**Official** New Zealand in England

[Richard]

Taylor dropped.

Nah, no way. Barely brushed the fingertips. His chances of catching that were zero.

 

[Halfpast_Yellow]

Who is playing anyway?

Waratahs and Sharks, semifinal in Aus.

Great stuff from Mills, hope these two make it to lunch. Looks like my prediction will happily be a few short the way this is going, though I wasn't wrong about Vettori not making many

 

[GIMH]

Scroll down.

--> Abdul Aziz retired hurt in the Karachi first innings having scored 0 (team score 270/7) (hit in the chest from ball from Dildar Awan and collapsed and died on the way to hospital)

So it was a retired dead.

Yeah I saw that but the card itself said absent

 

[andruid]

Actually listed as absent rather than dead there

According to the match notes he died on the way to hospital.
More to that he was their wicket keeper. soi who kept wicket when they were bowling.

 

[Richard]

Yeah I saw that but the card itself said absent

It was originally recorded as "did not bat - dead".

 

[Craig]

Indeed.

Trust you to find that in no time

BTW Congrats on 8,000 posts Martyn, your best ones have been the ones expressing Chris Greenacre love, the rest well...

 

[Richard]

Always though Lord Morris was British ITBT. That accent would suggest not.

 

[GIMH]

Trust you to find that in no time

BTW Congrats on 8,000 posts Martyn, your best ones have been the ones expressing Chris Greenacre love, the rest well...

66 of them say Greenacre apparently, though a good number probably say Chrissy G and Greeeeeeeenacre etc

 

[Craig]

6/322, I'll take that despite Oram and Vettori being pillocks to quote Heath.

 

[wpdavid]

Either way, that's a shocking session. I'm off to bed, see if I fancy returning to CW for the second session.

I've only caught bits of it, but it looks like one of the worst sessions you could imagine from our pov. It's tempting to say that it couldn't get any worse, but I fear that's exactly what's going to happen. Credit to Taylor of course, but this is shaping up to be the most dispiriting English summer since 1999. It's bad enough that NZ batters are taking turns to boost their test averages against our so-called 'attack', but the lack of credible alternatives makes you want to weep.

 

[GIMH]

Thinking that Tremlett might get a chance next time round

 

[wpdavid]

NZ's session. If they are still batting come tea, then we're in trouble, given our top six's recent struggles to top 300, nevermind 400

We're in trouble already. This is by no means a road, and, if we ever do get to bat, you can bet that Chris Martin will show Anderson & co that there's better ways to make use of a bouncy track than simply alternating bouncers and half volleys. Given the forecast, we'll probably be saved by the rain, but we don't deserve to be.

 

[wpdavid]

Thinking that Tremlett might get a chance next time round

Yeah he might. Not that I rate him, or his chances of being fit anyway.

 

[Spitfires_Fan]

At least he's unlikely to leak quite so many runs as Anderson. An absolutely shameful performance on his home ground.

 

[Craig]

So david your named as the new Chairman of Selectors and your selection is final, if any of your other selectors disagree, well they have their legs broken, what your perfect England attack bearing in mind the resources you have to choose from, if Hoggard is unfit, you can't pick him, otherwise go for it.

 

[GIMH]

Yeah, am praying that KP is in form actually. Reckon NZ are gonna get to 400, thinking we'll need 500...

 

[GIMH]

Just saw Vettori's run-out, I missed it earlier. Haha, oh dear. Makes me feel a little better about how poor we've been actually.

 

[Zinzan]

Could someone please explain exactly why Old Trafford won't be used as a test ground for the next 3 years?

 

[wpdavid]

So david your named as the new Chairman of Selectors and your selection is final, if any of your other selectors disagree, well they have their legs broken, what your perfect England attack bearing in mind the resources you have to choose from, if Hoggard is unfit, you can't pick him, otherwise go for it.

That's the truly depressing thing. Given the players available for this test, I'd have picked exactly the same attack. That includes leaving out Tremlett :based on his missing the
2nd half of Hampshire's most recent county game. Given the extent of Anderson's abjectness, there's a temptation to replace him with Tremlett next time, or maybe even Onions based on his start to the season, but I wouldn't be confident in either of them. next time out, if Fred or Hoggard are fit, then they play. If not, the same guys would have one last throw of the dice.

Unlike some, I don't blame the selectors for the current morasse of mediocrity. Primarily, it reflects the inability of the counties to produce the required quality of bowlers. Secondly, it reflects the laziness of too many of our professionals who can't be arsed to raise their games.

 

[wpdavid]

Could some please explain exactly why Old Trafford won't be used as a test ground for the next 3 years?

I think it's to do with the facilities for spectators.