*Official* New Zealand in England 2021

[RossTaylorsBox]

I wouldn't go by domestic record and decide Rachin is not good enough bowler. You'll be surprised how well he bowls. His bowling had been mismanaged to a large extent by our local captain.

To be fair if he plays for NZ his captain will be Kane.

 

[Immenso]

I'm more worried by CdGs and Santner's batting than their bowling. Once Boult is back there will be only 1 of them and they'll be the 5th bowler.

With Taylor and Watling getting dodgy with bat, really worried about batting depth.

I'd like either of Mitchell or Ravindra ahead of them. In the proper first test X1.

I'm not talking about balance for this test, or even second test if some rotation. But for WTC , when 4 seamers is cast on.

Our batting looks so brittle. Santner's just worse and worse, while CdGs is fun when we have solid top 6, but we have passenger at 4 and declining keeper at 6.

 

[thierry henry]

That KW lbw was the least out-looking lbw to ever be overturned. How on earth was it not high?

 

[nzfan]

Santner is an intriguing case. Obviously back every Kiwi player wholeheartedly but just can't get my head around the BC management continue to pick Santner. I want him to do well but the kind of numbers he has this season he'd be struggling to make domestic first class sides. I get it if he was a legend and was going through a lean patch but his numbers this year in long format is an absolute stinker. Dug a bit deep to see what grounds he's played at and most are good for batting and spin bowling. For a starter he's played all of 3 first class games this season. All on decks that are the most helpful for spinners in NZ. Besides he didn't bowl in the warm up game either as he hurt his bowling finger. Wonder if they are going by their gut that he will come good eventually? Just doesn't make sense to me at all. I think he bowled all right vs England in this test, not great but just all right for a 6th change bowler.

If I include the current match duck and his bowling it will look even bleak. Hope he comes good in the second gig. He's going to play the wtc finals no doubt about that. Too late to make changes. For his confidence he needs a 50+ and 2 or 3 wickets. No reason why he can't get that but he's going to be under some pressure to deliver.

Dec 2020 vs Pakistan (Mount)

Batting 19 and 6*
Bowling 0 for 7 (6 overs) and 2 for 52 (20 overs)

March 2020 Vs Auckland (Eden park outer oval)

Batting 0 & 0
Bowling 2 for 85 (24 overs) and 0 for 110 (18 overs)

Feb 2020 (McLean Park)

Batting 13 and 14
Bowling 4 for 111 (45 overs) and 0 for 30 (3 overs)

Overall

Batting – 52 runs @ 10.4 average
Bowling – 9 wickets @ 50 Economy of 3.4

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

It's an example of a decision that looks not out on the TV. If you look at it from the umpire's vantage point it's pretty obvious.

 

[Prince EWS]

Santner is an intriguing case. Obviously back every Kiwi player wholeheartedly but just can't get my head around the BC management continue to pick Santner.

Didn't you enthusiastically support this decision on the first morning?

 

[nzfan]

Didn't you enthusiastically support this decision on the first morning?

Yeah very much... I didn't see anyone better suited to play. I didn't think he was struggling as much in first class cricket. I think he may have been all right in white ball cricket. Definitely wanted a spinner in the side. Would have preferred Ajaz but didn't mind Santner.

 

[Meridio]

Slightly disappointing score to wake up to there. Hasn't killed our chances of a win but has put a dent in it, and if England bowl well in the morning it's going to be hard to score at a quick clip.

Don't think I agree with the idea of just treating it as extended English conditions practice and dawdling through the day with the bat. Not just because every Test carries it's own weight, especially in England at Lords, but also because it's good to play in this kind of situation. We could easily be in a similar position in the WTC final, pushing for a win on the final day, and we'd be far better placed if we've had a dry run of that here. Obviously not advocating for a Shane Warne you've-got-to-be-willing-to-lose-to-win YOLO effort, but I'd like to see us push to try and win it. Get established in the first hour or so, then try and pick up the pace, if we can score 100+ in the first session then we'd be more than 270 ahead. Declare there or a bit after lunch with 60 overs to bowl them out and we're every chance, we've seen wickets fall in clumps in this Test and England's batting is suspect to say the least.

