This game is my bread and butter. NZ vs my county side, so I naturally felt the urge to travel half way around the world to be at it.
Annoyingly enough Rutherford did actually look pretty steady at the crease, as opposed to Guptill who got beaten quite a few times by Charlie Morris who bowled really well. I thought they bowled really well, hadnt seen Morris bowl live before and was suitably impressed, debutant Barnard was sharp and lively and Rusell hit great spots for his first 6 or 7 overs before Ronchi gave him a bit of tap, however eventually got his man.
Lathams dismissal was a fairly standard edge, looked like it was jagging around a bit early. Guptill looked okay in patches but a little like he wanted to feel bat on ball too much. Put a short balk from Leach over the fence well and another trademark straight six whick looked nice, but his dismisall was the softest of the day, just a chip to cover. He stood on the wicket for about 20 seconds in disbelief. Taylor was the same player we've seen for the last 12 months, scratchy. Still looks to be having balance issues, hit a couple of nice straight ones but then snicked off attempting a big slash through the covers.
Ronchi got undone by the short ball guiding it to slip, trying to evade it, after looking really good. Quickfire 25 odd, hit through the covers especially well. Was impressed by how the lower order batted, especially Bracewell, Wagner and Craig. All pretty patient but hitting the loose ball, Bracewell played some of the best strokes of the day.
Wheeler was exceptional with the ball, really looked like it was moving around alot, had the measure of Oliver on quite a few occasions. Two good battles at the end of the day made for good viewing; Craig vs the strokeplaying Moeen and Wagner vs Mitchell.
Good days play, Worcester probably having the better day, NZ seamers should be able to make some good inroads with an overcast morning forcast tomorrow.
