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

SeamUp

International Coach
GM seem to have made cut-backs in sponsorship in SA when it was always the largest player sponsor in SA.

But I see they've climbed into Ben Stokes and announced their sponsorship last night. No more New Balance which is interesting in itself.
 

Moss

International Captain
Pretty pumped for tomorrow.

Geez how much does it suck to be a test specialist though? Jeet Raval got a good one early and scored piss all, got one bat in the game and that's 25% of his summer gone.
Was thinking about this, same goes for Watling and Wagner too. Not a whole lot of test cricket ahead in the next few seasons ahead, wonder if those guys can sustain their motivation levels playing first class cricket most of the time.

Worth noting that from 2012 to early 2017, NZ actually enjoyed a bumper half-decade in terms of test scheduling (I count around 55 tests in all, which means 10-11 tests a year on average which is pretty healthy for anyone outside the big 4). NZ's 'rise' under BMac coincided with decent amount of test match play which is why the career stats of KW, Boult and Watling to name a few look very respectable, each among NZ's very best in their respective roles. Obviously they are all very good players, but it should be acknowledged they've had the opportunity to play tests far more regularly than say the set of players between 2005-2011.

Haven't looked up the current FTP but if it is a barren few years ahead it'll be interesting to see how this lot and the newcomers handle the relative infrequency of test cricket.
 

Flem274*

123/5
apparently lehmann wants to play like us now

i hope its lies because if their new skipper bangs on about the spirit of the game, aggression rights and natural game while his bowlers try to get the ball changed every two minutes and everyone turns a blind eye to the antics of a lunatic south african fast bowler then people will realise they've been conned.

and it's a funny con so go away.
 

StephenZA

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
apparently lehmann wants to play like us now

i hope its lies because if their new skipper bangs on about the spirit of the game, aggression rights and natural game while his bowlers try to get the ball changed every two minutes and everyone turns a blind eye to the antics of a lunatic south african fast bowler then people will realise they've been conned.

and it's a funny con so go away.
Which one?
 

Larwood's_boots

U19 Debutant
So test match starts in a couple of hours- whatever happens (and I really truly hope England can salvage something from this winter of discontent, but not in a way that distracts from how urgently major change is needed in the red ball setup) it'll be so nice after the last few days to go back to temporarily focusing on the glorious actuality of cricket, field placements and batting averages and when to deploy a wrong 'un, instead of sandpaper and jock straps and whether or not we do feel a bit sad for Steve Smith. Long may it live!
 

Andy1867

Cricket Spectator
So test match starts in a couple of hours- whatever happens (and I really truly hope England can salvage something from this winter of discontent, but not in a way that distracts from how urgently major change is needed in the red ball setup) it'll be so nice after the last few days to go back to temporarily focusing on the glorious actuality of cricket, field placements and batting averages and when to deploy a wrong 'un, instead of sandpaper and jock straps and whether or not we do feel a bit sad for Steve Smith. Long may it live!
Ive already made me sandwiches..Off to bed at 10, TMS on the radio....Hope the Kiwis bat first, cos you can sort of drift off to sleep at the first century partnership,
none of them sudden...
."and once again Cooks caught down leg" bloody awakenings
Honestly, the last test...I fell asleep when Root came in, half woke up when "Root" was mentioned again, looked at the clock, thought.."ohh he's on his way" only to find out it was the bloody highlights and we had been skittled...
 
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Larwood's_boots

U19 Debutant
On a serious note I'm really excited to take a look at Leach, with the tour of Sri Lanka coming up England desperately need a new spinner and I've heard very good things out of Somerset. Doesn't look like Crane's ready yet so hopefully here's a solution.
 

Senile Sentry

International Debutant
Cook's due for another career-saver biggie. After a long time (I think a decade maybe), I am doing a night-burner to watch this test match. Hope it's worth it.
 

Zinzan

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England should feel at home here. Hagley has such a nice traditional English village feel about it.

Hate to say, but have a feeling England will bounce back and win this Test quite comfortably.
 

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