3rd Test Eng v NZ

I have a ticket for day one of the India test at Edgbaston next week and at the moment I don't know if we're going to murder them or be skittled in two days. I like the feel of this new style England team though. Lots of the same old problems but loads more attitude. Shame NZ through no fault of their own were a bit under cooked at the start of this series. They're a great opponent and it could have been a real touch and go series.
 
I know you take your luck, but Overton out for 5 had they reviewed would have put a different complexion on the day.

Still, you can only play to the whistle and they did that measured but aggressively which is perfectly fine and really have saved Stokes from a mauling in the press tomorrow.

A real shame NZ weren't oven and selection ready for this series. Hopefully India are 100% on the game.
 
I know you take your luck, but Overton out for 5 had they reviewed would have put a different complexion on the day.

Still, you can only play to the whistle and they did that measured but aggressively which is perfectly fine and really have saved Stokes from a mauling in the press tomorrow.

A real shame NZ weren't oven and selection ready for this series. Hopefully India are 100% on the game.
As it would had England reviewed when Mitchell was on 9
 
I am not sure who it was earlier in the year on here who didn’t want Johnny Bairstow back in the test team 🙄?
He is in the form of his life, and just about anyone else’s life as well.
Fantastic!
Great mindset being installed in the team by the new coaching team as well.
 
Cricket is played on the mind, this England reminds me of the great Australia team. You could never rule them out of any game. You may win the odd session but you could never get mental dominance over them.
Great stuff, NZ are a very good team
Spot on, it must be gutting to have a team for 55-6 with a lead of 250+ just before tea and then by close of play they're only 60 behind and you've not had another wicket.

Imagine the uproar if this were New Zealand doing the same to England.
 
I am not sure who it was earlier in the year on here who didn’t want Johnny Bairstow back in the test team 🙄?
He is in the form of his life, and just about anyone else’s life as well.
Fantastic!
Great mindset being installed in the team by the new coaching team as well.
The positive set up clearly suits him. Shows what the right mindset can do.
 
Would you replace Crawley as opener or stick with him?
So pleased BF is behind the stumps. He’s an awesome keeper
 
I know you take your luck, but Overton out for 5 had they reviewed would have put a different complexion on the day.

Still, you can only play to the whistle and they did that measured but aggressively which is perfectly fine and really have saved Stokes from a mauling in the press tomorrow.

A real shame NZ weren't oven and selection ready for this series. Hopefully India are 100% on the game.
When was the last time India played a test (March)? Can’t imagine they’ll be oven ready either and England will have three tests under their belt by then.
 
I must admit, I was sceptical about the reboot, being very much of the Boycottian persuasion but this is absolutely tremendous stuff. The turnaround yesterday was amazing. Again.

We should play New Zealand every year as they always seem to give a fantastic series.
 
Crawley needs to go back to county cricket & get some runs under his belt . Still not convinced about Pope . All the pundits etc keep saying what a class player he is yet he continually fails to back that up with decent scores . out of his 45 test innings he's got 2 centuries & only 6 fifties yet he continually gets selected despite the poor record . They obviously see that he has talent but surely it cant be long before they say you've had enough chances & pick someone else .
 
Crawley needs to go back to county cricket & get some runs under his belt . Still not convinced about Pope . All the pundits etc keep saying what a class player he is yet he continually fails to back that up with decent scores . out of his 45 test innings he's got 2 centuries & only 6 fifties yet he continually gets selected despite the poor record . They obviously see that he has talent but surely it cant be long before they say you've had enough chances & pick someone else .
Not sure how Crawley is being selected. He averages 27 in test matches but only 30 in first class cricket. And he is not an opener. Ben Compton scoring for fun in the CC and averages 68 in first class cricket. Pope has more potential imo and I can see why he keeps getting selected.
 
What an amazing series. Here we are in the final innings and just like the previous 2 matches it could go either way.

Leech has pleasantly surprised me this test. If it’s true about the work he’s been doing with Patel then great, it’s not luck it’s about learning and confidence.
 
Have to applaud the new management team and Stoke's captaincy.
Leach looking like a test match spinner for the first time - seems to have had a mental reset, much like the team
 
Crawley is a liability (there, said it, hopefully he'll get a ton).

2nd lowest average (after Brearley) as opening batsman for England.
 
Crawley looks like a dead man walking, rabbit in the headlight’s
 
Surely Crawley wanted the run? He was off the mark soon as he hit it then stopped after a few steps leaving Lee’s halfway up the pitch.

Massive innings now required from Crawley.
Dunno, we need to know what the call was, looks like Crawley waited for the fielders reaction before going back whereas Lee's just assumed there was a single
 
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Leech has pleasantly surprised me this test. If it’s true about the work he’s been doing with Patel then great, it’s not luck it’s about learning and confidence.
His confidence will have been given a massive boost and a 10 wicket haul is just that despite the luck.

Like Bairstow, he's just bagged a run in the team and Parky can light the Barbie.
 
Root is our greatest ever batsman.

Root is obviously one of our best ever and certainly the best of the current generation of English players but on averages overall there are a number that have topped his current Test average of 50 . Hobbs, Sutcliffe Paynter, Barrington , Hutton, Compton and Hammond all averaged between the mid fifties and sixty.

It is easy to get carried away in the excitement of the moment and overlook the great players in history but we do have a statistical measure in cricket that gives a pretty accurate measure of a players quality in their own eras.
 
Root is obviously one of our best ever and certainly the best of the current generation of English players but on averages overall there are a number that have topped his current Test average of 50 . Hobbs, Sutcliffe Paynter, Barrington , Hutton, Compton and Hammond all averaged between the mid fifties and sixty.

It is easy to get carried away in the excitement of the moment and overlook the great players in history but we do have a statistical measure in cricket that gives a pretty accurate measure of a players quality in their own eras.
I doubt any of them were any where near as talented as Joe Root is tbh. Averages or not.
 
I doubt any of them were any where near as talented as Joe Root is tbh. Averages or not.
Clearly they all were hugely talented in their different ways. Hobbs picked in the world team of the 20th century. Hammond a classical batsman ,the greatest English player of the thirties averaged over 58 way ahead of Root but obviously totally irrelevant to some.
 
Clearly they all were hugely talented in their different ways. Hobbs picked in the world team of the 20th century. Hammond a classical batsman ,the greatest English player of the thirties averaged over 58 way ahead of Root but obviously totally irrelevant to some.
Not quite chalk and cheese, but the game is so very different now that it's nigh on impossible to compare stats. I don't think it's even worth more than a glance to do so.
 
Not quite chalk and cheese, but the game is so very different now that it's nigh on impossible to compare stats. I don't think it's even worth more than a glance to do so.
It`s not perfect but it`s by far the best measure available to us .All the great players in my lifetime such as Gary Sobers for example have produced great figures to underline their quality. It`s by far the best yardstick we`ve got.
 
It`s not perfect but it`s by far the best measure available to us .All the great players in my lifetime such as Gary Sobers for example have produced great figures to underline their quality. It`s by far the best yardstick we`ve got.
Don't disagree, then it becomes a case of relativity with the stats, and evolution of the game. Very hard to draw meaningful comparisons from that, at least not until the norm is what we see now.
 
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