New Zealand in England

[Animator!]

He looked absolutely fantastic with the gloves on the 5/6 occaisions I saw him. He can also bat, bat well at almost anywhere in the order. Got a ton against the Indians in the tour game last year. It's going to be difficult for Sussex, they have three fantastic players on their books. One of them will have to move at the end of the season, particularly as Ben Brown will start pushing the other two.

 

[Sureshot]

The team we should go with from the squad for me:

1. Alastair Cook
2. Andrew Strauss
3. Michael Vaughan (c)
4. Kevin Pietersen
5. Paul Collingwood
6. Ian Bell
7. Tim Ambrose (wk)
8. Stuart Broad
9. Ryan Sidebottom
10. Matthew Hoggard
11. Monty Panesar

The team I would have gone for before the squad was picked:

1. Alastair Cook
2. Michael Carberry
3. Michael Vaughan (c)
4. Kevin Pietersen
5. Rob Key
6. Ian Bell
7. Andrew Flintoff
8. Chris Read (wk)
9. Stuart Broad
10. Ryan Sidebottom
11. Monty Panesar

Rob Key at 5? You're going to have to explain that one.


Chris Read has as much chance playing for England as I do. The moment he signed for the ICL was the moment he sacrificed his England career. He's just not good enough, he's a decent glovesman and an okayish batsman, but I don't think he's good enough and he's certainly not ahead of Ambrose, Mustard, Davies or Prior.

 

[Kev]

Indeed, if Key were to play, it would surely be in an opener's role. Also Bell behind Collyflower?

 

[Steve Moore]

For me, Collingwood is England's most consistant, chips down, Test arena performer. O.K. he doesn't have the style of K.P. or Vaughany but he is the Barrington to the Dexter, Cowdrey & May around him!

 

[Kev]

Don't get me wrong, I like Collingwood a lot, as you say, not stylish but grinds out performances when he needs to. I was more making the point that Bell would be better off up the order a bit, I'd rather have Collingwood around at the end, he's England's finisher.

 

[RoboRocks]

I have to say I was a bit surprised when Collingwood went down to 6 over Bell. Do England see Bell a better batsmen than Colingwood, or do they feel he's better as a finisher as Kev said? Marshalling the tail is something Collingwood does do well but I still think that if Collingwood is a better batsmen than Bell he should be higher up the order that him. Collingwood has a test double hundred batting 5 against Australia so I think he should really have his middle order place.

 

[Sureshot]

His place isn't in doubt for me and most fans, but his style doesn't suit some people. Which is a shame because he does most things right and he's certainly not the weakest batsman in our top 6. I'd say only KP and Cook are better, Cook being marginally so.

Hoggard is 12th man for tomorrow.

 

[karnog]

The English at the moment have rubbish keepers in comparison to other nations. I think England is the only side with a non-regular keeper (well australia as well considering gilly retired but i highly doubt anyone can compare to Haddin in Australia). I've seen Prior, Ambrose and your twenty20/odi specialist (mustard or was it Ketchup... mustard) and their keeping is slightly above average at best. Jones and Read weren't that fantastic. Makes you wish for the Stewart/Russcel/Foster era. England's bowling seem pretty set but i have a nagging suspicion the England batting are under pressure considering Shah and Key are pushing for positions. On top of that the Kiwi bowling attack is relatively inexperienced so it should be easy pickings. Add to that flintoff and if the bowling attack work well (and god hope Flintoff finds some batting form) it might be a batsman cut. Interesting times for England.

As for NZ they got nothing to lose and all to gain- well their batsman anyway. It'll be fascinating see to Taylor in an experienced role (he's the only person in the top 4 with a century), Mcculum adjusting to this format, Oram getting some overs under his belt and Southee's performance. The bowling is gonna be competitive considering Mason and O'brien have found some form. Mills is under pressure too. Vettori no longer has the experienced Fleming in the side so it'll make life tough. All in all its a fascinating series.

 

[Sureshot]

I wouldn't say we have rubbish keepers, I'd say we have quite a lot of good ones. The problem is the selectors don't know what they want. We've had the keeper who takes everything but can't score runs (Jones towards end of his time and Read) we've had the keeper who averages over 40 but dropped catches (Prior) and we've now got a new keeper who has so far kept well and got a hundred and batted well.

The future is quite good for English keepers I think. Davies, Wessels and Hodd all have promising futures, the latter maybe needing to move county.

Because we had the excellence of Stewart, no English keeper is going to be good anyway, because they are always going to be compared to him.

 

[evertonfan]

Anderson gets the nod. Thank you England selectors for making me feel like a million quid. We've got Sidebottom as the man who offeres unfathomable consistency with which we can turn too if Anderson goes off the boil. Thank God you lot don't pick the teams.

 

[King Pietersen]

Indeed, if Key were to play, it would surely be in an opener's role. Also Bell behind Collyflower?

Bell plays his best cricket at 6, test cricket anyway. The averages are only 3 better in favour of batting at 6, but he's played more games at 6, and scored 4 hundreds at 6, proving that he's a fantastic finisher with the tail.

Also, the England selectors see the first test the same as me and Matt, Anderson picked over Hoggard. Hopefully Jimmy'll prove you doubters wrong .

 

[Sureshot]

In 5 years he hasn't shown consistency, that's our point. I like Anderson, when he's on form, because he destroys batting line ups. But then in the next game he won't take any wickets and will go at 5 an over.

 

[Xuzuno]

New Zealand team for the first test:

Jamie How
Aaron Redmond
James Marshall
Ross Taylor
Brendon McCullum
Daniel Flynn
Jacob Oram
Daniel Vettori (captain)
Kyle Mills
Tim Southee
Iain O'Brien
Chris Martin

 

[Skater]

The weather forecast is heavy rain for Lord's today. It doesn't sound good. I hope there is some play at least. It is typical, last week there was a heatwave and just as the first test of the summer comes around it all changes.

 

[Owzat]

Also, the England selectors see the first test the same as me and Matt, Anderson picked over Hoggard. Hopefully Jimmy'll prove you doubters wrong .

I looked at the respective records at Lords :-

Anderson @ Lords : 14 wkts @ 25.21
Hoggard @ Lords : 37 wkts @ 31.08

Surprised me, I was looking mainly to see what Hoggard was like at Lords. And if you look more closely at who Anderson played at Lords :-

Zimbabwe 5/73 & 0/65
South Africa 2/90
India 5/42 & 2/83

So near half his wickets are against Zimbabwe. Take those away though and he would return 9 wkts @ 23.89. His average at Lords is almost entirely based on that one Test performance. His last Test against New Zealand returned figures of 0/54 & 1/99 so let's pray the Anderson that can bowl turns up, not the one that can't. I'd have chanced Hoggard, he will be fighting hard for his place now he's been dropped for a couple of Tests and he's more consistent.


And for a sense of completeness, here's their figures vs New Zealand

Anderson vs New Zealand : 8 wkts @ 35.38
Hoggard vs New Zealand : 27 wkts @ 34.74

Not much in it, we can't afford Anderson to get it completely wrong and go 1-0 down. I am hoping and hoping we bat first, post 400+ and then Vaughan will have to make a brave decision if to give Anderson the new ball with the two likely outcomes - a flying start for the kiwis or a good start by Anderson. Whch is more likely? Does Anderson even know?