England's Winter

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New Zealand

T20 Internationals

Friday November 1st - Christchurch
Sunday November 3rd - Wellington
Tuesday November 5th - Nelson
Friday November 8th - Napier
Sunday November 10th - Auckland

Squad
Eoin Morgan (Middlesex) captain
Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire)
Tom Banton (Somerset)
Sam Billings (Kent)
Pat Brown (Worcestershire)
Sam Curran (Surrey)
Tom Curran (Surrey)
Joe Denly (Kent)
Lewis Gregory (Somerset)
Chris Jordan (Sussex)
Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire)
Dawid Malan (Middlesex)
Matt Parkinson (Lancashire)
Adil Rashid (Yorkshire)
James Vince (Hampshire)


Tests

Wednesday November 20th - Tauranga
Thursday November 28th - Hamilton

Squad
Joe Root (Yorkshire) captain
Jofra Archer (Sussex)
Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire)
Rory Burns (Surrey)
Jos Buttler (Lancashire)
Zak Crawley (Kent)
Sam Curran (Surrey)
Joe Denly (Kent)
Jack Leach (Somerset)
Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire)
Matthew Parkinson (Lancashire)
Ollie Pope (Surrey)
Dominic Sibley (Warwickshire)
Ben Stokes (Durham)
Chris Woakes (Warwickshire)



South Africa

Tests

Thursday 26th December - Centurion
Friday January 3rd - Cape Town
Thursday January 16th - Port Elizabeth
Friday January 24th - Johannesburg

Squad
TBC


ODI
Tuesday 4th February - Cape Town
Friday 7th February - Durban
Sunday 9th February - Johannesburg

Squad
TBC



T20 Internationals

Wednesday 12th February - East London
Friday 14th February - Durban
Sunday 16th February - Centurion


Sri Lanka

March 7th - Warm up 1, Katunayake (3 day)
March 12th - Warm up 2, Colombo (3 day)
March 19th - 1st Test, Galle
March 27th - 2nd Test, Colombo

Gooseberry wrote:Last I'd heard it was a two and a three day game so who knows

Well it does seem that I had misunderstood what I heard and yes this was a 2 day game.

A quick thrash for Buttler and Stokes today followed by a gentle run out for the bowlers.

Meanwhile, definitely not part of England's Winter but just possibly still part of England's Future, Haseeb Hameed has joined Notts on a two year deal following his release by Lancs.

Good luck to the young man. There's a lot of good temperament and talent there - just needs to come out again.

guildfordbat wrote:Meanwhile, definitely not part of England's Winter but just possibly still part of England's Future, Haseeb Hameed has joined Notts on a two year deal following his release by Lancs.

Good luck to the young man. There's a lot of good temperament and talent there - just needs to come out again.

It's a shame that Hales has given up red ball cricket. Hales and Hameed would be a very talented opening partnership.

Well he ended the season with 159 n/o but we have seen that sort of flicker from him before. Its nearly 3 years since that injury and his game falling apart. Still only 22 of course and it shows self belief that hes stuck to cricket on what I assume is a very low paid contract.

Notts is an interesting choice. Peter Moores has a proven record as a county coach and they are a ‘big club’ to try and push his name forward with again.

However, they were a hot mess in four day cricket last year. And the young lads who joined them in Duckett, Clarke and Slater hardly kicked on massively.

This is assuming he had a choice!

England XI vs New Zealand A

Burns
Sibley
Denly
Root
Stokes
Pope
Buttler
Curran
Archer
Leach
Broad

Assumed first choice test side I guess? Curran wins out over Woakes.

They'll be looking to lay down a marker on this one, much better preparation than the sub D2 opposition in the previous game.

Guess the only thing that would not make that the team for T1 is if Denly can’t get through this warm up unscathed.

Going back to Hameed ...reading various snippets it sounds like it's very much Moores sending an opportunity to coach him back to life, and yes he probably didn't have many choices but this sounds like as good an outcome as he couldve hoped for.
Comments in the press from he previous coach didn't suggest he exactly had the comfort and love he maybe will get from a much more supportive Moores.
Its promising but theres also questions about whether he will ever learn to play pace ( too short for test cricket etc) well, and the county game isn't ideal for a spin specialist

New Zealand Test squad to face England and Australia: Kane Williamson (capt), Todd Astle, Tom Blundell, Trent Boult, Colin de Grandhomme, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls, Jeet Raval, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Neil Wagner, BJ Watling.

Boult, Southee, Ferguson, Wagner... Could be a tasty attack.

