for 32, including the Waugh brothers, Boon and Border
•Jeff Wilson played and had golden hair
•Mark Greatbatch deposited a ball that was in Tim May's hand just seconds earlier on the roof of the Northern Stand
•We needed a six off the last delivery to win
•Unfortunately Chris Pringle could only muster 2 with Gavin Larsen (54-run partnership) at the other end
•Merv Hughes bowled the final over and jokingly acted like he was going bowl an underarm delivery. He was earlier pelted with fruit at fine leg (but had no machete with him).
It was our closest loss at Eden Park to Australia.
Mark: A loss does not qualify in my book as a great encounter. But if we must talk about this game, the most significant thing about it was Jeff Wilson. New Zealand Cricket knew he was destined for All Black fame, so it made a pre-emptive strike and banged Super Jeff into the Black Caps. And he performed in the series too, but then the All Blacks got their mitts on him and he was effectively lost to cricket.
He did make a couple of cricket comebacks but he had no hair and it wasn't the same.
Pros & Cons
All Blacks psychologist Gilbert Enoka has the answer. Photo / Greg Bowker
Pros
Mark: It would be unwise to win this game. Go close, yes, and give the crowd a good spectacle, but lose all the same.
To avoid South Africa in a quarter-final it might pay not to win the group. South Africa are in the process of finishing fourth in their group, so to avoid them we need to not finish first in our group.
Let Australia and South Africa eliminate one or the other. If we finish second to Australia, we should avoid them in a semifinal.
Cricket is a game of strategy and top level cricket is akin to the most strategic game of all: last card. You have to think many hands ahead and sometimes you have to put out a five knowing your opposition has a five but you have another five to top his counter five and he ends up picking up 15.
If you threw your fives on the table at once and went, "aha, how cool am I?", then it's you picking up 15. I think you all understand what I am saying.
Cons
Andrew: Thinking about anything that you cannot control is fruitless would be the first point Gilbert Enoka makes to anyone, I reckon. Win. Always win. Always try to win.
Win all the time. Who cares who we play in the quarters because I reckon South Africa are trying desperately hard not to finish fourth in their pool so they don't have to play us.
Tomorrow is the most important game we've played since the semifinal in 1992. I would love to play you in cards one day.
