*Official** New Zealand in England

[Rich2001]

Fair play to C.Carins he did a fantastic job of protecting the tail, I kept the cricnfo window open the whole time and he just keep taking the single off the last ball and as soon as the last two batsman were there he let fly with some big shots again.

Kent 6/0 - Fulton 5* & Key 1* from 2 overs now.

 

[Isolator]

Cricinfo wasn't going ball-by-ball for me...

What happened today? Drastic change in conditions, genius bowling or brainless batting?

 

[Loony BoB]

Yeah, Cricinfo was only updating every 2-8 balls for me, too.

Maybe they're holding back? I'm not sure... My only other guess (outside what you said) about what happened is that they weren't taking the match seriously and were more so using it as an opportunity to experiment... but even then, it was a stupid thing to do. I can't imagine how NZ expect to bowl Kent out for such a small amount.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Cricinfo wasn't going ball-by-ball for me...

What happened today? Drastic change in conditions, genius bowling or brainless batting?

Doubt there's been any change in conditions.

It's been pretty much unbroken sunshine across the whole South of England all day.

 

[Kent]

Well the form shown by Papps v South Africa in the ODIs makes him hard to drop. Hamish Marshall needs to pull his finger out and be more consistent.

Also are you forgetting there is little chance Astle will open again according to Ashley Ross.

Yep, Anzac was correct when he said Bracewell has already overruled Ashley Ross in regards to Astle opening again.

Marshall probably has been a little inconsistent, but passing 50 6 times (1 ton) in his first summer of ODIs will give him no worries about making the tri-series squad. That was achieved against two very handy attacks, so you'd hope he'll find even more loose pace-bowling to thrive against from the West Indies and England.

My XIV for the tri-series:

Fleming
Astle
Marshall
Styris
McMillan
Cairns
Oram
McCullum
Vettori
Tuffey
Bond

Mills
Harris (still good for slower tracks)
Taylor (best performer in the SS, covers 3-6), or Papps (might have to hope Fleming is still struggling with injury).

 

[Kent]

Meanwhile, this game against Kent 'A' is starting to remind me of the county game we had just before the 4th test in 1999.

I think we lost by an innings or something, but then went on to win at the Oval. I can only hope this has been a similar case of nervous or unfocused players having other things on their mind.

 

[Rich2001]

Doubt there's been any change in conditions.

It's been pretty much unbroken sunshine across the whole South of England all day.

Certianly has been Neil, a week of fantastic sun here.

It's also a slow batsman's wicket and it was down to poor batting and good bowling. I would be very surprised if NZ can bowl us out for such a target unless they produce something very special early on.

 

[Loony BoB]

I'd be surprised, too.

I also agree with the squad laid out by Kent (er, the tri-series squad laid out by Kent, the member of these forums, not the squad being played against NZ... man that's confusing!) - although I'd say Papps has an easy in ahead of Taylor. While Papps isn't figuring the longer matches out too well (yet), I think he's done well enough for inclusion. Still, you never know... I haven't seen Taylor play yet.

 

[Kent]

I also agree with the squad laid out by Kent (er, the tri-series squad laid out by Kent, the member of these forums, not the squad being played against NZ... man that's confusing!)

Blame my late father and my older brothers for that one. They liked the idea of me sharing a name with a county cricket side, obviously not giving much thought to the number of horrible things that rhyme with Kent.

Those knuckleheads were even allowed to look for my middle name on a list of famous fast bowlers. Don't worry though - girls tell me there's also a handsome, white TV character who goes by the name of Wesley!

 

[Kent]

Here are the ugly details from overnight, if Kiwis are interested...

JONES GETS IN THE MOOD FOR TESTS

Geraint Jones' adventurous century left New Zealand struggling to save the tour match with Kent at the St Lawrence Ground.

England wicketkeeper Jones, who made his international debut against the West Indies at Antigua last month, batted himself into form ahead of next week's opening Test against the Kiwis, having previously mustered only 21 runs in three first-class knocks this season.

Jones, who will be named in England's squad for Lord's tomorrow, reached a run-a-ball ton littered with five sixes and 11 fours, and as exciting as his statistics suggest.

He reached his landmark immediately after pulling his fifth maximum, off seamer Chris Martin, when he dropped the ball short of point and hurried through for a single.

While the 27-year-old made the most of a flat surface and good batting conditions, the New Zealanders' top order succumbed to Danish fast bowler Amjad Khan, in a spell of four for 16 in 27 deliveries.

