*Official* New Zealand in England 2015

[NZ Guy]

oh now you can't drop a hint like this and walk away. tell us the gossip. i've never heard anything like this said about him.

Just cheap ladsy banter. Claimed that Chris Gayle must be close to catching up with him on the amount of birds he had been with after seeing a photo from a club of CG with 5 ladies around his arm

 

[kiwiviktor81]

KW, Taylor, Baz vs Ballance, Bell, Root - England 0.5 (Root takes them over the edge)

Gotta disagree with this. Ballance is by some margin the weakest of those six, Root is excellent but not better than Williamson, and Taylor and McCullum are, on recent form, at least the equal of Bell.

 

[harsh.ag]

Gotta disagree with this. Ballance is by some margin the weakest of those six, Root is excellent but not better than Williamson, and Taylor and McCullum are, on recent form, at least the equal of Bell.

Taylor the weakest of those six, I would say.

 

[Flem274*]

Haha no I need to make it a drive-by. Nothing the law needs to know about, that I'm aware of. Can make a pest of himself at restaurants with staff of the fairer ***

He should run for PM.

 

[SteveNZ]

He should run for PM.

Not sure pulling hair would be his worst transgression...anyway no very funny man, who knows a ****load about cricket. And I believe for a long time was an advisor to the selection panel at national level.

 

[wellAlbidarned]

Gotta disagree with this. Ballance is by some margin the weakest of those six, Root is excellent but not better than Williamson, and Taylor and McCullum are, on recent form, at least the equal of Bell.

nah Root is the best test batsman from either side by a margin

 

[morgieb]

nah Root is the best test batsman from either side by a margin

I'd probs still take Williamson - Root hasn't done all that much against the strong sides, although his front foot issues are probably less relevant in the UK.

That said, the fact that Williamson has been warming the bench in the IPL makes me wonder if he's actually gonna go well here.

 

[wellAlbidarned]

I'd probs still take Williamson - Root hasn't done all that much against the strong sides, although his front foot issues are probably less relevant in the UK.

That said, the fact that Williamson has been warming the bench in the IPL makes me wonder if he's actually gonna go well here.

Williamson and Root are absurdly similar players on the whole. Camp on the crease, play late, impeccable timing. Reckon we'll see a bit of a bromance develop as the series goes on tbh.

 

[SteveNZ]

Williamson and Root are absurdly similar players on the whole. Camp on the crease, play late, impeccable timing. Reckon we'll see a bit of a bromance develop as the series goes on tbh.

I'd love to be there when the bromance blossoms and they head to a nightclub post series, and both get IDed.

 

[Spark]

I'd absolutely take Williamson at this stage.

 

[kiwiviktor81]

Root's average of 55 and Ballance's average of 63 both to take a pounding in this series

 

[King Pietersen]

Both very similar stats in the last year. Williamson has 1070 runs at 89.16 with 4 hundreds, Root has 1135 at 94.58 with 4 hundreds. Reckon Williamson will have the better series though, is facing the inferior bowling attack.

 

[hendrix]

Williamson better at working to the leg side. But not much to pick between the two

 

[Athlai]

Taylor the weakest of those six, I would say.

In Tests? Your dreaming. ODIs, sure, on recent form you'd back that.

But he is still fine in Tests.

 

[Spark]

Williamson better at working to the leg side. But not much to pick between the two

More proven against the moving ball.

 

[hendrix]

More proven against the moving ball.

Williamson's runs haven't been in noticeably more difficult conditions or against notably better attacks, IMO.

 

[harsh.ag]

In Tests? Your dreaming. ODIs, sure, on recent form you'd back that.

But he is still fine in Tests.

Didn't say he wasn't fine. At this point, Ballance is just a tad better than him, I feel. He is a obviously a better batsman in his prime, but he's really scratchy at the moment.

 

[Howsie]

Both very similar stats in the last year. Williamson has 1070 runs at 89.16 with 4 hundreds, Root has 1135 at 94.58 with 4 hundreds. Reckon Williamson will have the better series though, is facing the inferior bowling attack.

Ha, good one.

 

[hendrix]

Didn't say he wasn't fine. At this point, Ballance is just a tad better than him, I feel. He is a obviously a better batsman in his prime, but he's really scratchy at the moment.

Taylor in the worst form still hasn't been found out as badly as Ballance has/will continue to be, IMO. I would be very surprised if Ballance scored runs this series.

 

[otagoman]

player vs player, its actually a very even series. Both teams have similar strengths and similar weaknesses...Where it may come down to where we (NZ) have an advantage is form, and team unity. England's strength will be home conditions, and the familiarity of the duke ball (even though the duke would help us the longer the tour went for)