England v New Zealand, First Test Lord's

First topic message reminder :

So after all the drama and acrimony of the last couple of weeks, its time for the action to begin on the field. The first test of the English summer gets underway at the HQ from tomorrow. An upcoming New Zealand against an embattled England. But England are on home turf, New Zealand don't have a good record in England, most of their recent success has come at home, the core of their test side are just coming on the back of T-20 cricket at the IPL rather than much getting used to English conditions.
England on the other hand are without a coach and questions on Kevin Pietersen are going away nowhere. There are unsettled issues about the combination of the side, with the position of one of the openers, the 3rd seamer and the spinner being open questions.
Adam Lyth is likely to make his debut for England tomorrow, and there is a chance that Mark Wood might come in for Chris Jordan.
For New Zealand, it is being suggested that Matt Henry might get to debut and offer backup to Tim Southee and Trent Boult. Martin Guptill, on the back of a spectacular world cup and 150 in the warmup game is set to come back as test opener, and Corey Anderson, coming back from injury, is set to take the all-rounder position.
Set for some very interesting cricket.......

Mike Selig wrote:
I'd be interested in giving Wood a spell after tea also, think his extra pace could produce something.

ahem

Yes that has rekindled the interest

25 overs to take four. Think we can disregard the seven per over run chase ?

Short burst from Wood I reckon then give Stokes a few. Spin the other end for now , though I might try Moeen again soon.

Root might have Anderson lb. Reviewing

Mike Selig wrote:

Mike Selig wrote:
I'd be interested in giving Wood a spell after tea also, think his extra pace could produce something.

ahem

Give you that one Mike...though I don't think it was rocket science

Root gets an lbw ? Or does he ? No bat...yes !

Seven down ...

Massive wicket that. Into the tail firmly now.

Only clipping? Looked like it straightened considerably.

Ah well. Rooooooooooooooooooooooot!

As ever, its the part time spinner that removes the set batsman. Anderson will be kicking himself.

alfie wrote:
Give you that one Mike...though I don't think it was rocket science

Well I haven't been right that often in this game yet, so...

7 down 23 overs to go. England have to fancy this now.

I'm reluctant to encourage Duty any further but I thought that was more than clipping. Anyway, it's out and 3 more needed off 23. No kip for Alfie for a while, I guess.

Come on England! 

Despite a fair few faults, the improvement in this test match is huge compared to what we were like against the WI

guildfordbat wrote:I'm reluctant to encourage Duty any further but I thought that was more than clipping. Anyway, it's out and 3 more needed off 23. No kip for Alfie for a while, I guess.

No . I'll be sleeping at my desk tomorrow.

Could England please finish the job , sharpish , now ?

This has been massively entertaining, with the match swinging one way, then the other.

Granted its been pretty much all England the last couple of days, but you have to admire NZ's never-say-die approach.

Pretty much done and dusted now. I just hope we don't start peppering these tail-enders with short balls or bowling pies. Treat them seriously and make life hard for them!

I'm not calling this yet , by the way. Should be able to get three in twenty. But I've seen rabbits hang in before ; and these two look fairly competent...
Stokes ? Fair enough. But I'm fancying Broad to finish it - if anyone does.

Big Ben does it again. Cleans up Craig.

Now that's more than clipping.

Delicious delivery. Stokes nailed on for man of the match.

Ha ! Stokes bowls Craig ! Brilliant ...must have MoTM sewn up now , if he didn't before.

Two to go ...

another big wicket!!!!!! Henry more than useful at 10 though, does have a f/c 50, so could still be some resistance..

SOUTHEE GONE!!

Moeen!!!

What a glorious victory this COULD be.

2 wickets in 2 overs, 2 good bowling changes from Cook who has done pretty well this innings. England on the brink now.

New Zealand have been braindead in this second innings, too many players playing too many extravagant shots, their lucky year or two has come to an end quite abruptly.

Referral, this could be the game.

review gone, missed the bat by miles

England looked absolutely convinced on that review, nowhere near it.

Would only be right if Stokes got the last pole!

All over ? No , not yet. Worth the review I guess.

Since tea , Wood , Stokes , Root and Ali have come on and taken wickets quickly.

Cook to get some credit for on field decisions ? Probably not

Come on Ben , finish it ...

Boult looks a lot more solid than Henry to be honest..

Too much to ask now for Anderson to come on and get number 400 to end it ?
Nah , let him do it at Headingley. Come on Moeen.

Fifteen left after this one

alfie wrote:Yes that has rekindled the interest

25 overs to take four.  Think we can disregard the seven per over run chase ?

Short burst from Wood I reckon then give Stokes a few.  Spin the other end for now , though I might try Moeen again soon.

Hey I see Cook is following my advice quite closely . Wise man.

I genuinely can't remember the last time England were in a bad Test match. Given the criticism Cook gets for being negative and safe, It's amazing how often England nearly pull it off in an inspired fourth innings bowling performance

kingraf wrote:I genuinely can't remember the last time England were in a bad Test match. Given the criticism Cook gets for being negative and safe, It's amazing how often England nearly pull it off in an inspired fourth innings bowling performance

Hope not nearly this time , raf !

alfie wrote:

kingraf wrote:I genuinely can't remember the last time England were in a bad Test match. Given the criticism Cook gets for being negative and safe, It's amazing how often England nearly pull it off in an inspired fourth innings bowling performance

Hope not nearly this time , raf !

