*Official* England in New Zealand 2019

[Flem274*]

camera man focusing on lockie while the commentators talk about spin is something burgey would do

 

[Cabinet96]

Bumble going on about how you need a decent wrist spinner in Australia. Guessing he's not looked at Yasir's figures.

 

[thierry henry]

I know they suck by definition, but whoever is on cricinfo comms is just ranting incessantly about how the game is a farce and a disaster etc etc. NZ are effectively 40/2 with pretty much a whole day to go ffs. Unbelievable attitude from all involved.

 

[NZTailender]

I know they suck by definition, but whoever is on cricinfo comms is just ranting incessantly about how the game is a farce and a disaster etc etc. NZ are effectively 40/2 with pretty much a whole day to go ffs. Unbelievable attitude from all involved.

Dobell's gotta pay the bill between articles

Under a pseudonym of course

 

[Flem274*]

it's the usual when nz punch a big 3 member in the face. remember the semi against india? literally the worst commentary i've heard in my lifetime, including completely unsurprising treasonous guzzling from simon doull.

 

[hendrix]

I do think the pitch has been too flat, it's just the whingeing about how this is bad for New Zealand cricket and Bad For The Game (TM) and Not Good Entertainment etc. That's complete garbage.

Also any pitch curator has to consider that 99% of the time, the ball swings in Hamilton, so additional pitch movement could result in a 2 day game. At this time of the year the ball usually swings at most pitches in NZ so you can understand why the pitches have been made on the flatter side.

In any case, the scores haven't been crazy large and the bowlers have still been able to produce some very good, wicket-taking deliveries.

 

[Flem274*]

these idiots know injured players in squads can be replaced right?

 

[Cabinet96]

these idiots know injured players in squads can be replaced right?

They don't even need to be injured in a non ICC tournament squad.

 

[ataraxia]

these idiots know injured players in squads can be replaced right?

Must admit though, Blundell being concussion replacement for Latham wouldn't be too good (could be Astle tbf, but that's just ridiculous).

 

[The Hutt Rec]

haha yeah bj and mitchell really sucked the life out of the second day. cynically killing a game we're getting killed in is one of bjs greatest strengths.

Even given that, England scored at the same rate as NZ in their first innings. 2.9 for both.

I just think neither team ha really pushed the pace too much, which should have been possible on this surface. NZ got in a bit of trouble in their innings and don’t mind a draw ... England - well not sure why they didn’t up the ante a bit. Possibly scarred after the first test.

But if people are having a meltdown about these pitches, thank god we didn’t have a test at the Basin!

 

[Flem274*]

tbh im surprised it hasn't swung in this game. it's been very humid and there has been some overcast skies. generally it's the drier regions like otago that risk the slow low road games.

 

[oatmeal]

Ffs

 

[Flem274*]

!!!

 

[Cabinet96]

That's absolutely hilarious.

 

[Immenso]

I dunno, i reckon Dobell has a smidgen of a point.

Anecdote. I have put sky sport sepcifically back on for the test cricket. I entirely missed any of Sunday's play due to kids commitments. I didn't even want to watch the sky sports 1 hour highlights package to catch up on what I missed.

When they switch to Spark, I take it they aren't intending on using test cricket to drive subscriptions? Which smells of potential personal doom for me.

If it doesn't bounce, spin or seam, and the ball doesn't swing. What is the modus operandi? Waiting for batting ineptitude? and top-edges (maybe also classed as batting ineptitude) Which England gave us plenty of in Tauranga. It's pretty boring to watch your own team bowl in NZ at the moment, unless Wagner suddenly gets his groove on.

The Mount actually ended up being OK, because it turned into a last day minefield and we were winning (albeit a minefield surprisingly unthreatening, but it kept it interesting that anything might happen).

Of the recent pitches, I think I prefer the seamy road. Advance the game quickly in first 2 days, then let a batting duel evolve. At least there's hope of a result, rather than assuming a draw and left with hope of the less than 50% chance of an NZ pitch deteriorating.Although, tbf, we've got a fair few results the last few years - at some point the sub-contintental visitors always go into a Wagner short ball melt down on the flattest of pitches.

So far, we're average 5 to 6 wickets per day over 9 days of test cricket (51 wickets in 9 days). Partly down to England's old ball passivity.

 

[Athlai]

tbh im surprised it hasn't swung in this game. it's been very humid and there has been some overcast skies. generally it's the drier regions like otago that risk the slow low road games.

Kookaburra just doesn't swing anymore IMO. Besides the rare one.

 

[Woodster]

I mean that dropped chance just about sums up our approach to this series, on and off the field.

 

[Flem274*]

do you reckon archer didn't use his front arm as a trick or because he cbf trying?

 

[thierry henry]

Well Williamson should have been out twice in the first hour, for a pitch which is impossible to bowl on that's not bad going

 

[nzfan]

Kooka turf ball seam is flat... we should be done with Kookaburra for test matches. They suit white ball cricket fine. Given our conditions we should be ideally using Dukes. Kooka is an Aussie ball made to suit Aussie dry conditions not NZ Wet and slow decks.