New Zealand v England, Dunedin, 1st Test Thread

[Duty281]

First topic message reminder :

The three-test series starts at 21:30 GMT tonight. New Zealand are coming into this series very much as the outsiders, after being trounced in South Africa, although they did manage a surprise 1-1 series draw in Sri Lanka not too long ago. England, fresh off a historic series win in India, are very much the favourites and this is the start of a gruelling 15 Tests in the next 10 months against Australasian opposition, in a double Ashes year.

Expected Teams (Cricinfo):

New Zealand 1 Peter Fulton, 2 Hamish Rutherford, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Dean Brownlie, 6 Brendon McCullum (capt), 7 BJ Watling (wk), 8 Tim Southee, 9 Bruce Martin/Ian Butler, 10 Neil Wagner, 11 Trent Boult

England (probable) 1 Alastair Cook (capt), 2 Nick Compton, 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Ian Bell, 6 Joe Root, 7 Matt Prior (wk), 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 James Anderson, 11 Steven Finn

[Hoggy_Bear]

Warks for a crisis

[mystiroakey]

I think they need to get tougher on wides in test cricket!

These balls cant be hit

[NickisBHAFC]

Trott will get 100.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Bell and Trott looking in good nick here, especially Bell.

Hopefully haven't put the jinx on them

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Some sort of recovery in progress, helped by several poor balls... A really boring century by Trott would be very useful at this point....

[mystiroakey]

Sadly these two will hang about too long and we have the draw.

waste of time

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Sadly these two will hang about too long and we have the draw.

waste of time

This is test cricket. Need to respond to the situation of the game.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Sadly these two will hang about too long and we have the draw.

waste of time

Going along better now they have played themselves in. Plenty of time left in this test match as yet

[mystiroakey]

is it test cricket?

wow really!!

the situation is this.. 4 days to go..

if we get out for 280 in one and a half days we draw.. we cant win- we cant follow them on!

anyway its all good- roots in!! we have a shot at the win now!

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

As I type that Bell goes

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

is it test cricket?

wow really!!

the situation is this.. 4 days to go..

if we get out for 280 in one and a half days we draw.. we cant win- we cant follow them on!

anyway its all good- roots in!! we have a shot at the win now!

Yeah losing more wickets is a great way to win a test match

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Sadly these two will hang about too long and we have the draw.

waste of time

They took your advice not to hang around. A few fours then out....

[mystiroakey]

it is when you are scoring to slow for the situation in hand- yes!

of course we bring the loss in to play..

[mystiroakey]

anyway - Come on Root!

another different situation for him.. Can he handle this one as well

[mystiroakey]

right well.. results happeining.

there is either something seriously wrong with this pitch or england..

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Lets lose wickets to try and win the match #mystilogic

[mystiroakey]

Your purposely missinterpreting the point young chappy!!

but yeah not a bad positive spin on things!!!

71/5

jeas - who would have guessed that!

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Haha I'm only on the wind up Mysti!

Yeah not a great start, would be a good time for Broad to get some runs...

[guildfordbat]

Its kicked off.,

england bat.

need a quick 500 in a day and a half and then see if we can take 20 wickets

71-5 with three number 11s still to bat. Your 500 seems some way off, Mysti.

[mystiroakey]

yeah my predos arnt happening so far..

we need trebbs to balance me out

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Any sort of century - boring or otherwise - needed now from Trott

[trebellbobaggins]

Good to see we've overcome our batting wobbles and aren't turning out a shambles in the first test like in India anyway.

Oh.


Sadly this is only day 2 and already england look to have handed NZ the match, one good innings and it'll be theirs. This series might bite England on the bum.

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Two overs to lunch - important that we dont get bogged down.....

[hodge]

well that was....... bad

Just got to hope Trott can dig in and people can support him.

[mystiroakey]

Anyone watching this achive footage?

Astle was pretty awesome- respect

however our fielders seemed a tenth of what they are today. They just didnt care back then.. They look like india on a bad day!

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Prior doing what Prior does and counter attacking

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

I really need to stop doing that.

Prior's out

[hodge]

Could have been worse I suppose from the position we were in.

[Pal Joey]

Yes, that last wicket partnership helped.

[Pal Joey]

100 up for NZ.

[Pal Joey]

Rutherford dropped by KP off Broad.

[Pal Joey]

At the Close of Play, Day 2:

NZ are 131/0 and trail England by 36 runs.

Rutherford 77*
Fulton 46*

[aucklandlaurie]

If we are lucky we might pick up a draw here, the trouble is that its been years since weve put more than a good couple of days of test cricket together.

[Biltong]

When I went to bed last night England were three down, imagine my surprise this morning when I saw the score?

Day one was quite even, day two NZ completely dominated.

[subhranshu.kumar.5]

The more you rate it high the more are the chances of failure. The same was being discussed all round the park and at the end of the day, black caps took away all the glances. It's unfortunate match for me to have no telecast here in India. English team lacked edge in all the spheres of the game.

[Duty281]

Blimey, England have been caught cold. Early wickets needed on Day 3.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Bad day at the office for England. Gonna need bloody good ones from here on in to have a shout

[Pete C (Kiwireddevil)]

Days like this are pretty rare in NZ cricket.

So if you don't mind I'm going to enjoy the moment (as it won't last long)

[Biltong]

Come on Pete, you gotsta have faith.

[VTR]

Diabolical

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

I got faith England won't lose this.

We'll bounce back

[Bathman_in_London]

Ah the old feeling of praying for rain so we can claim a draw. It's been a while, but its like meeting up with an old friend...

[mystiroakey]

NZ


ENG

[Biltong]

NZ


ENG

SA











































Sorry.

[trebellbobaggins]

to be honest that's pathetic first day for what is supposed to be one of the top sides.

once again with no preparation they have simply collapsed in the face of a bit of pressure and the opposition have made it look a road.

They bounced back in India but with each series I worry they are going further and further backwards. The Ashes could be painful but we could get hammered here a few times first.

[mystiroakey]

Dont worrys bud

SA wouldnt have had a day like that. That was as bad as it gets..

Gloat away!

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

I place the blame squarely on mysti for prediciting a total of 500 plus

[mystiroakey]

Blame trebbs Olly

He took this one for granted. And went missing when it mattered

[alfie]

Was at work so didn't see any of this (thanks for small mercies ) , but followed , with growing horror , on cricinfo.

Has to be just about England's worst single day , especially opening day , in decades...I know there were some grim days in the UAE , and a right smashing at home against SA recently , but the damage in those matches was a bit more spread over several days : to be skittled on an apparently reasonable pitch and then see the opposition nearly overtake your paltry total without loss of a wicket ...
Reminds me a bit of the Melbourne Test in 2010 , but England were on the other end of the cosh that time

Batting collapses have struck this group of players before , and I am almost more alarmed by the inability of the attack to even take a wicket in response ...is this to be Life Without Swann ? Was the bowling poor , flat or just unlucky ? Couple of catches spilled also suggests a poor mental state all round. Perhaps they weren't overconfident , but something wasn't right...

Barring lots more rain they are going to have to play with a lot more skill and spirit to avoid an innings defeat , probably in three days ! I know they have bounced back well from bad days recently (India , limited over series here in NZ ) but this is going to call on all the mental strength that I still believe they have.

Anyway , today : Well done NZ

[trebellbobaggins]

well done NZ and sadly welcome to the team England are now left with.

once again the glory days ended before they'd barely started.

England are never going to be able to reach the top and dominate like the aussies are they. Not strong enough mentally and never seem to keep a winning team together.

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