Should have this one in the bag.

Great bowling by Stokes and Moeen!

2 down, 1 to go...

only 13 overs left..

Thirteen overs left...Stokes in a bit too much of a hurry for mine...not making them play enough.
Want to make sure you don't waste balls at this stage.
I'd bowl Anderson now.

Come on England...don't blow it now!

C'mon Jimmy, get your 400th here.

come on Jimmy win the game with the 400th!!

Record attendance for a Lord's Test Match.
#TestCricketIsDeadTho

Oh James.

Ten overs left!

That's why you need Botham in charge - you can move a fielder to where the ball just went and still keep him where he was!

What a catch Moeen. The beers are on Duty!

YES!!!

What a victory.

So close ! Twice in the air but evaded all those close catchers !

Last ten overs...surely they won't hold out ? Would be too cruel...

Caught at third man ! More Cook genius

Brilliant win...Broad finishes the job And a great catch by Moeen...

Finally!!!!!


Broad wraps it up, getting Boult, courtesy of a Moeen Ali catch and England win by 124 runs.


Jimmy has to wait until Headingley to get his 400th wicket, but this was a well-deserved win for England, who got themselves out of an almighty hole after the 1st innings, courtesy of some magnificent batting, then backed up by some equally good bowling to demolish NZ today.

Hopefully England will get a huge morale boost from this result...while not overlooking the remaining issues that still need to be addressed.

Credit to NZ for providing some very stiff opposition and making this an absolute cracker of a test match.

Bloody brilliant Test Match !

Off for a few hours kip now...you fellows have one for me...

What a catch. What a match.

There goes all of the predictions of 0-7, my predictions of a 0-2 NZ win and much of the doom and gloom following England recently.

I think it's fair to say that Cook had a good match as a captain, as well as his wonderful performance with the bat. Think McCullum is generally overrated as a captain and a test batsman. His average is under 40 and he made some weird decisions with bowling changes and got his field placements wrong in the 2nd innings.

This is why I love test cricket. One team was behind for essentially 4 and a half days, and not only do they win, they win by over 100 runs! What's the record loss for a team that got 500+ in their first innings?

What a fabulous Test match and England seal a win. Credit to them and what a shot in the arm for the Ashes Series. New Zealand are one of the best sides in the world at the moment, couple that with the fact that England were 30 for 4 in the first innings and you get the picture of the scale of the comeback.

Just remember a week ago England's preparations were in disarray what with Moores being sacked, the stupid KP issue rearing its ugly head and obviously spirits not too high after the Windies Tour and then England come out and pull this win off.

England can take plenty from this match as Cook is finding great form, Root still churning out big scores, Stokes putting in a mesmeric all-round performance, Broad shining with the ball and Wood on his debut showing much potential. Like I say a shot in the arm for the massive summer ahead.

Fantastic test match.

Not often a side loses after making 500. England deserve a lot of credit for the way they fought back and then finished the job off. Excellent team bowling effort in the 4th innings.

As I commented last night I think this England team is beginning to take shape. Wood looks like he could be a really good prospect as well.

Slight concerns over Ali still. England I think have to invest in him, but they'll want him to rediscover his form from last year sooner rather than later.
Other concerns about Bell who needs runs.
Obviously the 2nd opener still needs sorting. Lyth probably has to be given the whole summer or at least the better part of it, but his dismissals in this game weren't that encouraging.
And slight concerns over the slip cauldron. A few too many drops (albeit that Lords is a tough place to catch at), and I thought slip was often too fine to the spinner against the left-handers as well.

For New-Zealand I think the lack of 5th bowler was an issue in both innings. They could do with Taylor finding some form, without him their batting does look a little reliant on Williamson. I also stand by comments I made about McCullum being a bit over-aggressive at times.

I also think Cook deserves a fair amount of credit for this game, both as a batsman (obviously) and as captain - he managed his bowlers very well in this innings, got his changes pretty spot on and field settings were pretty good as well. I do worry that at times he tries a bit too hard to be "funky" but the balance was pretty good in this game.

Like I said on day 2: redemption is never far away in Test cricket. I'm not a huge believer in Ali 8, Stokes 6, but I'm open to being proved wrong.

As for New Zealand... Mike is correct, Mccullum can be guilty of being a little pro active. Its not a bad thing, but it means that a team is almost always still in with a shot against then, no matter the situation. Alternatively, it also means NZ are capable of coming back from the dead like no other team in world cricket (vs India last year, vs Lanka this). They used to say about Lions (the South African rugby team, not the Home Nations composite) that our brand of rugby will win you matches you shouldn't, but also lose you matches you shouldn't. That's the current NZ side. I'm not convinced about Corey Anderson as a test (or ODI, if I'm honest) player. Taylor needs to make some runs. I genuinely can't remember when he was last in form. Bit of an embarrasment of riches in the pace department for a three-prong pace attack (and trundling medium pacer in Neesham/Anderson), but Mark Craig isn't exactly bringing rockets to the scientists with his dollys