New Zealand vs England - Third Test

by Stella Wed 20 Mar 2013, 9:19 am

First topic message reminder :

Are we going to get a result? With decent weather, I think we will, and dare I say it to England.

The only change I can see is Bracewell coming in for the Kiwi's, although there was talk of England playing five bowlers, which I would be surprised at.

Broad is the only England bowler who has looked anything near his best, but with Jimmy who needs five wickets for 300, and Finn, who will hopefully pitch the ball up, things should improve.

by NickisBHAFC Sun 24 Mar 2013, 11:01 pm

Monty is bowling horrifically though, i think even Joe Gatting would have fun facing him ATM.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Sun 24 Mar 2013, 11:13 pm

Jesus christ what a 6

by guildfordbat Sun 24 Mar 2013, 11:17 pm

Spanish Dave wrote:I think they will want 100 - 150 more personally.

150 more would leave us needing to get over 500. Even if New Zealand could set such a target, that would unnecessarily take too much time out of the game. Giving us a tiny sniff of the target wouldn't be a bad move by McCullum either. That's why I think about 430. 450 max.

by NickisBHAFC Sun 24 Mar 2013, 11:19 pm

At least the Barmy Army are in full voice!!! New Zealand vs England - Third Test - Page 5 3559488474

by GSC Sun 24 Mar 2013, 11:22 pm

See how long McCullum can bash the attack around for then stick us in soonish with potential rain around.

by GSC Sun 24 Mar 2013, 11:22 pm

Can't say I'm optimistic. Shown little application in this test and series in general.

by NickisBHAFC Sun 24 Mar 2013, 11:27 pm

Yeah i agree this test series hasn't exactly had me eager to stay up through the night to watch it.

by NickisBHAFC Sun 24 Mar 2013, 11:36 pm

Why did they play the Coronation Street them, when they were leaving the pitch Laugh

by guildfordbat Mon 25 Mar 2013, 12:20 am

184-4. New Zealand now leading by 423.

If England are to win, they are going to have to get the highest ever winning score in the fourth innings .... they won't.

by guildfordbat Mon 25 Mar 2013, 12:27 am

A second hundred in the match for 'Two Metre' Peter. clap

He must feel six foot tall! Rolling Eyes

by JDizzle Mon 25 Mar 2013, 12:32 am

Is this the start of a Marlon Samuels-esque coming of age for Fulton, or will he return to being awful come the tour of England? I'm backing the latter. Two absolutely cracking knocks in this game though in all fairness...

by guildfordbat Mon 25 Mar 2013, 12:43 am

New Zealand now have a lead of 466. The dclaration must be coming soon as I head for bed ....

by JDizzle Mon 25 Mar 2013, 12:53 am

500 and then declare is what it is looking like.

by JDizzle Mon 25 Mar 2013, 12:55 am

Cracking catch from the Compdog, especially when you consider he will have batting on his mind. And that's it. Declaration comes.

481 to win. We're going to need a Cook special to save this.

by JDizzle Mon 25 Mar 2013, 2:11 am

45-1 at tea. Good ball to get Compton. Cook and Trott have looked good, but they need to look good until after lunch tomorrow for England to have any chance.

by JDizzle Mon 25 Mar 2013, 3:03 am

Oh Trotty, poor shot from you there. Fell into the trap wafting after a wide one.

by kiakahaaotearoa Mon 25 Mar 2013, 7:08 am

Well McCullum's decision seems vindicated. Nz has scoreboard pressure and a fine day forecast to snare the remaining wickets. Key wickets got before close of day and kiwis smell blood. Who would've believed it? Not over yet but Nz in the driving seat.

by mystiroakey Mon 25 Mar 2013, 7:34 am

Your playing very well..

Playing to the conditions. Worked out what was best and been brave.

England keep coming in to' bat out', NZ are taking advantage of the small ground.

The best way to score on here seems to be to play alot of shots.. Makes sense on a small pitch..

NZ batting first has taken the upper hand from day one.. You are going to be deserved winners in this. Anything else will take a monumental effort from England and even then it probally wouldnt be deserved.

