England vs New Zealand, First Test at Lords

First topic message reminder :

England: Cook (c), Compton, Trott, Bell, Root, Bairstow, Prior, Broad, Swann, Anderson, Finn.
NZ: Fulton, Rutherford, Williamson, Taylor, Brownlie, McCullum (c), BJ Watling, Southee, Wagner, Boult, Martin

England win the toss and will bat first

66 of 72 from Taylor. A fabulous effort on a track where everyone else struggled to get going..

I thought perhaps Brendon McCullum should have come in at 5 to keep the tempo up. But its Brownlie who has joined KW.

Anderson strikes. Need a few more really

Get in from a long day at college. Flick the TV on and see a wicket!!!

Yeah as GSC says though, could do with a few more before the end of today's play.

NZ ned to aim to bat as many overs as Eng did and they would get a lead of 100 to 150.
Taylor has shown fire in his belly and batted like the man with a point to prove

Had to happen. Matty P was names England player of the year this week and now he has made a golden and dropped a catch! Was always going to happen!

Ah frustration. That stubborn partnership is broken, but a dropped catch has dampened the mood again.

I'm worried about England's bowling tbh, Finn and Broad seem to be going backwards. Swann and Anderson the only threats. That said Prior has dropped one and a caught behind wasn't appealed and Swann just missed the stumps by inches so they could/should be at least 5 down by now

Williamson and Brownlie have also put together a good partnership so far. NZ are 142-3. Brownlie had a fdw shots where he wasn't in full control, and Williamson has had his moments of good furtune, first when he was dropped by Prior, and then when the umpire failed to spot an edge down the leg side of Finn.

Finn strikes, Brownlie gone. An opening for England, another wicket here, things will be even.

Nip out 1 more and it won't have been as bad as it could've been

Brownlie given out LBW on review, a good call to review there from Cook, the ball had taken both pads, could have thought that it would have taken the bat. But they went for the review and the correct decision was made as there was no bat involved.

Another 17 overs remaining in the day. Unlikely to get them all in, but if they could nip out one of these 2 in the remaining time, thins would be nicely set up.

NZ's day that.

They should be able to build a good lead here and rattle eng batting again if eng don't sort it out.

Certainly New Zealand's day. They managed to get the remaining 6 England wickets for the addition of only 72 rather slowly scored runs, and at close are behind by only 79 with 6 wickets remaining. Fine hand from Ross Taylor with the bat, he set it all up with a very well paced 66. Kane Williamson has been largely solid.
England can still come back to the game with early wickets tomorrow, but at the moment, NZ are well placed.

Early wickets are the key tomorrow, and that goes without saying of course.

Well done Jimmy, you've made many Lancastrians proud! Very consistent and has steadily improved even since he got back into the side, whereas Broad still needs to learn consistency, he's either very good or very poor!
McCullum could make a good few runs quickly tomorrow and give NZ a decent lead, or what happened to England today could easily happen to NZ, game is still almost in the balance, leaning NZs way atm.

saw the highlight package.....and while highlights don't capture the mood and ebb and flow of an intesne day,......few things stood out

--there is little between the two bowling attacks in terms of seam and swing abilites.....especially propped up by these conditons.....if at all anything Eng's is slightly better and faster......
But Eng could not elevate themselves to the same level of discipline and control as NZ seamers did.......far more shorter and over ptiched stuff dished out.

--and Taylor was the other obvious diffrence,....when the batting conditons are tough..ball darting around and any ball might get you....only "eating" balls for survival is not enouhg...someone's gotta attack..take chances and make his 60 to 70 odd ball stay count...which is what Taylor did.
and that's what Mccullum is capable of doing and can take the game away from England to^mmorow with his 60 odd.

Both are NZ's biigest stars in IPL....thtouhg they didn't fire this year in IPL

Eng's is missing such a "take-away the game batter"...their IPL star

--the other aspect of Enag's game that had taken them to No.1...... is Prior, Broad, Bresnan and Swann contributing from No.7 thru 10 and making Eng competitive even when top-6 undeperformed.

That No.7 thru No.10 show was missing atleast today due to various reasons.

--and finally Swann turned a couple of deliveries square....so if Eng go so far as setting even 150+ in the 4th inning ...Swann might be a handful

Pietersen was most certainly missed, no doubt whatsoever. However, the way Taylor batted, even for that matter Dean Brownlie who is not as gifted as Taylor, the kind of positivity he showed, make it clear that England's approach with the bat was far too negative.
The England management will have to think long and hard about Stuart Broad's batting.His batting has certainly declined. He used to be a cultured lower order batsman, the ability was very clearly there. Perhaps its a mental issue with him, perhaps its the lack of bowling form, but at the moment he doesn't deserve that number 8 batting position. The management has to do more than just retaining him at 8, they have to get down to the core of the problem that is afflicting his batting.

msp83 wrote:Pietersen was most certainly missed, no doubt whatsoever. However, the way Taylor batted, even for that matter Dean Brownlie who is not as gifted as Taylor, the kind of positivity he showed, make it clear that England's approach with the bat was far too negative.
The England management will have to think long and hard about Stuart Broad's batting.His batting has certainly declined. He used to be a cultured lower order batsman, the ability was very clearly there. Perhaps its a mental issue with him, perhaps its the lack of bowling form, but at the moment he doesn't deserve that number 8 batting position. The management has to do more than just retaining him at 8, they have to get down to the core of the problem that is afflicting his batting.

msp...you raise a good point about Broad.
It seems he is treated as an untouchanble........based on the memories of the good day.

His batting has declined...and his bolwing also patchy at best......is he good enouhg to be in the side as a pure bolwer?

Is he amongst the top 3 seamers in England?

