New Zealand v England, T20 Series

Starts 06:00 GMT, the first of three in this T20 series, which is the way cricket appears to be heading these days. New Zealand will be joyous and buoyant at their ODI series win over South Africa, whilst England are still trying to find their best team for the shortest form of the game, after a decidedly hit and miss limited overs campaign in India.

Probable teams (Cricinfo):

New Zealand (probable) 1 Hamish Rutherford, 2 Martin Guptill, 3 Brendon McCullum (capt & wk), 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Colin Munro, 6 James Franklin, 7 Andrew Ellis, 8 Jimmy Neesham, 9 Nathan McCullum, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Mitchell McClenaghan

England (probable) 1 Alex Hales, 2 Michael Lumb, 3 Luke Wright, 4 Jonny Bairstow, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Jos Buttler (wk), 7 Samit Patel, 8 Stuart Broad (capt), 9 James Tredwell, 10 Steven Finn, 11 Jade Dernbach

England heading for a big score of well over 200.

191/4 after 17 overs.

Dear me, this pitch is ridiculous. So many short boundaries!

It's a funny shaped ground.

A few skied catches... England should have probably got to over 220.

214/8 after 20 overs.

England fielding a lot better than NZ

Better bowling too. Ellis holes out.

NZ 135/8... only 23 balls left.

Required run rate up to 82.5

Missed all this . Playing , then drinking

But looks like a pretty good day for England ... Good score , professional job of defending it...

Luke Wright seems to have had a good day ? Whenever I see him play I wish he could transfer the short form skills into at least the fifty over game , as he is the sort of player who can win matches for his team very quickly ; but so far he seems unable to do it over an extended period. Is there a chance for him still at 50 over ?

T20 being what it is , NZ may well hit back next match , but a good start...

Alfie its nit jus that Wright does itinfrequently but also ththe onlky tend to do itagainstweak opposition. In warmup games and forhis county hes superb, but against the top interational teams...largely woeful with the bat. Thats T20 and 50 over.

Jade Dernbach...why?
Not quite the most expensive England bowler but the only seamer not to take wickets. Is far too long since he either bowled economicaly or took wicets, ideally both, in a game.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote: Jade Dernbach...why?
Not quite the most expensive England bowler but the only seamer not to take wickets. Is far too long since he either bowled economicaly or took wicets, ideally both, in a game.

He did at least bowl his first two overs for 14 in the power play.

Good England win, but nothing special to be honest as a team like Australia would have scored more runs quickly on that wicket with guys like Glenn Maxwell and Shane Watson, whilst a dangerous bowler like Mitchell Starc would run through the hapless NZ batting easily just as he did V West Indies in the first ODI.

A good win, but no need to get carried away given the opposition and the venue.

McClenaghan looks like he's got something for NZ, but you feel they need another specialist instead of Ellis. Also, playing Hira on this ground was always going to be a big risk.

As already said, a solid 40 run win for England. Broad 4-24 and contributions by all 6 of the English top order deserve credit.

Shelsey93 wrote:A good win, but no need to get carried away given the opposition and the venue.

McClenaghan looks like he's got something for NZ, but you feel they need another specialist instead of Ellis. Also, playing Hira on this ground was always going to be a big risk.

Don't think the All Blacks need another bits and pieces player which is what Ellis is. What they need is another batsman who can play a big destructive style of innings like a Glenn Maxwell or a Shane Watson. To me Luke Ronchi should get selected in the next T20 match as he has the capability to play this type of destructive innings in the shorter format of the game.

What I don't get Finn against India when he got Raina and kicked the stumps wasn't given a warning and it was called a dead ball, against New Zealand kicks stumps and gets given a warning. Consistency please!

very good win, however Finn needs to start being more careful....his temper in recent times is starting to boil over, and as a bowler you need to keep the umpire on your side...

hodge wrote:What I don't get Finn against India when he got Raina and kicked the stumps wasn't given a warning and it was called a dead ball, against New Zealand kicks stumps and gets given a warning. Consistency please!

Apparently there's a "gentleman's agreement" in place for this series that he's allowed 1 warning per innings. Personally I hope the MCC gets around to just declaring the act a no ball. Finn will learn quickly enough if it costs runs

I hope the MCC gets its act together and declares it for what the laws say it is - a legal delivery, with the caveat that it is already now harder to get a run-out at the bowler's end. Ridiculous that it should be a dead ball, no-ball or anything else.

On the game, I thought it wasn't a great advert for T20 TBH - with such short boundaries the bowlers were never really in it, and the clever innovations and interest which T20 has generated were rarely visible. It became too much "hit and giggle" for my liking.

The ideal T20 wicket has pace and consistent bounce so batsmen can hit through the line, but with lateral movement on offer and decent boundaries for the bowlers. We see far too few of them around.

Finally at the risk of sounding like an old man, I'm fed up with slow over-rates in T20. A great part of the challenge of the format is the speed at which you have to make decisions, both as a batsman, bowler and captain. Sri Lanka the other night I thought brought the game into disrepute frankly by taking more than half an hour to bowl the last 5 overs.

