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*Official* 2022 New Zealand Tour of England, Ireland, Scotland & Netherlands

nzfan

International Vice-Captain
All the doom and gloom aside, we were in worse position just few years ago playing in Aussie and not even putting up a fight. We turned things pretty rapidly since but for the last few months. I think we still are churning reasonably good cricketers. I think we will get back up there after maybe a series or two.
 

nzfan

International Vice-Captain
Like I said, I think Bazoakes as coach is the best possible thing for Bairstow's career in tests. He'll look like a prat at times, but having the coach and captain in the dressing room telling him not to worry about playing a proper test innings and just pretending he's playing in the IPL is the best way for him to make an impact.
Still amazed how England believed they can pull it off... they didn't take a back step despite losing wickets including the in form Root and likely staring down at a possible collapse. One of the very best mental aptitude example you could use for years to come.
 

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
Possibly did, but he played a terrific knock out here in Sydney last summer which kind of started this iteration of his test career, albeit a different kind of knock.

I still can't get my head around NZ going at sixes in the fourth innings of a test. It's Parramatta-Canterbury levels of embarrassing, regardless of who's batting against you.
On this, I didn't watch live last night, but at any point did NZ attempt to take advantage of either the more lenient wide-lines in tests or fall back on ODI tactics like slower balls and yorkers? From what I saw from the highlights it looked like NZ just tried Wagner-ball for a bit (an idiotic strategy), before reverting to length bowling?
 

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
All the doom and gloom aside, we were in worse position just few years ago playing in Aussie and not even putting up a fight. We turned things pretty rapidly since but for the last few months. I think we still are churning reasonably good cricketers. I think we will get back up there after maybe a series or two.
Tbh, Australia in Australia is a much tougher challenge than England in England for this NZ side. We all kinda expected to get thumped in 2020. This is a far more concerning result.
 

nzfan

International Vice-Captain
On this, I didn't watch live last night, but at any point did NZ attempt to take advantage of either the more lenient wide-lines in tests or fall back on ODI tactics like slower balls and yorkers? From what I saw from the highlights it looked like NZ just tried Wagner-ball for a bit, before reverting to length bowling?
Nope none of that attempted even once. Bowled length balls duly dispatched but it all started with short stuff post lunch which were dealt with disdain. Even Bracewell didn't come around the wicket and force them to do something different. Totally bereft of ideas. Just bowled in their arc through out. To be fair it happened so quickly high chances there was barely any time to look up the scorecard and wonder if we still had decent runs in the bag to defend. It was red bull stuff...

Prior to lunch we were in good position having claimed 4 wickets but then we put one slip, one gully and spread the field which Bairstow and Stokes made good use of to rotate strike consistently. They didn't have to play big shots to score at 4 an hour early on.
 

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
Nope none of that attempted even once. Bowled length balls duly dispatched but it all started with short stuff post lunch which were dealt with disdain. Even Bracewell didn't come around the wicket and force them to do something different. Totally bereft of ideas. Just bowled in their arc through out. To be fair it happened so quickly high chances there was barely any time to look up the scorecard and wonder if we still had decent runs in the bag to defend. It was red bull stuff...
Yeah, England rattling up 70 runs in the 5 overs after tea killed any chance of run rate pressure being a factor. Happened so fast that there was barely any time to react, but the tactics from Tom have to be severely criticised there. At the very least chuck in a slower ball bouncer somewhere or try alternating bouncers from over and around the wicket. Wagnerball without Wagner is a fool's errand, and never should've been tried in the first place.
 

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
Possibly did, but he played a terrific knock out here in Sydney last summer which kind of started this iteration of his test career, albeit a different kind of knock.

I still can't get my head around NZ going at sixes in the fourth innings of a test. It's Parramatta-Canterbury levels of embarrassing, regardless of who's batting against you.
It's worse than that. After tea NZ hemorrhaged 160 runs in 16 overs. Stoakes and Bairstow deserve insane credit for their part (especially given how thin the lower-order batting resources are in this England side), but NZ should look at this as their most shambolic display since 45 all out a decade ago.
 

social

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
I know we all get upset about IPL window being so close to test series but reckon IPL stint of Bairstow helped him pulling off the inning he did?
Bairstow is notoriously inconsistent

You could just as easily make the case that the IPL did KW no favours at all
 

nzfan

International Vice-Captain
Yeah, England rattling up 70 runs in the 5 overs after tea killed any chance of run rate pressure being a factor. Happened so fast that there was barely any time to react, but the tactics from Tom have to be severely criticised there. At the very least chuck in a slower ball bouncer somewhere or try alternating bouncers from over and around the wicket. Wagnerball without Wagner is a fool's errand, and never should've been tried in the first place.
Boult got Root with a leg cutter or a cross seamer and even that wasn't attempted. No cutters, no cross seamers I think. I think we were dazed in 2 overs and never had time to think or recover. Maybe there was a tough chance to Bracewell when 21 needed but don't think it would have changed the end result.
 

jcas0167

International Debutant
We discovered, too, that Bairstow is not a studied historian of the game. Amid the blaze of 14 fours and seven sixes that flew off the middle of his bat, he found himself 99 not out off 74 balls, needing just one run off Boult’s next delivery to beat Gilbert Jessop’s 120-year-old record for the fastest century by an Englishman. Bairstow, in a rare moment of caution, played the crispest of forward defensives and Jessop’s 76-ball hundred against Australia at the Oval in 1902 lives on.
Very droll from Ali Martin in the Guardian.
 

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
I've dreaded Wagner's decline/retirement for years. He's if not the best, then certainly the most irreplaceable member of the bowling attack. This was the exact kinda situation where Wagner would change the game, just by making it hard to score, causing a bit of pain and doubt. Watching the highlights of this game, my mind drifted back to the first test v India in 2014. India were 220/2 chasing 400 to win on a similarly flat deck, and Virat Kohli was just mauling NZ's bowlers, they all looked dazed and frustrated and the game started drifting away at an astonishing pace. Then Wagner came on to bowl, things tightened up, Kohli toe-ended a hoick at a wide short one and everything just...slowed...down. The guy's got a bit of time to breathe and think, India had to go on the defensive and lost Dhawan to a brute, and NZ clawed their way back into the game. NZ desperately needed something like that last night, not even a wicket necessarily just a patch of play where they regained a semblance of control. Without a Wagner or a Vettori in the side there's no one to offer them that.
 

nzfan

International Vice-Captain
As much as you want Wagner is not going to be the fix. Maybe he could be a stop gap fix for this series but for him to go on for a year or two is asking for too much. I think it is time to bring in the next in line guys. I'm not so hopeful about Tickener but would like to be proved wrong. Last thing you want is the same bunch carry on for another year turn up not so great result and they all fade away quickly leaving us with players with talent but no experience. Same applies to batting as well. We are treading thin line here. A healthy set up is where there is a mix of experience and youthful exuberance.
 

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