New Zealand v England 1st test

bill40

bill40

Well-known member
England won the toss and will field, not a good toss to win I suspect. I'd have thought perhaps Pope at 3 but we'll see. Bethell is the golden boy after all.

  • Zak Crawley
  • Ben Duckett
  • Jacob Bethell
  • Joe Root
  • Harry Brook
  • Ollie Pope (wk)
  • Ben Stokes (c)
  • Chris Woakes
  • Gus Atkinson
  • Brydon Carse
  • Shoaib Bashir
 
New Zealand, have a pretty strong side and leave Will Young out so there go all my crappy gags :(

  • Tom Latham (c)
  • Devon Conway
  • Kane Williamson
  • Rachin Ravindra
  • Daryl Mitchell
  • Tom Blundell (wk)
  • Glenn Phillips
  • Nathan Smith
  • Tim Southee
  • Matt Henry
  • Will O'Rourke
 
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Good to see Sir Chef agree with me, he's a very wise man, Pope and not Ollie Robinson is baffling but I suppose they wanted Bethell in who bats at 3 and hasn't ever batted that high. I've also no idea why they've selected a spinner on this wicket. It's greenish but not that green, could play better than it looks.
 
Wicket! Conway c&b Atkinson, what a find he is. 4-1. Great catch the sort that either stick or don't.
 
bill40 said:
Good to see Sir Chef agree with me, he's a very wise man, Pope and not Ollie Robinson is baffling but I suppose they wanted Bethell in who bats at 3 and hasn't ever batted that high. I've also no idea why they've selected a spinner on this wicket. It's greenish but not that green, could play better than it looks.
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Ollie Robinson has been called to travel over. The Durham one not the social media whore.
 
Mark_GT said:
Ollie Robinson has been called to travel over. The Durham one not the social media whore.
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I only just saw that I thought he was there already. Oh well too damn tired so will catch up in the morning, take me some wickets please!
 
Stokes getting thoroughly wound up with his own bowling but looking (for now at least) fit and ready to go. NZ scoring at 4 plus. Two wickets down. Another tough series beckons against a strong NZ side.
 
I'd say it's pretty much honours even but we need to keep them below 360 if possible. Two very attack minded sides should make for a good series. I suspect we'll come up short however, this really is a brilliant Kiwi test team.
 
I think on current form that the Black Caps are the number one side in the world and after dismissing India 3-0 on their own patch their confidence will be sky high.

As mentioned honours are about even after day one with Kane Willamson justifying being recalled in place of the impressive Will Young which gives an indication of New Zealand's strength in depth of upper order batters.

We need to remove the dangerous Glen Philips and wrap their innings up pretty quickly to give us the edge.
 
Oh well at least I have a couple of 'I told you so's, NZ are a very good side and that pitch was better for batting than it looked. Obviously when I said there was no point playing a spinner I actually meant of course we should play a spinner it just came out wrong 🤥
 
bill40 said:
Oh well at least I have a couple of 'I told you so's, NZ are a very good side and that pitch was better for batting than it looked. Obviously when I said there was no point playing a spinner I actually meant of course we should play a spinner it just came out wrong 🤥
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Glad you clarified that after our spinner picked up four wickets!!
 
On to day 2 and it could be a belter, or I hope so at least. We need NZ out for less than 350 and at some point find out what the fuss is about Bethell. The good thing about everyone being asleep while it's being played is that I can edit everything I get wrong. This is going to be Bethell's day after our openers put on 150 for the first wicket.
 
Yay! Carse wraps the innings up with a beauty to clean bowl the rabbit. 348 ao a good innings for NZ. (gits).
 
Tim Southee is a class bowler, you can't argue with that, maiden first up. A new recent record for me I've made it til 11pm! Night all.
 
I think bowling first will be under scrutiny after NZ post 350 and we're now 45-3.

On the face of it, we win the toss and bowl first in sunny, benign conditions ideal for batting and NZ reaped the rewards, the forecast for day after (today) was cloudy which obviously is ideal for seam bowlers, and sure enough the ball has moved around considerably all morning making it hugely challenging and helping NZ to take three wickets all down to lateral ball movement.

I know it's hindsight but even from ball one I think Stokes made a huge error based on the info available to him.
 
Nathan Smith looks a really good bowler but he doesn't half look like Barry Chuckle. Duckett currently swiping away at anything wide of off stump.
 
England on top but that is largely down to the Kiwis having sausages for fingers. I don't recall saying many days in test cricket where a team shells 6 catches. The test is perfectly poised, if Brook, Stokes and the tail can build an 80+ lead, we have a decent chance.

