NZ Test tour of Eng, June 2-27

[Durhamfootman]

I suppose England have been trying to compensate for their failings in Australia, where they generally bowled too short and were roundly punished for it. It's TB where it usually swings, so fuller lengths are not unreasonable. As always though, when things aren't going to plan, teams have to be flexible enough to change their approach and it feels like a long time since England were confident enough to do that without running it by some sort of algorithm before they do it

[Durhamfootman]

it certainly never happened when Sir Steeley or Honest Joe were in charge

[Arthur Crabtree]

at least they've stopped interrupting the action with that stupid 'this is what Brian Lara thinks of (insert player name)' nonsense.... and there are no ads and no competitions to get annoyed about.... just the banal observations of Sir Steeley, the idiotic witterings of Tuffers and the grating musings of MPV.

Big bonus is no Geoffrey.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Was it Potts who found an edge only for Crawley and Bairstow to stare helplessly at each other, or was that Stuey?

Broady.

NZ not missing BJ Watling with Blundell filling his boots, but I used to like him being around. Nuggety.

Something maybe overlooked when Brandon was going on about brands of cricket is the NZ no ars***les policy of his era. Judging by what I've seen, England have been playing in a good spirit. Though perhaps they were better under Silverwood too.

Just wondered if Brandon was wishing he was in the NZ dressing room. In spite of the salary. Hard to suppose that's not where his heart is.

[Durhamfootman]

learn your craft somewhere else, then take up the preferred role once the experience is there to do the best job you can

[alfie]

Very good day for NZ , despite twice letting their advantage slip with seemingly established batsmen getting out short of fifty...Mitchell and Blundell repeating their fine second innings Lord's efforts to great effect - even if they had a couple of lucky breaks.

Arguably their luckiest break was losing the toss as apparently Latham wanted to field first too : not saying that both captains were mad , by the way - much easier to judge with hindsight.
I don't really agree with the idea that there was much movement early on : stats I saw showed average movement about half what was on offer at Lord's with the new ball ; and although Anderson bowled rather well there was very little playing and missing before lunch. Ball actually seemed to move rather more as the day went on , and in truth Stokes , in the middle session , seemed to extract the most movement on the day. Broad was very unlucky after tea , though I thought he wasn't quite at his best in the morning. Potts had a reality check after his magic debut : mixed bag from him , I thought ; but a little disappointing overall. Certainly not going to shoot him for that ! Can't expect a new boy to be totally brilliant every game in his first season.

Jack Leach was never likely to take a bag on day one ; but his inability to keep the runs down again points up the problem England have with spin since Swann departed. Moeen was - until he fell away in Australia - a decent option as he at least took wickets even in first innings (apart from helping to balance the side with late batting) but all the rest , including Leach , have really only done a job in places like Sri Lanka - or maybe against SA batsmen who just don't like facing spinners

Fielding was so good at Lord's so the error today were very disappointing . Root dropping a sitter - surprising (and costly !) though it was , is probably just one of those fluke things . But Crawley first diving across Root and spoiling what should have been an easy catch for first slip ; and then at end of day failing to go for a simple take to his right - while Bairstow made no move for it - suggests that the apparently good understanding the cordon members showed at Lord's just wasn't there this time. Not too bothered that shies at the stumps all missed - matter of inches ; even in video games you can't guarantee 100% success in that area ; but the slip set up still needs work. Unless it was just one of those days...

Not talking about reviews

Ball still new so still a chance to restrict the final total ; but I reckon NZ are in a pretty good spot. If England bat properly they should be able to score well on this too ; but we've all seen how easily they can collapse so not putting my house on them matching the Kiwi efforts. At the same time the last Test made fools of most of us with the swings and roundabouts more than once so absolutely not sticking my neck out with any detailed predictions. Whatever the outcome , I'm not sacking McCullum and Stokes just yet

[bigfluffylemon]

Not much for the bowlers this morning. They haven't landed it quite right.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Huge worry for England with nothing for the second new ball. They got more movement with the first ball after lunch on the first day, so at about the 30 over mark, but I presume the pitch isn't as green as it was.

They seem to want a replacement ball if they go ten overs without a wicket. Presume that's happening.

[sussexpob]

Jack Leach was never likely to take a bag on day one

I read yesterday that Leach averages over 70 on day 1, over 55 on day 2, over 70 again on day 3..... and 19 on day 4/5. That's in all matches home and away, so he's been a complete non-entity in first innings through his career.

Having said that, I cant remember the stat, but remember reading a while back even Swann hardly ever took wickets when bowling on Day 1/first innings in the UK. Its a thankless task bowling spin early doors in tests in England.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Wonder if Gentle Ben is still smiling.

[bigfluffylemon]

Leach on early. Glad to see Stokes is showing some confidence in him, but it is in part because the bowlers got nothing so far and I think England are expecting a long day.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Jon Lewis, England bowling coach, was bristling at being gently challenged over whether England were right to bowl at the toss (on BBC highlights). Sounded like he doesn't like being questioned.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Ton up for Daryl Mitchell. Big impact innings.

[sussexpob]

Having said that, I cant remember the stat, but remember reading a while back even Swann hardly ever took wickets when bowling on Day 1/first innings in the UK. Its a thankless task bowling spin early doors in tests in England.

Just checked it. 16 wickets in 11 innings @ 40. Only one really innings with an impact, but it was 5 wickets at 160 in a game Australia's batsman ran riot.

56 wickets in 32 matches including bowling in the first innings when batting first.

Not great when you think in general, he took about three times that wicket rate in the remaining games of his career.

[bigfluffylemon]

What is it with England and Mitchells?

This one wasn't even in the first XI at the start of the tour and now has back to back hundreds.

Such an indictment of the England set up that with a fraction of the resources and less than a tenth of our population, NZ can produce back up batsmen with more consistent test match application and technique than anyone we've tried since Root debuted in 2013.