His position also should be open to competitive and performance based pressures

Broad's batting is a frustration, mostly because when he was coming through the county game many people thought he could be a long-term 6 or 7. I guess the amount of work he's had to do on his bowling at international level may have contributed.

His place in the Test side is not nailed on - he dropped behind Finn in India. However, he is a proven match-winner (v Australia at The Oval in '09, v SA in Durham '09-10, right through the series at home v India in 2011 and was awesome in defeat in the UAE). Even in NZ he produced some superb spells. For that reason he is persisted with despite his chronic inconsistency which has dogged him through his whole career.

To be honest I think England are correct to stick with him. Nothing I've seen from Finn, Bresnan or even those on the outside suggests that they are likely to do a markedly better job than Broad is. Finn is probably more out of sorts than Broad at the moment.

I would like to see another bowler given a go. Earlier in the season I'd have been angling for TRJ but I'm a little concerned that he hasn't quite nailed it since the first game of the season. Wright and Woakes also haven't looked Test class when I've seen them on TV, and Meaker was dire v Durham last week. Onions is in the wickets but for a bowler of his type Tests are a step up and he may not have the nip he had pre-injury when he was briefly a Test regular.

Crucial session today. If McCullum can get his eye in and get some runs like Taylor, it'll be inevitable NZ overtake the England total and then pressure can be applied. If England can get a few wickets as the new ball is still quite some distance away they'll feel the boost in confidence and then they too can apply some pressure.

The game is set up where this session has the balance of the game up for grabs. We saw in England when they needed to respond they did so. It's going to be intriguing, therefore, to see who can get the upper hand.

Allright lads..


Wow NZ doing the business again!!

Great start after the score was 2 wickets for 10 runs or something..


Its good that wickets are falling though. We may get a result

Lovely ball from Broad. Poor decision to review that as well.

Very god start from broad., This match is really on. I will be very suprised if there is any thing more than 20 difference between the first innings scores

Perfect start for England. Broad had some work to do to make up for some poor bowling late yesterday , and he has already gone some way towards that. Big wicket.

As to yesterday , I have to say KP fan's summary covered it all quite comprehensively...agree completely.

Has been good from England so far this morning...Broad keeping it fuller , early wicket and few runs , all keeps NZ batsmen under pressure .

It is important they keep it going like this , so Finn will need to be on the spot when he comes on . If he can do so , one of them is going to get a reward soon.

New ball won't be here until after lunch , so tight bowling now is essential.

I will never know why Broad goes through these spells where he just bowls too short consistently. Then he pitches it up more and looks a lot more threatening.

Bell is at the team hotel with flu basically. Explains why he looked so off on day 1.

1 batter down

GSC wrote:I will never know why Broad goes through these spells where he just bowls too short consistently. Then he pitches it up more and looks a lot more threatening.

Well, yes, although pitching it up too much was probably the issue he had v SA last year and in India! (got quite floaty).

Perhaps he needs to learn which tricks to use on which pitches!

GSC wrote:Bell is at the team hotel with flu basically. Explains why he looked so off on day 1.

1 batter down

In your opinion!!

Fifty for Williamson

Slow , and had his share of luck , but he is doing a job for NZ .

Rather than just rotate the three seamers , I hope Cook introduces Swann early today , especially with Watling still playing a little hesitantly.

Kane Williamson has reached his 50. A stubborn knock from KW. But the early wicket of McCullum has left these 2 with a lot of ground to cover. NZ are 168-5 at the moment. Another wicket at this point, England can even entertain thoughts of a small first innings lead. They leed by 64 at the moment.

If NZ get a good lead then these drops will be why.

and now they survive a tight lbw.

the luck is with them. get the feeling it's their game. three times on the bounce Broad could have had them there.

blimey dropping catches, the ball not carrying .. All over them at the moment.. But no Cuban!

balls if the umpire had called that out it was out!


Yeah yeah Ifs and buts!! blah blah!

Dropped catch ! Trott probably better to have left that to Swann ; though of course you don't have time to make those judgements in slips...

And then a marginal lbw goes against Broad...add in an edge that didn't carry and Broad can call that a very unlucky over !

Williamson is beaten again and this time his luck fails him.

He picks up the scoring rate against Jimmy.. Jimmy nails him.

NZ well positioned to lead here though with some decent batting to come.

Uncharacteristic short ball from Jimmy goes for four...England mustn't get too excited here and concede runs

...and anyway a strangle for Jimmy down leg and at last Williamson's luck runs out...

Wicket!!


Not before time!!

Was that Jimmy's swings profiting from Broad's roundabouts ?

Or is it all down to Trebell ? Well timed Reverse , mate

Another wicket now could see a swift end to this innings...however these two have bowled - very well - for a hour now , so Finn and Swann are going to to take up the job soonish...

Southee is known for his aggression , so things could happen quickly then !

I would keep these two on. Dont change a winning thing

Good to get Southee out before he causes any major damage

Well I called that right

Finn probably didn't like the three boundaries but he will call that a fair deal in the end I guess.
Though England would prefer the last three a bit cheaper...

Anderson gets Martin a lot cheaper ! Well bowled , far too good for a number 9 ...

Five for Jimmy , and England on top

That was a beautiful delivery

Well bowled Jimmy

This game could be killer tommorow-A great bolwers pitch... NZ next time we come to you. Think about the game of cricket will yA!!!


It doesnt have to be a borefest

Absolutely brilliant execution of swing bowling there by Jimmy; inswinger, inswinger then outswinger and bowled! Wasted on a tailender!

Alfie

Where is swan then if you called it right

Looks like it'll be close to a 1 innings shootout. We are minus a fit Bell though