Aussie cricketers seeking sex, err, success in NZ

KENT BLECHYNDEN/The Dominion Post

MIS-SPEAKING: Australian cricket coach Tim Nielsen will be hoping his sessions with the media go smoother than his first at Wellington Airport on Wednesday.

Relevant offers

Cricket

McCullum after another Black Caps batting blitz India struggle past Sri Lanka for Tri-Series win Afghanistan to play first ODI against Pakistan Broken finger puts Dean Brownlie out for month Michael Bates set to make Black Caps debut The magic is back for allrounder Jacob Oram Auckland into domestic one-day cricket final Bell tolls as England seek cricket improvement Proteas extra motivated to whitewash Black Caps Auckland upbeat on sudden-death Otago tie

It might be a long five weeks in New Zealand for Australia's cricket coach Tim Nielsen.

Nielsen fronted the media on the team's arrival at Wellington Airport today and, after a polished start before the cameras and microphones, got himself a fraction tongue-tied.

"To be honest, we haven't had a huge amount of sex... um, success, the last two times we've travelled here," he said, to some muffled guffaws.

Hard to believe when you consider Shane Warne and his cellphone were part of the 2005 tour squad.

Nielsen grimaced, forced a smile then continued, undaunted: "We lost in 2007 and we might have even lost in 2005 so we're looking to right the ship here on this tour and keep our run going."

Maybe that bodes well for New Zealand's single women in the next few weeks.

The coach recovered strongly, with no more references to the s-word, then farewelled the tv and radio types with a sheepish grin: "Could you wipe the sex bit, I don't really want the wife hearing that."

Too late. They were off and gone, and perhaps gleefully on the phone to their editors.

In Nielsen's defence, it was a late night in Sydney as his side hammered the West Indies in the final Twenty20 match, then an early start to catch the flight to Wellington, so lack of sleep may have been to blame.

For the record, the Australians swept all before them (on the field) in early 2005, winning the ODI series 5-0 and the tests 2-0. Later in the year they returned for the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy and led the three-match series 2-0 before New Zealand chased down 332 in Christchurch for a consolation win. They then whitewashed the Aussies 3-0 in New Zealand in 2007, before Ricky Ponting's side went on to win the World Cup.

- NZPA