**Official** England in New Zealand

[Natman20]

Not yet! Vettori's been pretty much our best batsman this series...

but a 200 run partnership with mccullum?

 

[Smudge]

****.

And after Vettori faces one ball, the umpires take a reading and they go off for bad light. That's bull**** - common sense would dictate that you take a reading when you hand the bowling side the new ball. Grinds my ****ing gears, that does.

 

[James]

And after Vettori faces one ball, the umpires take a reading and they go off for bad light. That's bull**** - common sense would dictate that you take a reading when you hand the bowling side the new ball. Grinds my ****ing gears, that does.

Exactly, damn right annoying.

 

[Blakey]

Honestly why would the umpires not check the light after at least each over? And why wouldn't they check them when a fast bowler is given the new ball. Even Vaughn knew there was a danger of them being pulled - that's why he threw the ball to a part time spinner.

What a joke.

 

[Raghav]

but a 200 run partnership with mccullum?

Why not?

Did Vettori not do it in the past?

 

[KiWiNiNjA]

And after Vettori faces one ball, the umpires take a reading and they go off for bad light. That's bull**** - common sense would dictate that you take a reading when you hand the bowling side the new ball. Grinds my ****ing gears, that does.

Yip, indeed it does.
Made no sense to give Sidebottom an over with the new ball when they had been playing spinners because of the light. They didnt even take a reading.

Knew Oram was likely to go once they let him bowl. Bollocks really.

 

[Somerset]

The wicket of Oram effectively puts us out of the match. Can't believe the umpires decide to take the players from the field for light after one further delivery. If it was an issue at all, and with England taking the new ball, the decision to offer the light should have been made before the start of the over.

I think McCullum and Vettori may as well play their shots tomorrow morning...I'd rather lose by 150 runs in the first hour and have at least given them a license to push the fielders back à la Astle in 2002 than to grind out a session and a half to lose by 100.

 

[Somerset]

but a 200 run partnership with mccullum?

Well Vettori has averaged 50 over the last three years so hes effectively a specialist batsman(statistical-wise). And with McCullum's recent form hes surely going to make a big score in a test match sooner or later. You never know.... However I do feel that the loss of Oram with the second to last ball of the day will be enough for England to know that they have the game all but won.

And after Vettori faces one ball, the umpires take a reading and they go off for bad light. That's bull**** - common sense would dictate that you take a reading when you hand the bowling side the new ball. Grinds my ****ing gears, that does.

Agreed.

 

[Somerset]

Anyone know much about the Parlane brothers?

Neil and Michael both play for Wellington now after starting their domestic careers with ND. Can't remember which followed which but one swapped to Wellington and the other did the same the following season.

Decent first class batsmen but will never represent NZ.

 

[Brett Dale]

England deserves this, they have been polished thru out, they should have us cleaned out in the first session, has anyone heard any players comments after the days play? A couple of Kiwi players have some explaining to do.

 

[Somerset]

England deserves this, they have been polished thru out, they should have us cleaned out in the first session, has anyone heard any players comments after the days play? A couple of Kiwi players have some explaining to do.

Heard Ross Taylor and Stuart Broad just before 6 on Radio Sport. Taylor was obviously a bit disappointed with not going on with it but the talked more about the position New Zealand were in, and the dismissal of Oram. Broad sounds so typically British.

 

[Blakey]

England deserves this, they have been polished thru out, they should have us cleaned out in the first session, has anyone heard any players comments after the days play? A couple of Kiwi players have some explaining to do.

Their fielding hasn't been polished. Dropped a sitter. One handed take in the outfield which went for 4.

Suppose you're talking about your favourite player - Fleming. Build a bridge etc. etc.

 

[Bahnz]

At the cricket today. Bell really did look appaullingly out of touch. It's frustrating because he is a better batsman than that, but just as it did 6 years ago, he seems to have completely lost his technique and footwork. Sinclair tossed his wicket away when the conditions were at their best, but he looked good, and I'd give him a shot in the next test, and maybe bat him at number 3, given that once Fleming is gone, that's almost certainly where he'll be batting. Taylor again batted well but needs to work on playing around his pad. Oram looked out of sorts for most of his innings but seemed to be coming good until the light went at the end. That was extremely frustrating. The light was darker than when it had been the first time they went off, and you could tell the umpire's new they'd stuffed up as Oram walked off. They only reason why they didn't walk off then and there was because it would've looked bad. Oh well, England deserve to win the match, and we still would've been massive underdogs even if Oram had survived. On to Napier!

 

[Athlai]

Everyone of our batsman played well today, the openers managed to see off most of the new ball and with the price of just How I think we would have been relatively pleased considering the cloud cover. Bell and Fleming made themselves a solid partnership, but the most disappointing aspect was when Fleming didn't play a ball that bowled him. That was totally dire.

Taylor certainly my pick of the best batsman, he had a brain melt situation against Monty but other than that, never looked like getting out. The LBW that got him looked like it was going over and doing too much to me, but fair enough it happens in cricket. Sinclair played better but I'm not sure if he's done enough to save himself, guess I won't be overly bothered either way, should have really went on.

Oram impressed with me with his grinding determination, he is woefully out of form at the crease which was fairly obvious but really just held onto his wicket and scored some beautiful boundaries. Was very disappointed to see him go when the players were called back on with the bad light. Though I was standing behind the match referee (who looks like he's smuggling a keg under his shirt) and he was saying that with the light that they were even considering going on till 6:38pm to catch up for the time they were called off initially. There really seemed to be little worry about the light itself.

Reckon those out there that are complaining Oram got out due to the light are way off, the ball was doing far too much and he hadn't been moving his feet, Oram's just not that well suited to the new ball thats doing a lot. Sidebottom bowled superbly.