If someone asked me in December if I would take a win V the All Blacks for a loss against the Black Caps I would have taken it.

At the moment I am not sure. Its a bit of a downer as an England fan. But well done you Kiwis. You can be proud

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Mon 25 Mar 2013, 8:01 am

Guys Monty and Jimmy are still there #believe #thespiritofCardiff

by aucklandlaurie Mon 25 Mar 2013, 8:15 am

I hope this test is over as soon as possible, the damage all these cricketers are doing to a perfectly good rugby ground is tantamount to vandalism. the Blues have to play on that ground on Friday week and they need it in top condition.

by kiakahaaotearoa Mon 25 Mar 2013, 8:15 am

4 wickets albeit a night watchman in there is crucial. If England had survived the close of one wicket then there would be much more hope. But nz are into the middle order and there is no KP. Get a wicket early in the first session and it could turn into a procession. Eng must put doubt in kiwi bowlers and get rid of the attacking field. A difficult balance as McCullum will welcome Eng playing their shots. They don't need to protect runs. They just need wickets and they are more likely to come from Eng mistakes than nz skill. But that's what pressure does and Eng are the ones feeling the weight of the scoreboard. One shouldn't u underestimate what Fulton and McCullum contributed to Eng's batting in the second innings.

by mystiroakey Mon 25 Mar 2013, 8:21 am

England will make mistakes if they get bogged down protecting the wicket.

If we had played freely with no pressure yesterday - the score may have been double the runs with half the wickets.. Then a win is even on the cards.

TheEngland bat have to some how play natural. Seems impossible mind

by Pete C (Kiwireddevil) Mon 25 Mar 2013, 9:31 am

Nice piece of satire on cricinfo this morning
http://www.espncricinfo.com/blogs/content/current/story/626650.html

An apology about New Zealand-England coverage
By all UK newspapers
Along with other commentators, we may have mistakenly given the impression that the England cricket team was among the very best in the world and merely had to turn up in New Zealand in order to secure a 3-0 series victory. Although this was not our intention, we now accept that articles such as "Why England's Enforcers Will Crush Kiwi Makeweights", "Two-Tier Test Cricket: Should Sorry New Zealand Be Relegated to Women's Cricket Division Two?" and "Shambolic Sheep Fanciers Will Bend the Knee to Cook's Heroes" may have suggested that the Test series was a forgone conclusion. This was not our intention, nor did we intend any disrespect to our New Zealand opponents, who we now accept are not "lucky just to be on the same field as the likes of Broady and Ian Bell".

Subsequently, features including "Why Split Coaching is Management Masterclass", "Joe Root Will Break Every One of Tendulkar's Records" and "Steven Finn: the Most Dangerous Man Alive" have been lightly re-edited to reflect recent developments. Click in the usual places to read "Andy Flower's Spineless Desertion Has Plunged Team Into Crisis", "Joe Root Should Never Be Allowed On Cricket Pitch Again" and "Steve Finn: the Most Hopeless Man Alive".

There was a slight misprint in a special pull-out booklet given away free with a recent edition. For "Alastair Cook: England's Greatest Ever Captain?" please read "Alastair Cook Must Resign Now".

With 11 wickets falling on day two and 11 wickets falling on day three of the Auckland Test, it must now be conceded that articles such as "Cowardly Kiwi Bottle Merchants Prepare Dead Pitch in Craven Attempt to Weasel Out With a Draw" might have been premature. This column has now been corrected to read "England's Pathetic Bowlers Don't Even Know How to Hold the Ball Properly Let Alone Bowl It", which we feel better reflects the balance of play. It now seems unlikely, as we had previously claimed, that "you could bowl at England's batsmen for a year on this pitch without taking a wicket" when in fact the correct interval between wickets would appear to be "about 20 balls or so".

However, we do stand fully behind our assessment that Australia are, as had been previously claimed, "absolutely toilet".

by Pete C (Kiwireddevil) Mon 25 Mar 2013, 9:46 am

As a Kiwi fan I'm rather pleased that my pre-tour predictions have been proved wrong - I said we'd be competitive in the T20s and ODIs, while privately I expected to win the ODI series (T20s are too random to set expectations IMO), and I expected a 2-0 or 3-0 towelling in the tests.

