England v NZ

[soulhalshall]

Nice to have home Test cricket back, usually a bit more reliable. Interesting time for England. Bowling hasn't been a huge issue necessarily so interesting to see now how we can bat in home conditions against a decent attack.

My cricket-mad son and I are making the trip over for one day of the second Test, praying for fine weather.

[imp566]

Started very well, but as you say, now comes the challenge! Need to be close to parity if not in front by the end of the day, with no more than 4 wickets lost. I wouldn't expect play beyond lunch on day 4!

[imp566]

Jun 2, 2022 14:18:00 GMT imp566 said:

Started very well, but as you say, now comes the challenge! Need to be close to parity if not in front by the end of the day, with no more than 4 wickets lost. I wouldn't expect play beyond lunch on day 4!

Well, that was a little predictable, another batting collapse! I'll revise my prediction - this will be all over inside 3 days, best effort in the second innings wins it.

[soulhalshall]

Very surprised we came out on top there, without a wobble on day four as well. Clearly, our big, experienced players are doing it for us still while others, with exception of Potts, flatter to deceive.

Time must be running our for Pope. He has one good score in 18 or 19 innings I think (no Test ducks but plenty of low scores). Stokes' batting I'm slightly concerned about since his return in Australia although obviously we needed his 50 yesterday.

For now we should enjoy the fine result, I suppose.

[imp566]

I too was surprised we pulled that out of the fire after the top 4 went cheaply, McCallum's job now is to channel Root's test match technique and embed it in the other batsmen. He knows how to play the situation, when to play his shots and when to defend. Players like Bairstow often get carried away when they hit one or two boundaries and give up their wicket cheaply soon after a couple of boundaries. As Geoffrey Boycott used to say, they need to value their wicket more highly!

Stokes had a funny innings, could have been out early after being bowled from a No Ball, but after that he mixed it up. He moved around in his crease and played some good shots, but also some that if had mis-cued would have been described as irresponsible in the context of the game. I've a little sympathy for Pope, he's the latest to be tried out at No3; I understand Root's desire to play at 4, but our No3 so rarely scores runs, he may as well play there himself!

[Mike Osbourn]

It's interesting, isn't it. Bar Root, none of our batters seem to be able to play appropriately to the match situation. Crawley gets out in the same way every match, Bairstow is sh*t or bust pretty much all of the time. Leys you can forgive as he needs time to settle in a little. Pope, I just don't get the sense he's got the head for test cricket.

Nice to get a win, but it really is all down to whether the bowlers can keep us in it and then a lottery with the batters.

[soulhalshall]

Yes, increasingly hard to see that Pope is ready. Ian Bell comparisons are fair in some senses; they are stylistically and physically quite similar, they both came into the team pretty young and got runs early on.

Bell scored only single figures in 7/10 of his innings in the 2005 Ashes. But he bounced back well and went on to score at least one half century in 13 of his next 18 test matches.

Pope has currently scored one half century in his last 13 test matches. I don't think batting at 3 necessarily was the best idea but at the same time, he'll have to face good bowling at 5, too.

Barstow I sort of felt was the form player coming into the series and that he would really kick on. Maybe still settling after IPL, I would fancy him to get a good score in Notts this week.

[ramsaymatt]

This has been an eventful listen after tea.

[neilmc4]

I think it`s fairly safe to predict that the McCullum / Stokes era isn`t going to be boring.........

Lucky enough to see the last two hours of an utterly absorbing Test and whilst Bairstow will rightly hog the limelight for a truly astonishing knock it`s worth mentioning the entire New Zealand side who not only played a huge part in one of THE great matches but did so without resorting to ANY sledging , cheating , intimidation or petulance. A lot of professional sportspeople could learn a hell of a lot from the way Richardson , Latham and their teammates approach high level sport - play hard , play fair , play with a smile on your face and respect the game and your opponents. Top men.

[soulhalshall]

Pope proved me wrong (not personally obv) but I'll take credit for the Bairstow prediction.

We had a terrific day on Saturday at Trent Bridge. While at times it was frustrating watching a lot of NZ batting we came away pleased to have seen wickets fall in the end and Pope pass 50. Great to have watched it now in the context of such a full and interesting Test. My son also got his new shirt signed by Bairstow, Stokes, Cook, Vaughan and Moeen so he was delighted.

Terrific win, fine opposition, enjoyable contest.

[imp566]

Jun 14, 2022 18:28:35 GMT neilmc4 said:

I think it`s fairly safe to predict that the McCullum / Stokes era isn`t going to be boring.........

Lucky enough to see the last two hours of an utterly absorbing Test and whilst Bairstow will rightly hog the limelight for a truly astonishing knock it`s worth mentioning the entire New Zealand side who not only played a huge part in one of THE great matches but did so without resorting to ANY sledging , cheating , intimidation or petulance. A lot of professional sportspeople could learn a hell of a lot from the way Richardson , Latham and their teammates approach high level sport - play hard , play fair , play with a smile on your face and respect the game and your opponents. Top men.

New Zealand sports teams definitely sit top of the pile for sportsmanship for me.