NZ V Australia
Westpac Stadium, 7 tonight
When is a lefthander a righthander? Or vice versa. The answer could be whenever he fancies it, if Australian opener David Warner and his reverse stance ploy catches on.
And if it does, New Zealand captain Dan Vettori won't have a problem with it, suggesting it could become the next
big innovation for one-day cricket.
Chunky lefthander Warner switched sides in this week's Twenty20 win over the West Indies in Sydney during his slashing 29-ball 67, but was told by umpires it was not on.
Changing the batting grip to play reverse shots is one thing; Warner tried to move the goalposts still further, which brought issues such as opposing captains needing time to change their field settings, and bowlers to shift their lines.
But provided the rules around wides and lbw appeals are clarified, Vettori is happy. "I have no issue with it at all, as long as the wide line and lbw rules apply," he said on the eve of the opening Twenty20 international against Australia tonight.
"It's not something you want ruled out of the game.
"It's great for the game, people like watching it and if you're skilful enough to do it that's great. It could be the next big thing in cricket."
His Australian counterpart Michael Clarke will talk to the umpires before tonight's match to clarify the situation.
"I think it's very important that everybody in the Twenty20 format knows the exact ruling on that," he said.
Warner's boom-or-bust batting adds colour to the start of the nine-match big ticket item of the New Zealand season.
When New Zealand last encountered him, they had his measure, getting him for 7 and 2 in ODIs last February.
Vettori knows Warner from their days at the Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League.
"He's a confidence player and once he gets on a roll he's incredibly hard to stop."
The other eyecatcher in the Australian squad is speedster Shaun Tait, who turned the dial up to 160km/h against Pakistan this month.
But New Zealand will back themselves to be competitive against the in-form Australians, provided they are on song. They need to be both canny and bold in their work. If not, they're in trouble.
Both captains appreciate the importance of winning tonight, to gain the early initiative. Australia have won 17 of their 19 internationals at home this summer.
But Clarke wants more. "We haven't been as good as we'd like in this form. New Zealand have got a wonderful Twenty20 side and we know we'll have to be at our best."
New Zealand's women will look to carry on their strong form against Australia in the curtain-raiser today. Having been whipped 5-0 in their ODI series this month, New Zealand beat Australia 3-0 in their subsequent Twenty20 series in Hobart this week.
NZ v AUSTRALIA
New Zealand: (from) Dan Vettori (c), Brendon McCullum, Peter Ingram, Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, James Franklin, Jacob Oram, Gareth Hopkins, Nathan McCullum, Daryl Tuffey, Tim Southee, Shane Bond.
Australia: (from) Michael Clarke (c), David Warner, Shane Watson, Cameron White, Mike Hussey, David Hussey, Travis Birt, Daniel Christian, Brad Haddin, Steven Smith, Nathan Hauritz, Ryan Harris, Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Tait, Dirk Nannes.
