NZ Test tour of Eng, June 2-27

[alfie]

Have to congratulate NZ , in particular Mitchell and Blundell : keeping their heads after another early collapse and taking advantage of a pitch clearly getting easier after lunch and a softer ball. Looks like a match winning partnership unless (a) new ball collapse on Saturday and (b) a hugely improved chasing effort from England. Not inclined to risk money on either...

On other points mentioned above : one of the reasons Anderson , and Broad too I guess - have proved much less effective in second innings recently is that they are regularly forced back into the field with very little rest time as England rarely bat an adequate number of overs. All pace bowlers tend to appreciate a bit of a break between bowling stints ; and these two for all their commendable fitness are obviously going to find backing up harder than a twenty four year old.

England batting first innings was dire (as was NZ's actually) But I think McCullum had cautioned he didn't expect overnight miracles so I think we can defer the "off with their heads!" cries for an innings or two , no ? Even if this ends in a defeat , a respectable second innings effort might go some way to instilling a bit of confidence for the rest of the series. At least one thing seems to have been improved already : the England fielding has been far sharper than anything we've seen recently so as long as this isn't an aberration we can maybe tick one for the new management.

Two new boys in this match : Potts looks a decent prospect. Bit of Tim Bresnan about him : not super quick ; but quite consistent and apparently can surprise batsmen with the odd bit of extra bounce. May struggle on really flat decks but a good start. Parkinson by contrast hints already that he may just demonstrate the folly of assuming in advance that good county form will translate to the big time : he looked pretty innocuous , albeit on a pitch that wasn't giving him any assistance. This was probably not the best time to introduce him , as I thought before the match when half the Internet were screaming for his inclusion ; but I guess the unfortunate accident to Jack Leach gave the selectors a convenient way to appease the masses. Question being now : will they retain him next week , as Leach surely won't be recovered ? (Would love him to prove me totally wrong with a bag of wickets in the morning but not holding my breath) Do think England need a number eight who can hold a bat...but that can wait until this game is done.

Over rates awful. What's new ? About as much chance of fixing that as USA Congress passing new gun laws...

[Durhamfootman]

On other points mentioned above : one of the reasons Anderson , and Broad too I guess - have proved much less effective in second innings recently is that they are regularly forced back into the field with very little rest time as England rarely bat an adequate number of overs. All pace bowlers tend to appreciate a bit of a break between bowling stints ; and these two for all their commendable fitness are obviously going to find backing up harder than a twenty four year old.

good point

[Durhamfootman]

Do think England need a number eight who can hold a bat...but that can wait until this game is done.

with both A & B in the side as well as Potts who has made enough of an impact to retain his place for at least this series, then the number 8 position will continue to be a problem if a spinner is included in the side... and there probably should be a spinner.

If Parky fails to impress, then England could decide to re-visit Good Dom Bess while Leach is out and see if he's recovered from the treatment he got from England last time around

Left field thought..... Sam Curran is batting as well as any lower middle order batter in county cricket atm. England have batting problems at 3 and 5, so England could take one of them out, move Stokes back to 5, and bring Curran in at 7. There does seem to be something about Curran as a batter rather than as a bowler who bats a bit

The problem is that, after the winter caning down under, England have said a lot of things that were popular with a lot of people. I know they were reasonably careful about how they said it but the implication was that A&B would both play when fit. They said that Stokes would bat at 6 and I think they said that Root would bat at 4, so they've kind of boxed themselves in a bit and reduced the options at their disposal

Ultimately though, the problem is the top 3 and until they fix this, the rest will never fall into place

[sussexpob]

Curran has almost stopped bowling entirely this year. 17 overs in 4 games, which I have no background on (is he injured or has he given up and focusing on batting?) ....so can't really count on him unless he's turning into Steve Smith with the bat.

Pope scored runs this year (average nearly 70), but as I said a long time ago, he's just too vulnerable early on. The idea of putting him at 3 is just a bad one. When he's set, he looks the part and is a terrific player....but the more time goes by, the more that first handful of overs before he gets his bearings is killing him. Maybe time to move on. Barstow too just keeps failing. Crawley was the same old Crawley, full of great attacking strokes but his defence puts a time frame on his wicket. I applaud Lees effort to bat time at least, so I think he deserves a few more games before being thrown away.

[sussexpob]

On other points mentioned above : one of the reasons Anderson , and Broad too I guess - have proved much less effective in second innings recently is that they are regularly forced back into the field with very little rest time as England rarely bat an adequate number of overs. All pace bowlers tend to appreciate a bit of a break between bowling stints ; and these two for all their commendable fitness are obviously going to find backing up harder than a twenty four year old.

good point

Indeed. England's pace attack reduced NZ to 30/6 and 30/4 in both innings.....but if you get out for 130 odd, it's not hard to see where you are losing.

Even a 50 run lead would have really banged the nail in. Mentally, England's batting let NZ off the hook and they've found a way back. Can't really blame the bowlers, they've basically bowled 5 sessions now in 2 days, so even younger men would be tired by this point.

Anderson particularly has ripped the NZ top order apart.

[Arthur Crabtree]

First time I saw Parkinson and I was amazed. Just looped out the hand like a park player, no dip, no menace. He must be better than that, given his county record. Can't remember being as underwhelmed by a debuting England spinner since Samit Patel was being promoted as a bowler, though there may have been others overseas. England have burned through a lot of spinners in India. Never saw Crane. I suppose Parkinson is young and could improve.

Rain.

[Durhamfootman]

says it all that having bowled NZ out for 130, Englands best chance of saving this game might be if it rains and rains and rains

[Durhamfootman]

the concussion injury to Leach might end up being the best thing that could have happened to his test career. If Parky burns, then Leach becomes a much better player in the minds of people and lines him up for the upcoming SA series............ which happens a lot in sport

that relies on your replacement crashing and burning, of course, which doesn't always happen

[Arthur Crabtree]

New ball or bust. This could get messy.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Well done Daryl. One for the pool room.

[Arthur Crabtree]

One his way now. I think Tom Blundell's innings is the pick of the two from highlights. Gave fewer glimpses of a chance.

Can England run through the lower order? Their last chance in the game. There goes another. Big wicket.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Three in three balls, including a run out. Has the destiny of the game swung again?

[Durhamfootman]

if NZ can lose wickets in a clatter, England can do it better

[Durhamfootman]

'ave it!

they made him wait a bit, but the boy's straight in again once he gets his mitts on the ball

[sussexpob]

England given themselves a chance. Objectively it's within reach, but I doubt England can chase over 270