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

guildfordbat wrote:

Gooseberry wrote:Wasnt Bairstow added to the squad already?

He was added to the squad but I believe he left it and presumably came home when Denly got the all clear.

I would certainly be concerned if Buttler has to drop out. Pope is keen on keeping but Test matches should not be apprenticeships.

TBF its kind of how Bairstow and Buttler got the job before him, and if its a total disaster Burns can always jump in 

Root is kidding himself.

As well as the possibility of Crawley coming in, it seems England are giving serious consideration to replacing Leach with Woakes on a wicket that is expected to be green and aided with plenty of swing. Could be a low-scorer and, with intermittent showers forecast throughout the five days, it might need to be.

Interesting stat - England haven’t won a test in Australia or New Zealand since Sydney 2011 when times were very different.

Reports seem to be that Buttler will miss out with this back niggle picked up in the past 24 hours - and Pope is to keep. No clue what this will mean for the batting order mind!

Not ideal, but he is the emergency backup for a reason. Bairstow did indeed head home once Denly was cleared.

And as Duty says, sounds like they are considering leaving Leach out. I'd give Mahmood a run out over Woakes though, just because I feel like we already know what Woakes is overseas

BBC mentioned it might be Woakes ahead of Crawley rather than Leach so who knows.
If they do play Crawley that really does beg a question as to where in the order! Theyve gone from having one proper opener to 3 plus Denly.
Id assume he goes in at 5 with stokes 6 but who knows!

Duty281 wrote:As well as the possibility of Crawley coming in, it seems England are giving serious consideration to replacing Leach with Woakes on a wicket that is expected to be green and aided with plenty of swing. Could be a low-scorer and, with intermittent showers forecast throughout the five days, it might need to be.

Interesting stat - England haven’t won a test in Australia or New Zealand since Sydney 2011 when times were very different.

If the wicket is green and will swing, they shouldn’t need five seamers! Presume Stokes must be too injured to really bowl, otherwise 5 seamers would be bizarre.

The two expected changes have been made and England are bowling first after winning the toss. Crawley at 6?

Could be a tough first hour.

England win the toss and bowl - Woakes in for Leach, Crawley for Buttler

Bold selections and choice at the toss. To be fair, Root was the more threatening spinner last week anyways!

Mark Butcher absolutely furious in the Sky studio about the selection and lack of a reserve keeper.

It was a ballsy call from Root to bowl first. His captaincy is hanging by a thread as it is - if NZ finish today 280/3, he’ll be in for some pelters.

Has going in without a spinner ever worked for England? Can think of a few occasions (Adil’s TFC at Lords vs India) where we didn’t need one, but never when we haven’t picked one!

Striking how inexperienced this England side is - 7 of the starting XI have played thirteen tests or fewer.

Really glad we’ve decided to bowl first and gone with five seamers on this lads. Good call.

Well this isn’t a great start. Not much swing or movement. Jofra bowling too short. Think Root was seduced by the greenery.

I honestly can't fathom it at all. The pitch is a little green, the weather looks fine and England have just bowled 200 overs less than a week ago!

JDizzle wrote:I honestly can't fathom it at all. The pitch is a little green, the weather looks fine and England have just bowled 200 overs less than a week ago!

Anytime you can send your tired bowlers who’ve just bowled 201 overs out to bowl on a sunny day three days later, you just have to do it!

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:

JDizzle wrote:I honestly can't fathom it at all. The pitch is a little green, the weather looks fine and England have just bowled 200 overs less than a week ago!

Anytime you can send your tired bowlers who’ve just bowled 201 overs  out to bowl on a sunny day three days later, you just have to do it!

Either Eng roll them cheaply and they didn't need 5 seamers, or it's too flat and they should have batted first. Both cannot be correct!

Foakes and Bairstow must feel fairly aggrieved seeing Pope keeping for England.

The ball isn't doing much here. Bowling first when you win the toss is always a risk and it isn't looking like a great one so far.

39/2. Raval and Williamson gone, Broad and Woakes with the wickets

Archer is bowling mid-80s in the first session. Looking tired frankly.

