*Official* England in NZ 2023

[Brook's side]

Pope-Duckett-Root-Brook-Bairstow-Stokes-Foakes-Woakes-Robinson-Archer-Leach

No

 

[Croadymeister]

The thing about being 256/10 is that you're only one run away from winning the series. ?

Why Foakes chased that big shot I don’t know especially with so much time left for just 7 runs

 

[Brook's side]

Why Foakes chased that big shot I don’t know especially with so much time left for just 7 runs

Because the Barmy Army trumpet player (who seemed to be pissed) suddenly started playing the clown tune just as Southee was about to bowl. Was like someone walking in front of the sight screen.

Edit: It's not the clown tune, it was the Bullseye theme. @ 22.20 here:
New Zealand v England | 2nd Test, Day Five Highlights | One Of The Greatest Finishes EVER! - YouTube

 

[CricAddict]

No

Yes

 

[Michelle Fivefer]

Crawley has to go, he's had plenty of chances but he simply hasn't got the defensive technique to open the batting.

He can look fantastic at times, he's got some gorgeous shots in the locker but he's not a test class opener.

Who should replace him is a different matter.
Obviously we want Bairstow back in the side but to do that means one of the current batsmen has to step up and there are no obvious candidates.

Pope is still yet to convince as a number 3, nevermind opening. Root was an opener at the start of his career but those days have long gone. Could Stokes do it - he's very defensively sound.

Personally, I'd be tempted to drop both Crawley and Pope. I'd bring Rory Burns back in, he didn't do a whole lot wrong and did well in the last home Ashes.

I'd then move Root to 3, Brook at 4, Bairstow at 5 and Stokes at 6.

I’d like to see Burns back in the test side but don’t think popular opinion supports it. Nor, sadly, do the selectors. But Crawley has to go.

 

[Nintendo]

I’d like to see Burns back in the test side but don’t think popular opinion supports it. Nor, sadly, do the selectors. But Crawley has to go.

I'de prefer sibley to burns if where gonna go back down that route. Burns only made runs last county season after reverting to the technique that got him worked out at test level, sibley actually changed his technique, added some scoring shots and made runs with a new method.

 

[grecian]

Bleurgh, honestly if it someone who is going to average about 30, I'd keep Crawley.

Stokes to open for me, with a realisation that his Knee means he's just not going to bowl that much.

So

Stokes
Duckett
Pope
Root
Brook
Bairstow
Foakes
Robinson
Broad/ fast bloke
Leach

I do think we need to think of having a Wood, Archer, Mahmood, Stone type just for some variety. Very odd Wood didn't tour here really.

 

[Brook's side]

Bleurgh, honestly if it someone who is going to average about 30, I'd keep Crawley.

Stokes to open for me, with a realisation that his Knee means he's just not going to bowl that much.

So

Stokes
Duckett
Pope
Root
Brook
Bairstow
Foakes
Robinson
Broad/ fast bloke
Leach

I do think we need to think of having a Wood, Archer, Mahmood, Stone type just for some variety. Very odd Wood didn't tour here really.

Yeah like that team (assuming you've accidently missed Jimmy off!). Also think it'd be great to get a fast bloke in. Would be awesome if we could play 2 of them but there's just no room!

Hopefully Dan Lawrence will be scoring runs as well and can step in if there's a Papal emergency.

 

[Pothas]

If Stokes is not bowling long term then it really is going to be a problem.

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

If Stokes is not bowling long term then it really is going to be a problem.

It's ok, we've got Brook.

 

[SteveNZ]

Haha, the penultimate ball of the match was totally a wide.

100% a wide They'd been so onto it with wides (although to be fair, some weren't close) then in total keeping with human nature, the one with 2 to win, which was clearly a wide, wasn't called. It was a wrong call, but I get it.

 

[Ashes81]

Wasn't so much hindsight from me as said we shouldn't enforce follow on before NZ batted again because have a bad feeling about them

I wouldn't have enforced the follow. I would have batted again and batted NZ out of the game.

With Stokes not being able to bowl, there was always a chance our seamers might run out of steam if NZ got going.

 

[Ashes81]

Bleurgh, honestly if it someone who is going to average about 30, I'd keep Crawley.

Stokes to open for me, with a realisation that his Knee means he's just not going to bowl that much.

So

Stokes
Duckett
Pope
Root
Brook
Bairstow
Foakes
Robinson
Broad/ fast bloke
Leach

I do think we need to think of having a Wood, Archer, Mahmood, Stone type just for some variety. Very odd Wood didn't tour here really.

I think if he's back firing, Woakes has to be right in the running to play - at home he's a world class all rounder.

The number 8 spot is an issue. Robinson is the best batsmen of our bowlers, except Woakes, but it still.feels a spot too high for him.

In what's likely to be a really close series, lower order runs will be vital.

Obviously our attack will be pitch dependant but I'd imagine if everyone is fit, including Stokes being able to bowl, we'd want 2 from Robinson, Jimmy, Broad and Woakes.

We'd then want either Wood or Jofra for that extra pace.

