*** England vs. New Zealand Cricket (Spoilers) ***
- Thread starter bigredshark
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Soldato
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Well done Strauss and Bell, pulled a couple of centuries out of the hat and we got a draw, maybe Andrew read some of the comments on here before he went out to bat.
Only top order batsmen not to make runs now are Vaughan and Colly. Any news on who will be opening? Assume it would be Cook and Strauss with Vaughan at 3 but would much rather Vaughan opened, he's a much better opener than no.3 even with the pressures of captaincy.
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The likely story is cook and vaughan with strauss at 3, which is interesting but better than two slow scoring left handers opening. It's a shame in many ways that england didn't choose to blood young players in this series, new zealand aren't terribly good and it would have been a good tour to bring in a couple of new players (in my opinion).
England will need a new opener in a year or two (vaughan, strauss and trescothick are all getting on a bit now), a new all rounder (freddy likely isn't coming back and collingwood is getting on and was never a true all rounder) and a whole new bowling attack (except broad, who is promising but needs to watch his action and bulk up a bit).
I would have picked a new opener (god knows who, probably joe denly but I don't think he could ever open with Cook). Found room in the squad for luke wright (not ideal but he's a very clean striker of the ball and a talented cricketer) and played broad in at least one test.
Did you see his hand swell up, I'd be most surprised if he's back in this test.
Soldato
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Apparently no break and he could take further part in the match which is remarkable.
Yep I agree with this 100%, I can watch a full test I can’t bear this one, shocking this isn’t what world cricket needs the grounds men should be shot
This isn’t what modern cricket spectators want to see also 
Going to be a draw, can see the next few following the same fashion.
I watched some of the match until just after tea, when NZ were about 85-1, I presumed they'd end up pushing the pace and get to 220-3 at close of play.
Nope, just my xxxxxxx luck
, Monty and Sidebottom ripped them apart and they finished on 147-8, a lead of 269, still a big total to chase down, but at least we're still in the match, if we can bowl them out quickly.
Should be a good last day and with the boxing, another all nighter.
Nope, just my xxxxxxx luck
, Monty and Sidebottom ripped them apart and they finished on 147-8, a lead of 269, still a big total to chase down, but at least we're still in the match, if we can bowl them out quickly.Should be a good last day and with the boxing, another all nighter.
Just watched the highlights on Sky as I fell asleep expecting a long boring night, looks like I fell asleep on the wrong night Cracking catches by Cook and Hoggard plus some very good bowling! England may have a chance to win this match if they can get the early wickets and show the NZ why were 2 in the world.
Ill defiantly be staying up tonight
Cracking catches by Cook and Hoggard plus some very good bowling! England may have a chance to win this match if they can get the early wickets and show the NZ why were 2 in the world. Ill defiantly be staying up tonight
We haven't been up for it for a while. Our batting has lacked aggression and intent for ages. Even Pietersen doesn't look the same player. When you have no intent its easier to contain a side which increases pressure, which is even worse for us as our batters can't handle pressure and completely fall apart time and time again.
Our bowling has been poor for quite some time. Sidebottom and Hoggard do good jobs but don't have much support. Harmison who's main threat is pace now averages mid to low 80s and then comes out in interviews saying he thought he was bowling at pace. Monty is a good spinner but could be so much more. We've been saying he need to vary his pace for the past year but he still seems to refuse to do it. 1st innings Vettori was varying his pace by 10mph, monty was by about 2mph.
We keep hearing the same spin about taking positives and learning but at the end of the day we need to do something about it. Wonder if questions about the management or coaching will start to surface if this carries on much longer.
Talking of which after last years ashes a review was carried out and one of the main things was the preperation. Now we've had a couple of management shuffles but not much seems to have changed. Hoggard and Harmison have come in completely under cooked, Strauss has played what, couple of first class games and 1 warm up game since the India series.
Our bowling has been poor for quite some time. Sidebottom and Hoggard do good jobs but don't have much support. Harmison who's main threat is pace now averages mid to low 80s and then comes out in interviews saying he thought he was bowling at pace. Monty is a good spinner but could be so much more. We've been saying he need to vary his pace for the past year but he still seems to refuse to do it. 1st innings Vettori was varying his pace by 10mph, monty was by about 2mph.
We keep hearing the same spin about taking positives and learning but at the end of the day we need to do something about it. Wonder if questions about the management or coaching will start to surface if this carries on much longer.
Talking of which after last years ashes a review was carried out and one of the main things was the preperation. Now we've had a couple of management shuffles but not much seems to have changed. Hoggard and Harmison have come in completely under cooked, Strauss has played what, couple of first class games and 1 warm up game since the India series.
Soldato
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This is embarrassing, turning a potentially great win into an unlikely draw.