**Official** England in New Zealand

[Leslie1]

Will Flintoff be back for your summer English folks?

Probably will need every inch of his ability against the Saffas the way they are going in India at the moment. I can just see Steyn destroying your top batting lineup as easily as he did against the Black Caps last year.

 

[Natman20]

I have really enjoyed this series and am so glad we have got to see a different team in the country for once. The first innings of this last match was quite dissapointing but other than that I have loved watching Sidebottom bowl and the emmergence of someone that has potential to be more than the normal mediums. All-in-all am very happy with this series and test cricket is definately still the bomb

 

[Craig]

Tim Southeee eh? And we were all critising his selection, shows how much we know then. And Chris Martin? In career best batting form, there is all hope for us all then

 

[KiWiNiNjA]

Tim Southeee eh? And we were all critising his selection, shows how much we know then.

All Kiwi's except for Athlai and I

.....and maybe Ed

 

[Athlai]

All Kiwi's except for Athlai and I

.....and maybe Ed

We can sit here and look smug now.

 

[Flem274*]

No offence to Tim here but the talkback tonight has been predictable and at times, hilarious. Points raised are:

-No depth (this happens after every loss)
-No openers (fair point)

But some of the selections my God, James Marshall and "maybe that Hay joker." I vote that woman is shot. Some prick rang in and gloated he was right we'd lose the two remaining games, he sounded like Christmas had come early. Kent Johns has been excellent in managing such awful callers I must say.

 

[KiWiNiNjA]

We can sit here and look smug now.

*sits here and looks smug*

 

[Athlai]

Especially considering my so far unholy backing of Taylor and Patel. Been a good series for Athers.

 

[Flem274*]

Especially considering my so far unholy backing of Taylor and Patel. Been a good series for Athers.

I'll admit you're right with Taylor (thank God, we need a batsman) but WRT Patel he hasn't done the convincing yet. Reckon he'll be a must for the subcontinent though.

I'll just have to get you back with Hay and Fulton carving it up in the nest few years.

 

[_Ed_]

All Kiwi's except for Athlai and I

.....and maybe Ed

Haha, no, I won't take any credit. I thought it was too soon.

 

[Athlai]

Patel certainly didn't set the world on fire but he certainly wasn't the worst bowling selection and really looked like he belonged. Much in the way How did at the top of the order, few stand out performances but solid over all.

Taylor at 3!!!!!!! He's the best we have available at the moment come on...

Fultons injured or out of form, Ryders injured, Styris kinda retired. Has to be Rossco and I think if we give it to him now he'll keep it.

 

[Athlai]

Haha, no, I won't take any credit. I thought it was too soon.

Too soon to play him? No.
Too soon to book his place in the team? Probably.

Full strength team shouldn't consist of Southee for a few years yet hopefully, not for lack of talent or ability but he's still a growing man and keeping him as a permanent member would only be harmful.

 

[KiWiNiNjA]

Especially considering my so far unholy backing of Taylor and Patel. Been a good series for Athers.

Yeah. Same here for me regarding Taylor.
Although it is still early days yet.

Atleast there is some promise. How, Taylor, Ryder, Southee.
McCullum going ballistic in ODI, not so in Tests.
Mills showing he has some skills. Martin unlucky with ball, brilliant with bat.
Bell and Sinclair, woeful. Need an opener? Surprise surprise. Anyone other than Papps and Cumming, they have had their chances. McIntosh?
Losing our only reliable batsman in Fleming is a bit of a bummer though.

My NZ teams if I was a selector and there was no such thing as injuries.

Test
1.How
2.McIntosh
3.Fulton
4.Taylor
5.Ryder
6.Oram
7.McCullum
8.Vettori
9.Franklin
10.Mills
11.Southee

ODI
1.McCullum
2.Ryder
3.How
4.Fulton
5.Taylor
6.Styris
7.Oram
8.Vettori
9.Mills
10. Southee
11. Patel

But I am not a selector.

Hopefully 2-3 of Hay/Broom/Nichol/Todd get selected for the England tour.

 

[Flem274*]

Patel certainly didn't set the world on fire but he certainly wasn't the worst bowling selection and really looked like he belonged. Much in the way How did at the top of the order, few stand out performances but solid over all.

Taylor at 3!!!!!!! He's the best we have available at the moment come on...

