New Zealand in England

[barmyarmy]

Shocking, dismal, appalling England.
Sack Moores, send Anderson back to the Lancashire league, employ some professionals to run the team rather than county hacks and we might, just might, avoid losing the SA and Aus series to 0.

 

[King Pietersen]

Anderson's been the best performing quickie we've had in this test. He bowled to the captains plans in the first innings, bowling with hostility, and more importantly, took wickets. So what if he was expensive, he took a 5fer. In the 2nd innings he bowled a good grouping, bowled a long spell into the wind, and looked threatening and took a wicket. Sidebottom has bowled too wide, hasn't looked threatening enough without swing, and Broad's not really done anything of note either. Anderson's been our best fast bowler in this test, most wickets, and best overall performance with the ball.

Looking forward to tommorows play, we're in a good position, Strauss and Vaughan looking good. Hopefully O'Brien will go out on the piss tonight and get into a fight with an annoyed Juan Lazcano and be unable to bowl tommorow . We have a chance though, New Zealand are favourites, but we have a chance if we bat well. Not looking likely after todays performance though.

 

[Steve Moore]

Anderson's been the best performing quickie we've had in this test. He bowled to the captains plans in the first innings, bowling with hostility, and more importantly, took wickets. So what if he was expensive, he took a 5fer. In the 2nd innings he bowled a good grouping, bowled a long spell into the wind, and looked threatening and took a wicket. Sidebottom has bowled too wide, hasn't looked threatening enough without swing, and Broad's not really done anything of note either. Anderson's been our best fast bowler in this test, most wickets, and best overall performance with the ball.

Have to agree that Anderson's had a breakthrough Test Series, more consistantly troubling the batsman.

I can't wait for tomorrow as I've got a ticket for it. We have to bat extremely well to stand a chance. For Bell, it's a last chance saloon & although I'm a huge fan of Colly, he's so out of nick this summer that I feel another failure should result in him being put back to Durham to get some form.

 

[Leicester Fox]

Only player that should be dropped imo is Bell, Broad will take a while to come good but look at him now in ODI's, after his first couple of series in that he's been our best bowler behind sidebum. We can't change nother keeper either. Collys captain in ODI's so he won't go.

Now if KP gets out slogging I'm happy, he's capable of destroying this attack in a couple of sessions and the old KP would have done. If he gets out playign some pissy little waft where he just makes sure he shows the logo to the cameras so he can get a bit of cash he can piss off and I'm going to go round his house and shove his bat right up his arse. /rant.

Anyway 217 more to go, looks like its going to go the same way as our first innings.

 

[lancashire666]

i would much rather see collingwood dropped before bell! neither are doing much at the moment but collingwood seems to have forgotten which end of the bat to hold!

looks like it could be a good chase tomorrow, but got a feeling that 1 or 2 wickets in the first session and there may be a total collapse

 

[Arunava]

england should win this match though not easily.

and why would u guys want to change team combination for every game. .any team should be given some time to perform to give players the confidence that they are in and now they can play

many would have predicted to drop Monty. .and they even did, and would praise him now but one bad day and everyone would start complaining.

 

[Stephen Bailey]

and why would u guys want to change team combination for every game. .any team should be given some time to perform to give players the confidence that they are in and now they can play

Time?

Strauss - debut 2004
Cook - debut 2006
Vaughan - debut 1999
Pietersen - debut 2005
Bell - debut 2004
Collingwood - debut 2003
Ambrose - debut 2008
Broad - debut 2008
Sidebottom - debut 2001
Panesar - debut 2006
Anderson - debut 2003

To be fair, Ambrose and Broad are very new to test cricket whilst Sidebottom has only recently become a fixture in the side, however, the rest of the team has been around the England setup a while now. We keep hearing of the great potential and talent that this England side has, but sooner or later that has to stop just being potential and start being performances. That has to be soon because I'm getting fed up with hearing about this potential having heard the same old thing for the last 2 or 3 years.

 

[Arunava]

@stevie

by time i meant giving a particular team combination some time and not just individuals.

the stats u've put up is right but it is not an answer, it is not like that these players have never performed.
is it ?
all of them had contributed to the england team at some point of time when it was needed.

but changing team combination everytime doesn't help anybody but opposition. the team confidence goes down and player's individual confidence as well.

Look at Aussies, they would stick to a team combination for a longer period. Also they just won't give an opportunity to just anybody who had one good season. there are so many good players still didn't get any chance despite doing very well in one or two seasons.

It is all about showing faith on a Team and NOT INDIVIDUAL, it is a team game and one should show faith in whole team and not individuals.

 

[wolf]

Come on guys, how about getting behind the team for a change? We are still in with a great chance of winning, only problem is Vettori is playing out of his skin. You need to give the NZ team credit where credit is due, they are no pushovers.

Anyone who thinks Tim Ambrose should be dropped should hang their heads in shame. Have you all forgotten Wellington that quickly?

 

[Stephen Bailey]

Strauss - Apart from the Sri Lanka series, has been a fixture since 2004
Cook - Fixture since 2006
Vaughan - Had injury problems but has been back since last summer
Pietersen - Fixture since 2005
Bell - Fixture since 2005
Collingwood - Fixture since 2005
Ambrose - New
Broad - New
Sidebottom - Outstanding in his return year
Panesar - Fixture since 2006
Anderson - In and out forever

I'm not so frustrated by the bowlers because he haven't had a settled attack in a long while. But as you can see from the main batsmen, they've all been playing together for 2/3 years and there hasn't really been the improvement you'd expect from such supposedly talented players.

