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England vs New Zealand Test Thread

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    #51
    England vs New Zealand Test Thread

    Well, new Test up and running and what's this? Anderson getting carted to all corners off four overs, Sidebottom conceding three times less runs in one more over? Normal service resumed, then.

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      #52
      England vs New Zealand Test Thread

      And now it's raining . . .

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        #53
        England vs New Zealand Test Thread

        God, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday it's been bright and sunny. Test match hoves into view and it's pissy drizzle and bad light. Fuck's sake!

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          #54
          England vs New Zealand Test Thread

          Two completely avoidable and stupid run-outs in an over. Thanks NZ.

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            #55
            England vs New Zealand Test Thread

            Vettori's sounds absolutely incredible. Not quite a captain's innings.

            Mind, it also sounds as if England's fielding leaves something to be desired.

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              #56
              England vs New Zealand Test Thread

              Yeah, Anderson dropped a sky-er earlier. Or rather missed it.

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                #57
                England vs New Zealand Test Thread

                Well done, Taylor.

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                  #58
                  England vs New Zealand Test Thread

                  Brilliant umpiring from Taufell on the Vettori run-out.

                  I'm watching this while sitting on the balcony/bar of a Tirolean ski lodge, much to the bemusement of the waitresses.

                  Delicious cream-cakes, but probably a 1000 calories a time, I reckon.

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                    #59
                    England vs New Zealand Test Thread

                    Tyrolean knockabout.

                    Rain forecast for much of Monday and Tuesday, so it looks like a draw. England bowled badly earlier, then batted sluggishly. Vettori looks in control of this one- he even teased Pitersen near the end by bringing on a part time spinner, Redmond.

                    The Telegraph thinks Prior should return as batsman only.

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                      #60
                      England vs New Zealand Test Thread

                      I've mentioned it before, and I'll say it again. Nightwatchmen are stupid. The idea is ludicrous and rarely works. You need a tail to bat along with the last batsman. Now Ambrose or Collingwood will only have Monty and Broad and Anderson whilst they try and pick up the innings. Meanwhile, even if it had worked, you'd have had a rubbish batsman scratching around for 30 minutes tomorrow morning scoring little and disrupting the batting, and at the same time giving an early breakthrough and confidence to the opposition.

                      Stop doing it!

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                        #61
                        England vs New Zealand Test Thread

                        Agree about nightwatchmen, although slightly harsh on Siders and Broad. Both of them are as competent batsmen as Mills, who scored 50 for New Zealand.

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                          #62
                          England vs New Zealand Test Thread

                          .

                          As far as I can make out, the nightwatchman, who would be out for nought later on anyway, will keep a top order batsman away from the pressure of being out the evening before, and then when the nw is inevitably out the next day, the opposition could get a false sense of security at the minor triumph.

                          (but then what do I know about crckt?)

                          .

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                            #63
                            England vs New Zealand Test Thread

                            Come back Duncan Fletcher, all is forgiven.

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                              #64
                              England vs New Zealand Test Thread

                              More apologies, this time to Kyle Mills. He averages a very useful 29 batting in F/C.

                              At Old Trafford, nine man New Zealand are being bamboozled by Monty- five wickets, his hundred in tests and it's 99-6 (effectively for nine, as Oram's in but can't move with a back injury, Flynn won't reappear and the last two average an aggregate seven between them). But with the Kiwis' 180 first innings lead, they should still win.

                              England have batted badly, been careless in the field and tolerated a lot of picnic bowling. At least two or three of these guys shouldn't play in the South Africa series- I'd say Colly, Anderson and Strauss in order for the chop.

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                                #65
                                England vs New Zealand Test Thread

                                If a top order batsman can't see out a few overs of pressure at the end of the day, he doesn't deserve to be batting for his country.

                                Now, our top order seriously need to get some runs, they've been shit for ages, each of them managing to weigh in with odd century or a couple of 60s to cover up the expanses of low scoring rubbish and prolong their place in the team.

