Eng Test tour of NZ, Feb 16-28

[Arthur Crabtree]

73 in a partnership of 98.

[Durhamfootman]

35 needed to avoid the follow on. 8 overs ago they needed nearly 100

[Durhamfootman]

Leach holds onto Blundell and NZ are 9 down still needing 27 to take the option away from Stokes

Ando, Leach and Stuey all have 3 wickets

[bigfluffylemon]

England still haven't overcome their tendency to bowl too short at the tail and concede lower order runs.

Follow on seems unlikely now. England will aim to declare an hour before close with a lead of 400+ I reckon. Pitch still looks decent enough, it's only day 3 after all.

[Durhamfootman]

it's Broad who gets the 4-fer

It'll be interesting to see which way Stokes goes. Plenty of time to bat again, but rain is apparently loitering around for the third day in a row, so perhaps it'll be the weather chart that decides

[Durhamfootman]

crapinfo also reckons that batting on this ground often gets easier

[Arthur Crabtree]

Kiwis folllow on. Attacking decision.

[Durhamfootman]

he has enforced the follow on

it's a fair call, the bowlers haven't done that much bowling in this match and very little today. I guess not bowling the saint this morning was the big clue

[bigfluffylemon]

I guess they really want their golf game

[Durhamfootman]

NZ openers digging in

[bigfluffylemon]

Well this follow on is going well.

[alfie]

Interesting Test Match. Pitch obviously flattened out after the early stages so England did well to wreck the NZ first innings - except for the late Southee blitz. Wasn't able to watch that bit , sadly : but the highlights and text reports were lively !

Follow on is typical Stokes : you can , so you do. Some might claim it has already backfired to an extent , as NZ have dug in commendably all day and the England bowlers will now have to saddle up again in the morning after 136 overs of work so far broken by two nights rest. But with all these bowlers now due a nice rest once this game is done I don't think that should prove too much of an error.

Sure they might end up chasing a few , second innings ; but this team rather likes doing that , I believe. Still going to take a big effort from NZ to give them a target of over 200 - and they have to overcome a new ball attack first thing in the morning. Spectators should expect a decent fourth day at least...

[Durhamfootman]

Very commendable resistance from NZ. Rain looks to have held off for a change. It won't do England any harm to not have everything going their way.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Credit to Kiwis for fighting back. Could have just drifted away on the momentum of the series.

[Durhamfootman]

I read an interesting stat (if true) which said that on only 3 occasions has a test team enforced the follow on and gone on to lose the test. It was an Australian side on each occasion, which might explain why they have long since seemed reluctant to enforce the follow on