Even if England manage to get out of jail tonight we've at least learned a few things:
- This series has confirmed our front line seam attack is a match for anyone except South Africa
- Once Guptill's fit we actually have competition for opener berths. And while Fulton and Rutherford both have technical issues that may be found out in future, their performances have shown that performing in domestic cricket can be a good indicator of test performance.
- Bruce Martin's probably as good a spinner as Daniel Vettori these days. And he's only 32 so can probably do a job for a few seasons while we work on the "successor to Vettori" plan
- McCullum is a more innovative captain than Taylor. If only NZC had been competent enough to appoint the right man in the first place, and competent enough to handle correcting their error in a way that didn't alienate Taylor or make themselves look like idiots. And if only they'd not managed to alienate John Wright too.
- Don't judge a pitch until both teams have batted and bowled on it.

by **Biltong** Mon 25 Mar 2013, 9:55 am

I said before, it isn't that easy to go to NZ and win a couple of tests.

They are gritty, the weather intervenes and the pitches aren't that easy to bowl on.

NZ is in the driver seat here, they must take it home tomorrow.

by Carrotdude Mon 25 Mar 2013, 10:37 am

I'm not sure what's worse - the fact that our batsmen have looked so inferior to the New Zealans guys or the fact that their much more inexperienced and supposedly inferior bowlers have found much more swing/seam movement and been a hell of a lot more accurate than England's.

by Pete C (Kiwireddevil) Mon 25 Mar 2013, 10:48 am

Carrotdude wrote:I'm not sure what's worse - the fact that our batsmen have looked so inferior to the New Zealans guys or the fact that their much more inexperienced and supposedly inferior bowlers have found much more swing/seam movement and been a hell of a lot more accurate than England's.

I think the key is the word "supposedly" Smile

NZ's seamers have had their moments over the past couple of seasons. Most notably in Hobart and the 2nd test in SL. I would be more worried about how good your bowlers have made our batsmen look at times (granted at other times our batsmen have shown their true nature Whistle

)

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Mon 25 Mar 2013, 10:56 am

mystiroakey wrote:England will make mistakes if they get bogged down protecting the wicket.

If we had played freely with no pressure yesterday - the score may have been double the runs with half the wickets.. Then a win is even on the cards.

TheEngland bat have to some how play natural. Seems impossible mind

All they have to do is protect there stumps. Anything wide should be left.

There was no way we were chasing that down Mysti. Not even if KP had been in the side

by Mike Selig Mon 25 Mar 2013, 10:58 am

Apologies for absence. Very upsetting couple of days with my personal cricket involvement, so haven't had much time for forum contributions or indeed watching much cricket at all.

Humble pie from me, I did not see this game going this way. Kudos to New Zealand.

What happened to the pitch? Or has it just been a combination of very good bowling and very indifferent batting?

What's going on with England? It will take a massive effort from here.

by mystiroakey Mon 25 Mar 2013, 11:00 am

Olly , we protected this morning and look were we are..(4 down!!)

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Mon 25 Mar 2013, 11:01 am

mystiroakey wrote:Olly , we protected this morning and look were we are..(4 down!!)

If we'd have gone gung ho we'd probably have been all out last night!!

This is where we miss Colly. Hulluvaplaar in this situation

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Mon 25 Mar 2013, 11:02 am

Mike Selig wrote:Apologies for absence. Very upsetting couple of days with my personal cricket involvement, so haven't had much time for forum contributions or indeed watching much cricket at all.

Humble pie from me, I did not see this game going this way. Kudos to New Zealand.

What happened to the pitch? Or has it just been a combination of very good bowling and very indifferent batting?

What's going on with England? It will take a massive effort from here.

The reason we are losing is because Trebs has not been around for this test to cast his wisdom of doom over us Wink

by GSC Mon 25 Mar 2013, 11:02 am

Honestly?

Englands application in this series has been poor. Little commitment compared to normal. Wake up call that they can't just turn up and roll over lesser teams.