All because cliche-man Broad is back as Captain with his words of wisdom.....

"We must hit our marks!".."give 110%"....."No pain no gain"......."It isn't over till the fat lady sings"......"Practice makes perfect"........

What a guy..

Black Caps doing a lot better in the 2nd T20 in Hamilton.

They posted 192 in their 20 overs.

England currently 63/6.

Is this the worst performance in T20 history? Must be top 3

It's not their day is it? Happens to the best of us.

England been battered today! Buttler has at least salvaged some pride.

Best news is Dernbachs probably bowled himself back into a job by "only" conceding 9.5 an over



BTW this doesnt even register on the list of all time bum handings involving proper test teams, that honour of course goes to AUSTRALIA who were beaten by 100 runs by ENGALND ...yes LINEBREAKER indeed it happens to the best of us, and some average teams too featuring such mediocre players as Gilchrist, Hayden, Symonds, Clarke, Hussey, Ponting, Lee, McGrath etc etc http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/211028.html

Australia still have a better record in all forms though Peter. Like in rugby too.

Well that must be a great solace to you and your boy GBN at night. Im sure George Bailey will help continue that fine tradition.

Its not really a fair comparison anyway, England have to pick players like Wright, Lumb, Patel and Dernbach. Im sure if they had more better players then theyd win more games

Buttlers turned a corner at least. Bairstow though, needs a score. Not sure his confidence was helped by the ODI keeper debacle but he continues to disappoint for a player with such a big reputation from the county game.

Butler will do even better when you learn to spell his name correctly.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:Well that must be a great solace to you and your boy GBN at night. Im sure George Bailey will help continue that fine tradition.

Its not really a fair comparison anyway, England have to pick players like Wright, Lumb, Patel and Dernbach. Im sure if they had more better players then theyd win more games

Buttlers turned a corner at least. Bairstow though, needs a score. Not sure his confidence was helped by the ODI keeper debacle but he continues to disappoint for a player with such a big reputation from the county game.

Our best ODI players Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell weren't playing last night. Also Joe Root wasn't selected in the final XI which weakened our batting.

Linebreaker wrote:Butler will do even better when you learn to spell his name correctly.

Its him that cant spell it right. Joe Butter.

Call me when the rest of the internet knows the difference between Pietersen, Peterson, and Pieterson.



Boycs,
Not sure Trott can really be called one of Englands best T20 players, or even Root really but as a certain Indian chap would endlessly point out KP is a big miss. That aside this is a one off result and stuff happens in T20 (as it did in the previous game). Bad day at the office, but humiliating but there you go.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:

Linebreaker wrote:Butler will do even better when you learn to spell his name correctly.

Its him that cant spell it right. Joe Butter.

Call me when the rest of the internet knows the difference between Pietersen, Peterson, and Pieterson.



Boycs,
Not sure Trott can really be called one of Englands best T20 players, or even Root really but as a certain Indian chap would endlessly point out KP is a big miss. That aside this is a one off result and stuff happens in T20 (as it did in the previous game). Bad day at the office, but humiliating but there you go.

I was thinking more about the ODI 50 overs version of the game rather than the crash bang wallop fast food format for those with short attention spans.

T20 is ideally suited to the professional knee jerking armchair critic ... even if you are wrong today there's a great chance you'll be right tomorrow...I am sure this result will draw a crowd on the BBC comments

It is good to see that this superior board , full of sensible and discerning students of the game , attracts only a modest number of posts containing mostly gentle teasing of opposition supporters.

Perspective lives ... at least on 606v2

Best of three series should , ideally , always be decided in the last match , so for the spectators this is the best outcome. Of course both teams want to win every match , but I have a sneaking suspicion that defeats - even heavy ones - in this format probably don't weigh long on the minds of the participants . World Cup matches excepted , of course.

The great thing about T20 is if your team loses it doesn't really matter. I think I was pleased with the win in the first game for about 23 seconds, disappointment today lasted about 18 seconds.

Yet I'm still annoyed by the Tests in the UAE a year ago!

Good result for New Zealand. They are slowly getting back to their usual status as potential challengers in the limited over formats against any side. Taylor hasn't hit his straps as yet, but Guptill has found his touch, and young Rutherford looks one with a good temprament. Can't say much about his technique only from watching T-20Is, but I feel he has a good international future. Brendon McCullum is a top T-20I player and yet again he showed it, and James Franklin is an asset in limited over matches. Mitchell Mcclenaghan continues to impress.
For England, the only good thing that has come out of this game is Jos Buttler's innings. Keepers haven't been enjoying any real stability in the England limited over setup, Buttler has certainly earned for himself some game time here with this knock, and also the decent performance in the first game. He should now get a run, and I feel he could actually make it.

Ouch, a nasty case of our batting being found out again.

Got to get in top of it, happening too often.

Shows how random t20 is though. Both teams have pasted each other now.

Agreed, till we win the next one then it counts double

The England Aus game I cited previously as a bit of a WUM is actually a great example of how arbitrary T20 can be (John Lewis outbowling Mcgrath?), once things go wrong they can go very wrong...and a destructive batsman can absolutely change the course of a game with a stroke of luck instead of getting out.


