NZ Test tour of Eng, June 2-27

[Arthur Crabtree]

All the Kiwis have ok averages. Obviously KW is world class, but the others average better than England (except Joe).

[bigfluffylemon]

Well, exactly. Even leaving out Kane as a once-in-a-generation, Latham, Conway, Nicholls, Taylor, McCullum and now Mitchell have all averaged over 40 for NZ in the last ten years, with Colin, Watling and Blundell all close behind on 38.

In that same time, the only England players to average over 38 are Cook, Root and KP, with Ballance on 37. No England player who has debuted since 2014 has managed to average over 32, apart from Ballance (37).

Qualification of 500 runs for all the above stats.

[bigfluffylemon]

Another drop.

Those skyers are never easy, but really should have been taken.

[Durhamfootman]

that's 5 by my reckoning if you include the one that Crawley and Bairstow just looked at

trouble with dropped catches is that the more it happens the greater the jeopardy when the next chance comes along...... and as discussed before, England are a frail lot, so the pressure will absolutely get to them every time

[Durhamfootman]

Potts caught a couple of those at Lords, but this is a very different England fielding performance at TB

[Arthur Crabtree]

Glad that Blundell got there this time.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Only just though.

Good position for the lower order to come in.

[sussexpob]

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.

This is a point often touted, but it ignores a lot of the realities of NZ sports administration and its decentralized setups, that I am not sure one could make much of a sound argument that the average NZ budding cricketer is coming through a system "with a fraction of the resources". Over the years NZ has produced so many rugby players at grassroots youth level, that the Rugby board hasnt even attempted to manage it. I believe the NZR actually have zero responsibility for any player development until they reach under-21 level, they have always maintained a schoolboy side but the NZR only selects it for matches, and there is no pathway system into/out of it. The Cricket board too takes a very loose responsibility for players pathways under the national team level.

Grassroots coaching has developed through private academic institutions, all of which have elite coaching and ridiculously wealthy facilities. Over the last decade NZ's team has gone from 47% of players capped in 2013 being privately educated or attending "special status schools" to pretty much all of them now. These sporting academies originally setup for exclusively for rugby nowadays have become cricketing centres of excellence.

Most of the NZ team went to school with many All Black Internationals. Schools that have produced a staggering amount of elite international sportspeople. Its much like the US College institutions but done at a younger age.

Its hard for me to accept that someone who gets a 20,000 a year scholarship to be trained between 13-18 by international experienced coaches are very hard done by with their development.

[sussexpob]

Recently there has raged a debate about this system, as there remains arguments that the private schools have too much power. The NZR did a review into it that showed its pretty much now impossible to represent NZ in the main sports without attending one of these private academies, and there have been calls for the academies to be brought into the national sphere of control.

But then you look at NZ's overall dominance of rugby in recent decades, and the system now making them a cricket force, and there are a lot of people who say its working well.

[sussexpob]

Daryl Mitchell's dad was actually All Black's national coach (John Mitchell). He was in charge in the famous 2003 match when France beat them, and was then sacked. So he comes from a very elite heritage of NZ sports.... although I think he was schooled in Perth along with a couple of current Aussie internationals, as his dad worked in Australia rugby after being sacked in disgrace for losing NZ the 2003 world cup

[Durhamfootman]

over rate watch

only 1 wicket to fall
10 overs from the spinner
yet England still only managed 27 overs in the session. It would have been 26, but Gentle Ben foolishly finished his over 10 seconds before 1pm.... school boy error

[bigfluffylemon]

Recently there has raged a debate about this system, as there remains arguments that the private schools have too much power. The NZR did a review into it that showed its pretty much now impossible to represent NZ in the main sports without attending one of these private academies, and there have been calls for the academies to be brought into the national sphere of control.

But then you look at NZ's overall dominance of rugby in recent decades, and the system now making them a cricket force, and there are a lot of people who say its working well.

Maybe there are more resources than I have credit for in the NZ pathway, but the fact remains that the ECB has millions to spend on player development, NZ is producing the goods and England is not.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Declare once Bracewell gets to his ton...
...?

[Arthur Crabtree]

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.

Maybe the expectations are different but only Anderson has a better ER in this innings.

England paying painfully for drops here.

[mikesiva]

Mitchell having a good tour.