***Official*** England in New Zealand 2018

[Zinzan]

Our second best batsman this series has been Santner. Feels weird man

Just about the time I'd written him off as a white-ball batsman too. He'd been poking & scratching with the bat for 18 months and suddenly unleashes this series.

 

[Gnske]

good 50 for the mostly unfairly hated player in the team. will join o'brien, elliott and wagner in the 'hated players of CW who everyone is forced to admit is good' hall of fame.

someone remind me what everyones glory kid scored today again?

Well of course you'd have to be forced to say Nicholls was good, no person with brains would say it of their own volition.

 

[straw man]

@andymcg_cricket
Chris Woakes' opening spells in this series
5-0-14-2
5-1-18-2
5-1-13-1
5-2-14-1
6-1-13-1

Tidy
#NZvENG

Give most the pitches have favoured the bat that is pretty great stuff.

Should be an inspiration to ODI medium pacers everywhere (ahem, Southee) - worthwhile 130-135k bowlers are close to extinct in T20s and sometimes it seems like it's going the same way in ODIs, so for him to excel both with the new ball and at the death is exceptional. Clearly knows exactly what his plan is against each batsman, is very accurate and has good variations.

 

[straw man]

This looks dead easy for England - as expected it was always a flat wicket, probably 280-300 par. A bit of bounce and swing (more earlier) but England batsmen are showing how true the bounce is and how good for shot-making.

 

[The Hutt Rec]

Slightly concerning for the tests that Boult and Southee haven't looked like getting a wicket for much of this series.

 

[vandem]

This looks dead easy for England - as expected it was always a flat wicket, probably 280-300 par. A bit of bounce and swing (more earlier) but England batsmen are showing how true the bounce is and how good for shot-making.

Graham Swann called it a "belter" when he came onto radio commentary with NZ around 2-30. Shows how well Woakes bowled, although he was helped by NZ approach of not hitting in the air in the first 10 overs.

 

[CM Punk]

Yeah, I'm not sure about CdG as an all rounder... he tends to go for runs and is more miss than hit with the bat.

England are making this look easy, we really bombed with the bat.

 

[91Jmay]

This is unbelievably bad from CdG

 

[Zinzan]

Graham Swann called it a "belter" when he came onto radio commentary with NZ around 2-30. Shows how well Woakes bowled, although he was helped by NZ approach of not hitting in the air in the first 10 overs.

The gap between these sides is bigger than many have been making out this series. It would likely have been 4-1 to England if it wasn't from that once in a lifetime knock from Taylor.

Probably only Guptill, Taylor and Boult would make a combined England/NZ side at this point in time.

 

[91Jmay]

Bairstow is absurdly quick between the wickets.

 

[vandem]

The gap between these sides is bigger than many have been making out this series. It would likely have been 4-1 to England if it wasn't from that once in a lifetime knock from Taylor....

Agree.

An easier "if only" to have made it 4-1 is "if only Morgan hadn't given a leggie the 48th over to a left hander with a short boundary at cow corner".

 

[robbypark]

The gap between these sides is bigger than many have been making out this series. It would likely have been 4-1 to England if it wasn't from that once in a lifetime knock from Taylor.

Probably only Guptill, Taylor and Boult would make a combined England/NZ side at this point in time.

Guptill wouldn't make it. He'd make a combined t20 side but he wouldn't make a combined ODI squad.

 

[91Jmay]

Some serious ball striking here from JB

 

[CM Punk]

Where do we go from here?

We obviously need to make some calls on few under-performing players.

 

[Zinzan]

Guptill wouldn't make it. He'd make a combined t20 side but he wouldn't make a combined ODI squad.

Nah, you'd still have to pick Guptill ahead of either Hales or Roy tbh. He might be hot and cold, but averages about 50 with a SR of 90 in the last 5 years or so...

 

[CM Punk]

Guptill wouldn't make it. He'd make a combined t20 side but he wouldn't make a combined ODI squad.

Series would have been over had Kane not messed up the finish in the third game.

The fact we've pushed England this far with so many passengers in the side is amusing.

Look forward to you choking again next year, the question is who will you fall against. India, Pakistan or Australia

 

[91Jmay]

Nah, you'd still have to pick Guptill ahead of either Hales or Roy tbh. He might be hot and cold, but averages about 50 with a SR of 90 in the last 5 years or so...

Yeah he's essentially a better version of both Hales/Roy.

 

[Zinzan]

Where do we go from here?

We obviously need to make some calls on few under-performing players.

We may just have to accept this is a very strong English side. Only them and SA have managed to beat us at home in the last 4-5 years IIRC.

 

[vcs]

Bairstow is blazing away. Good series win for England.

 

[CM Punk]

We may have have to accept this is a very strong English side. Only them and SA have managed to beat us at home in the last 4-5 years IIRC.

England are good, but I don't think they've played exceptionally well in the games they've won.

This and the second game were handed to them by some really poor batting in the first innings on good tracks. The third was a game we should have really won as well.

We were completely outclassed by SA and beaten by a stronger team against Aus in the T20s, it isn't the case this series. This feels more like us not performing than England being a lot better than us. England haven't had to win a game, we've given it to them.