New Zealand v England Test Series

First topic message reminder :

The first test of a largely ignored series has started.

England 6/1 at the moment. Would you believe Alastair Cook is out nicking to slip? You would? Quite...

Well you can see his point ...England do rely a lot on the two openers ; and apart from the new ball periods . Nearly all the wickets in this match have fallen when batsmen have been chasing the game...

I think England remain favorites ; but I wouldn't rule the chase out.

What a lot of tripe the comms are talking now : why the devil should an umpire give a batsman out when he doesn't think he is , just because the batting team has reviews left and the fielding team doesn't ? Would just be rewarding the fielding captain for squandering his reviews...stupid idea.

355 on now. Leach doing a good job again.

Much concern re light/weather/time left. NZ comms perhaps indulging in a bit of wishful thinking in urging Root to call it in ? England are certainly looking to get on and get bowling - have been taking plenty of risks - but I think they'd fancy a few more runs yet.

Curious that YJB has been unable to go ballistic today . He seems to have been in good enough form...perhaps he's just getting into top gear now as he's going after Boult...

JDizzle wrote:Mark Richardson has just claimed that as long as NZ can get through the new ball relatively unscathed he thinks they’ll chase 350! Let’s all just calm down...

I wouldn't rule it out, but England are at least 80-20 favourites here.

Make that 90-10!

16 off that Boult over.

Yes , Bairstow has indeed switched into overdrive

Lead of 375. Won't be too long now

alfie wrote:Well you can see his point ...England do rely a lot on the two openers ; and apart from the new ball periods . Nearly all the wickets in this match have fallen when batsmen have been chasing the game...

I think England remain favorites ; but I wouldn't rule the chase out.

What a lot of tripe the comms are talking now : why the devil should an umpire give a batsman out when he doesn't think he is , just because the batting team has reviews left and the fielding team doesn't ?  Would just be rewarding the fielding captain for squandering his reviews...stupid idea.

Vaguely I see where he is coming from, but I think they’ve been overestimating NZ chances all morning. The pitch has looked flat in patches, but it isn’t a particularly fast scoring ground this week and the longer it takes you to accumulate those runs the more chance of getting a good one! Plus Eng would get two cracks with the new ball.

Leach joining the party with a slashing cut for four... Can't complain about the approach.

Think Root would still like 400 if he can get it. Too much fuss about overs remaining : at least 130 left so if they can't bowl NZ out within that then they might need 400 to be safe. Main thing England want is two new balls and a bit to spare...

Bairstow holes out. Declaration comes with a lead of 381...which really ought to be enough.

But as usual I think the off-field experts have been in too much of a panic to see the innings closed : unless rain curtails play (cannot do much about that anyway!) there is bags of time left to dismiss NZ. If they can bat out four and a half sessions they deserve a draw...or even a win.

Blimey : if England were to lose this one , after the West Indies upset back home , Root might never declare an innings again

Worth noting though that , apart from Cook , every one of the England wickets fell to batsmen basically committing suicide.

If NZ could get through the new ball period , England might yet have some anxious moments.

Bairstow out and the declaration comes. NZ will need 382 to win.

With some concerns about the light, I think they have got that about right. Albeit they got there in a very weird way this morning! Not sure everything went entirely according to plan.

If the series was level or Eng were 1-0 up, then batting for 400+ becomes more palatable. But needing to win, Root can’t allow himself to think what is safe. Just needs to give them the best possible chance to win, even at increasing NZ chance.

382 to win then. 120 overs roughly, or about 4 sessions, worth of batting for New Zealand to win this. 

Twenty years ago, the Kiwis (indeed any team) would be playing for a draw in this scenario. Modern attacking batting means it isn't beyond them.

As Alfie says, if NZ get through the new ball period...if 15 overs have elapsed and England have only got one, or none, Root's ticker will be jumping. It's not the worse pitch to bat on, by all means - England have just proven that.

But there again, Broad was on fire in the first innings!

Nothing from the first five overs.  Some cracking deliveries from Broad , but hasn't drawn an edge yet.

Will be interesting to see how England handle this.  Long time since they've bowled any team out twice.  I don't expect Leach to be a major factor ; but he will need to do a good share of the work in view of the Stokes condition.  Will really help if he can actually take a couple of wickets.

Ouch ! That will be sore tomorrow morning , Raval

NZ openers doing a good job in holding out some testing stuff from the England pair...beaten outside off a few times but still hanging in. If they get to tea in one piece it will be Round One to them...

