*Official* New Zealand in England 2021

[trundler]

Anderson now becomes the most capped English player. Previously Alec Stewart, who is widely talked of as an unfulfilled talent, held this distinction. When will England end its culture of rewarding mediocrity?

 

[Moss]

Sounds like a good toss for England to win.

Boult, Henry, Wagner, Ajaz plus only Mitchell to offer additional bowling - don't know if this is NZ's best chance of taking 20 wickets, but should be interesting to see who among the replacements makes a strong case for WTC final selection.

 

[theegyptian]

lol. call up bess to the squad as a second spinner, and then still pick no spinner in the final xi.

 

[Days of Grace]

Lol at that team and dat tail. Wagner batting at no.8!

Couldn’t make it any more obvious that we are treating this series as a trial/warm-up.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

I'm not surprised they're resting a couple of niggles, but surprised they're resting all key players.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

I love the lack of respect for England. Nice work Gary Stead.

 

[Moss]

Stead/Latham vs Stead/KW selection policy snapshot in these two tests.

 

[The Hutt Rec]

I dunno, I still feel the team is pretty decent. And better to rest everyone with a niggle before the final.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Lol at that team and dat tail. Wagner batting at no.8!

He was the most fluent batter from both sides at Lords

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

I will laugh very heartily if we win this.

 

[thierry henry]

Surely even if we are treating this as preparation and don’t care about winning, the point is that the guys actually…play to get preparation?

Southee and KW ok, but CDG is rusty AF, Watling and Santner low on form, and above all else surely Jamieson needs more practise in these conditions?

 

[Moss]

Surely even if we are treating this as preparation and don’t care about winning, the point is that the guys actually…play to get preparation?

Southee and KW ok, but CDG is rusty AF, Watling and Santner low on form, and above all else surely Jamieson needs more practise in these conditions?

Yeah don't get this at all. Not fully utilizing the one genuine advantage we have over India.

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

Maybe they saw enough of Jamieson to think he'll be fine, but yeah a hideous lack of match practice.

 

[nzfan]

So only Duffy and Ravindra are lunch boxes on this tour I think everyone else are going to have a hit. Scathing for the two younger boys.

 

[thierry henry]

How many of these guys are genuinely trialling for a spot?

Just Ajaz vs Santner?

 

[hendrix]

Surely even if we are treating this as preparation and don’t care about winning, the point is that the guys actually…play to get preparation?

Southee and KW ok, but CDG is rusty AF, Watling and Santner low on form, and above all else surely Jamieson needs more practise in these conditions?

Think Jamieson is just about there (and also injury risk with back to back tests) but yeah, CdG clearly short of a gallop.

Anyway I'm curious to see how Ajaz goes

 

[thierry henry]

Why even ask for a 2 test series if we obviously wanted to play exactly 1 test? This is bizarre

 

[hendrix]

How many of these guys are genuinely trialling for a spot?

Just Ajaz vs Santner?

Surely Mitchell is also contesting CdG's spot

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

Imagine if Matt Henry picks up a 10fer here.

 

[Bahnz]

Argh, that is an awful XI to log on to. I see zero reason for resting Southee in particular. Harumph.