New Zealand in England

[zub2005]

with weather you never know draw could be on the cards.

 

[King Pietersen]

May be abit premature, but Strauss playing very, very well. Looks like his old self, very compact, leaving the ball beautifully, getting his eyes behind the ball and playing it straight. He's not chasing the ball like he was in the winter, and the balls that are too straight and too full he's putting away. That 177 really seems to have given him his confidence back, which is a great thing, he's a marvelous batsman when on form, and hopefully he'll regain that awesome form that he had at the start of his career.

75-0 is looking good, hopefully Cook and Strauss will continue to build and help us build a massive total. This game isn't a draw yet, although a day of bad light and rain would almost certainly cause a draw I reckon. I think Cook's entrance onto the ODi team has helped Strauss aswell, Cook seems more attacking than when he first came in, he's taking the role of the attacking batsman and is helping Strauss play his natural game. Looking good for England.

 

[Sureshot]

I'm going to have a long update for my article tonight!

Damn this weather!

 

[King Pietersen]

Breaking News:

Matthew Hoggard has broken his thumb, in the CC match between Yorkshire and Durham. The man who did the damage ? Steve Harmison of course. This means Hoggards out of the 2nd test, and probably the 3rd, so who comes in as 12th man ?. Tremlett ? Onions ? Harmison ? Wright ? Key ? I'd go for Graeme Onions I reckon, he's a fantastic bowler, has bowled well with England Lions, and looks a good prospect. Get him in the squad.

 

[Sureshot]

Let's be honest. The 12th man will be carrying drinks, if you want anything for him he should be a very good fielder. Ergo, it should be Wright if you are going to bother with a 12th man. Doesn't matter a jot who it is, he won't be playing.

 

[wolf]

Let's be honest. The 12th man will be carrying drinks, if you want anything for him he should be a very good fielder. Ergo, it should be Wright if you are going to bother with a 12th man. Doesn't matter a jot who it is, he won't be playing.

Slight misconception, the 12th man won't be the 12th man of the squad, he will be just someone brought in do some fielding if required. The 12th man of the squad will be the back up bowler who will probably be sent back to his county when he is not needed.

 

[Leicester Fox]

5 draws in a row at Lords now, it frustrating but it's going to happen if you're playing the first test of the summer there. Shame that the whole drainage thing has had no effect on any results at all Has helped us see a lot more cricket and there should have been a result at lords last year to be fair.

Just hope we carry on playing good cricket though, if we bring a bowler into the squad go for Simon Jones. Like people have been saying about fred if they're bowling well we might as well get something out of them whilst they're fit. Put him, Fred, Sidebum and Hoggy in an attack and there'll be some swing there

 

[Sureshot]

He won't be match fit yet, Joe. He's had a couple of 5wh but he still doesn't bowl as many overs as the other seamers at Worcs (in FC cricket).

 

[zub2005]

draw looks like but you never know.

 

[Leggie]

Just reading on Cricinfo, If the English batsmen play some 'T20 Cricket' tomorrow morning, then we might see a result because of Englands in form bowling line up and New Zealands wishy washy batting line up...

 

[MasterBlaster76]

Bloody rain! We have a week of good weather and as soon as the cricket starts, the damn rain arrives!

 

[angryangy]

Just reading on Cricinfo, If the English batsmen play some 'T20 Cricket' tomorrow morning, then we might see a result because of Englands in form bowling line up and New Zealands wishy washy batting line up...

The question is whether a conversion to limited over style cricket gives NZ an advantage.

 

[Animator!]

If we really want to win, then tbh we should just hit ourselves up to their score, declare with it evens, and then hope (which we should be able to) to nip them out for 150ish then knock them off day 5.

 

[irottev]

That would be the aggressive thing to do. But England arn't playing aggressive test cricket. I noticed that in the NZ series in particular and also with their fields late in our batting innings.

I'd take a draw for sure.

 

[Skater]

BBC Radio 5live are presenting from Lord's right now and they say the sun is shining and play will start on time.