NZ have played very well and have certainly outfought England in every sense.

by Carrotdude Mon 25 Mar 2013, 11:19 am

Pete C (Kiwireddevil) wrote:
Carrotdude wrote:I'm not sure what's worse - the fact that our batsmen have looked so inferior to the New Zealans guys or the fact that their much more inexperienced and supposedly inferior bowlers have found much more swing/seam movement and been a hell of a lot more accurate than England's.

I think the key is the word "supposedly"

NZ's seamers have had their moments over the past couple of seasons. Most notably in Hobart and the 2nd test in SL. I would be more worried about how good your bowlers have made our batsmen look at times (granted at other times our batsmen have shown their true nature )

Yes I think I agree with you, the NZ bowling has been very good on the whole (especially in this match), much better than England's so I think this is the worst bit as I, along with lots of people, thought we had a very good attack. No offence to Peter Fulton but any bowling attack that allows him to get 2 hundreds in a match where you can only just scrape 200 in a first innings needs serious looking at.

by Pete C (Kiwireddevil) Mon 25 Mar 2013, 11:54 am

Carrotdude wrote:
Pete C (Kiwireddevil) wrote:
Carrotdude wrote:I'm not sure what's worse - the fact that our batsmen have looked so inferior to the New Zealans guys or the fact that their much more inexperienced and supposedly inferior bowlers have found much more swing/seam movement and been a hell of a lot more accurate than England's.

I think the key is the word "supposedly"

NZ's seamers have had their moments over the past couple of seasons. Most notably in Hobart and the 2nd test in SL. I would be more worried about how good your bowlers have made our batsmen look at times (granted at other times our batsmen have shown their true nature )

Yes I think I agree with you, the NZ bowling has been very good on the whole (especially in this match), much better than England's so I think this is the worst bit as I, along with lots of people, thought we had a very good attack. No offence to Peter Fulton but any bowling attack that allows him to get 2 hundreds in a match where you can only just scrape 200 in a first innings needs serious looking at.

I saw a snippet on Cricinfo yesterday commenting on (sadly I didn't see the broadcast) Simon Doull's analysis of the bowling technique. Doull was a prodigious swinger of the ball in his day (shame about the dodgy knees) and he commented that Southee was presenting the ball towards 1st slip while Anderson was more towards 3rd - which may come down to local knowledge on how to get swing in NZ conditions. Certainly the English bowlers' length has been criticised - granted Finn probably needs to bang the ball in more (different style of seamer etc) but Broad and Anderson needed to be fuller.

England have badly miseed Swann too, while Andrerson's looked slightly off full fitness. Perhaps the way England's backups have been exposed over the past few series have made the management team less willing to take a punt on the backups.

by Pete C (Kiwireddevil) Mon 25 Mar 2013, 11:56 am

Interesting to see the Times this morning commenting on Broad's interview on SkyNZ yesterday - he was basically saying the pitch is flat and it was a combination of good bowling and poor England batting, which must have gone down well in the dressing room.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Mon 25 Mar 2013, 11:58 am

I don't see how the batsmen can think any different Pete, it has been abysmal batting by England.

Hopefully it'll give em a shot up the arse for the Ashes

by DP Mon 25 Mar 2013, 12:00 pm

England have thrown in the towel spectacularly.

I expected NZ to give us a good going but for us to win the series at least, this is just embarrassing. England's batting has been paper thin and the bowling hasn't been great either. Even more frustrating is that such an apparent close knit unit has reduced itself to arguing the field and histrionics off it (I'm looking at you, Mr. Broad).

New Zealand deserve to win.

by VTR Mon 25 Mar 2013, 12:03 pm

So we're relying on Mr Spineless Ian Bell to save this one tomorrow. I think we can safely say the defeat is in the bag then!

by mystiroakey Mon 25 Mar 2013, 12:27 pm

Olly wrote:
mystiroakey wrote:Olly , we protected this morning and look were we are..(4 down!!)

If we'd have gone gung ho we'd probably have been all out last night!!

This is where we miss Colly. Hulluvaplaar in this situation

kiwis went gun ho. They may well be beating us up. But lets get real. Even the most one eyed Kiwi will admit they are not better.. just like there is no way we are a better rugby team..