McCullum, Vettori.

You are our only hope. England, very well played, also speical thanks to KP, Colly, Swann and Monty for keeping NZ in it as much as possible in the field.


(McCullums first six practically bludgeoned my section of the crowd, came in like a tracer bullet)

 

[sportychic33]

Everyone of our batsman played well today, the openers managed to see off most of the new ball and with the price of just How I think we would have been relatively pleased considering the cloud cover. Bell and Fleming made themselves a solid partnership, but the most disappointing aspect was when Fleming didn't play a ball that bowled him. That was totally dire.

Taylor certainly my pick of the best batsman, he had a brain melt situation against Monty but other than that, never looked like getting out. The LBW that got him looked like it was going over and doing too much to me, but fair enough it happens in cricket. Sinclair played better but I'm not sure if he's done enough to save himself, guess I won't be overly bothered either way, should have really went on.

Oram impressed with me with his grinding determination, he is woefully out of form at the crease which was fairly obvious but really just held onto his wicket and scored some beautiful boundaries. Was very disappointed to see him go when the players were called back on with the bad light. Though I was standing behind the match referee (who looks like he's smuggling a keg under his shirt) and he was saying that with the light that they were even considering going on till 6:38pm to catch up for the time they were called off initially. There really seemed to be little worry about the light itself.

Reckon those out there that are complaining Oram got out due to the light are way off, the ball was doing far too much and he hadn't been moving his feet, Oram's just not that well suited to the new ball thats doing a lot. Sidebottom bowled superbly.

McCullum, Vettori.

You are our only hope. England, very well played, also speical thanks to KP, Colly, Swann and Monty for keeping NZ in it as much as possible in the field.


(McCullums first six practically bludgeoned my section of the crowd, came in like a tracer bullet)

Brilliant post! I didn't see any of the action today but listened to most of it and followed it online. If Oram had got throught that new ball we could have a better chance than what we do currently. However I think that Innings was beneficial to Oram to grind it out for a while and get some confidence for the next test match where hopefully he will make more of a contribution with the bat

 

[Flem274*]

Right, basically, God (Vettori) needs to score big. Pretty good chance with him. McCullum is either going to get out in two seconds or smash em all day long I feel. Mills is a better batsman than he's shown and Gillespie could do another snick innings and Martin could....not come out to bat. We're right up against it but hell, you just never know. I didn't see or hear any of todays play so how are the lads looking and do England look nervous/terrified or do they look confident?

England should win but seeing as everytime I stopped listening in our first innings we lost wickets I'm going to keep my mouth firmly clamped shut.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Never had food-poisoning yet myself.

Had a very bad case of food poisoning in Bulgaria once. All down to lettuce that hadn't been properly washed.

Do any of you NZers (or anyone else) know what club cricket is like in Wellington ? I've never been abroad specifically to play cricket and need to do so before I get too old, and rather than going to Aus, like many people from the UK appear to do, may try NZ instead. Like the look of Wellington and believe there not as many big spiders there !!

I can tell you all you need to know about Wellington club cricket. I've played for a couple of clubs and I know which are the friendly ones, which are the good ones, which ones have the best coaches and facilities and which ones I wouldn't touch with a barge pole. Depends what floats your boat. Contact me on yahoo messenger, or by e-mail if you like. Wellington's a great little city though. How old are you?

Anyone know much about the Parlane brothers?

This appears to have been answered now. One thing to note is how much First Class cricketers **** up the club competitions down here. If there's no Wellington game on, you'll end up playing against the Parlanes, or Jesse Ryder and Grant Elliott at Naenae, Luke Woodcock at Johnsonville, Graham Napier at Upper Valley etc. etc. You just never know if the team you'll be playing against will be star-studded or chump-charged.

EDIT: Not too happy about Oram being dismissed when the light was bad, but from a pragmatic point of view there was the usual theatrics from batsmen pretending not to see and fielders pretending the light was ever-so-bright. The light hadn't been that great for the last hour and a half and hadn't deteriorated that much as to be the overriding reason for the dismissal. It was a good ball. Confident that we'll come back hard at Napier; without Sinclair or Gillespie.

 

[Smudge]

Vaughan's introduction of Pietersen into the bowling attack was pretty much an admission that the light was borderline, and you would think, in the space of a couple of minutes, if the new ball was taken, the umpires would check the light. Athlai is completely missing the point - I'm not saying Oram's dismissal was solely due to the light, but the umpires' decision-making was strange and inconsistent when the new ball was taken.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Vaughan's introduction of Pietersen into the bowling attack was pretty much an admission that the light was borderline, and you would think, in the space of a couple of minutes, if the new ball was taken, the umpires would check the light. Athlai is completely missing the point - I'm not saying Oram's dismissal was solely due to the light, but the umpires' decision-making was strange and inconsistent when the new ball was taken.

My understanding of the law was that they only go off if the light is equal to or worse than the light when they first went off. It does seem odd that the light would deteriorate from 'better than' to 'equal or worse than' in the space of 12 balls. In fact, as you rightly point out, it would have had to improve to some extent to allow Sidebottom to bowl. However, I don't agree to any extent with Ian Smith that they should check the light after every ball. There's a sensible balance to be struck and they shouldn't have to check more than once an over unless the light suddenly becomes worse. Over rates shouldn't be the first thing to suffer from every change.

Interesting to see that there was a "Youth Fast Bowling Challenge" at the Lunch Break where the winning 16 year old bowled at 132 kmh (and had previously been clocked at 136 kmh)

 

[Somerset]

Another video of the beer incident on day two for those who haven't seen it yet:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=fyc22i1hVbk

Heath - are you the guy on the left with the sunglasses?