Day 1 at Brisbane: #facepalm #rearguard

The day can be summed up as: two decent partnerships, and an uncut screening of "How NOT to bat at the Gabba" sandwiched between them. I thought we might finally be at a stage where the batting doesn't have to rely on rescue operations from Vettori, but the top 5 apparently haven't got a copy of the new script.

As I've used twitter hashtags in the title, I suppose it's appropriate to call the day a #fail for NZ, though not an epic one. "Misplaced Bravado" is the phrase @sportzfreak used to describe NZ's, and that is bang on. The pre-match talk from both teams suggested we were looking at some brave new era for both of them, and I suspect Taylor elected to bat as a natural follow-up. In Brisbane, that translates to an intent to see off the first two sessions when the ball zips around, and reap the rewards when it flattens. Instead, tomorrow we'll have Vettori, Bracewell and Southee seeking out runs so that they might get something to bowl at.

Guptill and McCullum played pretty well in that first hour when the newcomers and Siddle were mixing up the odd unplayable ball with some looseners. Guptill then went to an indiscreet shot that was still excusable compared to what followed. Baz really ought to know better than to fall into obvious traps like the one Starc laid out, while Ryder played as though he was just off the plane, not a 175 at the Border Field. The captain might have given them the old "Fine ******* way to start a series" line, except his dismissal was the worst - with one over to go for lunch. They only guy undone by genuinely good bowling was Williamson, outsmarted by Lyon. Lyon bowled really well, but it's a bit worrying to see KW struggle given his general ability against spin.

Good thing NZ thought differently from me and went in with the extra batsman, then. Brownlie threatented to make that plan redundant by being dropped twice off square-cuts gone wrong (this from a guy who learnt his cricket in Perth?), but otherwise he and Dan batted pretty well. It helped that the pitch eased out by then.

I suppose a decent scenario tommorow would be for Brownlie, Vettori and young to hang around as much as possible, and some big hitting from Bracewell and Southee to push us over the 300 mark. Thanks to Michael Clarke and that easy chance which went down for keeping NZ in the contest, for now. Certainly a good day for the Aussies - Pattinson was sharp, and Mitchell Starc looks like he might keep his left-arm namesake out of the test side in the long run.

In addition:
1. Nice turnout at the Gabba. Good to see.
2. Around the time NZ had slipped to 96 for 5 (and the channel 9 team were discussing the prospect of folding up for 150), Ian Chappell commented that if it hadn't been for Alistair Cook, England would have been in similar strife on the opening day of the Gabba test last eyar. If this is a successful summer for the Aussies, expect many excuses for the Ashes Defeat to be gradually rolled out.