Buttler has made up for his poor start to international cricket the last few innings and is set to be the ODI keeper (Giles managed to make a right hash of the decision and apparently gave Bairstow the impression it would be him) for this series at least. Hes not scored huge runs but thats not hat hes there for, its the speed he gets them at an ability to capitalise on PPs thats required...England have an abundance of more stable bats up the order in ODIs.
T20 I still feel we have too many flaky and mentally weak players who arent bringing their domestic form to the international table. KP may be nuts but hes a big game man, England miss him. Patels once in a lifetime knock in India still doesnt convince me that hes a frontline bowler of a batsman of any kind.

Is Chris Woakes in the T20 squad? If he is then he should have played instead of Patel, whilst someone like Joe Root should be opening the batting instead of Michael Lumb who it seems just isn't good enough to play at international level in any of the 3 different types of formats of the game.

Seemed like an advantage to bowl second today, more movement for the seamers - very odd that both captains wanted to bowl first.

England were outperformed today, let NZ get too many first up and then couldn't cope with the pressure of how many were required or some excellent NZ bowling. I have to question why Lumb is in our side, never looked anything like good enough to me - surely Prior, Bell or someone else could do a better job?

Anyway, Jos Buttler continues his fine form and is showing what a fantastic player he is, could well become a fixture at number 5/6 in the shorter formats and be a key player going forward both at finishing innings and rebuilding early collapses.

Carrotdude wrote:Seemed like an advantage to bowl second today, more movement for the seamers - very odd that both captains wanted to bowl first.

England were outperformed today, let NZ get too many first up and then couldn't cope with the pressure of how many were required or some excellent NZ bowling. I have to question why Lumb is in our side, never looked anything like good enough to me - surely Prior, Bell or someone else could do a better job?

Anyway, Jos Buttler continues his fine form and is showing what a fantastic player he is, could well become a fixture at number 5/6 in the shorter formats and be a key player going forward both at finishing innings and rebuilding early collapses.

Seems like Lumb is only in the T20 side because of his expertise at pinch hitting at the start of the innings. Maybe it works for him on the slow, spin friendly wickets in India, but this will never work on bowler friendly seam/swinging wickets in other countries as his batting technique simply isn't tight enough.

The problem with Woakes is that his domestic record is almost as bad as his international one in limited overs games.

Root I can see a much bigger justification for long term. he does appear to be one of those rare players for England who might be able to make an impression in all 3 formats, and even offers a bit of change bowling (the problem being its just a poor version of what Swann ad Tredwell already offer)
I assume for the time being England are keen for him to focus on the longer formats, develop his game gradually .. restrict how much is being thrown at him at once etc.
Lumb is one of those players who has been given opportunities but never done enough to convince hes really got it at this level. It strikes me as a waste to have bought him (at 30somethingnotsmall) on this tour as a place filler for KP.

All Lumb seems to do is swing and miss with the occasional edge.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:The problem with Woakes is that his domestic record is almost as bad as his international one in limited overs games.

Root I can see a much bigger justification for long term. he does appear to be one of those rare players for England who might be able to make an impression in all 3 formats, and even offers a bit of change bowling (the problem being its just a poor version of what Swann ad Tredwell already offer)
I assume for the time being England are keen for him to focus on the longer formats, develop his game gradually .. restrict how much is being thrown at him at once etc.
Lumb is one of those players who has been given opportunities but never done enough to convince hes really got it at this level. It strikes me as a waste to have bought him (at 30somethingnotsmall) on this tour as a place filler for KP.

Not surprising really that England are looking at replacing one Saffa with another Saffa! But in all seriousness though, it seems our T20 team is the exact opposite to the West Indies T20 team in terms of strengths and weaknesses and overall balance. West Indies like to stack as many batsmen/bits and pieces players into their playing XI whilst further weakening their bowling, whilst England it appears like to stack as many bowlers/bits and pieces type players in their playing XI whilst weakening their batting by not selecting someone like Joe Root instead of one of the bits and pieces players such as Luke Wright and Samit Patel.

55 run defeat in t20 is a battering, and it was a very poor performance!

CF wrote:55 run defeat in t20 is a battering, and it was a very poor performance!

Not as big a battering as the West Indies suffered at the hands of Australia in that first ODI match!

odi's and t20 are different formats..

CF wrote:odi's and t20 are different formats..

Makes no difference really if a team gets bowled out before finishing its full 50 overs, whilst the other team canters to a easy win by reaching the target score inside 10 or so overs.

It was a heavy defeat but it often happens when chasing a large total as you don't have time to play yourself in so much it becomes very all or nothing, especially when you lose 2 in 2 balls in the 2nd over.

England win the toss and chose to bowl in the 3rd T20 in Wellington.

NZ 29/1 after 6 overs.

140 runs needed by England to win.

Apart from Guptill and Brendan McCullum nobody really got going. Decent bowling from England... they showed a bit more aggression.

Maybe it's one of those difficult pitches, outfield is certainly on the slow side.*

*Smithy just said what I just wrote.

Good bowling by Broad again. England should get this.