**Official** New Zealand in England

[S.P. Fleming]

it looks as though we actually might see some cricket today... amazing!

 

[Richard]

Indeed, first day of decent weather here since Wednesday down in the SW.

 

[Flem274*]

Hmm - seemed like he was saying the former to me TBH. I can't comment on the latter obviously as I haven't seen Marshall bat before and have no idea how good or poor he was or now is relative to that.

Put it this way, though - he certainly looked a bit better than Taylor did.

My post you refer to in a nutshell

-Improved technique
-Did better than expected (which was a duck). And yes he should have been out but thats Andersons fault.
-Will only be a short term fill in before better players give him the kick.

 

[Flem274*]

Indeed, first day of decent weather here since Wednesday down in the SW.

You lot need to drag your godforsaken country closer to the equator imo.

 

[Richard]

Yay, sunshine at Lord's.

 

[Richard]

Aaaaaaaaaaaand we have play.

 

[Richard]

so that's a maiden over, and it only took about 23 hours to complete

First runs of the morning now off Martin's 1st ball, Cook off the mark today.

 

[Richard]

Good, Strauss gets his first runs of the morning too. Hate it when batsmen fall for their overnight\Lunch\Tea score.

 

[Richard]

Ball's gone out of shape, about to be changed. Interesting, maybe that contributed, secondary to the appallingly short length of NZ's bowlers, to the lack of swing they've got so far.

 

[Nate]

Main contributor probably the craphouse Duke ball tbh.

 

[Burgey]

If any CWer's are in St John's Wood, can they pop into the ground and let Kyle Mills know that the three wooden uprights at each end of the pitch with bails on them are called stumps, and ocasionally he's allowed to bowl the ball in the same postcode as them?

 

[Richard]

Main contributor probably the craphouse Duke ball tbh.

Hahaha. Dukes > Kookas. At least they swing (for more than 10 minutes) when they're properly manufactured.

Well, they do again at the moment, having barely done at all 2001 to 2006.

 

[Richard]

If any CWer's are in St John's Wood, can they pop into the ground and let Kyle Mills know that the three wooden uprights at each end of the pitch with bails on them are called stumps, and ocasionally he's allowed to bowl the ball in the same postcode as them?

They'll be aiming outside Strauss' off. Has always been the best way to get him, bowling full and wide. Full credit to him, he's removed that weakness from his game completely so far this innings.

If he can play like this for more than a few innings, he should be right back to being a decent Test opener.

And that's the first century opening stand between these two. A day I honestly never thought would come until very, very recently. Strange little coincidence that it comes in the first innings they bat together after it's finally confirmed that Trescothick will never open in a Test again.

 

[Manee]

From what I've read, Harris was never a swing-bowler. He just had those 2 games on that ground where it swung for him.

His wrist position means that if the ball 'slips' out of the side of his hand (rather than the fingers actually rolling over it) then it will swing in. I did a rather similar thing up to a couple of years ago - not deliberately of course as it limited my pace significently.

 

[Manee]

They'll be aiming outside Strauss' off. Has always been the best way to get him, bowling full and wide. Full credit to him, he's removed that weakness from his game completely so far this innings.

If he can play like this for more than a few innings, he should be right back to being a decent Test opener.

And that's the first century opening stand between these two. A day I honestly never thought would come until very, very recently.

Haven't been paying too much attention but Mills hasn't bowled full or straight enough to intice Strauss' weakness.

 

[Richard]

First boundary off the bat today, off the edge. Cannot believe DannyV hasn't got a third-man in under these circumstances.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Does Vaughan have the genitals to go for a sporting declaration to get NZ in before stumps or will we make sure we only need to bat once?

Once (if, really but I'm fairly confident) we go past NZ's total it will be interesting to see what the philosophy of both teams becomes.

 

[Richard]

At 170 behind currently, it's highly likely to be at least Tea (probably midway through the last session) before we have to answer that question.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Not much sense of urgency from the cack-handed opening duo. Think we're on the verge of the fourth maiden on the bounce.

EDIT: Commentator's curse. England take a single. Woo-hoo.

 

[Richard]

Interesting, Strauss changing a typical guard and standing everso slightly higher, meaning not only is he controlling himself better with his driving but he's controlling his drives better. Exactly what I've been hoping the bloody useless bugger would start doing for at least 12 months.

Very, very encouraging.