Or Curran gets murdered with the ball and England struggle to take wickets. It's one thing with this line up that they have both Archer and Stokes who are best used in small doses, and that means Curran needing to stand up as a bulk bowler. His test career to date has largely been as 3rd/4th seamer.
I'll be interested to see if they open with Archer or Curran who took the new ball in the other warm up. I'm assuming Broad will get it whatever.

To be honest if the idea is we’re building towards the Ashes down under in two years (as seems to have been the message being peddled this week) I’d much much rather see Crawley than Denly at 3.

Also who’s going to be the random crap NZ bat we make look like Lara on this tour? My money is on Jeet Raval

I kind of understand them not wanting a top 3 of kids including two debutants. Ypuve for Pope at 6 too who is also very young and essentially new to tests still. And let's not forget that Crawleys century in the previous warm up is by definition meaningless.
It can still be building toward the ashes top 3, and I'm no fan on Denly. But there is sense to not rushing it. Denly at least offers experience even if little of it is in tests.

Not sure why Crawley would want to play now. He can walk away with an average of over 100 this tour. More than Steve Smith averaged in England this summer.

Another slightly worrying day for England’s bowlers? Although you’d expect the Test wickets to have a bit more in them than the two so far.

JDizzle wrote:Not sure why Crawley would want to play now. He can walk away with an average of over 100 this tour. More than Steve Smith averaged in England this summer.

Another slightly worrying day for England’s bowlers? Although you’d expect the Test wickets to have a bit more in them than the two so far.

First match did not count as a first class game due to more than 11 per side.

Agree that the scorecard does not look great for the bowlers, throw in another low score and not a great day for England.

Indeed worrying for Englands attack looking toothless. Leach being put in as a night watchman on a three day game? Really? I assume (hope) he'll retire his wicket to maximise time in the middle for the batsmen. It's important the top 3 get exposed to the new ball now if these warm ups are going to have value.

As regulars will know, I'm never keen on nightwatchmen anyway but here it seemed particularly unnecessary and whimpy.

JDizzle wrote:New Zealand Test squad to face England and Australia: Kane Williamson (capt), Todd Astle, Tom Blundell, Trent Boult, Colin de Grandhomme, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls, Jeet Raval, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Neil Wagner, BJ Watling.

Boult, Southee, Ferguson, Wagner... Could be a tasty attack.

Strong New Zealand team - arguably their strongest test team ever. Haven't lost a test series in nearly three years, recently turned over the Pakistanis in the UAE and humiliated England in March 2018 (58 all out). Though England's batting line-up looks a little better from the summer, it's still a pretty underwhelming side that will need heroics from Archer and Broad.

Kiwis 7/5 to win the series, 6/1 to win 2-0 and Williamson to be the top series runscorer at 4/1...all pretty delicious.

Leach is currently the highest scorer for england.... something vaguely familiar from last summer.

I dont thin the kiwis have that great a line up to be honest but a fast bowling attack to strike the fear of god into England who are really still pretty awful at red ball cricket by the looks of it.

England close on 355-8. 68 for Denly, a strong 88 for Pope and Buttler still there on 88 not out. Root (2) and Stokes (3) the real failures, although both openers falling for 14 somewhat of a concern.

Buttler hit 3 sixes and 11 fours in there; a nice 62 runs in boundaries.

Listened to much of it on the tms commentary last night. Sibley was hit on the helmet and got out playing a pretty wild stroke by his standards, it was conjectured the blow might have unsettled him. Roots was a huge inside edge given lbw. So maybe the top order woes not as bad as it first appears from the scorecard, and Denly batted really well happy to defend out long periods. I'd fallen asleep by the time Pope got in but looks like he and Buttler really made hay.
I'm hoping they will declare from here and see if the bowlers can get through NZ fast enough for Burns and Sibley to get another work out.

Something reassuring about england being 105-5 and recovering to a decent score.

Buttler got his century, and then England’s bowlers got a good session or two in - wickets for Archer/Curran mainly. Good to see Leach keep the scoring rate down, think that’s mainly his role this tour, keep his economy around 2-2.5 runs per over to help build pressure and rest the seamers, any wickets a bonus (particularly 1st innings)

Still wouldve liked to have seen Burns get another bite at the new ball. Fragility at the top is still Englands achiles heel it seems. But this was much better than the many times in the past year where they have let a bad position slide into an awful one, and the recovery was enough to put them in a winning position had it been a 4 day game. Not getting carried away because this was an A fixture warm up, but its rare to get a game against decent opposition outside the tests so there should be a bit more confidence going into them. Denly could end up being a key man with two very inexperienced openers ahead of him against a very strong new ball attack. I still think hes lucky to get capped at all, but for now if he can steady things its better than Roy.

