**Official** England in New Zealand

[Craig]

The difference between the two sides has been Ryan Sidebottom.

Hmm all the hunch selections have come off this year, do ya reckon they'll try Martin Guptill? I watched his hundred in the List A final and his timing is exquisite. I can't remember what his technique is like though.

Why do so many of our batsmen have poor technique?

Poor coaches not to spot it and/or crap bowlers not being able to exploit it until they get to international level for starters ?

 

[Halfpast_Yellow]

McCullum is pretty obviously trying to be like Gilchrist. Attacking batting to get yourself out of a tight situation. There's only one problem with that...he isn't anywhere near as good as Gilchrist.

Yep, Pretty much.

Seeing a bit of this now TBH, English wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose seems to have caught the want-to-be-the-next-Gilchrist disease as well, throwing the bat at everything when he comes in.

At least Ambrose can score a test match hundred doing it against someone other than Bangladesh though.

 

[Laurrz]

McCullum is pretty obviously trying to be like Gilchrist. Attacking batting to get yourself out of a tight situation. There's only one problem with that...he isn't anywhere near as good as Gilchrist.

agreed, been thinking about this coincedently today

i actually laugh at the guys who want to be like Gilly (no, thats harsh.. i mean, laugh at the tactic or how they are trying to be).. and then i think, damn how successful/special was he..

 

[_Ed_]

I don't see why keeper-batsmen who try to play aggressively are automatically trying to pretend they're Gilchrist. IMO it's unfair to belittle anyone's ability by comparing them to the best player of that style in the game's history.

It's the way McCullum plays, it works quite a lot of the time, so why not? It seems to me he often does worse when he's trying to curb his natural game, and when he's at his best McCullum is bloody good and can tear attacks apart.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Left things with us on 5/1 after Mick had played a somewhat amibitious attempted pull to a ball that was only just short of a good length, so I'm pretty chuffed we're only 2 down at stumps. Bit of a mixed blessing if Strauss waltzes () his way to a ton tomorrow, as it means we'll probably be lumbered with him for the summer. Looked like McCullum shelled a pretty straightforward edge off his skipper which might well have ended Strauss's test career had it stuck tho. Not had the best series with the gauntlets, has he?

 

[KiWiNiNjA]

I don't see why keeper-batsmen who try to play aggressively are automatically trying to pretend they're Gilchrist. IMO it's unfair to belittle anyone's ability by comparing them to the best player of that style in the game's history.

It's the way McCullum plays, it works quite a lot of the time, so why not? It seems to me he often does worse when he's trying to curb his natural game, and when he's at his best McCullum is bloody good and can tear attacks apart.

Agreed.

A couple of pretty stupid posts IMO

"Uh look, he is bowling leg-spin, stupid ******, he is just trying to be like Shane Warne."

Um, maybe he is just playing cricket?

 

[BoyBrumby]

Um, maybe he is just playing cricket?

Wants to try harder after his last dismissal then.

In all seriousness tho, I think maybe he is getting slightly carried away. There's nothing wrong with being positive, but the shot he got out to was pretty low-percentage, especially given the situation when he arrived.

 

[Flem274*]

Agreed.

A couple of pretty stupid posts IMO

"Uh look, he is bowling leg-spin, stupid ******, he is just trying to be like Shane Warne."

Um, maybe he is just playing cricket?

AWTA and with Ed.

Yes McCullum is agressive, he always is. However his style of agression is alot different to Gilchrist. McCullum bats out of his crease and comes forward and/or sideways. The "get well forward" tactic is used to negate his LBW weakness and to turn a good length into a half volley. His sideways movement is to turn a good line into a **** one. Agressive like Gilchrist but his style of agression is different.

TBH we can't say if he's going to be as good as Gilchrist yet. In ODIs if he carries on as he has he probably will be (if he carries on he might actualy be better, its a big if though) but he'll have to carry it on. In tests he's still learning his trade I feel.

With McCullum we have to wait and see.

 

[Flem274*]

Wants to try harder after his last dismissal then.

In all seriousness tho, I think maybe he is getting slightly carried away. There's nothing wrong with being positive, but the shot he got out to was pretty low-percentage, especially given the situation when he arrived.

AWTA. Its the second time he's cut a straight one onto his stumps that I can recall. The irony is if he had moved sideways and forward he probably could have flicked it away into the legside.

 

[Sir Redman]

Left things with us on 5/1 after Mick had played a somewhat amibitious attempted pull to a ball that was only just short of a good length, so I'm pretty chuffed we're only 2 down at stumps. Bit of a mixed blessing if Strauss waltzes () his way to a ton tomorrow, as it means we'll probably be lumbered with him for the summer. Looked like McCullum shelled a pretty straightforward edge off his skipper which might well have ended Strauss's test career had it stuck tho. Not had the best series with the gauntlets, has he?

Pretty sure it was Cook.

Anyway, FFS NZ. Had the game in the bag at lunch today. Instead we've pretty much given the series to England. Pathetic effort.

 

[Laurrz]

im not saying he should curb his natural game at all.. he is very much an aggressive player and has the ability to change the game
but needs to find a bit more of a happy medium ..ie. less rash shots in doing so

i do believe he moves around the crease far too much..if he just puts a higher price on his wicket i think it owuld be better for the team.. but that said, i don't know too much about him perhaps thats just the best way for him to play..so i'll go with you guys

 

[Beleg]

TBH we can't say if he's going to be as good as Gilchrist yet.

He won't be. There's about as big a chance of that happening as there is of Pakistan putting a man on Mars by 2010.

 

[Richard]

McCullum is pretty obviously trying to be like Gilchrist.

Yeah, you know that don't you, having conducted psychoanalysis of McCullum.

 

[Laurrz]

He won't be. There's about as big a chance of that happening as there is of Pakistan putting a man on Mars by 2010.

will be lucky to be half of imo (not dissing him but praising the great man)

 

[James]

Batting sides can always be bundled out, of course, but New Zealand threw their wickets away in a desperate show of naivety, and literally handed the advantage to England on a plate.

So that's how it went, not surprising. Really lacking a player willing to bat time in the NZ lineup, and that's shown clearly by the amount of overs the Black Caps have played in each innings throughout the summer as pasag listed.

 

[Richard]

Wow, interesting days play.

Looks a top effort from Sidebottom, though I only saw the Bell wicket.

KPs innings looking like a blinder.

It's funny, that knock might well go on to be the match-winner in a tall-poppy-among-violets manner, but it won't for my money be anywhere near as good as his previous innings of this nature, the 142 at Edgbaston in 2006. That was indeed an unbelievable knock on a tricky pitch where virtually no-one else got anything. This time, though, he's simply cashed-in on not-that-difficult batting conditions where everyone else has fallen in a heap. Not that it was a poor innings or anything, obviously, but if you look at the circumstances it might look a superman effort where it was merely what, frankly, you expect from a high-calibre batsman.

BTW, naturally I guess many people'd have been wondering where I was last night. is the answer. A bit annoying that I picked one of the best days of the series (especially from our POV) though.

Sidebottom, of course, bowled very well yet again, and thank God he did. We might just be on decent track to win this series now.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Pretty sure it was Cook.

Fair enough. Was watching in bed after about five hours' kip, just saw a twatty shot by a left-hander & naturally assumed....

 

[gettingbetter]

BTW, this I believe is the first team Cook has played against where he hasn't scored a hundred.

 

[Richard]

Still 3 Tests to go.

 

[gettingbetter]

You'd know better than me, but when he has scored a hundred against whoever he has played, it has usually been in the first series that he has faced the nation?