Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

Thu, 16 Feb, 1:00 AM
1st Test (D/N), Mount Maunganui, February 16 - 20, 2023, England tour of New Zealand
New Zealand
England

Thu, 23 Feb, 10:00 PM
2nd Test, Wellington, February 24 - 28, 2023, England tour of New Zealand
New Zealand
England

An article on peaking at the right time.

Not by our very own Red Devil when it comes to fantasy leagues, but by Jack Leach


https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/64513160

Feels like England toured New Zealand quite recently, but apparently my memory is playing tricks and we haven't been since 2019.

I'm not quite sure why Mount Manganui keeps hosting so many tests as opposed to say, Auckland, Christchurch or Hamilton. It's about the size of Oxford and three hours drive from Auckland. Can't see how there will be much of a crowd.

Last time England toured NZ they were thumped, but much water under the bridge since then. England are brimming with confidence and newfound form, while New Zealand seem to be a side somewhat past their best after a golden generation. No Boult, Taylor or Watling, and Kane and Southee have struggled for form (although Kane's last innings was a form-recovering 200...).

England definitely have a good chance of taking this out, but New Zealand remain tough at home. Hopefully it'll be a good series, although given the timing in the middle of the night in the UK and the audience size in NZ, I doubt anyone much will be watching.

Mail
England’s preparation for the first Test looks certain to be interrupted by the threat of a cyclone that is set to hit New Zealand’s north island early next week.

Cyclone Gabrielle is likely to bring heavy rain to Mount Maunganui on Monday and possibly Tuesday but England are confident they have enough miles in their legs already to take on the Kiwis as they look to add to their remarkable record under McCullum and Stokes of nine wins in 10 Tests.

I won't be watching as it is BT Sport. Last time only signed up for a month but they kept on charging me long after. This will be the first time ever I have missed an England series. I'll have to follow it on Cricinfo.

Seems like Ollie pope is being groomed as next test captain...what do we think of this? Not lots of options I never really thought of pope as a captaincy option before ...

andy wrote:Seems like Ollie pope is being groomed as next test captain...what do we think of this? Not lots of options I never really thought of pope as a captaincy option before ...

Bit of a journalist's attempt to start a conversation , perhaps ? I guess of the younger members of the current group he has the important merit points of (1) Is a batman (2) Plays for Surrey (3) Likely to be a Test specialist : plus his recent form suggests he should remain a regular selection (though perhaps we should wait and see how he goes at three against Australia !) Most of the rest of the side are either of an age with Stokes ; yet unsure of a place ; or are bowlers and therefore (unfairly !) deemed to lack the brains to set a field and know when to declare , etc

Hopefully Stokes will be on the job for a year or two yet and by then we might have a clearer picture of who the options will be. For now , I would prefer Pope to concentrate on his day job and producing consistent runs at the important number three spot. Happy if Surrey want to get him some captaincy experience though : but will the current programme ever allow him to play enough with them to make that a possibility ?

bigfluffylemon wrote:I'm not quite sure why Mount Manganui keeps hosting so many tests as opposed to say, Auckland, Christchurch or Hamilton. It's about the size of Oxford and three hours drive from Auckland. Can't see how there will be much of a crowd

I read something about this a while back, but I think a lot of the bigger dual purpose stadiums are in a poor state for modern sports, but their was a big battle between local councils and taxpayer about public money being wasted to pay for new ones. IIRC Christchurch has started building a new stadium thats marred in funding issues and is left unfinished.

As a compromise, the government/council started to allow them to be used for other things in the summer, such as festivals and concerts, to generate more money for development.... so Eden Park is often unavailable now in the cricket season.

Interesting, SP. And depressing.

NZ hit by a pretty bad cyclone overnight. Sounds like a lot of damage, fortunately no deaths reported as yet.

The ground has been apparently spared any damage from the cyclone, and Dobell says that its business as usual in preparations now (although the last I heard, 5-6 NZ players + additional support staff were stuck at various points in the country unable to fly in for the match, and some are going to be arriving very late). Also lots of roads into the town closed, so not sure there is going to be much of a crowd in for the start.

The pictures of the pitch floating about look pretty scary. The pitch looks as green as the outfield, and seems to have a damp patch running right up the middle. With all the flooding of recent times and a cyclone still ongoing, its totally understandable if they have found it impossible to keep the pitch dry, but if its a drying/damp pitch on a green top, I cant say I fancy many batters to make much in the terms of runs.

Although there have been a few NZ pitches recently that couldnt have looked greener, and they did absolutely nothing

Bowl first. I'm surprised England didn't leave out their spinner, but I suppose the pitch might flatten out as they often do in NZ.

Last time England were there for a pink ball match they were bowled out for 58 so the bar for improvement is low...

You'd fancy them to do a lot better now , as NZ really have lost a lot of strong players recently ; but given the last three tours I am not counting any chickens (or Kiwis) in advance. The England record in pink ball is awful - 1 win , 5 losses.

Sounds as if the area of the match is less impacted than much of NZ so we may see a start on time ?

NZ win the toss and bowl.

NZ bowling attack looks very green. Southee and Wagner are there, obviously, but beyond them there isn't much. If England get through the early movement and get after the NZ bowlers in the way they have done in recent matches, it could get very ugly for NZ.

Big if, of course. Like alfie, given England's recent record in NZ and in pink ball I wouldn't count any kiwis...

Oh look, Crawley's out.

England rattling along at 6 an over though. I half wonder if the plan is to be 350 all out by dinner, then get a crack at NZ under the lights...

Duckett 50 off 36. Totally flaying the debutant Tickner.

Maybe it'll all go belly-up, but England already passed their 58 from last time...