New Zealand v England, T20 Series

First topic message reminder :

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

Yeah, Dernbach got a couple more in the end but Broad the pick of the bowlers.

Something happened to Finn's thumb. Bumble said: "Get him off right away!" but it seems he is OK.

Not sure if 140 is enough, but it didn't look all that easy to up the rate in the end.

If england keeps to the required run rate then they will do it easily, fall behind, they might struggle

LB, you gonna watch the Rebels and the Force in a short while?

yeah, for sure. Thanks for the reminder. Just having a peep at the Wimmin's match.

Might start a Super XV thread with table if it hasn't been done already.

NZ getting a bit of a tonking here at the start. Lumb hit a couple of sixes in the fourth over, dropped catch by McCullum and it is 33/0 after 3.4 overs

The english opners are just riding their luck here, not much in the way of calculated risks, more a case of swining and hoping.

Exactly the reason why T20 will always just be wack 'em and smack 'em to me

Hales rather enjoying himself last over

Might be a pretty short game...

It'll be over before the rugby starts at 7:30 here. How considerate

Is Dernback going to be the next Luke Wright, as in hes an automatic pick for shorter formats despite never doing anything

Pretty comprehensive win ...ten wickets , twelve & a bit overs...Some impressive hitting from Hales & Lumb

On to the medium length games.

I rather enjoyed that, brutal batting. 2-1 England, on to the ODIs starting on Sunday. Advance England!

GSC wrote:Is Dernback going to be the next Luke Wright, as in hes an automatic pick for shorter formats despite never doing anything

6 wickets in two games?

His economy continues to be woeful though. I was amazed they didnt end him after he fell apart in the last India game.


What a daft series this has been. Better its at the start of the tour than a long drawn out painful end to one as the limited overs games usually are.

I don't know. On the one hand yes - get them out of the way first, then ODIs, then Tests but I reckon in certain places like Australia - start with Tests, then ODIs... then finally T20s when the summer has past it's peak and all the folks with short attention spans can have their fun.

Late spring, early summer here (Nov/Dec) is usually drier... then from late Jan into Feb we tend to get more rain & thunderstorms.

Pointless series, if anyone remembers the result of this in 6 months time I'd be amazed. Would prefer international T20 to be World Cup only but that aint going to happen, it will probably go the other way so we'll have to put up with the thrill of top edges flying for 6 on a more regular basis.

Pleased to see England bounce back, bat well and thrash NZ rather than rolling over. Good win.

trebellbobaggins wrote:Pleased to see England bounce back, bat well and thrash NZ rather than rolling over. Good win.

England can be very infuriating to watch/support. Either they win easily as in the 1st and 3rd ODI matches, or they get rolled over easily as in the 2nd ODI match.

Indeed. Lack of consistency.

trebellbobaggins wrote:Indeed. Lack of consistency.

Not really. Just the nature of the format. No side is consistent in T20.

Weird how one-sided the series was despite the same team not winning all 3! I much prefer a tour that works this way round, much like the 2005 Ashes. T20, then ODIs then Tests. Finish with the pinnacle and most important format, IMO it gives the touring side more chance to acclimatise and prepare.

Btw I could see Hales getting the nod for ODI's in the near future, I'd be happy with him if we needed a new opener.

I like the theory of t20 first etc , appetizers on to the main course , and think it works best most places. But I also see what Linebreaker is getting at : in Australia things are a little different with the bulk of the population taking their long holidays from Dec-Jan ... by February there is plenty of cricket weather left but everyone is back at work and perhaps the day/night short form is well placed....Perhaps the best arrangement for Australia would be a one day series in November , play the Tests through December and January and finish with the 20 over stuff ? Trouble is the TV station wields a lot of influence here ...

That's a good suggestion too.
Don't get me wrong - I'd prefer the build up from minor to major events but with 3 different teams touring in a 3-4 month window... it's all over the place at the moment.

ShankyCricket wrote:

trebellbobaggins wrote:Indeed. Lack of consistency.

Not really. Just the nature of the format. No side is consistent in T20.

Indeed, that is why some {myself} hate it, and some love it, or some just do not care. It is such a lottery, to the extent where a below average team can have an exceptional 20 overs or the time of the day factor, thus beating a far superior team on an occasional basis.

Bangladesh?

I like it, it's fun, but I don't take too much notice of results/performances of the team I support. If the bowling is bad then it's annoying because bad bowling is bad in all formats but if decent balls getting carted for 6 then not a lot you can do. With the batsmen they have to try and score fast and inevitably it will sometimes work and sometimes make you look silly.

I guess, that is why i hate it, for a lot of peeps it is just fun to watch regardless of the result, and then if it is your team on the losing side: who cares, it is forgotten 20 minutes later!

Thus, not for me anyway making it a good sporting spectacle.

Pot black on steroids

Lose the hate skyeman!

It's only a game but as you say we all have the attention span of a fruit fly when our team loses.