 

[Prince EWS]

Yeah very much... I didn't see anyone better suited to play. I didn't think he was struggling as much in first class cricket. I think he may have been all right in white ball cricket. Definitely wanted a spinner in the side. Would have preferred Ajaz but didn't mind Santner.

Surely if you support a decision you can get your head around... other people doing the exact same thing.

 

[nzfan]

Surely if you support a decision you can get your head around... other people doing the exact same thing.

Hmmm... they'll have all the stats readily available and will know how he's bowling/batting this season better than me. They have more than enough staff to make a decision. I can only think Ajaz is bowling even worse than Santner hence not playing him. Or maybe they are giving him a go this test match and Ajaz the next to figure who's better suited.

Definitely not in the camp to play Rachin ahead of Ajaz. Besides expecting a newbie to come in perform from the word go is probably not the best situation to be going into wtc finals. I think he can do better than some in the team but that'll create even more confusion and if he doesn't deliver then we are back to square one. Ideal if they picked him for the first test. Now they've missed it I think they should try to fit in Ajaz or don't bother with the spinner. All of this will change if Santner delivers in the second gig.

 

[Athlai]

Santa legit earned a stumping that Watling bottled. For the overs he was given he did fine.

 

[Bahnz]

Well that looks like it was a frustrating afternoon, glad I went to bed after lunch. NZ should’ve finished the day 250+ ahead with the chance to set a 300+ target off 80-odd overs. That miss from Watling was shockingly bad, a keeper will never get an easier stumping chance.

NZ need to bring Boult in for the 2nd test. Wagner looked unlucky to finish with 1/80, but Boult just looks like a better pick for English conditions.

Tricky morning for NZ tomorrow. Need to bat half the day to make the game safe. The first innings flubs have a bit of work to do.

 

[nzfan]

If we really want to be no.1 test team we have to go for the attack. We won the toss and decided to bat because we want to bowl last on this wicket. There is spin, variable bounce. Can't ask for more bowling fourth. Like meridio said get 100 runs and declare at the stoke of lunch. If they can do to us what India did to Aussies then they deserve to win. On the back of the first inning lackluster performance with the bat England may not go for it and that could help us nip out few wickets. Back the players we've picked and hope to score quick 100 runs and take 10 wickets. After all this is England 2nd or 3rd XI barring maybe 3-4 players.

Southee and Jamieson are in fine form. Wagner will come to the party no doubt about that. Santner can nip out the tail. CDG can bowl heaps in case England are running away with the game.

 

[thierry henry]

Santner was actually kind of all over Burns and should have had him out, in between a lot of inside edges and potential bat pads etc from both Burns and Anderson

 

[thierry henry]

I know ‘over rate wah’ is a cardinal CW sin, but it has legit robbed this test of like 20 or so overs which in this particular case is actually super relevant

 

[nzfan]

Santner was actually kind of all over Burns and should have had him out, in between a lot of inside edges and potential bat pads etc from both Burns and Anderson

I don't thin he bowled bad and needed a bit of luck but he's just not consistent with his length. Probably desperate to make things happen maybe. One full, one shorter, another one fuller... just not consistent hitting the length. Too easy for the batters to see through the over without much concern.

 

[Bahnz]

Yeah, from the highlights only admittedly, Santner looked fine. Of course there’s the open question about whether the extra runs he might bring really justify his selection over Ajaz.

 

[nzfan]

How good were Southee and Jamieson though? Jamieson is worth all the hype. First baller to Root one of the best batsman going around. Dukes ball, Lords, first time setting the foot in England, no worries. Set the tone for the day. I think India will be sweating. Jamieson's form in red ball hasn't faded a bit. Southee literally ran through the English top order. Amazing skills from the dude. Looks like he was enjoying out there.

 

[Flem274*]

i was actually a little disappointed in jamieson. he did go searching a bit. seems like a bowler who wants to dominate all the time, and after spending the home summer bowling hand grenades every ball maybe he was frustrated here.

santner bowled ok. not as bravely as i hoped (should have tossed it up more to robinson imo) but better than i feared.

 

[Bahnz]

Re Southee: this blokes pretty good huh? I know the Aussie posters will sneer at the comparison, but I think -especially over the past few years - it’s becoming increasingly hard to argue that he isn’t at least on the same level as the likes of Broad.