**Official** England in New Zealand

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Ian Smith has been on fire tonight with his commentary... for example...

"Ian Bell has very sound technique" (bowled next ball)
"McCullum's in great form at the moment... oh, maybe not now" (caught)
"Collingwood's happy to just sit back and play a supporting role" (smacks a pull shot for 4)

I think there's been a couple of other little faux-pas, but I can't remember them

 

[social]

Great stuff from S.Undries - 22 out of 60 to date

 

[Nate]

Toop catch from Anderson, thought it was 6 straightaway, but Jimmy was tops. New Zealand are so dire. McCullum, Mills and Oram and great though.

 

[NZTailender]

Very poor performance all round really.

 

[NZTailender]

Haha, Oram's innings is making up for our direness. Got my entertainment for tonight, fo sure.

 

[pup11]

Well the Black caps are in taters now and for a change a very clinical performance from England.

 

[Smudge]

Haha, Oram's innings is making up for our direness. Got my entertainment for tonight, fo sure.

He's no Dimitri Mascarhenas though, NZTailender...

 

[pup11]

Its just a shame to see Oram again and again trying to his best from one end and battling till the end, but sadly he never seems to get any kind of support from the other end.
Anyways i didn't watch this game, but i wanted to know how did Southee bowl, is he the real deal or pure hype!

 

[Craig]

Ryder opening?

Its just a shame to see Oram again and again trying to his best from one end and battling till the end, but sadly he never seems to get any kind of support from the other end.
Anyways i didn't watch this game, but i wanted to know how did Southee bowl, is he the real deal or pure hype!

I don't think you can judge a player from a T20 game and one he shouldn't be playing in either.

Patel is out but Chris Martin gets a run! Huzzah.

 

[pup11]

16.6 Anderson to Martin, 1 run, pushed into the off side, no follow through, and they take the single. That is a sign that even Oram accepts the game is up.
17.1 Broad to Martin, 1 run, back, a thick edge down to third man gets Oram back on strike
Lets hope Martin can entertain with his batting!

 

[NZTailender]

Fair play to England, out performed us. A good win.


Was pretty fun at the end though, with Martin. And the commentators - "Great night for a bowl off!"

 

[Matt52]

Ryder opening?



I don't think you can judge a player from a T20 game .

 

[KiWiNiNjA]

One down, many more to go.....

Impressive stuff from Chris Martin.

 

[sportychic33]

Toop catch from Anderson, thought it was 6 straightaway, but Jimmy was tops. New Zealand are so dire. McCullum, Mills and Oram and great though.

McCullum - did alright for a first time captain. Took too much on though, wicketkeeping, captain, opening batting and then doing comments for Sky. Not a wise move I thought, putting to much pressure on him.
Mills - was DIRE! bowled way to many knee high full tosses for mine.
Oram - class always trying to bail NZ out of situations but never gets the support he needs. Ideally I would have him at number 5 so he can get that support. However I find issue with his batting today in that he changed his bat from what he has used the last two seasons and up to Sunday from a Fusion to a Jet Gray-Nicolls bat, I think that this along with some good English bowling could have been the reason for him not finding the middle of his bat, or timing to hit the ball beyond the boundary.

 

[Sir Redman]

Goodness me, Luke Wright looks far too much like Shane Watson. Actually thought it was Watson in an England shirt when he came on to bowl. Dreadful stuff.

 

[BoyBrumby]

I've only seen about three overs of the match (the 6th & 7th and 20th of our innings), but I'm always pleasantly surprised when we don't lose a limited-overs match.

Martin looks a bit sharper than I recall, in the one over of his I saw he was up around 87-88mph, which is enough to keep a batsman honest. Oram seems to have done well, I saw him york Bell & NZ's tally would've been distinctly shoddy but for him.

Luke Wright tho? What's he all about? I haven't seen his brief interjections with bat or ball yet, but 1 run & 1 over for 15 isn't great, is it? Looks the sort of bits-and-pieces player that I thought had gone out of vogue with Matthew Felming. My theory is he's the selectors sop to to Moores for them ditching his blue eyed Sussex boy Prior.

