Australia win the Trans Tasman trophy by CricketArchive staff reporter

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Scorecard:	Australia v New Zealand
Player:	AJ Redmond, JM How, JD Ryder, LRPL Taylor, BB McCullum, MJ Clarke, RT Ponting, BJ Haddin, B Lee
Event:	New Zealand in Australia 2008/09

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DateLine: 1st December 2008

 

Australia won the second test match by an innings and 62 runs to win the series 2-0 and the Trans Tasman trophy. New Zealand starting the day at 35 for no loss were bundled out for 203. Brett lee destroyed the top order to pick 5 wickets taking a match haul of 9 wickets. McCullum was the only batsman who offered any resistance remaining unbeaten on 84. Brad Haddin was declared the man of the match for his brilliant 169. Michael Clarke was declared the man of the series for his knocks of 98 and 110 in the two test matches.

Starting the day at 35 for no loss New Zealand were reeling under the fire of Brett lee. He started off getting the wicket of Redmond getting caught in the slips.Ryder slashed at a wide one to be caught at point. Taylor was caught and bowled by Lee. But the biggest moment came when How was caught brilliantly in the slips by a one handed Ricky Ponting. The celebrations were there for everyone to see. New Zealand could never recover from these early strikes and slumped to 84 for 6 before McCullum took charge.

It was a fighting innings from the wicket keeper batsman who inspite of getting hit by Lee quiet a few times, came up with some outstanding pulls and cuts.His drives were exquisite and the sparse crowd who had come to see the match were thoroughly entertained. At the end he ran out of partners and was unlucky not to get to a well deserved hundred.

Australia with this win will be upbeat ahead of the home and away series against South Africa.Surely it will be a big one with the top two teams fighting for supremacy. New Zealand on the other hand await West Indies at home and they will be battling for the bottom positions. New Zealand would desperately want some runs from their batsman after their bowlers showed some promise in this series.