*Official** New Zealand in England

[MoxPearl]

flintoff gone!

cairns is bowling good today!

 

[Loony BoB]

Now we just need to wait for Thorpe to get HIS half century before HE gets out.

 

[luckyeddie]

Gotta wonder about the rotation of the strike, though... it's worse than NZ was earlier this tour (Richardson and someone?).

It probably cost Freddie his wicket - Cairns out-thought him.

Mind you, the lack of rotation of the strike is more down to the two long-hops an over being served up by the other bowlers

 

[MoxPearl]

well end of day 2...

new zealand bowling alot better than the last test..

i think it was a great day of cricket. even as


Also

THIS IS WHAT A REAL CRICKET PITCH IS!

If u bat well.. u can get a good score..
But there just enuff in the pitch for the bowler if he bowls well

Also.. as u would guess.. injurys injurys injurys! for us lol

 

[superkingdave]

Also

THIS IS WHAT A REAL CRICKET PITCH IS!

If u bat well.. u can get a good score..
But there just enuff in the pitch for the bowler if he bowls well

Hmm, we'll see come day 4 and Harmi!

 

[marc71178]

James Franklin seems a decent bat.

Based on FC records, and they don't really mean a great deal!

And he definitely looks one of those better tailenders, a genuine no. 8 or 9.

The only way he can look that is by actually doing it at Test Level.

 

[twctopcat]

Missed the england innings exam! What was the verdict? Seems a shame so many made starts only to falter especially flintoff and vaughans, sounds like they were in fine touch. Was it a case of Cairns cricketing nouse and Franklin swinging it? Or inept batting (butcher)? Perhaps a bit of both....

 

[marc71178]

163/1 to 384/10 - that's 221 runs for 9 wickets in a side that has 10 men capable of making decent runs. Ooh, bugger.

Before this series we were told how great the depth of the New Zealand batting was...

 

[marc71178]

I think you are underestimating Mills' batting ability - averaging 40odd in FC cricket on NZ's infamously bowler-friendly pitches is certainly not bad.

Although he does have a third of his innings being "red inks" - that makes a huge difference!

 

[marc71178]

Strauss is the man out.

And the alleged useless Trescothick gets another fifty...

 

[marc71178]

Good to see Oram is bowling in this match.

Hope it doesn't cause him any further problems though - if he wasn't fit a week ago, he can't really be 100% now!

 

[marc71178]

yep 6 50s in his last 6 innings in england.....

Still over-rated Craig?!

 

[anzac]

Here is NZ's top 12 specialist batting assets IMO. I don't think many would argue that McMillan is now #6 and sliding...

1. Fleming
2. Richardson
3. Astle
4. Styris
5. Papps

6. McMillan
7. Sinclair
8. Marshall
9. Fulton
10. Taylor
11. How
12. Vincent

no McCullum??????

and based upon this season I'd go...........
Richardson (even tho' I question his place re 'advance the game' theory);
Styris;
Fleming;
Oram;
McCullum;
Marshall;

 

[marc71178]

THIS IS WHAT A REAL CRICKET PITCH IS!

If u bat well.. u can get a good score..

Well, it was apparently a 500 wicket after the first day...

If NZ get shot out for 120 or so in the second innings will it be criticised?

 

[anzac]

Always a good chance for injured/out of form players to return to form, isn't it?

been there & done that too bloody often for my liking - better to have someone fit & in form at the start of the tour rather than half way thru' it.........means more competition for places & no chance to rest on your laurels..............

 

[luckyeddie]

Well, it was apparently a 500 wicket after the first day...

If NZ get shot out for 120 or so in the second innings will it be criticised?

I suggested that.

I also felt that it would start to go along the floor (2003 all over again).

 

[meatspx]

Hoggard plum to Franklin! Oh well.....

Franklin lacks pace, but swings the ball consitently. He also gets the ball to hit the seam and deviate away from the left hander. And notice the 2 full balls he bowled to Thorpe at the end of the day - reverse swing! He doesn't seem to be able to bowl it to the right-handers though, just gets the ball to slide accross. If he can become more consistent (drop the odd bad ball) then he would be a great bowler. He looks unable to increase his speed, but that's alright, I rate him highly. He provides good variation to the right-armers and he thinks about his cricket - you can see what he is trying to achieve, classic Wasim Akram type dismissals.

Honours even? I'd give the day to NZ if we hadn't lost 2 bowlers (Martin & Mills). Perhaps it's a blessing in disguise to loose Mills.

Interesting to see Butler fielding, apparently he arrived 1 day too late. Would have been a better inclusion than Mills or Martin based on their form - proof that the NZ selectors got it wrong.

 

[anzac]

Losing so many bowlers on tour, you qualify now as honorory Englishmen.

rather the ENG Ashes tour to AUS qualified you as honorary Kiwis - we did it first remember in RSA in 99/00 just after we last toured ENG & then again in AUS - this is now our 3rd time.......

 

[anzac]

oh dear...............

congrads to Styris on regaining some form with his ton, but after that not a lot of contribution from the lower order & tail (harks back to previous comments made re inconsistency of 'allrounder' type lower orders )...............

I remarked yesterday that I thought NZL would need to target 500 in their 1st innings primarily because of their bowling attack probs - now out below 400 & 2 bowlers down & no spinner to hold up and end - how much will NZL miss those extra runs?????????

not a bad bowling effort from Cairns & Franklin, but they are going to need BIIIG help from the likes of Oram & Styris to be able to keep going - BIIG danger of being buggered by the 2nd innings & ENG batsmen walk away with it.............

nice to have 5 ENG wickets in the bag but with Jones yet to come & the form he's shown this series NZL are not out of the woods yet...........& still another 15 wickets to go...........

if the ENG batsmen remain patient they should be able to win this walking away as at Headingly........

NZL will do well if they can hold out for a draw & IMO they must firstly hope that ENG do not post much of a lead, bat for as long as they can in their 2nd innings, & finally hope ENG have some sort of a total to chase & loose some early wickets...........

 

[tooextracool]

well end of day 2...

new zealand bowling alot better than the last test..

i think it was a great day of cricket. even as


Also

THIS IS WHAT A REAL CRICKET PITCH IS!

If u bat well.. u can get a good score..
But there just enuff in the pitch for the bowler if he bowls well

this is as flat a wicket you'll ever see....dont let the poor batting fool you, 500 was on the cards for NZ, before we saw some horrible strokes from the middle-lower order. perhaps we might see some uneven bounce in days 4 and 5 but thats not an excuse to make up for not scoring enough in the 1st innings.