The seamers may also depend on who we use as the spinner. Leach is our no 1 but if we went with either Ahmed or Moeen, then they would bat at 8 meaning that there's less need to play Woakes, if he's not quite 100% at it.

The great thing is, we've a lot of options.

 

[SteveNZ]

Nice piece by Dylan Cleaver who pulls out an interesting stat: sides that enforce the follow on win 79% of the time while those that have the opportunity to but don't enforce it win 85% of the time.

Notes from SH32 (via the Basin)

Final thoughts from a game that should be immediately moved down the road and preserved at Te Papa.

dylancleaver.substack.com

This is why Dylan is my favourite sports writer (also a great bloke). Absolutely nailed it here, with the summary of how epic a sporting contest that was, but also pointing out that it can't be 'a coat of new paint on a leaky home'.

The absolute worst will be if we see the squad release for Sri Lanka, and it has no new names, or nothing of any new value going forward.

The temptation will be there to give Wags one more series, which I guess (?) he's 'owed' but I'm not sure that serves the team going forward. It feels like the perfect series to blood someone. Get someone in the environment - Shipley, Smith, even if they decide it's Duffy (didn't consider injured players like Fisher etc) who might be the next wave. They have to consider playing Sodhi, the Bracewell experiment hasn't worked and we have 7 sub-continent Tests over the next 18 months. Maybe Ravindra needs to be considered again, too. Phillips? Drop Nicholls? (they can't for Young, unfortunately)...I won't hold my breath but the next squad surely needs some intrigue to it.

 

[zaremba]

Bleurgh, honestly if it someone who is going to average about 30, I'd keep Crawley.

Stokes to open for me, with a realisation that his Knee means he's just not going to bowl that much.

So

Stokes
Duckett
Pope
Root
Brook
Bairstow
Foakes
Robinson
Broad/ fast bloke
Leach

I do think we need to think of having a Wood, Archer, Mahmood, Stone type just for some variety. Very odd Wood didn't tour here really.

All things considered, I'd pick a team of eleven

 

[Starfighter]

Cricket struggles to barely even account for a massive storm on the radar barrelling straight for the ground and clearly slated to hit in two hours (witness the farce that was this year's Sydney Test), let alone trying to figure out the weather in two days' time. It seems that, as with many things in cricket, administrators haven't realised it isn't 1970 any more and weather forecasts are genuinely quite reliable 72 hours out.

It really makes me want to pull my (increasingly thin anyway) hair out. You'd think there must be someone between the two sides, the officials and all their hangers-on that has knowledge of the weather, but I guess not.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Cricket struggles to barely even account for a massive storm on the radar barrelling straight for the ground and clearly slated to hit in two hours (witness the farce that was this year's Sydney Test), let alone trying to figure out the weather in two days' time. It seems that, as with many things in cricket, administrators haven't realised it isn't 1970 any more and weather forecasts are genuinely quite reliable 72 hours out.

Not in Wellington they're not. This is a really dynamic maritime climate and an incredibly hard place for the meteorologist. As evidenced by the fact that on the Tuesday and Wednesday, heavy rain was forecast for Thursday, Friday with showers all through the weekend - most of which didn't eventuate. The number of times I had players decide they weren't going to play on the weekend as the forecast on Thursday was for rain all weekend, only for the sun to be shining come game time... well, there was one season that happened pretty much every weekend here.

 

[ataraxia]

Because the Barmy Army trumpet player (who seemed to be pissed) suddenly started playing the clown tune just as Southee was about to bowl. Was like someone walking in front of the sight screen.

Edit: It's not the clown tune, it was the Bullseye theme. @ 22.20 here:
New Zealand v England | 2nd Test, Day Five Highlights | One Of The Greatest Finishes EVER! - YouTube

what about the frequent ambulance sirens

 

[Bahnz]

Bleurgh, honestly if it someone who is going to average about 30, I'd keep Crawley.

Stokes to open for me, with a realisation that his Knee means he's just not going to bowl that much.

So

Stokes
Duckett
Pope
Root
Brook
Bairstow
Foakes
Robinson
Broad/ fast bloke
Leach

I do think we need to think of having a Wood, Archer, Mahmood, Stone type just for some variety. Very odd Wood didn't tour here really.

Stone was in the squad right? Would've been handy to try and blast out some poles on the afternoon of day 3. Still very hard to see how England could've dropped any of their bowlers after the first test. Just one of those things. The truth is they were really missing Stokes both in terms of his extra pace and his ability to share the load. Bloke needs to take a couple months off to try and sort that knee out, the Ashes needs him.

 

[zaremba]

Folks, strap in for zaremba being a sanctimonious ****, Chapter 42.

Went to sleep a little around 3.30am, having just heard the fall of Anderson's wicket.

I can't believe that I'm so accepting of a one run loss (the barest of margins!) in the deciding Test of a (mini) series. Maybe it's because I've weakened with age. But it's a result that I'm really not unhappy with at all. I'm excited and, dammit, proud that my team consistently play such scintillating un-English cricket and that they were a massive part of such an amazing game. It's also down in large part to the oppo being the Black Caps who somehow manage to combine being hard skilful bastards with not being ****s. Loved the match, loved the winter, can't wait for the summer.