*Official** New Zealand in England

[Mingster]

btw for this test i think the worst 2 things have been the pitch and the commentators lol

Im suprised smithys not there !~ =[

But hes prolly doing the rugby ...

This is Sky Sports with all the shitty ones like Crowe etc, Smith does the Channel 4 with Benaud.

 

[Loony BoB]

Say, whatever happened to Larsen doing commentary?

 

[_Ed_]

Oh, torn hamstring, sorry, I for some reason thought I heard it was only pulled or sprained or something like that (whatever is the minor hamstring injury), but I just saw Vettori on crutches, shows its a lot worse than I thought. Certainly not fair to ask him to bat.

(although watching someone with crutches bat might be quite an interesting experience, what would happen if you hit the ball with one of the crutches?)

 

[Mingster]

Busy with all the National Bank stuff I guess.

 

[Loony BoB]

Oh, torn hamstring, sorry, I for some reason thought I heard it was only pulled or sprained or something like that (whatever is the minor hamstring injury), but I just saw Vettori on crutches, shows its a lot worse than I thought. Certainly not fair to ask him to bat.

(although watching someone with crutches bat might be quite an interesting experience, what would happen if you hit the ball with one of the crutches?)

You fall over.

 

[PY]

Notch another one up on the cubicle wall as England continue their march to the Ashes in 2005.

 

[Loony BoB]

Notch another one up on the cubicle wall as England continue their march to the Ashes in 2005.

Careful now - playing a match against a disabled team won't compare to Australia on any level, be it batting, bowling or fielding.

 

[Kent]

can someone tell me what exactly is wrong with flemming injury wise ?

and what he can do about it ?

Hi MoxPearl. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that it was just a typing mistake on the name of the NZ captain for the last 7 years!

Here's what appeared in the Dominion Post anyway.

Fleming set to quit tour

By JONATHAN MILLMOW and NZPA

Stephen Fleming could be on an early plane home from England to have surgery on his persistent hip flexor injury.

The New Zealand captain is set to quit the tour after the third test at Trent Bridge on June 14 and hand over the leadership reins to Chris Cairns for the one-day tri-series later in the month.

New Zealand Cricket had no knowledge of the development last night but a Dominion Post source said Fleming was poised to return home to get treatment for his ongoing injury.

Fleming is understood to have got a diagnosis he accepts from a specialist in England. The diagnosis will come as a considerable relief after almost nine months of nagging pain in his abdominal region and several cortisone injections.

Fleming continues to be restricted by the injury and there were signs during the Lord's test that it was creeping into his allround play when he captained the team without his normal conviction.

The decision to come home appears twofold, with his mobility in question for the fast-moving one-day game and the simple need to treat the injury so he can return fully fit for the Champions Trophy in England in September.

New Zealand manager Lindsay Crocker said in England last night that a decision on Fleming's future on tour had not been finalised, but pulling stumps early was "an option".

Coach John Bracewell has also made a concession that Fleming might not be at the peak of his game by admitting some mistakes were made at Lord's.

"There were options that perhaps we missed, and I wouldn't put that solely on the captain. That may have come from the back room management as well. We've looked at addressing those issues, we've looked at our stats in the third or fourth innings.

"It's not necessarily a captaincy issue, he used his options that he felt could win the match and I was more than happy to back those."

If Fleming's rehabilitation is straightforward he should not miss any cricket apart from the tri-series, which also includes the West Indies, and begins with a match against England at Old Trafford on June 24.

If the recovery is drawn out then New Zealand's captaincy options are limited now that Cairns has retired from test cricket and Jacob Oram has taken his name out of the equation to concentrate on his bowling.

New Zealand have a torrid few months after the Champions Trophy, touring Bangladesh in October for tests and one-dayers, Australia for two tests and three one-dayers, then back-to-back home series against Sri Lanka and Australia from December to March.

Should a test captain be required for Bangladesh then the usual suspects Craig McMillan and Daniel Vettori's names will be aired but neither are guaranteed selections at the moment and Scott Styris may come into the frame.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Oh, torn hamstring, sorry, I for some reason thought I heard it was only pulled or sprained or something like that (whatever is the minor hamstring injury), but I just saw Vettori on crutches, shows its a lot worse than I thought. Certainly not fair to ask him to bat.

