*Official* England in New Zealand 2019

[The Hutt Rec]

What would be an all time New Zealand slips cordon?

Fleming, Coney, Astle?

Bryan Young.

 

[ataraxia]

It's remarkable how much worse at Test cricket England are than their ODI team.

They should just bat ODI in Tests tbh.

 

[straw man]

What would be an all time New Zealand slips cordon?

Fleming, Coney, Astle?

Bryan Young.

Definitely Fleming. Can't remember how well Astle compared.

Been some good ones who otherwise couldn't hold their spots place in the team e.g. Mark Craig & Tin McIntosh.

 

[artvandalay]

Mmm Henry is best when he can pretty much bowl the same ball on repeat, maybe the occasional bouncer but otherwise every ball in the corridor around offstump.

Maybe Watling could've gone for that catch and no it wasn't the easiest, but the problem is more that it's part of trend of dropped catches in the slips this summer.

His bowling is very easy on the eye too. Not entirely sure why he slipped under the radar following 2014-15. Of course considering how well the others have bowled esp Wagner it's not entirely his fault.

 

[Grasshopper]

Not a bad day's cricket by NZ by any means, but we could be in an even better position with them 4 down. We shouldn't be dropping chances like those.

 

[wellAlbidarned]

excellent finish to the day. The comparison between the pitch maps of the two teams is pretty telling - consistently a foot or two fuller from our bowlers.

 

[Flem274*]

guptill played many tests as a specialist second slip. probably the best kiwi i've seen there.

 

[Days of Grace]

Bryan Young had this thing where he’d put the ball in his pocket.

Fleming, Young and Astle slip cordon the best I’ve seen.

McCullum in the slips on the other hand...

 

[Moss]

guptill played many tests as a specialist second slip. probably the best kiwi i've seen there.

Slip catching was a huge part of the Hobart 2011 win, Guptill, Ryder and Taylor were all brilliant.

 

[Days of Grace]

Slip catching was a huge part of the Hobart 2011 win, Guptill, Ryder and Taylor were all brilliant.

This. Probably the best slip catching team performance I’ve seen from NZ.

 

[Moss]

Been a good few years for NZ debutants. CdG, Raval, Blundell, Patel, Somerville and now Mitchell have all done well at the first opportunity. On that basis Ferguson should have a blinder when he debuts in Australia.

 

[Grasshopper]

Chopper Crowe was another excellent slipper.

 

[Moss]

Should be another cracking day tomorrow, calling Root to play a captain's knock, he'll be itching to prove a point here.

 

[straw man]

guptill played many tests as a specialist second slip. probably the best kiwi i've seen there.

Unbelievable that I made the comment below without mentioning guptill, great second slip.

Definitely Fleming. Can't remember how well Astle compared.

Been some good ones who otherwise couldn't hold their spots place in the team e.g. Mark Craig & Tin McIntosh.

 

[Bahnz]

Taylor seems like he's about 50/50 for slip chances these days. He really shouldn't be in there anymore. Latham to 1st and maybe Kane into 2nd. Disappointing, today was a bit of a chance to put England on the mat, and instead it's still very winnable for them. Still, sounds like good performances from Mitchell and Henry.

 

[Pup Clarke]

Nah England are done. I think they had to make serious inroads today, and that Watling/Mitchell partnership will be so deflating. Think they'll scrape to 220-230 and then NZ can bat them out of the game

 

[Woodster]

A lot certainly resting on the shoulders of Root and Stokes to go big in this innings (and Burns to a lesser extent), otherwise it’s a lot to ask of the likes of Pope and Crawley to drag us close to the NZ total.

 

[hendrix]

Disappointed we weren't a bit more ruthless tbh. Letting Burns go twice is not good enough.

 

[theegyptian]

From the cricinfo commentary. Broad after the day's play speaking to sky.

"From memory I think New Zealand last time they batted on this got 700 for 6 so arguably 300 - under par - so we're pretty happy with that."

Haha. Lets hope we are not 400 or 500 short of par.

 

[Neil Pickup]

With the amount of money in the English game, the technology and coaching available, how does someone get to Sibley's age with such clear technical flaws in their batting? Is county cricket so poor that these batsmen don't get found out in years of playing but it only takes 20 overs or so of Test cricket for it to become so apparent to everyone?

I always think the same when you see a spin bowler come into the Test team who doesn't seem to have an arm ball / wrong 'un. How?! What are the coaches of the countys/national academy actually doing with youngsters between matches?

i don’t think it’s a secret that Sibley’s method is very leg side dominant, and clearly selectors do consider the “how” as well as the “how many” - see the delay and reservations about picking Burns due to his idiosyncrasies. Equally the fact that players like Smith have enjoyed great success with a highly unorthodox technique does mean that there is a chance that a technique like Sibley’s could succeed at Test level and it’s important we don’t fall to first impressions or recency bias in deciding that this one dismissal means he’s not up to it. He will have to hit the straight ones, though.