England in New Zealand

[irottev]

Seems like rain might have a say today. Hopefully not a big one. If the game is called off England can't win the series. Though, personally, i'd much rather it went ahead so we can go for 5-0. While we're in good form and well on top, we need to get this third win to seal the series. I dunno, if it were to rain and we stumbled in the 4th match, could be drawn series quite easily.

 

[vaibhav mehta]

Last chance for England!Thanks to Tom for not creating bet,otherwise i would have loss more vcash on england..Anyway first time in serise England gonna chase the total so intresting!Anderson did his job-Macullum gone and kiwiz 7 for 1.go england go...

England still Strugling with experiments,there you go DIMI is in as predicted but L.WRIGHT got call by replacing SWANN and that doesn't make sense....
hope that work for England.

 

[irottev]

Asad Rauf is bloody useless. Seriously. He's easily worse then Bucknor. He has no clue. Costs us a big wicket and costed England on earlier. Plus the 4 runs from his own stupidity and day dreaming.

 

[vaibhav mehta]

Asad Rauf is bloody useless. Seriously. He's easily worse then Bucknor. He has no clue. Costs us a big wicket and costed England on earlier. Plus the 4 runs from his own stupidity and day dreaming.

It was SIX i think.but thats really Stupid.I don't know what he was doing there?and where he was looking?
Ya may be "DAY DREAMING"..lol..

 

[irottev]

A few balls after I post he gives Taylor out when he was hit outside the line of offstump and a good metre down the wicket. I guess that's even with Oram being not given.

Infact Oram was out what should have been a no-ball. 2 in a row, that second was just asbad as the first. Aren't you not allowed to bowl any more after 1? More poor umpiring. I also feel no-balls above the waist should be free-hits. They're pretty dangerous.

We got 230 so that's not a bad score. More then England have managed this tour. Just need to bowl as well as we have been. I have a sniff, but probably England's game to lose. To England's credit, they bowled pretty well and our top order seemed to be in all sorts of bother.

Fulton needs dropping. He's in terrible form and has major technical issues. I guess it's unfortunate that theres no one to replace him. The ICL has them all.

 

[angryangy]

Good patience by England, this is what Bell is here to do and good to see Pietersen just playing and waiting for his moment. They should win from here because of the diamond shaped boundaries at this ridiculous area, but hey, it is England we're talking about. Still anyone's game for quite a while.

 

[irottev]

England have this one. But at least it's a closer one. Unlike our 2 thrashings.

Vettori bowling as well as always.

 

[vaibhav mehta]

Colly need to take care of england now...not much required so he can bat his natural cricket..good to see bell inform now.he played very fine knock and let KP TO regain his form..hope england will reach their marke safely and we won't get chance to see more drama in remaining match.

 

[irottev]

For the next 2 matches I think we need to bring in James Marshall for Fulton. Fulton is in bad form and needs to go get some at domestic level before the tests.

Also Hitchcock bowls pies. I didn't realize he'd lost pace. But he's not a frontline bowler. If Mason isn't fit, I dunno what's happened to Mark Gillespie. We need him fit again. I hope Franklin is doing well too, need him in time for the England tour.

Otherwise all's good. We didn't play too badly today, just not enough runs on the board, or we would have had it. Was definitely a 270-280 pitch. We'll do better next time. England are entitled to play well for once

 

[Skater]

A good job done there, England can do it! The chase reminded me of the Commonwealth Bank Series last year when Collingwood was involved in working down the runs needed. I started watching with about 60 to win.

The commentators were saying the team now has more depth, as we bat all the way down to Broad at number 9. Anderson, Sidebottom, Broad, Mascarenhas and Collingwood are all good bowlers.

I still think New Zealand will win the series, but at least it isn't going to be through 5 thumpings.

 

[irottev]

I just looked up the ground statistics. And New Zealand have lost 1 ODI at Christchurch since 2001 and it was against Australia. It's the best pitch in the country too. So England will be up against it there at least. Need to win in Napier first of course.

We seem to always lose games at Eden Park.

 

[Sureshot]

Collingwood takes the bull by the horns and shows why he is captain. Wonderful all-round performance by the England captain.

I'm chuffed with that performance, the only thing we didn't get was a century from the top 3/4. Though Bell can count himself unlucky, I thought his dismissal had a knick. Maybe I'm wrong though. Broad bowled really well again, 36 wickets in 24 games, great rate so far. He's averaging 17 in the away ODi fixtures this winter so far, excellent stuff. Bell passes 2,000 ODI runs with a fine 73. To go back to the main man though, I thought Collingwood did really well today. 70* from 50 balls and 3-43 from 9 overs with Taylor, Fulton and Vettori his victims. The openers didn't get runs and Dimi was expensive. Barring those two things I can't think of anything else today.

 

[vaibhav mehta]

How many of England captains played such an ininngs to get england home???
Colly led by front..They were in lots of pressure!and their Captain showed how you can fight for win!!
Bravo colly....go now aim for 3-2..
excellent stuff from bell and KP also..

 

[cheese]

For the next 2 matches I think we need to bring in James Marshall for Fulton. Fulton is in bad form and needs to go get some at domestic level before the tests.

Also Hitchcock bowls pies. I didn't realize he'd lost pace. But he's not a frontline bowler. If Mason isn't fit, I dunno what's happened to Mark Gillespie. We need him fit again. I hope Franklin is doing well too, need him in time for the England tour.

Otherwise all's good. We didn't play too badly today, just not enough runs on the board, or we would have had it. Was definitely a 270-280 pitch. We'll do better next time. England are entitled to play well for once

I'm not sure there. Our bowling sure, it's a good wicket, but aside from Vettori and Oram, no one else had a pearler.

Agreed with James Marshall for Pete. In fact, any up and coming batsman would have done better than Pete at the moment. He needs to rediscover his form prior to his long layoff.

But this is symptomatic of our fragile batting lineup. Taylor is at best a '30s' man, always getting out LBW or runout. He will probably turn into a McMillan if he doesn't get those deficiencies in order. Styris is WAY past it. Please take up a fat cheque and leave.

Hitchcock is a waste of space on that team, I hope they bring in another young gun, he's a journeyman. This would have been the spot for Andre Adams had he not 'retired'.

We rely too much on Jesse Ryder, McCullum and Oram down the order. Where ARE OUR BATSMEN IN THE MIDDLE GONE OFF TO? This is a good pitch, and they still fail. I can't believe this.

England deserve this win totally for the way they turned their form around.

 

[DPRA]

I really am starting to like the middle order of Collingwood and Shah.

They really did show nerves of steel today after Bell and KP got out.

What a great innings by Colly, could this be the turning point in the ODI series?

I sure hope so!