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Black Caps Strike First

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The Black Caps have struck the first blow in the Chappell-Hadlee series, winning a thrilling match off the last ball of the game.

The win has been somewhat overshadowed by an incident involving Australian wicket-keeper, Brad Haddin, who appeared to strike the wickets with his keeping gloves, thus making it appear as though Michael Clarke had bowled Neil Broom. Replays have shown that the ball missed the top of the stumps, and the bails were removed by Haddin's gloves.

Daniel Vettori has called out Haddin, claiming that he must have known Broom had not been bowled, and that his expression at the dismissal proves it so.

The incident happened at a vital time in the Black Caps run chase, when Broom and Ross Taylor were beginning to cruise towards Australia's modest total of 181. It would certainly be hard to prove whether or not Haddin intentionally "cheated", but if he is found guilty he must face a lengthy ban, as that kind of behaviour goes against everything cricket is about.

We'll await more news over the controversy...

The game itself was an edge-of-the-seat type of game, as the Black Caps looked to have blown an easy victory. It took until the very last ball before Vettori hit the winning runs.

The Black Cap bowlers did a fantastic job in limiting the Aussie onslaught - Kyle Mills led the way with four wickets, while Ian O'Brian claimed the vital wickets of Michael Hussey and James Hope, who proved to be the last hope (no pun intended) for the Aussies.

The bowlers were backed up by some fantastic fielding, which led to the crucial run outs of Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke.

While limiting the Aussies to 181 was a fantastic job, the batsmen certainly made hard work of chasing down the total.

McCullum was dismissed off the second ball of the innings, after being given out in what would prove to be the wrong call by the umpire after replays showed McCullum clearly getting bat on ball before it hit his pads. It was unfortunate, but it does happen - as it did to David Hussey in the first innings, when he was given out caught behind when the ball didn't appear to hit his bat.

If it wasn't for Taylor, Broom, and Kyle Mills it would have been an embarrassing loss, but at the end of the day the Black Caps tour has got off to the best possible start. And what's even better is that the Australians horrible run continues.

It's still too early to say the Black Caps will run away with the series, but if the Aussies don't start to improve soon their Summer is going to get a lot worse very quickly - not that we would mind that too much.

The second ODI is on Friday.

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