***Official*** England in New Zealand series 2013

[Zinzan]

Rutherford looks to be losing a bit of concentration here. I was almost going to suggest Fulton should have a chat to him, but not convinced his advice would do much to help.

 

[Zinzan]

Mostly true, though he also arguably slightly outbowled Boult to be our best bowler in South Africa, and was definitely better than Wagner.

I really had no complaint whether they picked Wagner or Bracewell for this match.

I was indifferent about it as well tbh.

 

[NZTailender]

I wasn't. Wagner doesn't really deserve to be dropped, and Bracewell hasn't been running through sides Tasmania style. If you were to drop on performance, it'd be Southee.

 

[BeeGee]

50 partnership.

 

[BackFootPunch]

That's a rather good shot.

 

[NZTailender]

Would've creamed at being 0-50 at lunch batting first before this series. These two have been a revelation.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Well the 50 partnership has been easy. Should get 150 here for the opening stand. Pitch is flat as anything.

 

[Mike5181]

Nice shot from two-metre Peter.

 

[Scaly piscine]

No matter how lucky New Zealand have been this is ****house from England.

 

[Bahnz]

Can't put this just down to the pitches, as Guptill and McCullum made a mess of some belters on the sub-continent. These two have genuinely done well in this series.

 

[Howsie]

Well the 50 partnership has been easy. Should get 150 here for the opening stand. Pitch is flat as anything.

As has the bowling been.

 

[NZTailender]

Ben: "Guptill could do that just fine. He had been in a poor run of form but he is all class. In any event, space must be found in the team for Guppy, but I've always felt he would do better down at 5 in the tests - if Jesse isn't back for the tour to England, perhaps he should be given a run there to allow this successful opening partnership to continue."

Dear Ben,
You suck
Love,
CricketWeb

 

[straw man]

awta.

Yeah what we really need here is to try to jam Guptill into our middle order somehow

 

[Meridio]

Yeah, just flicked on to the BBC website and to my complete lack of surprise, they're moaning about the pitch. Think it's done a little bit personally, but England have bowled way too short. Can only think of a handful of drives; we're defending everything off the back foot.

 

[NZTailender]

I'm not even going to check the stats but I'm sure Rutherford scored more on debut than Guptill did in his last 10 innings combined. And Fulton's shown more application than Guptill has in a long time.

I could see Guptill replacing Fulton in 1-2 years, scoring big in that time domestically and working on his technique.

 

[straw man]

Fulton bringing out his famous top-edge-six pull shot

 

[Cabinet96]

This is the 23rd time since January 2000 that England have put their opponents in to bat. Of the previous 22 games, they have won 12, drawn 8 and lost only 2. They have won the toss and batted 53 times: won 19, drawn 16, lost 18.

Interesting stat. I've always been a fan of bowling first, even if it's not a green top itbt.

 

[BeeGee]

awta.

Yeah what we really need here is to try to jam Guptill into our middle order somehow

Our middle order are stacked three deep as it is. No vacancy sign is on.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Good decision at the toss captain. You owe us a ton now to make sure we don't lose.

 

[straw man]

What's the record for sixes in a test match?