2 Meter Peter!
England v New Zealand 2013 Cricket
- Thread starter samabachan
- Start date
I'm quite enjoying this from NZ, great hitting.
This game is over.
Hopefully the last we see of Panesar outside of the subcontinent for a while too, bowled horribly this series.
Hopefully the last we see of Panesar outside of the subcontinent for a while too, bowled horribly this series.
I can't find one positive from this test match 
Happy to admit i thought England would absolutely walk this series. Fair play to the Kiwi's.
Happy to admit i thought England would absolutely walk this series. Fair play to the Kiwi's.
119 runs in the first session. Great to see them come out all positive. 450 and they will declare, not that England stand any chance as it is.
What a way to reach the 100. Take a bow, Fulton.
England have been shambolic in this series.
Why haven't they declared yet?
Good start with the ball for the Kiwis. Getting plenty of movement. Compton goes for 2.
Disappointing display by England but not all that surprising, with both KP and Swann out it's understandable we haven't been as good as we can be. Not that we shouldn't be beating New Zealand anyway. England can still get something and at a push win, if we bat smart. If Trott can get in, he'll make it really difficult for the Kiwis.
Very little hope of saving it here, when England lose their one of their openers and Trott early, it always seems to lead to a collapse. There can't be many teams who have collapses as often as England in the top and middle orders. Even when we were number one we were awful for them, but with Broad (when he could actually bat) Bresnan and Swann we had a good batting tail to salvage respectable scores.
The only player we have who provides any consistent resistance outside the top order is Prior.
I think Swann has been missed more than anyone would have thought this series to be honest, his batting alone would have improved us substantially, the tail is too long at the moment with too many awful batsmen. Even if Finn has somehow done well this series, I imagine it'll be more of a fluke performance. In the modern game you need at least some bowlers who are decent at batting, look at New Zealand with Southee and Martin who can not only score runs, but do it very quickly. And of course, Swann is far more of a threat taking wickets, Martin isn't a particularly good bowler and has cleaned up, if Panesar's not taking wickets it really is like playing with 10 men.
The only player we have who provides any consistent resistance outside the top order is Prior.
I think Swann has been missed more than anyone would have thought this series to be honest, his batting alone would have improved us substantially, the tail is too long at the moment with too many awful batsmen. Even if Finn has somehow done well this series, I imagine it'll be more of a fluke performance. In the modern game you need at least some bowlers who are decent at batting, look at New Zealand with Southee and Martin who can not only score runs, but do it very quickly. And of course, Swann is far more of a threat taking wickets, Martin isn't a particularly good bowler and has cleaned up, if Panesar's not taking wickets it really is like playing with 10 men.
What a catch!
Huge wicket of Cook just before the close of play. That was unexpected.
Huge wicket of Cook just before the close of play. That was unexpected.
Another great catch! New Zealand with a great way to close the day. England 90/4.
The wicket of Cook was huge, Finn's wicket made a good day even better.
Fulton played some magnificent shots right at the start of the day. NZ should go on to win tomorrow, even though the pitch is still very flat.
Bell's strike rate
The wicket of Cook was huge, Finn's wicket made a good day even better.
Fulton played some magnificent shots right at the start of the day. NZ should go on to win tomorrow, even though the pitch is still very flat.
Bell's strike rate
Does anyone know why Finn ended up being night watchmen ahead of Anderson anyway? As far as I remember Anderson has only been out once when bought in as a nightwatchmen, and his average was better than Finn before the series began.
He did well with his 50 in the first test, but as a nightwatchmen there's really no need to be getting out trying to score. Bell is playing it exactly right, going for shots with an over left in the day is both selfish and idiotic.
He did well with his 50 in the first test, but as a nightwatchmen there's really no need to be getting out trying to score. Bell is playing it exactly right, going for shots with an over left in the day is both selfish and idiotic.
Agree but he has a shoulder injury for this match.
I am genuinely bemused at how inept England have been in every area.
Does anyone think it's better to attack in the fourth innings in case of a big target rather than trying to defend it out?
The defensive technique works like 5 times out of 100 times for all the teams.
The defensive technique works like 5 times out of 100 times for all the teams.
It is tricky, and since it is usually a 4th/5th day pitch, you are likely to lose your wicket more often than not. The situation in which England are, both the methods will go against them. They had 143 overs minimum to play, and 480 odd to chase, so neither can you defend for that long nor can you chase that much on a 4th day pitch, no matter how flat people may call it. Plus NZ bowlers had much better line and length than England ones had, and Brendon had set up a very attacking field. As it is England had edges flying to third man, so it would have been worse if they had tried to attack more.
It can work at times, I remember the Chennai test match against England, where Sehwag went insane and scored 80 odd in 10-15 overs and then we chased a huge target which was over 350 if I remember correctly, with Sachin reaching the hundred off the last ball. But 480 is way too much for any attacking strategy to work IMO.
It's better to attack for the sake of momentum, sometimes captains can become conservative to stem the flow of runs even with a sizable target. It also helps knock the bowlers out of rhythm and makes teams change plans. The truth is somewhere in the middle, be positive but don't over do it.
Poor England performance this tour, Broad seems to have lost some ability with the bat and with Root coming in and Pietersen being injured the batting lineup just looks so brittle all of a sudden. Root will be great though I feel. The bowling attack is looking all types of shallow at the moment too. I just don't like the balance of the attack.
This is typical England. They achieve a long awaited target and then relax. Don't have the ruthlessness to go out and win series after series.
After the Ashes in 05 they crumbled for a year. After reaching no.1 they crumbled against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Now, after beating India in India after eons they once again look to lose a very winnable series.
I mean having Peter Fulton score 2 100s against you is just pathetic.
After the Ashes in 05 they crumbled for a year. After reaching no.1 they crumbled against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Now, after beating India in India after eons they once again look to lose a very winnable series.
I mean having Peter Fulton score 2 100s against you is just pathetic.
totally agree. We'll get the usual spiel from Cook and co about performances not acceptable, will make sure it won't happen again, will bounce back from this etc etc
England are in a pretty hopeless position in the test match to be honest. I think they've been terrible all series, the Kiwi's deserve to win.
Yup, just doesn't seem to be that same level of motivation after they've achieved something big.
It's great in theory but against the new ball on an aging track it's not the easiest thing to do in the world. Compton got a low and slow one. Cook and Finn got out to a part timer bowling hand grenades.
Blockathon from Bell.
You've gotta do both.
You can't block out the game, but you can't be reckless and be all out for 80.
Root is playing a nice innings, which I've probably jinxed, and seems to have the right balance between attack and defence.
Well played by these two this morning.
Long way to go.
Long way to go.
Breakthrough for the Kiwis.
This is the game right here, this new ball decides the game.
Awful drop by NZ, if Bell had gone there that was curtains.
Bairtstow dropped next ball 
Superb stuff from Boult though.
Aye, it's a shame this test is being played with a Kookaburra in fairness.
Boult and Southee have bowled so beautifully with the new cherry it's just a shame that it doesn't last.
Boult and Southee have bowled so beautifully with the new cherry it's just a shame that it doesn't last.
This has been a superb session of test cricket.
feck feck feckfeck feck feckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
England have lost wickets at the worst times. What are the chances of a Cardiff repeat from Panesar?
Prior is awesome.
DRS working again. Broad survives for now...
His fall
His fall