*Official* New Zealand in England 2015

[Spark]

I wonder what pitches would suit England. Can't really say turners anymore. Probably just slow seamers and pitches that are hard to hit through the line on. Should be fun...

Slow greentops are the best way to neutralise Johnson, if you want to go that route. Won't do jack against Harris and Haze though.

 

[Grasshopper]

What a victory! Went to bed with England 5 down, Cook still in and unsure what the weather had planned for us. Read through the thread this morning with a combination of joy and relief at each wicket, especially Cook's. That's a damn good win. As has been commented, every one of our XI contributed to that and the catching rounded out the performance.

Pleased to see Kaneh take some wickets and I liked Craig's armball - he's bowling that better than I've seen before and this was the first time I thought Craig could be anything better than a stopgap for us. Consistency obviously the big stumbling block but good turn, pace, drift at times.

I also crashed when they went to Lunch with England 5 down.

What a great result.

Life is beautiful.

 

[Prince EWS]

I wonder what pitches would suit England. Can't really say turners anymore. Probably just slow seamers and pitches that are hard to hit through the line on. Should be fun...

Conditions in which the ball swung but didn't bounce much would probably suit England best, but that's hard to manufacture without having control over the weather.

 

[Niall]

. Who are the other options?

Not many, Taylor brought in and Root at three would have been a reasonably nailed on prediction a few months ago, but not done much for Notts. Vince not got a run for Hampshire. I know he isn't everyone's cup of tea, but Hales is the second highest scorer in county cricket batting at three for Notts and if he has a good ODI series against NZ, probably a chance.

Hildreth of Somerset could be drafted in, but their is a snobbery about runs scored at Somerset.

 

[Cabinet96]

Slow greentops are the best way to neutralise Johnson, if you want to go that route. Won't do jack against Harris and Haze though.

Yeah but it aids pretty much all our bowlers too. Probably better than just preparing really slow roads where we basically don't ever have enough to get through you guys but you might us.

 

[Prince EWS]

Yeah but it aids pretty much all our bowlers too.

Also the least favourable conditions for Clarke and Smith.

 

[Spark]

Yeah but it aids pretty much all our bowlers too. Probably better than just preparing really slow roads where we basically don't ever have enough to get through you guys but you might us.

Won't aid Broad or Wood. But yeah it'd hurt our batsmen a bit (re: PEWS' point).

Anyway we should probably discuss this elsewhere.

 

[BeeGee]

I think Ballance is the sort of guy who looks super bad when he doesn't get bat well. But people were writing him off after the World Cup and the first innings in the West Indies and he hit 100 and two fifties in the next three innings. I'm not sure pace is really the reason either. The Windies and even Aaron last summer are quicker than NZs crop. That's not why he failed this series, it was more the movement they got.

He has an exploitable technical flaw. Boult exploited it.

 

[BeeGee]

Slow greentops are the best way to neutralise Johnson, if you want to go that route. Won't do jack against Harris and Haze though.

It'll work against the Aussie batsmen. They hate slow pitches.

 

[SteveNZ]

I think he was just taking issue with your wording more than anything.

Ballance's selection is up in the air and he probably won't do very well in the Ashes if he plays, but "surely can't be picked" is obviously exaggerating it a bit.

Yeah and I edited it to reflect it was the wrong use of phrase. I imagine if you asked *insert head of selectors here* they'd say Balance is absolutely not even in the mix as far as axings are concerned and that averaging 52 and all the hundreds he's made is sufficient currency.

Hopefully he's mentally strong enough to get through if it he has a torturous series.

 

[SteveNZ]

Not many, Taylor brought in and Root at three would have been a reasonably nailed on prediction a few months ago, but not done much for Notts. Vince not got a run for Hampshire. I know he isn't everyone's cup of tea, but Hales is the second highest scorer in county cricket batting at three for Notts and if he has a good ODI series against NZ, probably a chance.

Hildreth of Somerset could be drafted in, but their is a snobbery about runs scored at Somerset.

Taylor strikes me as a guy with guts but my god he looked all at sea at times in the World Cup, and hasn't scored too many since? Root is well capable of batting 3 but is it like with Michael Clarke where your output is best at 5 even if it isn't necessarily he best fit for the team?

 

[Niall]

Taylor strikes me as a guy with guts but my god he looked all at sea at times in the World Cup, and hasn't scored too many since? Root is well capable of batting 3 but is it like with Michael Clarke where your output is best at 5 even if it isn't necessarily he best fit for the team?

Taylor has had a few fifties, averaging 33, not awful, but not exactly screaming "hello selectors",

. Root at five has been awesome, so while yeah he could bat at three, but it does seem a little silly to move a guy who has been up and down the order non stop just when he has established himself as a gun number 5.

 

[hendrix]

I would have Taylor in the squad at the least.

 

[tooextracool]

I think Ballance is the sort of guy who looks super bad when he doesn't get bat well. But people were writing him off after the World Cup and the first innings in the West Indies and he hit 100 and two fifties in the next three innings. I'm not sure pace is really the reason either. The Windies and even Aaron last summer are quicker than NZs crop. That's not why he failed this series, it was more the movement they got.

To be fair, this position to a full ball is pretty bad

 

[Bahnz]

That's tailender stuff. Even Broad would be ashamed of that.

 

[wellAlbidarned]

Ballance did ok against WI because they didn't have any left armers to take it away from him. He's gonna be toast against starc or johnson.

 

[Spark]

Ballance did ok against WI because they didn't have any left armers to take it away from him. He's gonna be toast against starc or johnson.

I'm not convinced it's left-armers in particular. He'll still have problems against full balls angling across - and they could always go around the wicket...

 

[cnerd123]

That's tailender stuff. Even Broad would be ashamed of that.

Speaking of Broad, he didn't do too badly with the bat this series ay?

How did he score runs. Did he actually look convincing at the crease, or was he just backing away and slapping deliveries and getting them away for runs?

 

[Athlai]

Speaking of Broad, he didn't do too badly with the bat this series ay?

How did he score runs. Did he actually look convincing at the crease, or was he just backing away and slapping deliveries and getting them away for runs?

He wasn't his younger self but he didn't disgrace himself either. Backed away marginally, slapped a few deliveries but played some actual shots and looked like a quality #9.

 

[Spark]

I thought he actually batted pretty well yesterday. Played a crummy shot to get out, but it was an ordinary dismissal, not a painful one.