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

[Immenso]

They changed the rule a year or 2 ago that you can now be caught if the ball hits the fielders helmet (while wearing it).

For the record, I think this is a stupid idea.

And it will change back almost instantly as soon as an important name or crucial wicket is caught after a ball rebounds off a fielder's lid who is kneeling in the block hole.

 

[Immenso]

i have just watched the sky hour long highlights. I'm actually a bit confused about Sodhi's innings. It speared to be chance after chance after chance?

His chances to balls ratio 2 to 3 times higher than Wagner's?

This was a genuine question. How was his innings?

Solid(ish) in between the highlights?
Streaky as?
Brave (as he was at sea but he hung in)?

I honestly can't get a handle on it. The sky 1 hours highlights are now excellent (the 25 minute packages of yesteryear were woeful for getting a grasp of a day's cricket). Did the innings look streaky because on a stonewalling day all the highlights are the nearly outs?

I said before the test that I think Sodhi's batting has gone backwards. I rate him v spin but think he's dodgy as v seam. Is this still the case based on yesterday? Or was his streakiness after he was struck on the elbow?

It didn't bear much resemblance to how I remembered Martin Sneddon stonewalling with Greatbatch.

 

[_Ed_]

This was a genuine question. How was his innings?

Solid(ish) in between the highlights?
Streaky as?
Brave (as he was at sea but he hung in)?

I'd say he was somewhere between options 1 and 3. He was pretty solid against spin - had a few shaky moments facing pace, but was really brave and willing to take some blows on the body.

 

[Zinzan]

So to confirm, we’re all in agreement that Sir Colin is now officially a better test all-rounder than Stokes, yeah?

 

[Adders]

Yeah but can he fight?

 

[NZTailender]

imagine those two in a fight for charity or something. Stokes would give it the big ups before the match and Colin would just mumble something. They'd get in the ring and Stokes would be all flash before Colin just drops him with an agricultural slug.

 

[Jarquis]

Wagner was well within his rights to review just in case the umpire missed a no-ball tbh

 

[NZTailender]

Wagner may not have been aware it was caught, or he may have thought the ball was missing the stumps and he felt he didn't hit it. At that stage, England would've done the same - hell any team would have. Nothing wrong with it IMO.

 

[quincywagstaff]

An argument could be made that Test match days could be extended by 10-15 minutes to accomodate for the extra time taken up by DRS on average.

 

[straw man]

CdG - 8 Despite what sounds like a ghastly dismissal this was a great series for Lord Colin. Showed that he can bat time when the team needs it, and continued to prove his worth with the ball.

Agree, demonstrated something with the bat in difficult match situations that we might've hoped existed, but hadn't seen yet. Helps that he simply seems to have a lot of talent, even if it's taken a while to come to fruition. Good on him - I'd now say he simply makes the side on merit rather than hope and being the right horse for the course.

Only problem now is that Kane loves bowling him to a disproportionate degree. Yes he's a above average as a fifth bowler, but he's still a fifth bowler.

Raval - 2 Really poor series, he had absolutely no clue against Broad and Anderson. Incredibly lucky to make it through last night, and then threw things away this morning.

Almost the only NZ player who didn't do anything of note this series, he seems like the sort of guy who might take that to heart and beat himself up over it. Plus that second innings dismissal on the back of a poor domestic FC season. I hope he doesn't take it to heart and that Williamson/Hesson make sure he knows he's in the fold and an important part of the team. He's earned some leeway through previous performances, will no doubt work hard over the winter and there really is noone else.

 

[straw man]

Also, moving up from 4th to 3rd in the test rankings at the cutoff earns NZ an extra US$100k (total of $200k). Woop de doop.

 

[vandem]

Also, moving up from 4th to 3rd in the test rankings at the cutoff earns NZ an extra US$100k (total of $200k). Woop de doop.

That could pay for a red-ball batting coach ....

 

[Athlai]

That could pay for a red-ball batting coach ....

Hire Mills IMO.

 

[The Hutt Rec]

Wagner may not have been aware it was caught, or he may have thought the ball was missing the stumps and he felt he didn't hit it. At that stage, England would've done the same - hell any team would have. Nothing wrong with it IMO.

Well the third umpire himself was in the process of sending it down as not out when they told him it might be a catch, so totally feasible Wagner didn’t realise as well.

 

[straw man]

That could pay for a red-ball batting coach ....

prosthetic toes for Marty imo

 

[Days of Grace]

Well done New Zealand! I was in a meeting for a new university teaching gig with cricinfo open on my lap. Very nervy.

Just an aside, when did the horrible-looking bat-raised stance used by the likes of Bairstow come in? If you watch youtube videos from even 10 years ago, noone seems to be doing it.

 

[Borges]

when did the horrible-looking bat-raised stance used by the likes of Bairstow come in? If you watch youtube videos from even 10 years ago, noone seems to be doing it.

Many years ago, Tony Greig used a bat-raised stance to try and counter the likes of Chandra.

 

[TheBrand]

Went to all 5 days of this test, first time I'd ever done that. Went to first 3 of Baz's last test a couple of years but had to go to Auckland for work for day 4 and 5.

Thoroughly enjoyed everything, atmosphere, Barmy Army, food/drink, general chat. It really is a super ground to watch cricket. Security was a bit OTT on day 1 and 2 though imo, they really are starting to ruin people's experiences. If you have fun you better watch out haha.

And to the poster earlier who said that they were all standing that close to the bat because they couldn't see the ball, it was actually surprisingly still bright at 6pm, I could see the ball pretty clearly from where i was sitting so no issue with scheduling for mine. Just sucked when it was cloudy on day 4.

Really impressed with CdG this series, has really matured into the player we want/needed him to be apart from the brain explosion to get out in the 2nd innings. I reckon if he'd got a 50+ not out in the 2nd innings he might have been MOTM.

 

[Daemon]

They changed the rule a year or 2 ago that you can now be caught if the ball hits the fielders helmet (while wearing it).

For the record, I think this is a stupid idea.

And it will change back almost instantly as soon as an important name or crucial wicket is caught after a ball rebounds off a fielder's lid who is kneeling in the block hole.

There was a catch that Vijay or someone took recently that was given not out because it grazed the strap of the helmet or lightly brushed the grill. Was beyond dumb.

 

[Starfighter]

They changed the rule a year or 2 ago that you can now be caught if the ball hits the fielders helmet (while wearing it).

For the record, I think this is a stupid idea.

And it will change back almost instantly as soon as an important name or crucial wicket is caught after a ball rebounds off a fielder's lid who is kneeling in the block hole.

I don't see the problem. Brian Close used to ask the guy next to him to catch the rebound off his head. This is just a bit safer.