Aaron Finch and Ryan Carters have broken a 92-year Australian record passing Edgar Mayne and Bill Ponsord’s first class opening stand of 456 in an extraordinary day of criket.
The duo, playing for the Cricket Australia XI piled on the pain for the touring New Zealand side at Blacktown bringing up the record in just 113 overs.
Finch reached a double century at the end of Day 1, while Carters brought his up after an hour on Day 2.
New Zealand’s woes were made worse by the fact that gun fast bowler Tim Southee only bowled three overs on Day 1 and didn’t return on the second morning due to sickness.
It meant the Black Caps ended up using 10 bowlers before lunch including back up wicketkeeper Tom Latham.
Spin bowler Mark Craig had the biggest workload and toiled for 31 overs and finished with figures of 0/127.
Both Finch and Carters also passed their highest first class scores on Day 2 as they started to up the ante to six runs an over. Finch smashing seven sixes in 288 not out.
As the batsmen continued to keep the scoreboard ticking over, the world record first class opening stand of 561 between Waheed Mirza & Mansoor Akhtar in 1976 looked within reach.
But with the score on 503, Carters was caught behind for 209 off the bowling of Latham (his maiden first class wicket) and the Cricket Australia XI immediately declared the innings with Finch missing out on the triple.
While it was a great milestone for the pair to reach it was, perhaps a little disappointing that the likes of Ashton Turner and Hilton Cartwright didn’t get a chance to show their potential.
After a horror day and a session in the field captain Brendon McCullum reportedly tried to double declare both New Zealand’s innings due to the state of the pitch.
Cricket Australia later released a statement saying The tour match was actually abandoned after an agreement between the two teams due to the pitch condition.
“Preparation of the wicket was compromised by poor weather conditions in Sydney early this week,” Head of Cricket Operations Sean Cary said.
It means New Zealand goes into next Thursday’s first Test with little match practice for the batsmen under their belts. Cricket Australia said it’s working on a way to give the Black Caps another hit-out.
The Bush
Roar Guru
If he'd been told that, it would have taken three years for him to declare...
Perry Bridge
Guest
Yeah - the openers had already laid their foundation by knocking up 300 odd on day 1. Can't begrudge them whatever got thrown at them after that!! (irrespective of the state of the pitch). Certainly the images of the pitch show barely a blade of grass - looks like rolled mud that was flaking as though it'd been the base of a puddle. Not sure that's supposed to be what a day 2 cricket pitch looks like - even my backyard half pitch that I mow into the lawn looks more solid!!
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Look, the more I read about it the more I think NZ may have been right not to bat on it. Whether it was a deliberately rubbish pitch, who knows?
Bobbo7
Guest
Ronan, when mud is coming up like that in chunks the quick ball can be very dangerous. NZ stopped bowling quicks on it. That pitch is a shocker. Has nothing to do with NZ being sooks. No way I would want Williamson to bust a wrist batting on that rubbish.
Mitcher
Guest
Just saw a new photo. Comment withdrawn.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Haha McCullum bolted when the Blacktown groundsmen told him the pitch was "not too bad, just needs some spot fixing".
"Chris Cairns' Agent"
Guest
I made a call to Bren... Told him to come see me before Brisbane we had some things to discuss.
Mitcher
Guest
Genuine question Phil because I only had a quick glimpse at a photo. But as bad as that crater looked it appeared to be fairly close to the crease. To my eye a long way from the sort of length that could be exploited with dangerous consequences by a quick. But as I said I really haven't seen any proper evidence. Can anyone elaborate?
Mitcher
Guest
On ya ROC. Maintain the rage. Do the black caps even remember where they last placed their halo? Great week for Antipodean relations...
Phil
Guest
They look like potholes on a dirt road. Who knows what a ball at pace bouncing off the edge of that might do? Obviously batsmen are used to uneven bounce, but that's a whole other level
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
What looks "dangerous" about the pitch? I can understand criticism of it being so lifeless and dry but how does it look "dangerous". The only thing abnormal from the photos is the big patches of rough. The only effect from that rough is that the spinners might turn the ball sharply and get extra bounce. It shouldn't cause the pacemen to get crazy bounce, that rarely happens on Indian pitches that look just like this, so where exactly would the "danger" come from?
Phil
Guest
The pitch looks dangerous to the naked eye. Very bizarre to be a road on day one and then fall apart like that on day 2. It's almost a shame to see such a long-standing record fall in such a way.
Bobbo7
Guest
The park cricket tracks I play on don't break up like that. And some perspective. NZ bowled McCullum and Taylor in this game. From the image I've seen of the deck I understand why they pulled the pin.
Andy
Guest
but its not zilch, they get an extra day to train at the gabba.
Andy
Guest
they are usually nearer to what was given to them. im ok with them calling it, call it petulant if you want but what do they gain as a side from playing on it? i dont see that they gain anything other than maybe some confidence for their batsman but its confidence on a deck that was a complete road so who cares if you score big, after all two guys who cant get selected for a shield game scored big.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
"That pitch is nothing like what new zealand will be batting or bowling on when it truly matters so why bother practicing on something that wont in any way help them?" It is a very flat pitch by the sounds of it. But when are tour match pitches ever similar to the Test decks? Petulant from McCullum. I don't see how any deck can be so flat that a top international team should concede 0-500 against two batsmen who couldn't even get selected for a Shield game.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
The pitch obviously was way too flat but McCullum's behaviour is downright strange. Given CA XI put on 500 for the first wicket any suggestion the pitch could suddenly become dangerous in the space of a day is ludicrous. Surely 60 overs of batting practice on a flat deck would have been better for the NZ batsmen than zilch.
G
Guest
That's not in the spirit of the game BMac...
Andy
Guest
i never said it was dangerous, i said that it was not match practice worthy. congrats on finch and carter for scoring so big but that pitch is nothing like what new zealand will be batting or bowling on when it truly matters so why bother practicing on something that wont in any way help them?
Wasted1
Guest
The New Zealand team wouldn't bowl fast bowlers on day 2 because of the condition of the pitch. Though the damage had already been done really.