9th over: New Zealand 35-2 (Bates 6, Devine 3) More trademark accurate Schutt inswing denying New Zealand room to open their shoulders. Both batters continue to look for runs in the manner of the previous over, but Schutt is so difficult to line up, and correspondingly so easy for a captain to set a field for. The Aussie quick has 1/7 from five overs. 8th over: New Zealand 33-2 (Bates 5, Devine 2) Some tip and run from Bates and Devine keeps the scoreboard moving, helped further by another couple of legside wides from Sutherland. Good intent from New Zealand. 7th over: New Zealand 27-2 (Bates 3, Devine 0) Pressure really on New Zealand now with two such quality batters back in the sheds early. Schutt continues to give little away, keeping Bates and Devine honest. The Perry-Sutherland comparisons are only going to grow, aren’t they? WICKET! Satterthwaite c Lanning b Sutherland 1 (New Zealand 24-2) 6th over: New Zealand 24-2 (Bates 0) Sutherland is trusted with another over, and the line and length is much better this time around to the left-handed Satterthwaite, drawing a couple of false strokes outside off and almost drawing an LBW shout with a yorker that just shapes back in. And with the final ball of the over she jags a wicket! Satterthwaite beaten for pace trying to drive outside off stump and all she can do is send a healthy edge flying high to the safe hands of Lanning at fly slip. 5th over: New Zealand 24-1 (Bates 0, Satterthwaite 1) On length, that was there to be punished by Dodd, but Schutt had rolled her fingers over the ball and it held up a fraction in the pitch, making the pull shot difficult to time - which is exactly what eventuated. Satterthwaite is in now, the first left-hander of the innings, and she’s off the mark early with a nice push down the ground for one. WICKET! Dodd c Gardner b Schutt 19 (New Zealand 23-1) Dodd was moving along nicely, until she slapped a short ball from Schutt straight to Gardner at midwicket. That is a gift for Australia. 4th over: New Zealand 23-0 (Dodd 19, Bates 0) The first boundary of the day goes to Dodd who swivels and pulls Sutherland powerfully through midwicket, super timing, and that goes all the way for six! Considering the pace of the bowler and the juice in the surface, that was an imposing shot. A second boundary arrives a few balls later, but this was very different, slashing a length delivery through the vacant second slip region and beyond the dive of first slip Lanning. Not the best over from the youngster Sutherland. Three legside wides and variable length, but I guess that lack of consistency is to be expected. Dodd is moving along nicely. 3rd over: New Zealand 9-0 (Dodd 8, Bates 0) More of the same from Schutt, line and length inswing to the right-handed Dodd. The New Zealander likes to stay legside of the ball, which is minimising her scoring opportunities. She eventually rotates the strike after eight dots with Bates then failing to cash in on some rare length and width. 2nd over: New Zealand 8-0 (Dodd 7, Bates 0) Annabel Sutherland shares the new ball on debut, and she begins with a beauty, finding some bounce from a length that forces Bates to flinch and deflect the ball towards Lanning at slip off her forearm. Sutherland, daughter of former Cricket Australia CEO James, is only 18, and she looks a superb talent. After a leg-bye rotates the strike Sutherland is too quick for Dodd but the attempted yorker is just inside-edged past leg stump and away for four. Sutherland follows up with some width that Dodd cuts away for a couple, it could have been a couple more but for some superb fielding on the rope by Gardner. 1st over: New Zealand 0-0 (Dodd 0, Bates 0) Megan Schutt takes the new ball for Australia and she opens with a probing maiden. There’s one slip in place for the speedster as she lands every delivery on a good length, targeting the top of the right-handed Dodd’s off stump with some hooping inswingers. In other Australian cricket news, one of the giants of the modern game, Belinda Clark, has announced she is to step back from direct involvement with the governing body. Megan Maurice has written about Clark’s status in the Australian game. Clark has long been a tireless advocate for women’s cricket, taking on the role of chief executive of women’s cricket Australia while still captaining the national team and seeing the women’s game through the merger with the Australian Cricket Board in 2003. In perfect *chef’skiss.gif* Australian fashion, the cricket is not yet on the host broadcaster, Channel Seven. What’s currently on air instead of some kind of preview you ask? Blokesworld. I kid you not. New Zealand XI Plenty of class and experience in the White Ferns XI, especially at the top of the order where Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine will be expected to shoulder the burden of making runs. NZ XI: Suzie Bates, Natalie Dodd, Amy Satterthwaite, Sophie Devine (c), Katey Martin (wk), Amelia Kerr, Katie Perkins, Maddy Green, Hayley Jensen, Rosemary Mair, Lea Tahuhu Australia XI Annabel Sutherland is the name to pick out from Australia’s imposing XI with the allrounder benefitting from Ellyse Perry’s absence to make her ODI debut. The pitch looks very fresh (it is only early October after all, and footy is still being played down the road). Bowling first seems the logical option. Otherwise it’s dry in Brisbane with temperatures in the mid-20s kept in check by an easterly breeze. Australia have won the toss and will FIELD Unsurprisingly, considering how juicy the pitch looks right now, Meg Lanning has invited New Zealand to bat first. Thanks Stuie. The data is overwhelmingly in support of your assessment. Let’s hope you have a fun scorecard and OBO to wake up to. Geoff Lemon has cast his expert eye over the series and he foresees only one outcome, history. In this year’s teams, Australia have more bowling variety and batting that goes all the way down. New Zealand have a few players picked to fill gaps rather than on the basis of strong claims. The batting revolves around three players, at least one of whom has to come off. Preamble Good morning everybody and welcome to live coverage of the first ODI in the three-match series between Australia and New Zealand. Play will be underway from Allan Border Field in Brisbane at 10.10am (AEDT). For Australia, this is a series with history on the line. Sweep the three matches and Meg Lanning’s outfit will extend their unbeaten run in the format to 21, drawing them level with their male counterparts from 2003. And they have good reason to be optimistic about their chances. They’ve just completed a T20 series victory over their trans-Tasman rivals, they dominate the ODI rivalry with the White Ferns, they love Allan Border Field, and heck - they are just very good at international cricket, and have been for a very long time. Perhaps the only question mark over Australia’s chances is the absence of superstar allrounder Ellyse Perry who will miss the series after injuring her hamstring. This is Australia’s first ODI for 12 months with T20s and the pandemic intervening, so there could be a little rust to brush off in this opening contest. But the pain of failing to secure the 2017 World Cup still burns and every opportunity to prepare to regain the trophy is being relished. “There was a lot of soul searching,” admitted Jess Jonassen earlier this week. “We took a lot of good, hard looks at ourselves. What can we do to not only push the boundaries or play good positive cricket but play some cricket that’s entertaining and a lot of fun? It took a few series before we fully trusted in that process. Now it’s almost something that’s become second nature and part of the way we go about things.” That’s enough for now. I’ll be back shortly with the toss and the line-ups. If you want to join in the conversation, you can get in touch via Twitter or email.