As i said - natural batting is the order of the day(not protecting or bashing). As you would starting a test with zero pressure to score quick or stay in..

Offcourse its close to impossible when the pressure is on. As i said..

by Liam Mon 25 Mar 2013, 1:39 pm

Bell needs a big knock. He's the one of the only two senior batters left along with Prior and must lead by example tomorrow. Have to say, I have been impressed with the NZ bowlers, especially Bolt and Martin. Superb bowling, attacking and positive which England have not been so far. NZ have taken the game to England, and England have simply not fought back.

Chance for Bairstow to step up again like he did against SA. Fact is the pitch is pretty rubbish and isn't offering much. Its all about getting your head down and playing each ball on merit. England can't afford to try and block all day tomorrow. If the balls there to be hit, play your natural game and go for that drive or pull. Think Bell needs to get after Martin in the first session and don't allow him to settle. Bell has got some fantastic footwork and needs to show it tomorrow.

by DP Mon 25 Mar 2013, 1:48 pm

England's issue all series, Liam. They've batted poorly on pitches where, in reality, they should be getting big scores.

The whole test side of the tour has reeked of complacency, and it's a bitter pill to swallow.

by Liam Mon 25 Mar 2013, 2:28 pm

Completely agree. They have taken NZ for granted after beating India when they should have approached the series the same way. You could see there was an air of complaceny in the warm up games especially, now we are certainly seeing it in the test series and how we are paying for it.

by Taylorman Mon 25 Mar 2013, 4:02 pm

Well the one thing going for them is Aus are getting humiliated as we speak with their 4-0 loss so an interesting if not peak form Ashes series coming up.

Yesterday was possibly NZ's best all round day of test cricket for some years. Its not often we see back to back centuries by the same player, knicking two vital wickets at the death to set up an excellent chance for the last day.

Mind you, its in these situations that the opposition still manage to unearth some new hero to save the day, batting through unril the final whistle, because in all honesty thats what its going to take. One end will keep falling, but someone needs to bat through.

by kiakahaaotearoa Mon 25 Mar 2013, 4:06 pm

They got caught off guard with little in the way of preparation. The weather intervened there to help Eng but it helped nz in the second test and eng were unlucky not to get a result. But I think eng thought that the natural order had been restored after the brief fright in the first test and I think they underestimated nz again. Sent them into bat firstly thinking they could bowl them cheaply out and build a big innings lead and when that didn't go to plan they've been looking shell shocked ever since and not quite sure how they've found themselves in this predicament.

by NickisBHAFC Mon 25 Mar 2013, 5:41 pm

If we win tonight, ill change my name to gay boy

#MissionImpossible

by mystiroakey Mon 25 Mar 2013, 5:54 pm

Whats the big deal about calling yourself gay boy. Its only like me calling myself Straight dude!

Its factual. You dont have to tell your sexual preference to the world pal.. Each to there own

by GSC Mon 25 Mar 2013, 5:58 pm

Also a win is about as close to impossible as it gets. Draw or loss the only outcomes available.

by Liam Mon 25 Mar 2013, 6:42 pm

It seems like de javu with Ian Bell again. He desperately needs a knock because he's been very quiet recently. Always seems to pick up some form, go into a dreadful slump of form, only for a superb hundred to save/win a game. What's required from him tomorrow with the only other senior batsmen being Prior left. Would love him to go after Martin early tomorrow, use his feet and put him and NZ on the back foot. Don't see the point in allowing NZ to bowl to us tomorrow and get us bogged down.

by Duty281 Mon 25 Mar 2013, 7:01 pm

England's preparation and application in this series has been dire. We're not a bad team, but we're being bettered by a team so much more up for it than we are. It's quite depressing that we haven't learnt the lessons from Pakistan last year. Still 1 day to save ourselves, be it a miraculous draw or the greatest come-from-behind win in the history of Test Cricket, the chance is still there.

#nosurrender #thegreatescape #englandtillidie #ianbellissuperman #supermattyprior #yorkshiregrit #nowornever #comeonengland

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