"Australia loss a wake-up call"

Peter McGlashan believes New Zealand's seven-wicket loss to Australia in their final warm-up match was a reality check.

After accounting for tournament favourites India the previous day, New Zealand found themselves on the back foot at 21 for five against Ricky Ponting's men before Scott Styris (42) and Peter McGlashan (49) helped them to a reasonable total of 147 all out.

After a shaky start, which left them at 26 for two, Ponting (56) and Michael Clarke (49 not out) helped steer the Australians to 151 for three and a comfortable victory in the end.

"It was a nice wake-up call really," said McGlashan. "We got ourselves into some trouble but fought back. It had been fairly easy up until now so it was probably a good reality check for the boys."

In his first game against Australia, McGlashan's 49, off just 35 balls, was New Zealand's top score and the 29-year-old credited the advice of Styris for helping him through.

"It was good to bat with Scotty. It's been a while since we have batted together. It was good to have someone at the other end who has faced the Australian on quite a few occasions," McGlashan said.

"With it being my first game I didn't really know what to expect from too many of the bowlers but he had some advice on most of them and we managed to get a partnership together which gave us a reasonably competitive score."

 

As well as starring with the bat, McGlashan was also handed the wicket-keeping duties ahead of Brendon McCullum.

"I was pretty happy with the way I kept. It just gives the team choices really. We have got a lot of natural ball strikers so if it makes it easier for Baz not having to keep and we can get the best out of him at the top of the order then I need to make sure my standards are high enough that we don't miss anything if I do need to take the gloves.

"It was good to get a good performance in today in both facets of the game," he told Radio Sport.

Following Saturday's match against Scotland at The Oval, New Zealand will play South Africa at Lord's on Tuesday.