                                As of this morning, none of them have averaged 40 this year.

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                                  #66
                                  England vs New Zealand Test Thread

                                  No doubt it will come to naught, but West Indies need 286 in their second innings to beat Australia, after bowling them out for 167.

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                                    #67
                                    England vs New Zealand Test Thread

                                    Some tasty action at Kingston (not upon Hull, their bus parade's tomorrow). As Ursus says, Australia should win. The target is similar to England's in Manchester, but Oz have a bowling edge over the Kiwis.

                                    Highlights included Symonds smacking another 80, well supported by Hodge and Haddin. Lee- who knocked over Chanderpaul in the first innings- took some clobber himself in two hostile overs from Edwards before nicking one behind.

                                    The gurn on Punter and Hussey's gobs when they got out was well worth watching. They were 17-4 last night.

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                                      #68
                                      England vs New Zealand Test Thread

                                      Highlight for me was that spectacular 4-way collision and catch to get rid of Symonds. Are the Windies becoming a semi-serious team again? Very good in the field, and some decent bowling. The batting's still pretty suspect, mind.

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                                        #69
                                        England vs New Zealand Test Thread

                                        Usually 4th innings targets are hard to get because of the threat of the spinner. But MacGill has looked out of sorts, so West Indies have more chance than normal. Johnson is wild too. So it's up to Lee and Clark. Please don't let Symonds rip through them.

                                        DG, what's Strauss done wrong for England in this game?

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                                          #70
                                          England vs New Zealand Test Thread

                                          England did however beat NZ in the 1979 World Cup semi-final on ESPN Classic, helped by John Wright running himself out, and a few tight overs of inswing from around the wicket by the cap-clad Geoff Boycott.

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                                            #71
                                            England vs New Zealand Test Thread

                                            Tubby Isaacs wrote:
                                            DG, what's Strauss done wrong for England in this game?
                                            He's batted fairly well in this game, if a bit too slowly. Although Vaughan was even more sluggish in the first dig.

                                            I suggest dropping him not on the strength of one game, but because he shouldn't have returned in NZ and still looks well below the standard he managed in 2004 and 2005.

                                            As I've said before here, the way English pundits, fans and even players keep concentrating on the Ashes series is daft, when there are five or six other teams to play in between. But you do need to plan ahead a bit. The way England are scratching at the moment, they have little chance of beating South Africa later in the summer. Collingwood would struggle to hit me off the square at the moment, Anderson routinely goes for a run a ball on each of his many comebacks, Vaughan drifts in the field. As Agnew moaned on the BBC today, for the batters especially it seems to be impossible to fall out of this England side. All of the top six are too comfortable. I'm not suggesting a bad run over one or two games should see anyone dropped, but over three series they all need to perform. Hence the suggested order for the axe- Colly, Jimmy, Strauss.

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                                              #72
                                              England vs New Zealand Test Thread

                                              Maybe he was lucky to come back, but he has done OK and of the batters, he's the one who doesn't look too comfortable to me. I thought his 60 yesterday was a solid enough innings which should have set up 300 at the very least. But Sky seemed to think he was at fault for not charging down the track and hitting the best finger spinner in the world down Warwick Road. There's too much made of the need to score quickly- Messrs Atherton and Hussain might understand that.

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                                                #73
                                                England vs New Zealand Test Thread

                                                Windies take an offer of bad light and end Sunday at 46 for 1; 247 left to get.

                                                Australia's 17 for 4 start in this innings was their worst in 72 years.

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                                                  #74
                                                  England vs New Zealand Test Thread

                                                  The final innings of the match started with 30ish overs of day 3 remaining, so criticising Strauss for scoring his 60, the highest in the England innings, too slowly seems completely false to me.

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                                                    #75
                                                    England vs New Zealand Test Thread

                                                    I think there's a big difference between slowly building a big score through judicious shots and well taken singles and simply sitting in your crease waiting to be caught behind or given out LBW.

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