Here in Tauranga, it’s expected to be wet and windy tomorrow. Cleared for Thursday, I hope, but should favour some bowlers

https://twitter.com/stuartbroad8/status/1195452032401977344?s=21

We must treasure Stuart. He’s the best

Assuming Sibley does debut as an opener that will mean 3 of the last 4 openers will have gone to the same school, and Burns will have had 5 opening partners in the space of 8 tests, and England will have 6 players who have opened for them in the side.

Gooseberry wrote:Assuming Sibley does debut as an opener that will mean 3 of the last 4 openers will have gone to the same school, and Burns will have had 5 opening partners in the space of 8 tests, and England will have 6 players who have opened for them in the side.

Sibley
Burns
Denly
Root
Leach

Who's the other?

Buttler

Bingo! Given they've left Mo at home and bought another opener on tour it does sum up england flight flopping at the top somewhat albeit some were nightwatchmen or in Buttlers case a pinch hitter to chase down a total.

Denly has just happily got along through all this by being distinctly average, which is a big step up on most around him.

Do I remember it correctly. It was Pakistan in UAE and after two big first innings scores, we bowled them out quite cheapily and were chasing down a total at 10 an over, so Buttler and Moeen opened.

And I think we fell short

Afro wrote:Do I remember it correctly. It was Pakistan in UAE and after two big first innings scores, we bowled them out quite cheapily and were chasing down a total at 10 an over, so Buttler and Moeen opened.

And I think we fell short

You do indeed - nothing happened for 4 days, Rashid ran through them and we had an outside shot, but really were never going to get close

Went to watch them net today. Bit weird. Noticed that Thorpe seemed really focused with Root and then as Stokes went into the net Joe had been in, it was Collingwood who worked with him.

Also, Rory’s body movement, that head/neck thing, is so distinctive. If that’s a sign of him being in good nick, then it’s positive as he was clear as day.

Denly looked to have no problems with the ankle, good football skills on show with a ball at one point. Was bowling a bit then batted

Apparently Silvereood has set 3 objectives for England:
Win the Ashes ...good luck with that one, theybwill need more than Archer and the top 3 to bed in.
Get to number one in the rankings ....they are 3 now and dont have the luxury of getting India at home for a while
Win the test championship...The other two trips this winter (which count) have more potential for wins IMO with SA a bit of a basket case at the moment. Going to India next winter could be the series that decides it, but it's hard to see England getting in shape to beat what looks an increasingly strong and deep indian in their own backyard when Mo currently cant even be in the same room as a red ball. And they'd still have to not slip up elsewhere as India dont really have many banana skins ahead and already have a big lead on England.

No mention of the T20 world cup, understandable as the focus was always going to be on tests but I hope they dont go too far the other way and assume Morgans team will look after itself.

It's nice to have targets but realistic and achievable are words that England seem to have left out here. It all smacks a bit of arrogance when England have been a long way off all of those ( away Ashes) for some time now.

In some ways the pressure is off a bit on this series as it only counts toward one of those goals, but I'm sure everyone will be focused on avenging the previous defeat and getting off to a good start under the new coach.

Hope you're right about Burns, hes not had much time in the middle since the summer. The NZ new ball attack looks dangerous, but he has shown he can stand up to pace against Aus.
NZ dont have a left armer do they?

Absolute key for me is that England learn to bat time and accumulate runs and make big scores. England have scored 400 three times in the last 26 tests - an appalling record and one that shows how far England are from being the top side in test cricket. Silverwood has made the right noises about addressing this; I just hope we see some improvements over this winter.

I'm guessing England have scored 400 more times (or a larger proportion of their innings) in ODIs than in tests in the last couple of years?

Duty281 wrote:Absolute key for me is that England learn to bat time and accumulate runs and make big scores. England have scored 400 three times in the last 26 tests - an appalling record and one that shows how far England are from being the top side in test cricket. Silverwood has made the right noises about addressing this; I just hope we see some improvements over this winter.

Expecting evolution, not revolution - but initial signs are positive. Silverwood seems to have implemented a more traditional batting lineup to the one Bayliss would throw together...and it looks more solid on paper at least. Two proper red ball openers (the best county ones for the past few years), blooding the new young batsman at 6 where he can be comfortable (Rather than batting him 4, a position he'd never batted before) and Root in his best position.

New Zealand have Trent Boult who I assume will be playing?

Soul Requiem wrote:New Zealand have Trent Boult who I assume will be playing?

Williamson confirmed Boult, Southee, Wagner will be their three main seamers, with Ferguson missing out.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:

Soul Requiem wrote:New Zealand have Trent Boult who I assume will be playing?

