**Official** New Zealand in England

[PY]

Saturday = best be grand. I'm going!

 

[Richard]

z

 

[pasag]

Very nice partnership from KP and Ambrose to rescue England, though well done to NZ as well to steer them in towards the end. Good days cricket.

Wonder what KP was getting worked up about when he got the ton though? Seemed to be giving a sweet eff you to just about everyone in England.

 

[Richard]

My bet's that he was pleased to show he could score big playing the way he's been playing recently and that pretty much everyone has been saying is the wrong way for him to play.

 

[TT Boy]

Highest score at Trent Bridge this year apparently is only 270 odd (in first class cricket), so England are not in a perilously poor position by any means and after watching some of today’s action anything over 300 and they will be in the box seat for mine. The wicket should quicken up and if the sun beats down on it, given that the ground was covered until Wednesday morning it should only deteriorate not become flatter.

 

[TT Boy]

Very nice partnership from KP and Ambrose to rescue England, though well done to NZ as well to steer them in towards the end. Good days cricket.

Wonder what KP was getting worked up about when he got the ton though? Seemed to be giving a sweet eff you to just about everyone in England.

KP also seemed to be taking a sly jibe at his fellow English batsman on his post-match interview on FIVE.

Anyhow, it was a top knock from KP, separated the men from the boys and only reinforced the opinion that the likes of Ian Bell are big sitatuion bottlers.

 

[Richard]

Not the first time Pietersen has totally outplayed most of the rest of the team and I highly doubt it'll be the last. They're not all not-big-situation players.

 

[GIMH]

Only a light shower to your east.

Heard it's going to be glorious tomorrow and then piss it down for the next week or so.

If by "to your east" you mean Liverpool, that's where I was, in work. Lashed down from about 4 til 5, sun was shining by the time I finished work

What did the first of the two posts you multiple-quoted have to do with that?

Have no idea how that happened tbh. At all. Completely baffled.

 

[GIMH]

Anyway, my prediction for tomorrow is for us to be 300ao by about 11.40, and be batting again for the final 10 overs or so

 

[Richard]

I hope we're ao ASAP, and get bowling, and Sidebottom manages once more to rip through NZ's revamped order, and ends with a 7- or 8-for.

Seriously, seriously don't want Anderson or particularly Broad to do well this Test. Nothing I hate to see more than misplaced faith being rewarded.

 

[GIMH]

Want to see Broad getting a few, enjoy watching him bat tbh

Would like to see Sidebottom run through them admittedly.

 

[Richard]

Well I highly doubt Broad's going to get the chance to bat properly really. It'll be swing or get left high and dry.

(And probably if he tries the former he won't last long anyway. Only way he'll score is if Anderson et al outdo themselves)

 

[GIMH]

Anderson will send the ball over Trent Bridge








Sadly, shortly before that he'll have been got out for a duck

 

[Prince EWS]

Well I highly doubt Broad's going to get the chance to bat properly really. It'll be swing or get left high and dry.

Nah, Sidebottom is clearly backing himself for a ton after he sent a night watchman in.

 

[GIMH]

TBH, if Ryan Sidebottom wants a nightwatchman, so be it. Should also get the other seamers to his run-up, so all he has to do is bowl. We need to look after him tbh.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Admitting here that I was very wrong about O'Brien. Bowled well last Test and has been awesome today. Big congrats from me for coming back so well. Am extremely impressed.

Kudos to you for that.

I'm really pleased to see him do well; a bloke can only be bagged by so many people for so long before you start to root for him a bit. Admittedly it was the sort of conditions & slow, low pitch that are bespoke for him, but he's done the business. Deserves a Michelle tomorrow.

Anyway, funny how some of our dismissals were so utterly typical of the batsman: Vaughan bowled through the gate driving expansively, Strauss chasing the sort of wide one that he'd left alone all morning, Colly prodding at another wide one before he's got his feet going & Ambrose edging attempting his favourite cut. Harsh to attach too much blame to Tiny Tim tho; the cut is obviously his most productive shot.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

I'm really pleased to see him do well; a bloke can only be bagged by so many people for so long before you start to root for him a bit. Admittedly it was the sort of conditions & slow, low pitch that are bespoke for him, but he's done the business. Deserves a Michelle tomorrow.

Its good to see people realising that Iain O'Brien can bowl, but lets not get carried away here. He's a useful bowler when the conditions are in his favour, but on a flatter wicket, it doesn't matter how accurate he is, he just doesn't have enough to dismiss top quality batsman. He was bowling a great line today and getting significant seam movement at times, but he's not going to be able to get that every time he turns out for us.

At his age, he's unlikely to pick up a vast array of new weaponry or any additional pace. I am also fearful that on a flat wicket, he'll still go for plenty as he's going to become easy to read and pick off by a decent quality batsman.

Anyway, its good to see Petone's current finest player doing so well. Stepping it up for the Petone-Riverside members.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Its good to see people realising that Iain O'Brien can bowl, but lets not get carried away here. He's a useful bowler when the conditions are in his favour, but on a flatter wicket, it doesn't matter how accurate he is, he just doesn't have enough to dismiss top quality batsman. He was bowling a great line today and getting significant seam movement at times, but he's not going to be able to get that every time he turns out for us.

At his age, he's unlikely to pick up a vast array of new weaponry or any additional pace. I am also fearful that on a flat wicket, he'll still go for plenty as he's going to become easy to read and pick off by a decent quality batsman.

Anyway, its good to see Petone's current finest player doing so well. Stepping it up for the Petone-Riverside members.

Fair enough, I wasn't suggesting he's suddenly Hadlee-incarnate, but I don't think you can ask more of a bloke, who was in all probabilty a "horses-for-courses" sort of pick, than to exploit those favourable conditions.

 

[Days of Grace]

Martin just doesn't have it, it seems. I'd be picking a bowling attack of Mills, Southee, O'Brien/Franklin, Oram, Vettori for the next test NZ plays.

 

[Burgey]

What was with Michael Holding last night? I've never heard him sound so churlish. Form the third ball - "Martin's bowlilng the wrong line" - he's three balls in ffs. Then "I think the ball's doing too much", in the second over he said that. Seems most un-Holding like.

Sorry I went to bed at lunch, the immediate priod thereafter sounds like it was pretty entertaining. Certainly Bell and Collywobbles appear to have not done anything to stop the Sky commentators talking about their input ATM.