Brook will probably count himself a tad fortunate having been dropped no fewer than 4 times but I doubt he'll care too much, another terrific knock that takes his batting average, away from England, to 93! Kudos young man. 👏🏼
 
NewburyOne said:
England on top but that is largely down to the Kiwis having sausages for fingers. I don't recall saying many days in test cricket where a team shells 6 catches. The test is perfectly poised, if Brook, Stokes and the tail can build an 80+ lead, we have a decent chance.

Brook will probably count himself a tad fortunate having been dropped no fewer than 4 times but I doubt he'll care too much, another terrific knock that takes his batting average, away from England, to 93! Kudos young man. 👏🏼
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Not his problem if they want to keep dropping catches. Ultimately it's part and parcel...
 
Yes we certainly dodged a bullet last night as NZ couldn't hold their breath, if Brook gets dismissed on the first drop we could have been skittled for less than 200, as it is if we can push on and Brook hangs around for a bit we could potentially have a lead of 100 plus here.
 
Yes, Duckett should have gone earlier too. Wish I was out there. It looks serene. Never been to NZ or Aussie.
 
It's a good job NZ dropped six perfectly good chances oe we'd be right in the sh... mire. My prediction of a 150 opening stand was a little out but what's 141 runs between mates? Bethell after a patient start got a beauty so I was only 90 or so runs out with that a big improvement on my 1st. My career as a cricket sage isn't going all that well.

Hopefully we'll push on later to get a 100+ run lead.
 
Raging_Bull said:
The only thing I dislike about him is when he gets out cheaply playing for England.

Why the hell anybody would dislike someone they've never met or know anything about is beyond me.
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Wish I knew probably just a working class chip , he was touted as a future England captain before he'd played for them.
 
Allmodcons said:
Wish I knew probably just a working class chip , he was touted as a future England captain before he'd played for them.
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He still is touted as a future England captain, he needs to stop getting out early otherwise he might not even get a game for England never mind skipper them.
 
He's a good keeper but nowhere near as good as Foakes and Foakes is a good batsman too, must be the unluckiest player in the last few years to not be a regular in the team.
 
Here we go again and no alarms so far. Brook has moved serenly to 140 and Stokes on 41. If Stokes is on it he could over take brook's score!
 
England now lead by two runs and that bloody Phillips catch yesterday is on pemanebt loop it seems, was a good one though, lucky they dropped all the easier ones.
 
hertfordseasider said:
He's a good keeper but nowhere near as good as Foakes and Foakes is a good batsman too, must be the unluckiest player in the last few years to not be a regular in the team.
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I agree in any other era Foakes who is a top keeper and a very decent bat would have many more caps but under Bazball he does not score quick enough.

Good God they`ve caught one !Brook finally gone .
 
No way can the third umpire say Lathams fingers were "clearly " under the ball. Under it they may or may not be but it certainly wasn't clearly.
 
Albert Ross said:
No way can the third umpire say Lathams fingers were "clearly " under the ball. Under it they may or may not be but it certainly wasn't clearly.
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Yes you are right but for many years replays have proved unreliable in showing whether fielders have got their fingers under the ball for low catches and there have been quite a few occasions where the fielder has been fully convinced they have made a good catch but it has been given not out .

I think it`s a camera issue with those low catches as they can`t show the fingers hidden under the ball and if the fielder claims it then it is nearly always out.After all it`s cricket they are not cheats like most professional footballers.
 
Very positive from England today - Over 100 in the session already and 30 mins to go. Very deep batting line up - big lead incoming. 👍
 
1950`spoolfan said:
Yes you are right but for many years replays have proved unreliable in showing whether fielders have got their fingers under the ball for low catches and there have been quite a few occasions where the fielder has been fully convinced they have made a good catch but it has been given not out .

I think it`s a camera issue with those low catches as they can`t show the fingers hidden under the ball and if the fielder claims it then it is nearly always out.After all it`s cricket they are not cheats like most professional footballers.
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I wasn't implying anyone was cheating. It was just the way he very quickly said the fingers were clearly under the ball, there was nothing clear about it. It was very close either way and the laws of the game ' clearly' state if there's any doubt about a decision, it must be given to the batsman.
 
1950`spoolfan said:
Yes you are right but for many years replays have proved unreliable in showing whether fielders have got their fingers under the ball for low catches and there have been quite a few occasions where the fielder has been fully convinced they have made a good catch but it has been given not out .

I think it`s a camera issue with those low catches as they can`t show the fingers hidden under the ball and if the fielder claims it then it is nearly always out.After all it`s cricket they are not cheats like most professional footballers.
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Apart from clear examples over the last few years involving Australians.
 
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