**Official** England in New Zealand

[Matt52]

This is a knee jerk but Bell needs to go. Rob Nicol instead.

 

[TT Boy]

Harmison did nothing Hoggard and Sidebottom did not. The poor stroke just happened to be played against him - as often does happen to a bowler who's spraying the ball. Seen more cases of suchlike from Harmison than possibly anyone else.

Other than inducing a false shot and making the batsman play. Hoggard and Sidebottom bowled nice (gentle) lines but did diddly squat.

 

[Goughy]

Sweet. Watching now

 

[Matt52]

Fleming starting his run for those few hundred runs he needs in the series to average over 40. Heres hoping..

 

[Richard]

Other than inducing a false shot and making the batsman play. Hoggard and Sidebottom bowled nice (gentle) lines but did diddly squat.

That Harmison ball did diddly-squat either. Bell didn't have to play the ball, he just did where he (mostly) had not against Hoggard and Harmison.

Batsmen don't play the correct stroke every ball. That stroke could have been played against any bowler, it happened to be played against Harmison. That wicket owed nothing whatsoever to high-calibre bowling.

 

[Pup Clarke]

Sinclair with the helmet on already.

 

[Richard]

Why shouldn't he have? Best way to stay acclimatised to the light. I've seen batsmen sit in the changing-rooms with helmets on before TBH.

Fleming off-the-mark in classic Fleming fashion. I do hope he scores.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

This is a knee jerk but Bell needs to go. Rob Nicol instead.

Get over yourself. One failure and you call for his head. What next? One loss and Vettori needs to be axed??

 

[TT Boy]

That Harmison ball did diddly-squat either. Bell didn't have to play the ball, he just did where he (mostly) had not against Hoggard and Harmison.

Batsmen don't play the correct stroke every ball. That stroke could have been played against any bowler, it happened to be played against Harmison. That wicket owed nothing whatsoever to high-calibre bowling.

But he did and that's because his that sort of (loose) cricketer. I'm not saying its a wonderful piece of bowling but considering what Hoggard and Sidebottom were bowling it was 'novel'.

 

[Richard]

That Harmison ball did diddly-squat either. Bell didn't have to play the ball, he just did where he (mostly) had not against Hoggard and Harmison.

Batsmen don't play the correct stroke every ball. That stroke could have been played against any bowler, it happened to be played against Harmison. That wicket owed nothing whatsoever to high-calibre bowling.

Hmm, I take that back. Having just looked at the HawkEye, the wicket ball swung away a bit and did indeed induce the false stroke.

Well bowled. I doubt he intended it, but a good ball nonetheless.

 

[Pup Clarke]

Why shouldn't he have? Best way to stay acclimatised to the light. I've seen batsmen sit in the changing-rooms with helmets on before TBH.

It's basically as if he's expecting a wicket to fall though...just looks a little odd.

 

[Pup Clarke]

Hmm, I take that back. Having just looked at the HawkEye, the wicket ball swung away a bit and did indeed induce the false stroke.

Well bowled. I doubt he intended it, but a good ball nonetheless.

It was a wide half-volley...

 

[Richard]

This is a knee jerk but Bell needs to go. Rob Nicol instead.

Get over yourself. One failure and you call for his head. What next? One loss and Vettori needs to be axed??

I'm truly flabbergasted someone would call for the head of someone whose last 4 scores for the team in question were 107, 20*, 1, 19.

Is knee-jerkism a common Kiwi malaise? Not that I'm a fan of generalisations about whole groups of people, but so many CW Kiwis seem to exhibit this TBH.

 

[Richard]

It was a wide half-volley...

Not quite, it was just short of Half-Volley length, and it did swing away. Many batsmen would have got out to it.

As I say - I wouldn't want to bet on it being intentional, any more than the brilliant leg-cutter he got Gary Kirsten out with at The Oval in 2003 seemed to be. But it was a good ball.

 

[Brett Dale]

New Zealand 57/1, Bell gave away his wicket, the pitch is a batsmen paradise.

 

[Matt52]

Get over yourself. One failure and you call for his head. What next? One loss and Vettori needs to be axed??

No, just never been confident that hes good enough. Did well against Bangladesh , but I dont think he will succeed long term. May be wrong, but I think someone else like Nicol would be better. Im not calling for his head just because of this innings, Im not even watching it. Just voicing a concern in a sarcastic manner.

 

[Pup Clarke]

Not quite, it was just short of Half-Volley length, and it did swing away. Many batsmen would have got out to it.

Would put it down to a batting error as opposed to good bowling, why he thought he needed to go for it as he'd already hit two fours in the over was very strange, had been playing well up to that point also.

 

[Richard]

Ball gone out of shape? ITSTL, thought it'd stopped swinging before it should've done.

England have complained, Umpires do nothing APU.

 

[Richard]

Would put it down to a batting error as opposed to good bowling, why he thought he needed to go for it as he'd already hit two fours in the over was very strange, had been playing well up to that point also.

How did he hit 2 fours in the over? By playing shots like that.

It was indeed a batting error - he could have left that ball. But not all batting-errors wickets involve zero in the way of good bowling. That particular one involved good bowling and less-than-perfect batting.

But as I said - it's a mistake I reckon many batsmen would've made.

 

[Pup Clarke]

Forgot to say this...hate how Atherton and Botham (I think?) in the first commentary stint talked bugger all about the game. I don't think I once heard them praise Sidebottom's and Hoggard's opening overs, poor form.