Forum Topic

England v New Zealand,  Test match at Lords

There is another event happening in London today, see above.New Zealand win the toss and correctly choose to bat first against an England side, deprived of their aspiring young fast bowlers due to injuries, and having to resort to their old guard Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad to hopefully quell the tide against the world's 3rd ranked cricket team.To top this ominous beginning England, barely half an hour into the match, lose Jack Leach, their one spinner with concussion, tumbling over the boundary rope.At luncheon the scorecard reveals New Zealand have accumulated 39 runs for the loss of 6 wickets; rookie James Potts capturing three of them.Another man on fire, Johnny Bairstow holds onto three sharp ones in the slips.The penultimate over before lunch the players drop proceedings to line up together, and along with an upstanding crowd acknowledge the great Shane Warne.Who says Test cricket is boring?

Denis I. Fox ● 1572d11 Comments

Packed the kids off to football camp, so enjoying the match without distraction.98-8 - they just need to finish them off now!

Ed Saper ● 1572d

You make it seem like being able to pick to of the best bowlers that England has ever produced as some kind of disadvantage.I think they would have been picked in any case as the ground and conditions suit them perfectly and they have had a good rest from top level cricket.They will also be raring to go to remind the selectors what they missed,as the experiment without them hardly worked out at all.Jimmy got 4 wickets today, although its a long time since he went for more than 4 an over.

Keith Iddon ● 1572d

Where's Bobby Osborne?

Stephen Gould ● 1572d

He was in the field at covid point.Having watch this 'new dawn' of English cricket I can't help what might have happened if Stokes hadn't been persuaded that charging down the wicket at the Kiwi's slow medium pacers was a bad idea by the no-ball reprieve. This may have been the sort of idiocy that Root as captain would have talked him out of and it could be just that we got away with it this time. Not optimistic for the second test when the Kiwis are over their jet lag.

Francis Rowe ● 1569d

Fair to say we need a genuine quick back, but we have a long tail and the real problem is still the opening pair imo.We need to get somewhere near 120ish before losing a wicket.

Keith Iddon ● 1568d

New Zealand edging the day in this final session. They did demonstrate a high degree of confidence by choosing to open the batting with a former Pop Idol winner which perhaps unsettled the England bowlers.

Francis Rowe ● 1564d

Bright sunny day,no dampness in the air or clouds in the sky..I was surprised Stokes chose to field,even though we have a good record at this ground when batting second.I am not sure there is enough confidence in the batting unit as a whole,not surprisingly considering their stats.over the last couple of years.I reckon the target will be 450-480.

Keith Iddon ● 1564d

Gilbert Jessop can rest easy in his grave that Johnny Bairstow didn't manage to break his record. Yet another failure by the England middle order.

Francis Rowe ● 1560d

They made the abscence of one of NZ's bowlers count and played it like a one day game run chase, 299 runs in 50 overs.Fantastic stuff,hopefully they have turned a corner and started believing in themselves.A bit of tinkering still needed in the batting imo but when the quicks are available for selection we just might have a formidable side.

Keith Iddon ● 1560d

An amazing day where the momentum of the game kept changing and what an amazing innings by Jonny Bairstow that ultimately determined the outcome of the game. Good support and belief from Ben Stokes too.

Andrew Jones ● 1560d

Trent Bridge can never have had a day's play as perfect as that yesterday.Neil Diamond aficionados would have described it perfectly:It was So Good, So Good, So Good.

Denis I. Fox ● 1559d