**Official** New Zealand in England

[Athlai]

Keep Oram at six IMO, when in form he'll warrant the place and when out of form he shouldn't even be in the team, so protecting him is no good really. After Marshall fails (likely) who's going to three? Taylor, Fulton or Flynn? Has to be Taylor IMO, in form. This tour is going to change the very fabric of the team I reckon, if Marshall succeeds he'll be in the team for a year.

 

[Flem274*]

Tbh we should keep Oram in, form or no form. The chopping and changing of the side has really hurt us imo. We should have faith in our players, especially our senior players, in order to gain some solidity in the side. This tour is really a glorified development tour and when we get players performing we should persist with them in that same position, no changing the batting order or dropping players because or form unless they have barely scored a run in the past year in any format.

 

[Athlai]

Then Fulton should be at 3, Taylor 4, Styris 5, Oram 6. And our openers would be Papps and Cumming.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

According to the BBC, Iain O'Brien was extracting reverse swing from the ball. I find this quite surprising; I thought he was a little bit lacking in speed to garner a decent amount of reverse swing. Could he have stepped up the pace from his usual 125-135kmph mark?

 

[Athlai]

According to the BBC, Iain O'Brien was extracting reverse swing from the ball. I find this quite surprising; I thought he was a little bit lacking in speed to garner a decent amount of reverse swing. Could he have stepped up the pace from his usual 125-135kmph mark?

I've seen him hit 140 every now and then TBH.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

I've seen him hit 140 every now and then TBH.

Yes. Hence "the usual" comment. His stock delivery would be 130-135 with the occasional quicker one. In my thinking, the BBC comment was implying that he was regularly extracting reverse swing, hence my expectation that his stock delivery had increased in pace.

Interesting either way though.

 

[Flem274*]

Wouldn't it be hilarious if O'Brien turned out to be a good bowler after all?

 

[Leslie1]

So far Martin hasn't had enough time in the middle to get up to speed with the English conditions. Which is why it's puzzling given his last trip to England, that he's not playing in this particular tour match. If he doesn't take a wicket in the Lions game, does that mean his place is in jeopardy, given how volatile the selectors are? Same question goes for Southee, actually. Feels like these tour matches throw in more questions than answers to the starting 11...

Essex batting looks quite strong(?). So Mason did well getting the early wickets, and O Brien cleaned up the middle.

 

[Nutter]

Wouldn't it be hilarious if O'Brien turned out to be a good bowler after all?

Just imagine if this guy suddenly becomes a Hadlee.

 

[NZTailender]

Am I the only one looking forward to this for the new players coming through but at the same time fearing it all because it quite possibly will mean we're on the receiving end of a massive beating.



Wow, I could've worded that better.

 

[Bahnz]

According to the BBC, Iain O'Brien was extracting reverse swing from the ball. I find this quite surprising; I thought he was a little bit lacking in speed to garner a decent amount of reverse swing. Could he have stepped up the pace from his usual 125-135kmph mark?

I've seen both Nathan Astle and Jacob Oram extract tonnes of reverse swing, so I really don't thing pace has that much to do with it.

 

[Richard]

Actually the correct answer starts with stating which facet of incompetence/mediocrity applies to England's selectors. Flintoff, Broad, Sidebottom & Hoggard would cover most of the realistic wicket-taking bases - certainly moreso than if you replace one with a toothless finger spinner.

Yes, but we are all aware of this. Hence posting the same thing about Panesar time and again is utterly pointless.

And yea I'd probably prefer Swann to Panesar to be honest. But I'd prefer a seamer over both.

If you really think Swann is a better fingerspinner in the First-Class game than Panesar, much as he's obviously a far superior one-day bowler and better batsman\fielder, well...

 

[Richard]

According to the BBC, Iain O'Brien was extracting reverse swing from the ball. I find this quite surprising; I thought he was a little bit lacking in speed to garner a decent amount of reverse swing. Could he have stepped up the pace from his usual 125-135kmph mark?

I've seen both Nathan Astle and Jacob Oram extract tonnes of reverse swing, so I really don't thing pace has that much to do with it.

