1st ODI: New Zealand v South Africa at Mount Maunganui, Oct 21, 2014

[Desi Cartman]

Big Picture Winter has just ended in New Zealand, where their summer sport will be played for the first time in spring. There has never been an international cricket match in New Zealand in October. In fact, there have only been five days of international cricket ever in November, when Pakistan played a Test in Dunedin in 2009. Fittingly, New Zealand are going cold into this cooler beginning. They haven't played an international since the first week of July. They haven't played an ODI since the last day of January. Now they have as many as 17 lined up going into the World Cup, starting with the first ODI against South Africa in Mount Maunganui, which will host the home team for the first time. Their preparatory form has been anything but ideal. They scraped past Scotland by one run last week, and were denied any further match practice because of a washout against Ireland. New Zealand may have been out of action for a while, but that hasn't prevented their squad from being depleted by injuries. Ross Taylor and Adam Milne have been ruled out of the series, while Kane Williamson will miss the first match. Tim Southee has been passed fit, but he will also not figure on Tuesday. The hosts' top five will have little resemblance to the one that figured in their previous ODI, against India in Wellington. New Zealand had completed a 4-0 humbling of the defending World Cup champions in the capital, a rare run of dominance for them against top opposition, but will be confronted with a bigger challenge against the South Africans' pace battery on early-season pitches. New Zealand showed resilience by bouncing back from a mauling in the Tests to take the ODI series 2-1 on their South Africa tour last year. But the South Africans have an excellent record in New Zealand, having swept the hosts 3-0 on their previous trip in 2012. They have sorted out their World Cup combination barring the odd position, and are upbeat after beating Australia in the tri-series final in Zimbabwe last month. While New Zealand have been forced to take a look at some of their back-ups in Tom Latham and Dean Brownlie, AB de Villiers has been confident enough about South Africa's bowling and batting to point out improvement in fielding as a key goal from this series. Form guide New Zealand WWTWW (Completed matches, most recent first) South Africa WWLWW

[Sir john]

no telecast in india

[Laaloo]

awesome i have been waiting for this 3 odi series for 3 years now :woot:

[SLICKR392]

awesome i have been waiting for this 3 odi series for 3 years now :woot:

Haven't we all?

[f.b.m]

I get the feeling that Vettori is finished as a cricketer.

[Cricket_Hacker]

NZ 145/8 after 33

[SLICKR392]

Good fightback from NZ. Yet 190 is meh on this track

[Desi Cartman]

You mean 230 ?

[f.b.m]

Kyle Mills is mysteriously bowling at 120kmph after the chucking crackdown.

[BeautifulGame]

Which channel telecasting in india? Cant find anywhere

[Desi Cartman]

Which channel telecasting in india? Cant find anywhere

Its on ESPN in the US so I am assuming its star sports/espn in India too

[Cricket_Hacker]

not broadcast in India

[SLICKR392]

Wow! 230? Amazing recovery from NZ

[kumar713]

Rossouw is ****. SA should look for other options.

[kumar713]

4 down SA. But ABD will take SA to victory.

[Switchblade]

RSA need 35 runs in 35 balls

[Switchblade]

AB and JP at the crease they will win it easily

[vvvslaxman]

Fleming commentary indicates he is a studious cricketer.

[Sir john]

poor poor no broadcast in india even zim matches on in ten

[vvvslaxman]

Meticulous teams without being sensational won't win world cup - core of the discussion between smith,, fleming mark richardson.