England v New Zealand

Rjd2

The first of 2 tests starts tomorrow at Lords.

Huge shame this is only 2 tests.

Anyway looking forward to it hugely, think England may have a slight edge due to so many key NZ players been undercooked due to IPL cricket. Williamson, Mc Cullum, Boult, Southee and Anderson only showed up recently to England.:eek:

lambayire

Another dreadful start for England.

But Stokes and Root have rescued things.

byronbay2

Pity about Root getting out on 97 - he deserved a century. Still, the ship has been steadied and at 275-6, England are in a great position to bat to 400+ and put NZ under a lot of pressure.

Looks like an absolutely perfect batting pitch though, so big scores should be the order of the day. I would favour the draw at this stage but the weather is set fair for the full 5 days so you would generally expect a result.

Rjd2

Some gun batsmen in this NZ side, but not sure about the likes of Latham who has plundered his runs on spinning pitches,and not really excelled against pace, Guptil who knows? Quality ODI batsmen but a so-so test batsman.

The likes of Kane, Mc Cullum and Anderson all well short of red ball cricket in the last few months, very good day for England I think.

riffmongous

Great day for England in the end really, I thought they were heading for about 100 at one point

riffmongous

Two big days there, still advantage New Zealand I would guess

Rikand

Would expect new Zealand to skittle them out today. The swing bowling from southee and Boult yesterday evening was excellent.

byronbay2

Good recovery by England today after losing Bell so early. 41 ahead now with 3 second-innings wickets gone. Cook and Root well set now (69 and 58) for either or both to make a century. I don't think England will win it but they should be able to force a draw from this position.

Dozen Wicked Words

Very well played by Cook today, lead of near 300, will be interesting if they get opportunity to declare (and not rapidly skittled out early) how long they leave it.

byronbay2

Dozen Wicked Words wrote: »

Very well played by Cook today, lead of near 300, will be interesting if they get opportunity to declare (and not rapidly skittled out early) how long they leave it.

My guess is that Cook will be very, very conservative, as usual. Possibly if England reach a lead of 500 by mid-afternoon, he will start getting tempted!!:)

Seriously though, the record run chase at Lords is 344, so England should look to reach a lead of 350 asap (within the first hour) and declare immediately. It's not going to happen though. Still, unless the wicket deteriorates very quickly today, a draw looks certain anyway.

Edit: BTW, what must Ballance be thinking, having scored 1 & 0 in the 2 England innings, when he sees all the other batsmen scoring for fun!

Dozen Wicked Words

So no need for declaration, England bowled out, New Zealand set 345 to win.

byronbay2

Well, the England innings ended very quickly there and we could have an exciting final day after all! NZ require 345 to win, which would be a record chase at Lords - see my previous post. They definitely have the batsmen and pitch to do it but, obviously, it's a very big ask.

What a wonderful day to be at The Home Of Cricket: sunny bank holiday, only £20 to get in and a nail-biting finish in store!

Dozen Wicked Words

Good start by England's bowling attack anyway! 2 down before any runs on the board.

byronbay2

Holy sh*t - this is unbelieveable! Two wickets down for NZ without scoring - advantage definitely with The Brits now!

riffmongous

5 down now at tea, going to be an interesting final session

pajor

First innings of 523 not even enough to give NZ the edge.

England win first test by 124 runs.

First test game that I'm really trying to follow. So far I've only ever had the attention span for as much as ODI. :pac:

Dozen Wicked Words

Exciting Test match, good win for England, looking forward to hopefully another close Test next game now.

booth70

Can't believe England turned that around from 34-3 on the opening morning!!!

Supeb stuff from Cook and Stokes

NZ probably too gung ho for their own good and at 404-3 in their first innings should have ensured they batted just once and batted England out of the game...

Nonetheless a cracking Test match and just what Cook and Strauss needed after all that been going on recently

Rjd2

No clue what the NZ bowlers were trying to do when they were trying to save the game, some horror shots, I mean seriously what on earth was Boult attempting when the shot he got out?:eek::

NZ are a good test side, but great test sides would not have lost this, South Africa who have been top dog for so long, have got that by stonewalling draws and then winning that series, its something they should be highly commended for.

Great result for England in what is such a vital summer for them.

Gillespy

That's true, great sides don't lose in that manner and defiantly not from the position they found themselves on the first morning and the big first innings total. You mention SA but England were pretty good at it when they were on top of the rankings, remember Collingwood and Prior doing it several times. Onions and Monty showed how to see out a test match and weren't giving catches to third man.

Delighted for Cook. If anyone deserved a break, it was him. The pressure he's been under since the Ashes whitewash has been insane. Two hundreds in a row now and a team coming together too. I wonder what the people who said Pietersen's 300 was the best innings ever think of Stoke's hundred?

KevIRL

Crucial late wickets for england today, superb fightback by NZ though

Dozen Wicked Words

KevIRL wrote: »

Crucial late wickets for england today, superb fightback by NZ though

McCullum had a mad minute after tea, he'd have scored big otherwise I think. Even so, fantastic scoring rate NZ got today, as quick as some England manage in the one day game!

Rjd2

I really don't like to criticise Mc Cullum, but that was amateur from him, I know he is an aggressive player, but would you see a De Villiers get out like that? Nope. Might sound cruel, but he playing like a mini Afridi at the moment.:(

KevIRL

No let up from the kiwis today...

pajor

KevIRL wrote: »

No let up from the kiwis today...

Was thinking the same. England have put the brakes on though at 350 all out.

KevIRL

pajor wrote: »

Was thinking the same. England have put the brakes on though at 350 all out.

The 53 runs this morning though is a serious tonic for NZ. So entertaining to watch

Dozen Wicked Words

Cook becomes England's leading run scorer, solid start by the hosts.

dohboy

Any idea how to listen to TMS over here? On a train and Tune In radio is blowing on about rights restrictions. Cheers.

Dozen Wicked Words

<snip>

Cricket fan

McCullums turning into a bit of a brainless slogger. After the WC final you'd think he'd know the value of staying at the crease

Dozen Wicked Words

Good fight back by New Zealand after such a good start by England's openers. About level pegging, or Kiwis even slightly ahead I reckon.