New Zealand tour of England - May/June 2015

[richowebbo]

Bugger. That'll teach me!!

It would be better if you don't start watching from now on or commenting on England's position!

Lots of comments on Twitter about run rate being low - if we'd gone out and smashed it around and lost silly wickets, people would also be complaining. I think some people like England to do badly so they can complain!

 

[cooks1st100]

It would be better if you don't start watching from now on or commenting on England's position!

Lots of comments on Twitter about run rate being low - if we'd gone out and smashed it around and lost silly wickets, people would also be complaining. I think some people like England to do badly so they can complain!

Yeah I know mate, kiss of death every time! Happens when I watch Southampton also!

Run-rate, meh! It's not one day cricket, South Africa up until a couple of years ago were almost coma inducing to watch batting-wise and it didn't do them any harm. As I said about NZ, it's all well and good playing attacking cricket but they were well below target as a result, plus we let them off the hook this morning by bowling poorly at the tail.

England were just undone by that last session, new ball, under the lights is always difficult for a batsman and Boult and Southee showed their class once again.

 

[richowebbo]

Yeah I know mate, kiss of death every time! Happens when I watch Southampton also!

Run-rate, meh! It's not one day cricket, South Africa up until a couple of years ago were almost coma inducing to watch batting-wise and it didn't do them any harm. As I said about NZ, it's all well and good playing attacking cricket but they were well below target as a result, plus we let them off the hook this morning by bowling poorly at the tail.

England were just undone by that last session, new ball, under the lights is always difficult for a batsman and Boult and Southee showed their class once again.

I've been to Headingley a fair few times, and its a difficult place to bat at the end of the day. The wind starts swirling around and it gets dark real quick when the sun isn't shining! When you chuck a new ball in the mix, gunna be tough. Ballance has had another shocker though.

I was thinking the same thing about NZ score. 350 was good, but why Cook didn't bowl our best Bowler (Jimmy) this morning and pitch it up and get wickets was bewildering. I don't know why Stokes and Broad kept bowling short for so long when they were smashing it around. I think hitting the stumps to tail enders is a must. We didn't bowl well yesterday, as from 2-2, we should have got them out for less than 250.

 

[MUFC1987]

As for Ali, if he's batting 8, seems that there are better spinners in County Cricket who should get picked. I like Moeen, and I think he's a good batter, but it seems that Cook trusts Root with the ball just as much as Moeen, so may as well pick a proper spinner.

The thing is though, I'm not so sure there are. The only spinners we have are young and/or inexperienced at County Level, let alone Test level. Look at Kerrigan when he had a go. The fear will be that a guy like Riley might get taken apart by New Zealand, so they're better off having a guy like Ali, who has a bit of know how in that situation.

But there does just seem to be a lack of experienced spinners in the County game. You look at when Swann got a go, he'd been in the County game for a good while and was experienced before he was picked (again) for England. I just don't think there's anybody who really fits that description at the moment, in the County game.

Wonder how the ICC even assigns the umpires for tests.. Ravi looks out of his depth here, how he's been selected to officiate a test match is a mystery. Best umpires need to officiate the best matches.

The problem is that most of the best Umpires seem to be either Australian or English. That means that when either of those sides play, the Umpires are hit and miss and when the Ashes happen, the Umpiring goes down a notch or two for sure.

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Good to see Lyth getting a century. Just hope that England show more faith with him than they did with Compton.

 

[blockerdave]

Wonder how the ICC even assigns the umpires for tests.. Ravi looks out of his depth here, how he's been selected to officiate a test match is a mystery. Best umpires need to officiate the best matches.

He had an excellent first test[DOUBLEPOST=1433021268][/DOUBLEPOST]So far these tests have been 7 days of fabulous test cricket - a real shame we're not having a longer series.

 

[Deleted member 149013]

Get in there Lyth good to see a Yorkie get a century at Headingley it made my day.

Cook has been solid this series and a great landmark to add it with Anderson’s.

Ballance a concern he doesn’t need dropping completely just removing for a period he has a floor in his technique which needs putting right before his confidence is smashed the backfoot is getting him into trouble.

 

[richowebbo]

But there does just seem to be a lack of experienced spinners in the County game. You look at when Swann got a go, he'd been in the County game for a good while and was experienced before he was picked (again) for England. I just don't think there's anybody who really fits that description at the moment, in the County game.

I'm probably biased, being a Yorkshire fan, but Rashid is a good spinner and has been bowling in County cricket for a while now.

But you're right, there is a danger of the young guys like Riley or Borthwick getting taken apart.

 

[Santander]

As for Ali, if he's batting 8, seems that there are better spinners in County Cricket who should get picked. I like Moeen, and I think he's a good batter, but it seems that Cook trusts Root with the ball just as much as Moeen, so may as well pick a proper spinner.

I found it very surprising on the last day of the first Test that Cook was giving the ball to Root instead of Moeen on the last day with two lefties at the crease, a healthy lead, and wickets required. I don't know if Moeen was having confidence issues after getting hit a bit earlier, if it was Cook-style captaincy or what, but it was odd nonetheless.

 

[richowebbo]

I found it very surprising on the last day of the first Test that Cook was giving the ball to Root instead of Moeen on the last day with two lefties at the crease, a healthy lead, and wickets required. I don't know if Moeen was having confidence issues after getting hit a bit earlier, if it was Cook-style captaincy or what, but it was odd nonetheless.

I also found it odd. I just couldn't work out what the point of Moeen was if he was batting at 8 and not bowling. I don't think Root is that far behind Moeen in terms of bowling, so in my opinion I'd pick Borthwick, whose a leg spinner, just to have the variation.

 

[Markkkkk]

What happened to Danny Briggs? Surely he could be a decent spin bowling option for England.

 

[cooks1st100]

What happened to Danny Briggs? Surely he could be a decent spin bowling option for England.

Think him getting smashed in international T20's didn't help his cause.

 

[Markkkkk]

Think him getting smashed in international T20's didn't help his cause.

True, but he did get 2/39 on his ODI debut, think Eng might of given up a tad bit early...

 

[_Sam_]

What happened to Danny Briggs? Surely he could be a decent spin bowling option for England.

Been probably the most consistent domestic t20 bowler in the country since he started but hasn't broke through down here into Hampshires fc side on a consistent basis.

 

[PokerAce]

What a fine spell from Boult and Southee so far.

 

[grkrama]

ya its been precision stuff, craig also deserves appreciation for setting this up.