*Official* New Zealand in England 2015

[CaptainGrumpy]

Just received the following text from a mate of mine in Leeds, who's incidentally a rugby-league man who has little interest in cricket, but loves seeing NZ lose at anything purely so he can wind me up;

"Greetings old chap. Never been less miserable to see such a miserable day dawning here. Little chance of anything other than a 1-0 scoreline, 4 more years for you lads" (cheeky smiley not enclosed)

Well be sure to reply in kind later in the year when Jesse Bromwich, Jason Taumalolo, Ben Matulino and Martin Tapau make an English rugby league team without Sam Burgess grovel.

 

[Kippax]

Definitely won't be a whole day washed out, assuming Headingley's a bit more modern than say McLean Park with its drainage.

 

[jcas0167]

Saturday and Monday look good.

7 Day Weather Forecast Headingley-Cricket-Ground

 

[Adders]

Typical , it's been sunny for the last two weeks here in Yorkshire and the heavens open the day of our test match..

No one believes this......

 

[Zinzan]

Tell your mate to stop being so ****ing OTT.

There was no "OTT" in the reply, but plenty of "****"

 

[Zinzan]

Well be sure to reply in kind later in the year when Jesse Bromwich, Jason Taumalolo, Ben Matulino and Martin Tapau make an English rugby league team without Sam Burgess grovel.

Don't worry, had a field day with him over the 4-nations last year.

 

[LegionOfBrad]

Lunch taken at 12:30. Going to try to restart at 13:10 with no further rain.

 

[Zinzan]

Yeah, latest commentary from cricinfo...

"11.50am Good news, it has stopped raining! So the groundstaff are out with the mops and brushes trying to clear the water off the covers. Our man George Dobell reckons there's a good chance of a 1.30pm start, which would be superb news. There is more rain forecast to blow in though so watch this space but good news for now."

Strange 1.30pm is mentioned as the earliest possible start time. If the rain has stopped, does it really take 1 hour and 40 mins to mop up? I would have thought about an hour.

 

[LegionOfBrad]

Yeah, latest commentary from cricinfo...

"11.50am Good news, it has stopped raining! So the groundstaff are out with the mops and brushes trying to clear the water off the covers. Our man George Dobell reckons there's a good chance of a 1.30pm start, which would be superb news. There is more rain forecast to blow in though so watch this space but good news for now."

Strange 1.30pm is mentioned as the earliest possible start time. If the rain has stopped, does it really take 1 hour and 40 mins to mop up? I would have thought about an hour.

Its extra as the pitch needs to be mowed/prepared/lines painted as the covers have been on all night.

Also 15 minutes for the toss.

It would only take an hour if this was day 2.

 

[Zinzan]

Fair enough, although you'd like to think with a few support staff, they could get it nailed in an hour.

 

[Days of Grace]

Bat first or bowl first?

 

[LegionOfBrad]

Have not seen the pitch but you'd have thought bowl.

 

[Days of Grace]

https://twitter.com/englandcricket/status/604254955206221824/photo/1

 

[Athlai]

Ronchi debuts. England bowl.

Need something special here

 

[Dan]

Bat IMO.

 

[Zinzan]

https://twitter.com/englandcricket/status/604254955206221824/photo/1

Can understand the winning skipper bowling first, but that pitch doesn't look too bad on the eye for batting.

 

[Dan]

I'm hardly an expert in reading pitches, but it looks to me as if it'll do a bit early on then flatten out nicely.

 

[harsh.ag]

Black Caps have to do something special here.

 

[harsh.ag]

Would be amazing if Jimmy went wicketless the whole test.

 

[Howe_zat]

England bowling almost certainly down to 'do what you're opponent wouldn't'. Doubt it's a particularly bowler friendly pitch.