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**Official** England in New Zealand

aussie

Hall of Fame Member
Sensing a real BIG innnings from KP in the first test here, looking at him bat of late he just seems to be getting out when he is about to step up a gear. So Kiwis look out..
 

Somerset

Cricketer Of The Year
Surprised to see Elliott named in the 13, as I presume if one of the batsmen was to fall ill or suffer an injury on the eve of the match he'd have to make his test match debut. Yet to fully convince me of his place in the side anyway.

Wasn't aware of Fulton's injury though would've selected Ross Taylor regardless.

No surprises on the bowling front, Jeetan Patel might as well lock in the number 12 jersey though.
 

Somerset

Cricketer Of The Year
Sensing a real BIG innnings from KP in the first test here, looking at him bat of late he just seems to be getting out when he is about to step up a gear. So Kiwis look out..
To be honest I've thought that the whole series but hes yet to deliver. To be honest I wonder if the lack of pressure against New Zealand gets to him...i.e. its not an Ashes series, its not at home to his fans, its not in SA to prove a point to the detractors..

On an England front, 50s to Strauss and Bell complicate things somewhat. Don't think Strauss will be selected. Collingwood's effort in the practice match (2 and 0) will hardly do him any confidence but he'll still get selected I'm sure.
 

Somerset

Cricketer Of The Year
One last thing that I found somewhat interesting:

User Name Posts
Richard 405
Flem274* 139
KiWiNiNjA 111
Somerset 98
HeathDavisSpeed 93
NZTailender 85
Tim 70
Perm 67
Voltman 53
James 50

Richard leads the posts in this thread by a considerable margin and is then followed by no less than nine members from New Zealand...
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
One last thing that I found somewhat interesting:

User Name Posts
Richard 405
Flem274* 139
KiWiNiNjA 111
Somerset 98
HeathDavisSpeed 93
NZTailender 85
Tim 70
Perm 67
Voltman 53
James 50

Richard leads the posts in this thread by a considerable margin and is then followed by no less than nine members from New Zealand...
Well KiWi is actually posting from Japan. :p And the boss from Australia.

But as Haakon (^^^^) says - timezones. The ODIs (which started at 1AM over here, bar the day McLean Park game) are simply not UK-friendly. I can only remember 1 person aside from myself posting for a length of time during any of the day games - Neil Pickup, of all people.

Expect a few people to post a bit during the opening session of the First, and maybe Second, Tests. First will start sometime between 9 and 10PM here. Then the clocks will go back and it'll be starting nearly as late as the ODIs again.

My involvement during the later Tests will depend on whether I've been appointed to a job yet. :)
 
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Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Elliott, no Gillespie :wallbash:
Yeah, absolutely. WTF is with them picking O'Brien ahead of Gillespie? Plain madness. Sure, both of them were carted in the second-innings and O'Brien went rather better in the first-, but does evidence of Test-careers-to-date really count for this little?

Either way, going into the First Test it's now particularly encouraging to see Bell tonning-up. Strauss, presumably will now bat three in said Test (:wallbash: of our own there). Hopefully that 33 from Ambrose will be enough to ensure he remains the wicketkeeper-batsman of choice.

Cook and Collingwood would obviously have hoped for more, though. And it's a bit of a shame we didn't get a second-innings in the field. Four-day games FTW.
 

irfan

State Captain
One last thing that I found somewhat interesting:

User Name Posts
Richard 405
Flem274* 139
KiWiNiNjA 111
Somerset 98
HeathDavisSpeed 93
NZTailender 85
Tim 70
Perm 67
Voltman 53
James 50

Richard leads the posts in this thread by a considerable margin and is then followed by no less than nine members from New Zealand...
How do u dissect the number of posts per person in a thread ??
 

Jamee999

Hall of Fame Member
Well KiWi is actually posting from Japan. :p And the boss from Australia.

But as Haakon (^^^^) says - timezones. The ODIs (which started at 1AM over here, bar the day McLean Park game) are simply not UK-friendly. I can only remember 1 person aside from myself posting for a length of time during any of the day games - Neil Pickup, of all people.