(although watching someone with crutches bat might be quite an interesting experience, what would happen if you hit the ball with one of the crutches?)

Apparently he could be out for a month+

 

[PY]

Careful now - playing a match against a disabled team won't compare to Australia on any level, be it batting, bowling or fielding.

Spoil sport.

Of course I am merely jesting.

 

[Kent]

Careful now - playing a match against a disabled team won't compare to Australia on any level, be it batting, bowling or fielding.

If they keep Harmison free of stress fractures though, who knows?

He seems to have been the main catalyst for England reaching a new level of belief, a bit like another 25-26 year old who suddenly burst onto NZ's stage as a brilliant fast bowler...

 

[Loony BoB]

Richardson
Papps
Fleming
McMillan
Astle
Oram
Vettori
Tuffey
Bond

Come on, guys, help me finish my team to take on the local hospital patients. It'd make a great charity match. They might be able to pay off some of Bond's flight tickets, because we all know that was money poorly spent.

 

[luckyeddie]

Final day match report

 

[luckyeddie]

I'm not sure if you've ever torn your hamstring before. Putting Vettori in to bat would have been more than cruel to him.

Vettori was on crutches - I agree that it would have been ridiculous to expect him to bat.

 

[Loony BoB]

Final day match report

Nice one.

 

[luckyeddie]

Nice one.

Thanks, Loony BoB. Always nice to be appreciated (smirk)

 

[Kent]

I guess NZ could now have a team something like this for the tri-series....

Astle
Papps
Marshall
Styris
McMillan
Cairns
Oram
McCullum
Harris
Mills
Tuffey

Taylor (well, we'll be chasing a lot of 320+ totals! Could be a longshot to open instead of Papps)
Hopkins
Franklin

 

[Kent]

Personally I'd play Franklin ahead of Tuffey, but who knows how far Bracewell's stubbornness will extend.

Tuffey is right back where he was against Australia on his debut IMO.

 

[Kent]

Have a read back of this. All I can say is, whoops!

NEW ZEALAND cricket coach John Bracewell has singled out strapping paceman Daryl Tuffey as the central figure in the Black Caps' quest for further test spoils in England.

While Shane Bond is the marquee quick bowler and Chris Martin captured 18 wickets in the final two tests against South Africa, Bracewell is adamant Tuffey holds the key on what are expected to be seamer-friendly test pitches in England.

New Zealand and England are as evenly matched as any on the test circuit, right down to their bowling lineups, where the home side has assembled an impressive stable of handy seam and swing exponents.

If Bracewell was slightly nervous at the prospect of confronting a England side that invariably plays well at the start of their summer, then his mind was put at ease watching a fit-again Tuffey in the nets in Christchurch last week.

Fresh from having 320ml of blood drained from his thigh, Tuffey tortured his teammates with his undriveable bowling length, at one point reducing Nathan Astle to throwing up his arms in frustration.

Bracewell has an intimate knowledge of English pitches after his five years coaching Gloucestershire and he feels they will be tailormade for Tuffey.

"If I was still a county coach he'd be one of the guys I'd chase because he'd get you 80 wickets every season and he's super-reliable," Bracewell said.

"We missed him badly in that last test against South Africa because for a long time now he has been the go-to man for New Zealand. We have other quality bowlers but he will be our key bowler in England, he is the leader of our bowling attack."

 

[Loony BoB]

Thanks, Loony BoB. Always nice to be appreciated (smirk)

I co-manage the staff at a 60,000 page-downloads per day site and the people from the forums never browse the site and the people who browse the site never leave feedback. Sucks! =/

I'd be surprised to see Bruce Martin come over, to be honest, because he'd need time to get used to the Duke ball that the majority of league players have already had. My ODI squad...

Astle
Papps
Taylor
Styris
McMillan
Harris
Oram
Cairns
McCullum
Hopkins
Marshall
Mills
Adams
Franklin
Tuffey
Butler (sigh - desperation)

If Bruce Martin can learn fast, I'd put him over someone like Franklin, Mills or Tuffey. I'm not sure if McMillan will be fit. If he is, I'd have him over a bowler, too, if not an injured batsman.

EDIT: Just found out I had Marshall in there twice - out goes one of them, in goes McMillan.