Fultons injured or out of form, Ryders injured, Styris kinda retired. Has to be Rossco and I think if we give it to him now he'll keep it.

Ross Taylor is not a test number three. Just putting it out there.

Ah yes, Jamie How, my pick after the 1st SA ODI

So, my prediction for the England tour is both sides bowlers to dominate. They did here on two flat pitches with rubbish Kookaburra balls, imagine what they'll do on English greentops with Duke balls?

NZs batting will show promise but not quite reach the mark. There will be outstanding individual performances however. Bell will get picked and get owned.

England will bat inconsistently as well but Ryan Sidebottom will dig them out of the poo with his bowling. Anderson will save his ass with five wickets on a greentop before getting smashed as per usual.

Still hoping for the English injury curse (which is almost as bad as ours) to strike, forcing Mahmood and Plunkett into the team who will gift Bell some hundys.

 

[Goughy]

The New Zealand batsmen's strike-rate this series was 54.05.
The England batsmen's strike-rate this series was 43.20.

Who said he who dares wins?

What was Englands strike rate in the game they lost cmpared to the games they won?

 

[Prince EWS]

Ross Taylor is not a test number three. Just putting it out there.

Ah yes, Jamie How, my pick after the 1st SA ODI

So, my prediction for the England tour is both sides bowlers to dominate. They did here on two flat pitches with rubbish Kookaburra balls, imagine what they'll do on English greentops with Duke balls?

NZs batting will show promise but not quite reach the mark. There will be outstanding individual performances however. Bell will get picked and get owned.

England will bat inconsistently as well but Ryan Sidebottom will dig them out of the poo with his bowling. Anderson will save his ass with five wickets on a greentop before getting smashed as per usual.

Still hoping for the English injury curse (which is almost as bad as ours) to strike, forcing Mahmood and Plunkett into the team who will gift Bell some hundys.

Plunkett would absolutely own Matthew Bell, IMO. He does bowl some rubbish balls, but two decent balls an over should really account for Bell before he gets to 20 more times than not.

 

[Flem274*]

My side for the tour:

Jamie How
Matthew Bell
Peter Fulton
Ross Taylor
Jesse Ryder
Jacob Oram
Brendan McCullum
Dan the Man
James Franklin
Kyle Mills
Tim Southee

It was hard to drop Martin. Ideally I'd have all four frontline seamers but there's no room so I went for more strikepower. Bell retains his place as long as he gets a proper technique.

 

[Bahnz]

Disappointed that Taylor and McCullum couldn't make the most of perfect conditions, especially after Southee showed exactly how the Panesar Pie Factory should be treated. Great stuff from him at the end, though I think people saying that he's the next Cairns are going OTT. Actually, his stroke play did remind me of a Cairns...but it was much more Lance than Christopher in style.

 

[Bahnz]

My side for the tour:

Jamie How
Matthew Bell
Peter Fulton
Ross Taylor
Jesse Ryder
Jacob Oram
Brendan McCullum
Dan the Man
James Franklin
Kyle Mills
Tim Southee

It was hard to drop Martin. Ideally I'd have all four frontline seamers but there's no room so I went for more strikepower. Bell retains his place as long as he gets a proper technique.

I think your dreaming if you believe that Franklin is gonna be fit in time. He still hasn't played a game for Wellington as a batsman alone, indicating he's a long way off. As for Martin, as unfair as it is on the guy, I kind of agree with you. Our top order is so frail at the moment, that we can't really afford him. As long as we have three guy's at the bottom, who are all test class bowlers and all of whom have the ability to average around 20 in test cricket, then that can make up for some of the short comings of our front line batsmen. It is very harsh on Martin, who's been bowled into the ground this series and not often been rewarded with the figures he deserves, but his batting is so poor that it not only contributes nothing in and of itself, but it can actually generate a wicket at the other end, as his partner tries to madly slog everything that comes his way. Not that that didn't actually help today.

 

[Flem274*]

Plunkett would absolutely own Matthew Bell, IMO. He does bowl some rubbish balls, but two decent balls an over should really account for Bell before he gets to 20 more times than not.

Nah he wouldn't. Even if he did we'd still be 93/0 as Plunkett would struggle to bowl straight. I'll never forget the amount of wides he bowled in that CB series game last year. Their tactic for Vincent must have been to get him extremely bored.