England in New Zealand

[vaibhav mehta]

No Dan I don't think England can lose this game from here..On 5th day 196 is huge enough..McCullum can play aggressive but then it'll be tough to keep wickets..Although If Oram would have there then I might not feel so safe as English team Fan..But I think We have done good Enough and Tomorrow 1st session will be End of the game..If Touch wood,,England will lose from here then Boy I'll be most disappointing person of the world..

 

[manee]

his Test performances aren't bad...though they can improve.

They certainly can, but I'd have him in the Test team as a wicket keeper alone.

 

[Sureshot]

and one of the best glovemen in any form of the game.

You have low standards then, he's a good wicket-keeper batsman but he isn't one of the best glovemen in any form of the game. Dhoni, Boucher, Ramdin and Jayawardene are better glovemen.


Are England trying to lose this? Not sure how KP dropped that one. Monty could've had 3 wickets today, poor fielding could cost us if we don't get a wicket in the first hour tomorrow/tonight.

 

[Leicester Fox]

I don't know if they feel like they can get away with it off Monty just because he does it but it's not good enough. Against other sides we'd have got smashed playing like we are now, got to take our chances and stop being sloppy or we're never going to go anywhere. Hopefully Broad will come in and clean up although I still don't htink he's bowling at his best.

 

[King Pietersen]

He may not be bowling his best, but he's bowling as fast as i've ever seen him bowl, one ball hit 88.6mph last night, that's seriously quick, if he can continue to develop we may finally have another 90mph bowler. He just needs to sort out the old running on the pitch situation.

 

[MUFC1987]

Everyone was a bit quicker early on Day 4 simply because most of them were bowling down wind. We should still win from here, if we get a wicket early then I'll be very confident, as these two need to put on 100+ for NZ to win, so a wicket and into the tail should do the trick.

 

[lancashire666]

i really hope england can finish the job tonight/morrow/day, i think they will, we all know they should of done better with the catching but thats in the past now lets hope they dont drop McCullum because he is the sort of aggressive player who can break records.

could be a good final test match

 

[cheese]

lets hope they dont drop McCullum because he is the sort of aggressive player who can break records.

could be a good final test match

McCullum, along with Vettori and Oram, are as important to the side as Collingwood, K P, and Flintoff are to the English side. Even if he has a bad series for 4 years he won't get dropped.

We just need to find another 3 batsmen that have that sort of pedigree, and hopefully Ross Taylor, Jamie How, "Jesse Ryder" and this upcoming Southee (whom I think will be in the third test) are those guys.

 

[Sureshot]

An hour and a bit till the crunch. I'd like to say I'm fully confident of a win, I'm not though.

 

[morson93]

Yeah I reckon this can go either way, Lets hope it don't.

 

[Skater]

Daniel Vettori was out very early on so we are into the tail now. We should have finished this by lunch.

 

[irottev]

Well done England. Deserved it as you played the better cricket. I still think we lost it with the bat in the first innings after seeing us get 300 no problem in the second. Also needed to take our catches and bowl less bad balls at times.

On the McCullum front, well if you guys don't agree that's fine. I find the comment about McCullum averaging 26 hillarious. Did you not know he's been batting at 7 in the ODI side for most of his career? Opening, he averages over 50 at a strike rate probably well over 90 if not 100. I really don't care what you guys think about it, but I consider him currently the most dangerous batsman in ODI cricket. England fans should be agreeing considering the absolute walloping he gave your bowlers.

Unfortonatly he ran out of people to bat with and had to hit out at the end there, otherwise he would have registered a hundred against decent test opposition, as someone said on previous pages. Would have laughed at you in that instance. I still will, because I know full well we would have done it.

This is bad timing to say he's one of the best glovemen, since he's dropped 2? catches this whole series. First two i've seen go down in years. Can someone outline what he does that makes him so bad that he's considered worse then Jaywardene and Ramdin? I say McCullum is up there with Boucher and Dhoni.

Dhoni is an interesting one. He was clumsy with the gloves when he started but has improved a lot. I still don't think he's top notch with them from the evidance i've seen.

 

[Sureshot]

I wasn't saying he is a bad gloveman, but I do believe that he doesn't look as comfortable behind the stumps as Dhoni, Boucher and Jayawardene of Sri Lanka, who I think to be a very good keeper. I like McCullum, he's a damn good player someone who oppositions want to hate, but can't because he's an entertainer.

Good performance by us, credit to selectors too. Anderson and Broad were excellent.

Collingwood is the unsung hero again, 120 runs and 3 wickets. Anderson 7 wickets and Sidebottom 6 wickets were excellent. Monty didn't have much to do, not a spinners pitch, could've had 3/4 wickets given better fielding yesterday.

Ambrose was rightly man of the match, that hundred was very good, great strike rate and so vital to the match result. We were 130 odd for 5 on the first day. To win from that position shows that we have fight.

Napier could be interesting. Looks set to be a belter. I expect spin to play a part, Patel in for Gillespie?

For New Zealand, batting is a worry. Neither Bell or Sinclair look up for the cut.

I'm going to bed a happy England fan.

 

[irottev]

For sure, Patel in for Gillespie since it sounds like another flat deck. I don't want Sinclair to play, but there are no real replacements without jigging the batting order up (unless we introduce Hay or Todd). Taylor could bat there, but he's done so well at 5. It might have a negative effect. Bell looked decent during Bangladesh though his technique wasn't terrific. It's still not as bad as Craig LBW Cumming's. Other then Bell, there's really only Papps and Cumming around. I think they just have to go with the first test side and hope we can pull off a win again. They showed they can do it. I'd support Papps being given another try. He's got the talent, just hasn't really stepped up yet. He's hardly played at home in NZ conditions/on a flat deck which i've always found a bit harsh.

 

[irottev]

Tim Southee has joined the 3rd Test Squad with Mills having a slight niggle. I hope if Mills is sidelined Southee gets the game. Martin, Southee, Vettori, Patel the 4 bowlers.