Freudian slip — Australia push plans under wrong door

A local radio station was notified and the Australians’ list of weaknesses of the New Zealanders and their game plan for the One-day international became public knowledge. The papers instruct Australia to “intimidate” New Zealand with “controlled aggression,” but to keep “sledging and body language” under control.

New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming is said to be “a bit lazy early”, Nathan Astle is “a bad runner” and a straight yorker is the way to bowl to Chris Cairns.

Under a category listed mental/current form, Cairns was listed as “fragile a good front runner but lacks confidence if you get on top of him. Their key player others feed off him.”

However, the Australian batsmen were instructed to “see off Cairns as the danger bowler. Look to attack the rest.” The instruction for Roger Twose was to “intimidate early… not sure he quite believes in his ability.”

The notes revealed plenty of respect for spinner Daniel Vettori. “Good bowler. Turns the ball. Gives the ball good flight. Good arm ball (swings).”Craig McMillan was another worthy of respect with “good timing” but he was also “very impatient … dot balls the key … good confident player but prone to silly mistakes.”

The Australians were wary of Chris Harris, with instructions to “keep him down” as “body language can effect his team-mates.”

The batsmen were to try to score off Harris’ every ball and be “mentally aggressive” towards him.

Simon Doull could bowl a good ball “but will bowl a four ball,” and batsmen were instructed to stay patient to wait for those. McMillan was another who would bowl bad balls.

Adam Parore was a “dangerous player coming in down the order, can hit straight away.”

Australian players were cautioned that New Zealand would be more innovative than other teams with the examples given of the batting order and shots. Apparently, the theme of the tour for the Australians is “never satisfied”.

Australian manager Steve Bernard said the release of the papers wasn’t a huge concern. “Everybody has a game plan. The side has to know what they have to do and though we would prefer the opposition not know the plan it’s not the end of the world,” he said.

Bernard said he hadn’t heard that the papers had gone astray but it was usual practice for the coach to slip them under players’ doors. “I will have to have a chat with the coach (John Buchanan) and tell him what happened,” he said.

Match abandoned
WELLINGTON: Persistent rain forced the first limited-overs cricket international between New Zealand and Australia to be abandoned after 23 overs on Thursday.

The day-night match was abandoned at 6.15 pm (10.45 am IST) with Australia at 119 for one, with Matthew Hayden on 64 and Mark Waugh on 45. Rain washed out play on Wednesday, and play on Thursday, the reserve day, was delayed for 90 minutes by a heavy downpour.