Williamson confirmed Boult, Southee, Wagner will be their three main seamers, with Ferguson missing out.

So two left armers then.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Absolute key for me is that England learn to bat time and accumulate runs and make big scores. England have scored 400 three times in the last 26 tests - an appalling record and one that shows how far England are from being the top side in test cricket. Silverwood has made the right noises about addressing this; I just hope we see some improvements over this winter.

Expecting evolution, not revolution - but initial signs are positive. Silverwood seems to have implemented a more traditional batting lineup to the one Bayliss would throw together...and it looks more solid on paper at least. Two proper red ball openers (the best county ones for the past few years), blooding the new young batsman at 6 where he can be comfortable (Rather than batting him 4, a position he'd never batted before) and Root in his best position.

Very much with both posts there. As always with our game, no guarantees and it could still turn out horribly but atm I like the look of Silverwood and the way he's going about things.

Meanwhile, I'm going through the archives ....

On the face of things look a far more balanced team with players batting where they should in the order, would have preferred Woakes over Curran but something about a left arm option and having potential with the bat.

Burns
Sibley
Denly
Root
Stokes
Pope
Buttler
Curran
Archer
Leach
Broad

guildfordbat wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Absolute key for me is that England learn to bat time and accumulate runs and make big scores. England have scored 400 three times in the last 26 tests - an appalling record and one that shows how far England are from being the top side in test cricket. Silverwood has made the right noises about addressing this; I just hope we see some improvements over this winter.

Expecting evolution, not revolution - but initial signs are positive. Silverwood seems to have implemented a more traditional batting lineup to the one Bayliss would throw together...and it looks more solid on paper at least. Two proper red ball openers (the best county ones for the past few years), blooding the new young batsman at 6 where he can be comfortable (Rather than batting him 4, a position he'd never batted before) and Root in his best position.

Very much with both posts there. As always with our game, no guarantees and it could still turn out horribly but atm I like the look of Silverwood and the way he's going about things.

Meanwhile, I'm going through the archives ....

I'm not sure its quite a Silverwood revolution, the squad was announced before he got the job and aside from Crawley pretty much picked itself anyway. Bairstow being ditched was a fairly big call, but one made before Silverwood. It maybe does like the off the wall selections youd expect from the Bayliss era but there really isn't much scope for that. This is a Root/Ed Smith side, not a Silverwood one. 

As others noted the only real debate on the team from the squad would be Curann vs Woakes, but they do seem to ave been moving over to favouring Curran generally and giving him the chance to fail with the Kookabura as much as Woakes has. The left arm thing is possibly what got him the casting vote, England have often look bereft of ideas abroad. 

The quiet/forgotten man in all of this is Pope. Hes barely troubled the headline writers so far.

This will be a real challenge for England. NZ have some excellent seam bowlers in Boult, Southee and Wagner, aided by the tricky spin of Santer. Then throw in the formidable batting trio of Latham/Williamson/Nicholls, who (since the start of 2018) average over 60* with the bat and have a combined 11 test hundreds, and don't forget what Taylor can do as well. Flat pitches expected, too.

*Just for context, since the start of 2018 England's highest performer with the bat (of those who have been regular starters) is Joe Root with a 36 average and three tons.

It'll be interesting to see if England's main strike bowlers, Broad and Archer, can replicate the form they showed in the summer. They'll have to if England are to win. Big winter for Root, who's struggled in recent time. Golden chances for Burns/Sibley/Pope/Buttler to show what they can do with the bat and cement their places going forward.

A shame this isn't a proper three or four match series. Should have had that and played the Saffers a bit later, while knocking the nonsense tour to Sri Lanka on its head.

For further context England have not only played more than double the amount of tests in that time but played Australia and India a combined ten times.

NZ are indeed an excellent side Duty as you’ve pointed out many times - believe it’s only one loss in their past 15 tests at home. The odds on them to win the series are very long, especially as it seems the forecast for this first test seems ok

Further context to england only playing a two test series should be noted that they played a series here less than two years ago and New Zealand are neither traditionaly a test power or a big viewer ( money) draw...and they have a mother twontest series to fit in this winter through obligation.
Frankly they shouldn't be here at all but someone decided something before the test championship and the new obligations in regard to 50 overs cricket were imposed.

England win the toss and bat first - both teams wanted too

Time to brace ourselves then...England are batting first.

Please don’t be five down at lunch, eh lads?

Pitch looks like it’s got moisture in it, soft and cutting up when batsmen taking their mark. Bit of swing, but otherwise looks a good batting wicket