By tea, in fact, the Black Caps were 100 for six, a slender advantage of 77, and in serious danger of heading into the three-Test series on the back of a defeat.

Khan, spearheading the county's attack in the absence of rested pair Martin Saggers and Mohammad Sami, sent back first-innings centurion Michael Papps and Nathan Astle with full deliveries in the sixth over and pinned Scott Styris in front of the stumps moments after New Zealand had erased their deficit.

A slash to point accounted for Mark Richardson and Craig McMillan was trapped sweeping by left-arm spinner Rob Ferley.

Lanky England Under-19 paceman David Stiff then halted Brendon McCullum's counter-attack by uprooting off-stump.

It was a sharp contrast to pre-lunch play when Jones' assault hurtled Kent beyond New Zealand's first innings of 409, before falling to Martin as another cross-bat shot aimed into the leg side spiralled high to mid-on.

That was at the end of a run-heavy session which began with a success for Martin in the third over, when left-hander Michael Carberry, who added only one to his overnight 74, touched one that nipped away off the seam....

...Min Patel, who took five wickets with the ball, raced to 44 from only 37 deliveries before being drawn down the pitch by left-arm spinner Vettori to provide Brendon McCullum with a straightforward stumping.

Vettori's first over cost 19 runs as Patel found gaps both sides of the wicket and Jones deposited the final delivery through the hands of Daryl Tuffey at long-off, for his third six of the innings.

A fourth six, slog-swept over the head of the deep mid-wicket fielder, showed Jones' full array of strokes and the tail kept him company long enough for him to reach a third first-class hundred for the county.


It's a shame Papps failed, because I'm hearing third-hand rumours that he was toast heading into this game, and probably still is.

 

[Neil Pickup]

England squad named. Number of surprises = 0

ME Trescothick
*MP Vaughan
MA Butcher
N Hussain
GP Thorpe
A Flintoff
+GO Jones
AF Giles
MJ Hoggard
SP Jones
SJ Harmison
PD Collingwood
JM Anderson

 

[tooextracool]

England squad named. Number of surprises = 0

ME Trescothick
*MP Vaughan
MA Butcher
N Hussain
GP Thorpe
A Flintoff
+GO Jones
AF Giles
MJ Hoggard
SP Jones
SJ Harmison
PD Collingwood
JM Anderson

i am surprised anderson got picked.....IMO hes not good enough to be part of the squad. i find it hard to understand why giles is in there either...i think his average on home soil leaves a lot to be desired
ive also heard that jones' keeping wasnt quite upto the mark in the kent vs NZ game?

 

[Loony BoB]

And for the first time in weeks, the Bet365 odds of England and NZ are no longer even, with 13/8 for NZ and 7/5 for England. Still 9/4 for a draw.

No surprises for me with England, including Anderson.

 

[Kent]

I'd go for a draw in the first test. They probably won't get beyond a week of fine weather at this time of year, we've got limited penetration with the ball on flat tracks now that Martin's lost a bit of lustre, and we bat down to #9.

Plus we've drawn 7 of our last 11 tests that weren't on joke pitches, and even the reborn English side don't exactly strike me as an early-series aggressor.

 

[Loony BoB]

Weather may play into it, but outside rain, the wickets are falling pretty well all over the country (from what I've heard, at least), so I wouldn't be surprised that even if we do get just one week then that will be enough for a final result for the series.

 

[Kent]

No sign of Bond v Kent so far today.

2nd change or lower in the last big hit-out suggests NZ are showing their hand. Add to that Vettori telling our Sunday papers he's already been assured of 1st test selection.

 

[Loony BoB]

2nd change or lower in the last big hit-out suggests NZ are showing their hand.

Sorry, I might be a bit slow, that didn't make much sense to me... can you be a bit more straight forward? *dumb*

 

[Kent]

No Bond at Lord's!

Unless something changes against Leicester, perhaps no Bond until the ODI warm-ups.

 

[Loony BoB]

Which once again brings me back to a point I made earlier in the thread...

What's the point in changing a bowling action to prolong your international career if the bowling action forces you to not be good enough to play well enough to earn a spot in the national test team? =/

EDIT: Do players in other countries have this problem too, or is it just Vettori and possibly Bond (it may be a bit early to say)?

 

[Kent]

Once Bond gets the changes grooved in and feels more comfortable, hopefully he'll be our first player picked.

Look at how rubbish Cairns was back in December when he was coming back from a long time on the sidelines. Even without trying to alter anything he was rubbish. By the end of the summer though, he was bowling quite nicely.

Bond also probably just needs to get a decent period of cricket into him.