ljkeane Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 Good recovery from Root and Stokes but they've both gone in the 90's. Root caught off a bottom edge on 98, you'd be gutted with that.Root, and to a lesser extent Stokes, really have been the bright points for England this year.I couldn't get test match special to work online at work, which is a pain, but it actually sounds like it's been a good day's cricket.ETA: Damn, Buttler plumb lbw last ball of the day. Still that's a fantastic result from 30-4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 I agree, it was a terrible (although not exactly surprising) start but it was a good enough recovery that England are in a decent position by the end of the day even if the final score might end up being below what you might have said was a par score at the start of the play. At least they'll have something to bowl at and Jimmy Anderson could be very dangerous with the new ball even if it seems a fairly good batting pitch. It should be an entertaining match since it seems fairly evenly balanced at the moment. Interesting statistic during play that if you look from the beginning of 2014 then Root is averaging just over 100 (not sure if that's still true after his dismissal). There are still a lot of question marks around the England team but I agree Root is the real bright spot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted May 22, 2015 Author Share Posted May 22, 2015 Broad's head's completely gone with his batting, he's just not getting forward to anything because he's setting himself to duck a short ball. In this form they should just bite the bullet and drop him down to 11. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted May 22, 2015 Author Share Posted May 22, 2015 Argh, good delivery from Wood to take his first test match wicket but it's a no ball. Still I like the look of him, he's bowling with good pace and he's got a nice action. I liked the way he changed it up and jumped wide for a delivery to Guptill as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted May 22, 2015 Author Share Posted May 22, 2015 Really good day for the Black Caps, they look very well set now with England really struggling to create chances.On the plus side I'm quite glad I should get to see McCullum bat tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted May 23, 2015 Share Posted May 23, 2015 Good batting from the Kiwis. I've always liked Guptill and I've found it strange that he's got such a good ODI record and not a good Test record. To me, his batting technique etc is fairly classical and should go well with Test cricket. Anyway, Williamson really has come good in the last couple of years, he looks like he could be the NZ star of the middle order for a while yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hereward Posted May 23, 2015 Share Posted May 23, 2015 Went along to Lords after work yesterday. England looked totally toothless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted May 23, 2015 Author Share Posted May 23, 2015 I got patted down coming into Lords today, which was different. Looks like there's a lot more in it for the bowlers today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted May 24, 2015 Author Share Posted May 24, 2015 Another really good couple of days of cricket, great effort from England to get to this position from 30-4. It could be a cracking day tomorrow if England declare/bowled out reasonably early. I doubt Cook will be too adventurous though and to be fair it does still look to be a road and England's bowlers haven't looked too incisive, still it'd be good to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted May 24, 2015 Share Posted May 24, 2015 Another really good couple of days of cricket, great effort from England to get to this position from 30-4. It could be a cracking day tomorrow if England declare/bowled out reasonably early. I doubt Cook will be too adventurous though and to be fair it does still look to be a road and England's bowlers haven't looked too incisive, still it'd be good to see. I agree Cook will probably be conservative with any declaration (although they could get bowled out quickly). He usually conservative anyway and it's hard to know what sort of target run-rate would be 'safe' against a team containing Brendan McCullum, Martin Guptill and Corey Anderson. I suspect it'll probably end up a draw since England won't want to give the Kiwis a total they can chase and if the Kiwis aren't trying to chase down a big total it's hard to see England bowling them out in less than a day on a placid pitch. I hope that I'm wrong since there is potential for an exciting conclusion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hereward Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 0-2, come on England! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted May 25, 2015 Author Share Posted May 25, 2015 Looks like it's worked out pretty well with England getting bowled out.It's really getting on my nerves I can't get tms at work with it not being on the internet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord_Baelish Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 Ben Stokes, you legend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted May 25, 2015 Author Share Posted May 25, 2015 Fucking hell, I thought it was going to be another no ball for a second there.Great effort from Watling but game back on for England now.ETA: Root gets Anderson lbw. Come on!ETA2: Get in! Great win for England from 30-4 and just an excellent test match all round. It's a real shame it's only a two test series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 Looks like it's worked out pretty well with England getting bowled out. In retrospect NZ would have probably preferred waiting for Cook's declaration, although it probably wasn't far way so may not have made much difference. It was a great win for England, particularly since the Kiwis played really well for the most part and kept fighting until the end (although lower order batting probably isn't their strength). Not many teams score almost 750 runs and lose the match. Stokes was annoying inconsistent last year after his good start in the Ashes but if he can keep playing like he did in this match then he could become an all-rounder worth of comparison to Botham/Flintoff, that over where he took two wickets was world-class. I was also impressed with Mark Wood on debut, he had genuine pace and often looked threatening. Probably the only question mark for England is the opening spot alongside Cook, hopefully Lyth will manage to cement his place in the next match. Most of the Kiwis played well despite the loss, although I didn't think much of Mark Craig's spin bowling. It's a real shame it's only a two test series. Two Test series always seem too short. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted May 25, 2015 Author Share Posted May 25, 2015 Probably the only question mark for England is the opening spot alongside Cook, hopefully Lyth will manage to cement his place in the next match. Yeah, Ballance had a pretty poor test as well but he's presumably got enough credit in the bank. Lyth certainly didn't look great but New Zealand did bowl pretty well. It'd be nice to have a reliable opening partnership going into the Ashes, or just full stop really. It's a bit odd they still haven't found a replacement for Strauss yet, Compton's probably been the best of those they've tried but they seem to really not fancy him for some reason. It looks like England are going to go with Trevor Bayliss as coach rather than Gillespie. A bit of a surprise given how many people seem to rate Gillespie so highly but I can't say I know a lot about him though so we'll have to see how it goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 It looks like England are going to go with Trevor Bayliss as coach rather than Gillespie. A bit of a surprise given how many people seem to rate Gillespie so highly but I can't say I know a lot about him though so we'll have to see how it goes. It's difficult to really know enough to have an opinion on who the better coach is, but Bayliss does have more international experience (and coaching experience in general). For Gillespie there would seem to be a big leap from County Cricket to immediately taking charge of an Ashes team, he'll probably get other international opportunities in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hereward Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 One of the great Test matches. We still need an opener and a decent spinner, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 Massive shame it's only two tests. NZ deserve more of a chance to recover! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Anti-Targ Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 Who needs KP when you have a self destructing NZ? I don't know how often it happens but it seems that NZ frequently gets the highest single innings total in a test match but winds up losing. Probably a testament to the long term test match problem New Zealand has of batting inconsistency. Other teams are either always shit in the batting department or always good in the batting department. NZ can be great and shit within the span of 5 days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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