Expect a few people to post a bit during the opening session of the First, and maybe Second, Tests. First will start sometime between 9 and 10PM here. Then the clocks will go back and it'll be starting real late again.

My involvement during the later Tests will depend on whether I've been appointed to a job yet. :)
Half past 10 = real late? :wacko:
 

KiWiNiNjA

International Coach
How do u dissect the number of posts per person in a thread ??
Click on the number in the "Replies" column for any given thread.
Thats before coming into the thread.

Thread/Thread Starter........Last Post.........Replies........Views

Dunno how to explain that well, and cba to take a screenshot.
 

Flem274*

123/5
ITSTL to select Elliot. I woudn't mind him in the ODI team at 7 but in tests its a bit hmm.

O'Brien is improving but Gillespie in form will always be the superior bowler.

So, on bowling only, who is more likely to succeed, Elliot or O'Brien?

The problem with our attack is that it has very litte attack, O'Brien and Oram are workhorses that take say 2-3 wickets an innings but don't destroy teams like a Bond or Franklin or a Martin. Even though Gillespie is struggling a bit he still takes wickets, I would have used him.

Also it looks likely we will use Taylor. So in batting in the long form of the game who would you trust more? Taylor or Elliot?

An idea to consider is putting Oram at five and Taylor at 6 to protect his poor technique.

You know what? I would have preffered Vincent to Taylor at five.
 

tooextracool

International Coach
A lot rests on Collingwood and KP. If they can do a successful job as the 5th bowler and keep Flintoffs overs down and fill in in case of injury, then I think England could have a really good side.

That would allow them to bat either Flintoff or Collingwood at 7 (I think its a very important position that can require lots of different roles to play in a number of scenarios) and a choice of keeper at 8.

An issue is that Flintoff still sees himself as a batsman first and frankly if that is the case then we have better.

If Collingwood and KP (or another top order bat that can bowl) are not up to the task of taking some of Flintoffs slack then he shouldnt be selected.

As you said, tough choices ahead.
I think England are probably better placed now with the likes of Monty to go in with a 3 bowlers + Flintoff than they have ever been in the past. However, with Hoggard, Harmison and Flintoff all having strong tendencies to break down frequently, and with Flintoff unable to take on a major workload like he used to be able to i can see this as being a major problem down the line if such an option is considered by the ECB. I do not see KP developing into any sort of part time bowler, IMO there is more potential in Vaughan taking up this role but there should be some sort of effort on his part to take this role up during practice as well.
As far as Flintoff's batting is concerned, i know that Flintoff did use to consider himself as a batting all rounder, i wonder if much of that has changed in recent times given his shocking performances with the bat off late (considering he played purely as a batsman for the Lions recently id be very surprised if it did). Surely if he does consider himself to be a batting all rounder he would need to put in a greater effort in the nets on his batting, i firmly believe that he has it in him to be a quality batsman if he takes it up seriously. He showed in India that he can apply himself, IMO its all about application and that will only happen if Moores ensured that he doesnt spend his times in the nets slogging bowlers around.
 

tooextracool

International Coach
To be honest I've thought that the whole series but hes yet to deliver. To be honest I wonder if the lack of pressure against New Zealand gets to him...i.e. its not an Ashes series, its not at home to his fans, its not in SA to prove a point to the detractors..

On an England front, 50s to Strauss and Bell complicate things somewhat. Don't think Strauss will be selected. Collingwood's effort in the practice match (2 and 0) will hardly do him any confidence but he'll still get selected I'm sure.
I would be very surprised if Strauss wasnt selected. Personally i would select him only in the unlikely scenario that he has ironed out all of his technical flaws, but considering he had so many of them the last time we saw him in an England shirt i would be very surprised if that were the case. Nonetheless, given the usual state of the pitches in England he might at least get away with his weakness against spin.
 

Tim

Cricketer Of The Year
Why would there be a lack of pressure for Strauss in New Zealand? I would imagine he's feeling the pressure immensely just to get his place back in the side.

total rubbish point there.
 

tooextracool

International Coach
Why would there be a lack of pressure for Strauss in New Zealand? I would imagine he's feeling the pressure immensely just to get his place back in the side.

total rubbish point there.
who said there is a lack of pressure for Strauss?
 

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