Also Bumble suggested that Ryder had actually shifted two stone recently! Christ! He's not exactly svelte now, is he?

 

[Flem274*]

Well done to England, for once a good performance. The ODI series could be closer than expected. Just a few points I would like to make:

*I find it interesting to see Ryder opening, How at four, Fulton at six. Very strange batting order.

*How and Fulton, whilst good one day players, are not good 20/20 players. Mills' bowling suffers in 20/20 also.

*If Ryder is used as an opener long term he will get owned, he looks a definite middle order player to me. Stick with McCullum and How.

*Ross Taylor's glaring technical weakness has once again reared its ugly face. He needs that LBW problem sorted out pronto or he won't be a success, no matter how talented he is.

*Chris Martin surprised me today. He bowled very well.

*Good to see the acurate English swing bowlers take advantage of poor shot selection and the technical deficiencies of one of our main dangermen in the top order.

*Mascarenhas was excellent today, looked a top shelf 20/20 player. My only concern is what will happen when he has to bowl ten overs on a hard flat wicket? His accuracy and variation will be tested.

*One thing we need to keep in mind is that the english score of 180 is only a par score, bar Mascarenhas they were very average. Good to see their bowlers take the initiative.

*England played at their best today and NZ had their typical middle order collapse that happens once a series. As a result I think we made England look better than they really are. Don't get me wrong they were exceptional but we did not perform to our best.

*Both sides have the bones of excellent one day teams. I think both are on the rise again and we should see a closely fought and scrappy one day series.

*Also, why pick Hitchcock then not play him? Its like he's just been lead on by an attractive blonde but then she gets him drunk and robs his car.

Looking forward to this series.

 

[The_Bunny]

I've only seen about three overs of the match (the 6th & 7th and 20th of our innings), but I'm always pleasantly surprised when we don't lose a limited-overs match.

Martin looks a bit sharper than I recall, in the one over of his I saw he was up around 87-88mph, which is enough to keep a batsman honest. Oram seems to have done well, I saw him york Bell & NZ's tally would've been distinctly shoddy but for him.

Luke Wright tho? What's he all about? I haven't seen his brief interjections with bat or ball yet, but 1 run & 1 over for 15 isn't great, is it? Looks the sort of bits-and-pieces player that I thought had gone out of vogue with Matthew Felming. My theory is he's the selectors sop to to Moores for them ditching his blue eyed Sussex boy Prior.

Also Bumble suggested that Ryder had actually shifted two stone recently! Christ! He's not exactly svelte now, is he?

Bit harsh considering Englands recent Odi form

 

[NZTailender]

*I find it interesting to see Ryder opening, How at four, Fulton at six. Very strange batting order.

Found that strange as well. Would've had McCullum, How, Taylor, Fulton, Styris, Ryder, Oram myself.

*How and Fulton, whilst good one day players, are not good 20/20 players. Mills' bowling suffers in 20/20 also.

Fulton, maybe not but How has an impressive domestic T20 record.

*If Ryder is used as an opener long term he will get owned, he looks a definite middle order player to me. Stick with McCullum and How.

Agreed

*Ross Taylor's glaring technical weakness has once again reared its ugly face. He needs that LBW problem sorted out pronto or he won't be a success, no matter how talented he is.

Agreed. One wonders what has happened in the time since he made his maiden century which was fairly superb and now where he looks completely ordinary.

*Chris Martin surprised me today. He bowled very well.

Yeah, agreed. Was a bit unlucky as well, definitely better than his figures suggest.

*Also, why pick Hitchcock then not play him? Its like he's just been lead on by an attractive blonde but then she gets him drunk and robs his car.

Because he's rubbish.

 

[Smudge]

*Also, why pick Hitchcock then not play him? Its like he's just been lead on by an attractive blonde but then she gets him drunk and robs his car.

Did you mean Hitchcock or Tea Ropati?