Nine gone and Wood replaces Broad. He needs to show something today.

Interesting. Leach getting a bit of spin and bounce into the left hander's pads...no bat though.

A blank session for England though : 34/0 from 12 and NZ may be allowed some optimism. Lot of runs to get ; but if there isn't any rain you'd imagine they have more chance of winning than drawing.

Great start for New Zealand. They probably didn’t want the break to come. Testing couple of hours coming up for Root.

Duty281 wrote:Great start for New Zealand. They probably didn’t want the break to come. Testing couple of hours coming up for Root.

Be even more testing tomorrow if they don't make serious inroads tonight

I'll say now I'd have liked another 25 runs ; even at the cost of that pre-tea session of bowling (and not just in hindsight) . In fairness I'm sure the aim was for a 400 plus lead but NZ bowled and fielded too well. I think Root and Bayliss tend to be a bit over aggressive in setting targets - perhaps because of the way England usually collapse themselves when they're faced with a large fourth innings task

Conditions look OK for swing bowling still. They'll be hopeful of nipping a couple out in this spell...

Frustration for England as Anderson has Latham dropped by Vince in slips...

Would have been a good catch. NZ under pressure in this spell after tea...stalled on 38/0

Four maidens in a row...

But concern about the light amongst the comms and umpires. If they go off this early I will have to revise my view that the declaration was perhaps slightly rushed
I'd been counting on them getting most of the required overs in this evening. If it closes none down and still 340 to make the draw probably becomes favourite.

A single at last ...

Umpires have spoken : they can stay on , for now: but only if Leach and - presumably - Root take over the bowling.

Here's Jack...

That spun ! Leach looking dangerous...

Could be an interesting end to the day yet.

Rats. Too dark for spin now , it seems...off they go.

Spoilsports. Spectators not happy. Doubt they'll be back tonight.

42/0 . NZ have had the better of the day ; defended well with bat and ball.

340 to win looks a bit much for one day - and the ball was starting to grip and spin for Leach. But equally I'm not sure England have the firepower to take ten in a day. NZ will be happy enough with 1-nil anyway , I suppose.

JDizzle wrote:Mark Richardson has just claimed that as long as NZ can get through the new ball relatively unscathed he thinks they’ll chase 350! Let’s all just calm down...

The NZ comms throughout this tour have been embarrassing

Umpires won’t start play early tomorrow...are they mad?

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Umpires won’t start play early tomorrow...are they mad?

With summer having officially ended and the clocks put back an hour in New Zealand during the course of this Test, we were always likely to have a few overs chopped off towards the end of the day. However, I didn't expect we would lose nearly as much as we did and I guess Root felt the same! I feel that was plain bad luck rather than any error in approach.

Root seems to be copping it now in some quarters for not being more gungho in the first session. That seems more based on hindsight than the situation at the time. Admittedly, it wasn't helpful that he and Malan were dismissed in the final half-hour of the morning having progressed steadily if without excitement. However, if they had both gone in the opening 30 minutes biffing away, things could have been a lot worse at the lunch break. Also fair to flag that until the two wickets fell, Williamson and New Zealand were only concerned with containment, keeping the over rate down and keeping Sodhi out of the attack (he didn't bowl all day, to support Goose's earlier posts and not mine).

Without the benefit of knowing what the weather would do, I reckon Root got the declaration about right in terms of time (as emphasised to me by someone who has played 133 Tests more than me, you always want to try and declare during a session - not at the end of one - so as to give the opening bats as little time as possible to prepare) and the lead (requiring New Zealand to post the highest innings score of the match in the 4th dig).

With overs almost certain to be lost towards the end of the final day and New Zealand still having all wickets in hand, the draw is now favourite although I haven't written England off yet. I do feel though that for an England win, we'll need a slice of luck or magic to aid us on the way. I give New Zealand extremely little chance of the win - to get the necessary runs in the limited time, they would have to go at such a lick that they would end up giving too many chances.

I've read conflicting reports about whether play will start early but Olly is nearly always right about this sort of thing. Cricinfo quoted Erasmus as saying it would start early but then they confirm it won't due to ''fear of dew''. Perhaps worth quoting the late great Keith Miller here. For younger posters who have not read enough about our game, Miller was a tremendous Australian all rounder and a war-time pilot in the Royal Australian Air Force. When asked in a television interview about the pressure of playing cricket, Miller replied, ''Pressure. I'll tell you what pressure is. Pressure is having a Messerschmitt up your arse. Playing cricket is not.''