Come on guys, how about getting behind the team for a change? We are still in with a great chance of winning, only problem is Vettori is playing out of his skin. You need to give the NZ team credit where credit is due, they are no pushovers.

I've stuck with the England team through thick and thin for aslong as I can remember, but patience is starting to wear very thin with this current side. I'm sure Joe will tell you how much I've supported them much to his disgust.

New Zealand have been outstanding, no doubt about it and they deserve to go one up in this series.

 

[evertonfan]

Come on England you bunch of fannys. I know we're bad but we aren't this bad. Losing to New Zealand at home; deary deary me. I have the same awful bottom of the barrel feeling that I did when they beat us in 99. It's almost as if the England management are waiting for Flintoff to come back and expecting us to become amazing again due to his return. NO doubt he'll improve our bowling no end, but his batting's hardly gonna stop us getting into the trouble we've been getting into lately.

I am simply baffled as to why we're playing so defensive. We're the home side and should be the aggressors all the time. Don't give me the dodgy pitch excuse because the Kiwi's have had the same surface and gone at almost 5 an over on it. It's time Pietersen, Bell and Collingwood stopped being complete vaginas and started batting. It's embarrassing to watch a player like Pietersen for all of his attacking flamboyancy get out in such feeble ways. I can't help but think back to how he was in 2005 and 2006; He'd just attack from ball one. It got him a few critics, but he got bagfuls of runs and was by far England's best batsman. Now he just seems a shadow of his former self.

And Anderson's been shite but compared to rest of our bowlers he's been amazing. I hope this performance from Monty at his favourite ground helps him to stop being in crap form lately as well.

Oh and a final word about the Old Trafford pitch. Yet again its proven itself to be the best cricketing pitch in England. Well done Lancashire. Stick the birdie right to the ECB for giving Cardiff an Ashes Test instead of this glorious venue,

PS - Stevie smells.

evertonfan added 3 Minutes and 43 Seconds later...

Pietersen's hundred in the 2nd test of the away NZ series keeps him in the team i think. He's a proven match winner, and is just out of form, he's still averaging high 30's in the past year, which is still pretty good considering hes in a slump.

I wouldn't reccomend it, but i'd have no complaints if we dropped Pietersen. It'd be a kick up the arse he needs. He's got his mind on this twattish IPL business rather than being a batsman. The twat.

I mean no offense by calling him a twat but lets be honest, that's the best way to describe his batting right now.

 

[irottev]

Disappointing we got so few runs. I think we have enough though. I'd feel a bit happier if we had a few more wickets last night. With Oram having to bat at 8 and Flynn not batting at all that really didn't help us. 85/2 we were and then just collapsed. Marshall played a dumb shot, McCullum went at it too early. We lost a lot of wickets trying to get the runs quick and taking risks in the air, but probably not at the right times. Playing positively was the right way to go about it. Taylor got a good ball, decision could have gone either way but was fair enough. Vettori in at 6 and Mills at 7 was really where things fell apart with Flynn and Oram missing.

Panesar bowled well, as you expect him to in helpful conditions. There's no problem with his bowling when there's assistance, only when there's none. He's made up for the 101-1 he got in the first innings to get handy match figures.

Vettori should be able to take another 5 and win us the match hopefully. There's enough runs on the board and heaps of time left, even if it was to rain for a day (which I guess makes us getting out cheaply not such a bad thing, it keeps the game alive and open). Pressure will go more and more on England the closer they get.

 

[Steve Moore]

Vettori should be able to take another 5 and win us the match hopefully. There's enough runs on the board and heaps of time left, even if it was to rain for a day (which I guess makes us getting out cheaply not such a bad thing, it keeps the game alive and open). Pressure will go more and more on England the closer they get.

Exactly what I expect to happen today.

 

[barmyarmy]

Come on England you bunch of fannys. I know we're bad but we aren't this bad. Losing to New Zealand at home; deary deary me. I have the same awful bottom of the barrel feeling that I did when.

Totally agree with this.
New Zealand are a team we should be playing aggressively against and crushing by an innings in test cricket - especially after the players they've lost.
To be winning narrowly would not be good enough, to be staring down a 190 run first innings deficit is absolutely shocking. I think this NZ team have a lot of spirit and a lot of fight but I don't think they're all that good. This is a series between two mediocre teams and since one of them puports to be the second best side in the world that just isn't good enough.

 

[Owzat]

I had to laugh at a comment on ITV teletext views, someone suggested England have a fast scoring opening pair, flair in the middle order, quality pace bowlers and a strong tail.

What we've actually got is a top three scoring runs, but not accelerating, a middle order not scoring runs, a bowler who takes wickets but goes at 5 or 6 an over, another bowler who can bat but can't take wickets and it all adds up to a pretty poor fare.

And Sureshot, Strauss isn't the only batsman who scores slowly. In this series he's about par for the course, Cook is about the only batsman who has scored at greater than a run every other ball. England went something like 30 overs in the 1st innings of the 2nd Test after Cook was out without losing another wicket and added a feeble 70 odd runs. Vaughan managed 30 off around 128 balls and once both he and Strauss had got out the rest collapsed.

We may yet win this 2nd Test and series, unconvincingly. I think some of the selections demand questioning, how Collingwood can carry on in the side without scoring any runs this summer, how Broad can average over 40 with the ball against an ordinary kiwi batting line-up and be part of a four man attack, how Anderson can concede at six an over and be kept, how Vaughan can be kept as captain when the side is uninspiring with him in charge.