Live New Zealand tour of Australia, 1st ODI: Australia v New Zealand at Sydney, Mar 13, 2020 Live Score

Right, on that retro (and surreal, overall) note, it’s goodbye from the SCG for the moment. Lots of developments happening around the world of cricket, rapid ones too, so keep following ESPNcricinfo for all the latest updates on what is going on. This is Debayan Sen, on behalf of M Venkat Raghav and Varun Shetty, as well as our colleagues in Australia who will be sending in their analysis pieces and reports for this match, saying goodbye for the moment. Do join us for the second ODI, also from Sydney, on Sunday. Until then, stay safe and follow the game with us.

Mert : “Retro kits today also bringing back memories of old ODI scores when 250 on the board used to be good enough. ”

9.40pm Match presentation by spidercam, gets underway. Aaron Finch:”I thought 250 was a good total. Our bowlers bowled really well. The opening partnership was nice. We both had our challenges adjusting to the slowness of the wicket. You had to pick up the balls you wanted to go through with.” Kane Williamson: “It was a tough wicket, and they had above par with 250. That opening partnership gave them a bit of momentum, and some handy contributions down the order. With their top-class bowling, they were always going to make it challenging. For us, it was about small margins. We have to bowl better lines. It looked like a slow surface, and might offer help for the spinners, which our spinners did very well.” Mitchell Marsh is the Man of the Match. “We were really disappointed with the results in South Africa. We were pumped to get out there and get a win today. I don’t think this was a 300 wicket, to be honest, but they batted really well at the start and set us up beautifully. 250 proved to be too much in the end.”

Nirmal : “Ah! am reminded of the good ole days of ODI cricket when 250 definitely won you a game!” —- Don’t mind these matches one bit, myself

JB: “@Dave – are you forgetting that Australia have just lost 3-0 to South Africa at home? Winning away isn’t exactly a walk in the park. Plus, you might want to check those ratings on the players you’ve just openly trashed.”

Robert Lamb: “Well said Jake. Definitely not out-classed. I’d pick many of the NZ players over the Aussies – more a mental thing. The Black Caps play crap against Australia.”

Dave: “Those rankings are wrong. If Starc played the majority of his matches in NZ he would be well ahead of Boult. He has always outperformed him in NZ conditions. Even the 2015 world cup qualifier. Not arrogance, just fact.”

9.30pm Australia have been terrific. They needed their bowlers to come to the party, after New Zealand pulled things back significantly with the ball themselves. The teams now meet along the boundary, and just clap around each other. No handshakes, as part of the precautions around the Coronavirus. Australia got off to a flier today, but New Zealand were yanked back in the game by their bowlers. Particularly the spin bowling of Mitchell Santner, who married economy with wickets and pushed Australia back. The hosts owed posting 258 on the board to a smart half-century from Marnus Labuschagne, but one would have thought New Zealand would have enough in their reserves to chase this down.

That was not to be, as the Australian pacers set the ball rolling with some stingy opening spells to peg New Zealand back. There was one early wicket, that of Henry Nicholls, but the barn doors were really flung open when Adam Zampa got a wrong’un to fizz through the defence of Kane Williamson. Tom Latham and Colin de Grandhomme briefly raised visions of a remarkable comeback, but Latham’s dismissal led to a pretty early demise of the Kiwi fightback.

Jake: “@Dave. Its a mental block for NZ playing Australia. Outclassed is arrogant. Boult, Ferguson and Henry are ranked higher than Starc and Hazelwood. Guptil, Taylor and Williamson are higher than Smith… ”

Cummins

IG: “Umpires struggling to hear the knicks with such a noisy crowd…”

David: “Yes, the last time New Zealand won here they required the help of a lottery, Hobart, wicket. One that was making popgun Tassie bowlers look good in the Shield. NZ were thoroughly outclassed in the matches on good wickets in that series too.”

Steve: “Fair call about Aussie dominance in cricket @james, but the universe has to find some way of balancing out All Black dominance” —- You cannot see me, Steve, but that calls for a standing ovation

This just in: Following the suspension of the majority of domestic football leagues in Europe, UEFA has also taken the unprecedented step of suspending the Champions League and Europa League due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Hazlewood was outstanding with the new ball today. Laid the foundation for this terrific bowling effort

james: “”Marsh, perhaps the unsung hero of today’s Australian performance” I knew this was gonna be commentators curse, not IF but WHEN it was going to happen. Still hilarious I always love commentators curses” —- Occupational hazard!

Nelson : “It seems to me that New Zealand always loses in Australia no matter what format. When was the last time they won there?” — I think it was the Hobart Test of 2011

27 vital runs late in the batting order, and six overs for 22 runs, taking two wickets, here for Mitchell Marsh

Here’s Lockie Ferguson

Dave: “Not gutless, Hax, just outclassed. When you look at the two sides, Australia has three bowlers who are better than any of the New Zealand bowlers (none who would make a full strength NSW side) and four of the top five batsmen in the match. What result would you expect?”

Sukrit Gupta: “This is kind of similar to the group stage match between the two teams during last year’s World Cup” —- They are in retro kits

Greg T: “The lack of a crowd hasn’t made the slightest difference to me…following the match right here…”

Marsh, perhaps the unsung hero of today’s Australian performance

James: “@Harry yeah i agree dont write NZ off, boult’s gonna get a half century and finish the win off”

Hax: “Gutless batting once again, the buck falls on Guptill, too many dot balls forced the other batsmen to take risks, the bowling was good sure, but that should be no excuse. A quality ODI batsmen should be able to rotate the strike at the very least”

Those wickets have meant the runs are again coming in just a trickle

Tucks: “Each batsmen left needs to double their average now and NZ win the game…..”

Daniel: “I’m not usually even a fan of the crowd, I get annoyed with the noise and the drums and the Mexican waves. But this is really tough viewing without it, just totally flat, no atmosphere.”

Harry: “NZ still have their best batsman to come, Mr Boult, don’t write em off yet”