I'm not aware that Keith Miller ever said what fear was. If he did though, I doubt it would have involved dew.

Odds on for a draw then, with more adverse weather/bad light predicted. A shame, as this test match is fascinatingly poised, and a 98 over day in bright sunshine would leave all 4 results open.

Alas, not to be. And so England will need an inspiring spell from somewhere to knock over the Kiwis in double quick time.

4 results?

All 4! England win, draw, tie and a Kiwi win.

Raval out first ball

Williamson gone second ball! Broad on a hat trick

Taylor bats it away staunchly

Perfect start from Broad. Glorious support from the English in the crowd.

Test match well open.

Root brings Leach on early to get at Taylor. It’s worked within the first two overs as Taylor top edges a sweep. 66/3

Four down now. Great morning for England. Kiwis really need a 20+ over partnership to stave off defeat.

Decent first 90 minutes for England

Latham seems to have led a charmed life so far ? Think the obdurate Watling is the wicket they really need most now ... took a great ball to get in the first innings. Have they got another one in the locker I wonder...

How dangerous is Leach looking ?

So : still just four down at lunch. Plenty of work left for England.

Troubling thing is still only one wicket outside of the two opening bowlers... Leach will need to get a couple more , you'd think.

Would be handy if Wood could have some impact. Might have to if he wants to keep his place as I doubt he will hold on to a spot just for his (spirited) batting...

Hi Alfie - 10 overs on the reel from Leach, a bit of a mixed bag I felt. Some balls a bit short and wide, others more accurate and asking questions. Despite all the talk on comms about the track, it doesn't seem to be giving him that much assistance. That said, he got an important wicket and you could say that was his job this morning. Even that though was strange - Taylor sweeping uppishly to short backward short leg, just as he had done a few balls before but seemingly unaware that Cook had now moved into that position to gobble the catch.

Yeah, Latham having some luck but showing some determination too. Probably going to be harder for us to get him and Watling than the first 4. Poor ball from Broad to get Raval with the first ball of the day but an awful, awful shot from the New Zealand opener.

Righty ho, folks. Bed for me. I'm leaving you all to get these 6 wickets!

If the light fades as it did yesterday, we're only likely to get another 40-50 overs in (depending how much spin Root uses). Have to make the draw favourite, unless Broad fires again.

Because Wood certainly doesn't look capable of producing anything telling.

Love Cricinfo for stats like this. James Anderson is now the most-bowled quick in Test history.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=1;filter=advanced;orderby=overs;template=results;type=bowling

Wood got Watling. 135-5

Always knew Wood had a wicket or two coming. Never doubted the lad.

Leach gets the big one! Latham caught excellently by Vince for 162-6

Root's bowling allowing these two batsmen some easy overs in which to survive.

Duty281 wrote:Root's bowling allowing these two batsmen some easy overs in which to survive.

But hurrying on the new ball , no ? All due respect to Leach but I'd fancy Broad and Anderson with a new nut the best chance to make a mess of the tail...

I'm hearing clouds are gathering ...how is the light looking now ?

Starting to get dark. Of course, play will soon be suspended for 20 minutes for the interval, so England's chances are pretty slim. They might get an hour of play in after the break, if they're lucky.

Yes, Root's bowling hurried on the new ball, but I felt England had to get the wickets right away, even if meant using their strike bowlers with an old ball.

Six down at tea...probably needed one more at least , eh ? Must admit I didn't expect Sodhi to hang around so long.

Guess a lot depends on how long the light holds - could easily grab a couple of quick wickets now they have the new ball but will surely need a few overs to finish the job.

Still , you suggest an hour , Duty ? If that is correct I think there is still a decent chance - but they'll want a quick breakthrough after tea...

Just caught up on the wickets now - raval, Taylor and Latham all gifting their wickets to England it seems? Doesn’t appear otherwise to be doing a whole lot. Will take an inspired Broad or Anderson spell post tea to win this it seems

An hour at best.

Just for reference, play was stopped yesterday at 16:20 local time because of the light. It'll be 15:30 when they start the final session today.

Coming up to closing time, and still no further wickets for England.

The bright hopes of the morning fading fast...

But wait ! Wood rekindles the spark with the wicket of CDG ... could it still happen ?