'Bullying the bully' to beat Australia

OPINION: The two bites of the cherry theory is an interesting one.

Usually favoured by the captain of teams who are inferior to the opposition, it involves bowling first as a means of trying to stay in the game. The thinking being that it is better to try and bowl the other team out for a moderate total, than be knocked over for a low score yourselves.

Judging New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori's comments yesterday, it seems to be the road he favours for the Black Caps when the first match of their two test series against Australia begins at Wellington's Basin Reserve today.

"Australia always look to bat first and I suppose, in a lot of ways, we may look to bowl first if we take four seamers in," Vettori said.

That would mean a test debut for 31-year-old Brent Arnel. He has a useful first-class record of 106 wickets at 24.05, to bolster a pace attack led by Chris Martin, Tim Southee and Daryl Tuffey.

"The nature of the pitch brings Brent Arnel into the equation," said Vettori.

"I think we'll have a good hard look at it tomorrow. It'll [the pitch] have a bit of drying today but it's probably going to be a typical Wellington wicket, where it's got a little bit in it early and then flattens out to a really good test cricket wicket.

"If you look at it now, you'd say it's got a bit of greenness and a bit of moisture, so you'd look at the [four] seamers."

The brave option, and the one that best suits playing against Australia though, is to bat first and play two spinners.

Yes, the ball will nip around early, but sometimes you have to back your batters. The Australians are the best frontrunners going and if you hand them the early initiative, you will not get it back.

There is always a temptation to try and remain in the contest with them for as long as possible, which is why bowling first tends to appeal.

But if your aspiration is simply to hang in there until the fifth day, before losing, you may as well get blown off the park in three.

Gauging New Zealand's level of intent will be one of the fascinations of this series because, in that regard, they were very good in the Chappell-Hadlee one-day matches.

Individually, and collectively, the results were not always flash. But the Black Caps continually took the game to Australia.

It is not often that teams are confident enough to do that, especially in test cricket.

Yet they should, because Australia eats passive teams for breakfast.

In terms of their bowling attack, this is hardly the best Australian team to visit these shores and they should be challenged.

Former Kiwis rugby league coach Brian McClennan called it, in reference to the Kangaroos, "Bullying the Bully" and that should be the ambition for the Black Caps too.

TEAMS

New Zealand: Tim McIntosh, BJ Watling, Peter Ingram, Ross Taylor, Martin Guptill, Daniel Vettori , Brendon McCullum, Daryl Tuffey, Jeetan Patel, Tim Southee, Chris Martin, Brent Arnel, Mathew Sinclair.

Australia: Simon Katich, Shane Watson, Ricky Ponting , Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Marcus North, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Hauritz, Ryan Harris, Clint McKay, Doug Bollinger. Phillip Hughes, Steve Smith.

- © Fairfax NZ News