No indeed. Martin Crowe and Mark Greatbatch bowled reverse-swing in the nets in Pakistan in 1990/91, when Heath was a whippersnapper.

 

[Richard]

Richard are you a closet NZ fan? Or is this common thing (talking about team selections of other teams you don't really support)?

I'm much more of an England fan than NZ fan, but I do take interest in all 8 Test\ODI-class international teams, and if I didn't comment on the selections of all of them, I wouldn't have 54,000 posts.

 

[Flem274*]

Am I the only one looking forward to this for the new players coming through but at the same time fearing it all because it quite possibly will mean we're on the receiving end of a massive beating.



Wow, I could've worded that better.

Seconded.

Tbh its their bloody bowlers that will kill us. The English batting doesn't frighten me at all, we've proven we can knock them over without Shane Bond.

Just had to rub that in for Mr Andrew Strauss.

 

[Leslie1]

Their batting lineup do look a whole lot more settled than our mob though.

Guys, anyone read this?

Harmison retiring from all first class cricket if not selected? At 29, that's a bit premature.

 

[Richard]

The English batting doesn't frighten me at all, we've proven we can knock them over without Shane Bond.

Just had to rub that in for Mr Andrew Strauss.

TBH, I can see us - given some flat surfaces, which is likely, maybe at Lord's - scoring plenty at some point, maybe easily more than 1 occasion, this summer.

WoW I could've worded that better.

But it only takes someone like Cook, Vaughan, Pietersen and Bell to click and bingo - you've got a massive total on your hands.

If the ball swings - which, obviously, I hope it will, certainly did for me yesterday - Mills especially can pose a huge threat. But even if it does, Cook and Vaughan (maybe not Strauss) are more than capable of playing through such a period, and on a flat pitch you'd then have to back them, and Pietersen and Bell, and maybe the rest, to cash-in.

Also, don't forget if the signs are as they are, we're going to have one hell of a stronger batting unit in this home series than we did away. There we had, at one point, four non-batsmen, and three at best. Here we're well on-track to have two, and good-quality batsmen all the way down to eight.

 

[Richard]

Guys, anyone read this?

Harmison retiring from all first class cricket if not selected? At 29, that's a bit premature.

Yep, read that earlier. Seems very odd, and I think I might post it elsewhere as it might not get full attention here.

But Harmison has never been a full-on conventional case.

 

[Flem274*]

TBH, I can see us - given some flat surfaces, which is likely, maybe at Lord's - scoring plenty at some point, maybe easily more than 1 occasion, this summer.

WoW I could've worded that better.

But it only takes someone like Cook, Vaughan, Pietersen and Bell to click and bingo - you've got a massive total on your hands.

If the ball swings - which, obviously, I hope it will, certainly did for me yesterday - Mills especially can pose a huge threat. But even if it does, Cook and Vaughan (maybe not Strauss) are more than capable of playing through such a period, and on a flat pitch you'd then have to back them, and Pietersen and Bell, and maybe the rest, to cash-in.

Also, don't forget if the signs are as they are, we're going to have one hell of a stronger batting unit in this home series than we did away. There we had, at one point, four non-batsmen, and three at best. Here we're well on-track to have two, and good-quality batsmen all the way down to eight.

Yes I know you guy have one hell of a unit, I just feel that our bowlers will knock you over a couple of times. We've managed it on flat pitches before and I think w can do it again. You'll win the test series but our bowlers should keep the English from running away with it with the bat.

Its the Flintoff-Sidebottom show that will be the difference.

 

[Flem274*]

Their batting lineup do look a whole lot more settled than our mob though.

Guys, anyone read this?

Harmison retiring from all first class cricket if not selected? At 29, that's a bit premature.

Anyone notice the title in the other articles? it was "Vaughan: Lets copy NZ" I presume that means they want to have more batting collapses and higher hospital fees from their pace bowlers breaking down?

Oh and Michael, don't forget that to truly be like an NZ test team of 2005-08, you have to do alot of losing k? Start now.