*Official** New Zealand in England

[marc71178]

Hmm, stretching it a little bit there!

 

[Kent]

No way! As the new kings of test draws*, I hope we can at least stonewall England and get out of Lord's at 0-0.

Sure, Macca is good for at least one stupid dismissal, ditto for Styris usually. England will still have to make a lot of the play though, and I'm confident our side will only get better as the northern summer goes on.

* NZ's most recent test tours:

India: 2 draws
Sri Lanka: 2 draws
West Indies: 1 win, 1 draw
Australia: 3 draws

 

[Wazim]

i think england will too :P

 

[Kent]

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).

This squad will be named tomorrow I believe.

McCullum is expecting to become a father during the tri-series, so who they'll choose as back-up if he chooses to return home is a bit of a tricky one. Has Papps kept often enough lately? If not, selecting another specialist 'keeper would almost eliminate either Papps or Taylor's chances.

Vincent and Nevin aren't great options, while I'm sure Southern Man will soon be riding in (with Tonto) to push Hopkins' claims.

 

[Craig]

Hmm, could it be his consistent scoring and the solidity he gives to the top 3?

so that makes him one of England's top no.3's of all time?

So does that make by your logic make Graeme Smith one of South Africa's greatest ever Test opener's already by virture of the stack of runs he has scored?

 

[Tim]

Well I go away for a couple of days and NZ have a shocking last 2 days v Kent..disappointing. But im still not worried...if playing at Lords isn't enough motivation then bugger the lot of them.

Whats the current vibe for the toss? i've heard a few suggestions that whoever wins will look to bowl first..although apparently there won't be much cloud around the first couple of days to assist the seamers.

 

[Tim]

If McCullum does go home during the ODI's then I would imagine they'll use Papps as he is quite a decent keeper.

They'll then tell Matt Sinclair to continue mowing lawns in Norwich so that if Papps is injured they have Skippy as the last resort for a keeper..he's probably Rahul Dravid standard. Papps is definately better than Dravid for sure.

I've just gone flatting for a couple of months and we don't have sky so we're going to have to follow the majority of the series on Cricinfo.
If we saved money on beer we could get sky though...there's a thought.

 

[Craig]

Well I go away for a couple of days and NZ have a shocking last 2 days v Kent..disappointing. But im still not worried...if playing at Lords isn't enough motivation then bugger the lot of them.

Whats the current vibe for the toss? i've heard a few suggestions that whoever wins will look to bowl first..although apparently there won't be much cloud around the first couple of days to assist the seamers.

Given that Stephen Fleming prefers to bowl first on most occasions, I think it is a 65-70% chance NZ will bowl first if they win the toss...

 

[Tim]

Agreed, if there's the slightest hint of seam-movement, NZ's trend is to bowl first. And from reports, i gather that the Lords wicket won't be a straight out belter.

 

[luckyeddie]

Well I go away for a couple of days and NZ have a shocking last 2 days v Kent..disappointing.

All your fault, then, Tim.

 

[southern man]

while I'm sure Southern Man will soon be riding in (with Tonto) to push Hopkins' claims.

Ofcourse i am all for Hopkins to be flown over if Brendon needs to go home. But if his wife is having a baby he wont be back for to long so Papps while i think he is a not very good keeper will do for a match or two.

But if Brendon went down injured in the first match then i think that we should fly Hopkins over.

 

[Tim]

From what i've seen of Hopkins, he's better suited to the longer version.
I'd rate him as one of the top 3 keepers in NZ, but with the bat it's doubtful he'd be any better than Robbie Hart in tests..maybe a bit better.

 

[PY]

I've just gone flatting for a couple of months and we don't have sky so we're going to have to follow the majority of the series on Cricinfo.
If we saved money on beer we could get sky though...there's a thought.

A true man's decision.

Beer or sport? Beer or sport? Difficult one that is.

 

[Craig]

Sport.

Save a little extra for beer.

Stop shaving, grow a beard, there you've saved money on shaving equipment and have more money for beer.

 

[meatspx]

Well i'm a student and can't afford Sky......but luckily i've found a free way to get sky through my computer

News about NZ's tour to Australia, we're playing 2 tests there and hosting 3 ODI. So along with Australia playing 3 tests in NZ there will be 5 tests in total against the Aussies this summer!

 

[meatspx]

Sorry, Australia is hosting the 3 ODIs this year, apart of the new Chappel-Hadlee cup.

 

[Kent]

You get Sky through what?!

You can't just leave people intrigued like that!

 

[Tim]

I presume you need a tv card in the computer?

Anyway there's another thread for the Chappell/Hadlee Trophy.

 

[Tim]

It'll be interesting to see how Fleming goes up against Trescothick in the captaincy stakes. Fleming said before the series that he won't verbally target Vaughan like he did with Smith because he's far more relaxed. I imagine the same will apply to Trescothick.

 

[tooextracool]

It'll be interesting to see how Fleming goes up against Trescothick in the captaincy stakes. Fleming said before the series that he won't verbally target Vaughan like he did with Smith because he's far more relaxed. I imagine the same will apply to Trescothick.

tresco isnt the smartest player either. i would have preferred butcher although neither of them strike me as being captaincy material.
butcher has stated his preference to remain at 3 which hopefully means that strauss should start ahead of colly