Otago Daily Times

Aussies aiming to bounce back

CRICKET

- ADRIAN SECONI

THE Australian and New Zealand teams were working on their golf swings yesterday morning.

But it is another type of swing Australia will need to get a grip on.

Both teams visited the Otago Golf Club for some recreation in the morning before turning their attention to preparatio­n for today’s T20 in Dunedin.

The Black Caps recorded a comfortabl­e win in the opening match of the fivegame series in Christchur­ch.

Devon Conway helped power the home team to a decent total of 184 for five. But swing duo Tim Southee and Trent Boult played instrument­al roles.

They got the ball to hoop about under lights and by the end of the powerplay the visitors were four wickets down.

Australian coach Andrew McDonald felt the game was basically over at that point.

He acknowledg­ed the ball did swing a lot. There was a heavy dew, ‘‘so we actually felt we had the better of the conditions. But we weren’t able to give ourselves a chance and ship pressure into their changing room.

‘‘You could almost say that it [the game] was well, not over after six overs, but close to probably 90%.’’

Legspinner Ish Sodhi helped finish off the Australian batting order with a careerbest haul of four for 28. But the damage was done by Boult and Southee.

‘‘Their execution was really, really good [and] they shaped the ball,’’ he said.

‘‘It wasn’t something we didn’t know about — that the Black Caps have two quality swing bowlers up front — so we had planned and prepared for that. But we weren’t able to execute and they were better than us on the night.

‘‘We’ll be looking for our batters to bounce back and we’ve got quality players at the top of the order, so we’re optimistic it will turn pretty quickly.’’

The Australian captain, Aaron Finch, fits into that category. He has compiled an impressive T20 internatio­nal record.

But he laboured during the Big Bash and he was out early in Monday’s internatio­nal.

So far this year his top score is just 18.

New Zealand opener Martin Guptill has had a lean run as well.

‘‘You are never too far away in this game. [Finch] hasn’t the greatest patch but in the last week of quarantine . . . it was looking optimistic that he would return to form.’’

❛ We’ll be looking for our batters to bounce back and we’ve got quality players at the top of the order, so we’re optimistic it will turn

pretty quickly

 ?? PHOTOS: PETER MCINTOSH ?? Not cricket at all . . . Australian­s D’Arcy Short (left) and Matthew Wade at the Otago Golf Club yesterday.
PHOTOS: PETER MCINTOSH Not cricket at all . . . Australian­s D’Arcy Short (left) and Matthew Wade at the Otago Golf Club yesterday.

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