42-overs in an innings on a dead track would exhaust any quick.

Joe Root already in to bowl.

Woakes has bowled well this morning. Latham overturns an LBW decision on review that pitched fractions outside the line.

Latham then goes to 50 later that over. He's building a very good record for a test opener.

Latham’s session. Looked in magnificent touch from the start and appears to be judging the pitch well. England have lacked control with the ball, though they did produce two good’uns to stay in touch. Pope’s kept well.

Safe to say Root’s misjudged this. Pitch looks a beauty. Kiwis should be looking for north of 350.

Shocker of a DRS call.

Duty281 wrote:Shocker of a DRS call.

Seemed more like a gremlin on hot spot than a nick. Taylor very fortunate imo.

''He's never hit that in a million years'' - David Lloyd.

Certainly not enough evidence to overturn the original verdict.

Anyway, it’s gone now and NZ are starting to take control. Curran and Archer bowling very poorly, the latter of the two looks (unsurprisingly) tired.

Rain looks to have taken the day from us. 173-3 and New Zealand look very comfortable. Latham has looked at ease throughout for his 101*.

Pretty poor day again. Can't see England turning this around in the same way NZ did in the last Test

Stokes unlikely to bowl again after picking up a left knee injury. Good job we won the toss and sent our tired bowlers out to bowl again!

Content warnings: total overreaction and negativity

The 5 seamer theory maybe gets some bite from Stokes' injury but a spinner would be able to bowl more overs without tiring so it really doesnt wash very well to me still.
Woakes is the only England player who might have any positive feelings from the day. Not that hes been brilliant, but that hes noticeably outshone his main competitor Curran who's struggled badly by the look of his figures and again been bowled as a "I guess we ought to give him a go" option by Root.

The only other positive I can say for England is that their batting line up is stacked and the rain plus some level of control on the scoring rates makes a draw possible.
They clearly put all cards on the table to win this game, and whilst we can applaud the bravery on some level it really does seem an absurdity to bat first.

Roots captaincy should be questioned, as should the county cricket mentality of Silverwood. It's hard from the outside to know exactly who has driven which parts of the decision making in selections and tactics of course but the questions about Root were there before this series.

I just dont know who else would get the job though. Stokes has too much personal baggage and I suspect his leadership style would be to encourage everyone to charge at the machine guns and hope someone comes out alive. Too early for Burns. Buttler I guess is the option, certainly hes the natural successor for white ball once Morgan retires ( after the T20 world cup?)

I cant see the change coming soon but for the first time I'm really starting to feel its needed. Roots batting has dipped under the pressure and hes consistently not making good decisions or inspiring the team to produce to its potential. I dont believe these players are individually so poor as to justify such a bad run of results since sri lanka. Struggling against a poor west indies team and beaten by one of the worst ashes teams in decades at home, now staring at a white wash against a strong but not spectacular New Zealand team.

One of the three aims silverwood set the test team is already close to impossible to achieve if they dont turn this test around. The other two look wildly unrealistic.

It is quite incredible that literally one game after going with this new fangled "classic test" strategy they've decided to bowl first on a lovely sunny day, gone in with 5 seamers and no spinner, are playing a wicket keeper who isn't actually a keeper, batting an opening batsman at 6.

That unraveled quickly

Also the way they are mucking Pope around is mental. He's literally the best young batsman prospect we've had since Cook, and so far they've initially brought him in to bat at 4 (when he'd never batted there before in his first class career), dropped him after 2 games, brought him back at 6 and after one game now have him keeping and batting at 7. That's 3 different batting positions in 4 test matches. Top management!

Pretty miserable day for England and a beautiful one for Latham. You could argue that a few quick wickets in the morning will put England in control, but it just doesn’t look likely from a team that looks so uninspired. Stokes’ injury compounds the misery, especially if he’s unable to bat/if his ability to bat is hampered.

Looks like rain is the only thing between NZ and a 2-0 win.

Tbf on the Pope situation what was their other option? Have Bairstow hanging around the squad waiting for to get injured and bringing the mood down in training?
Or ask Burns to open and keep wicket?

It was a very last minute issue with Buttler that kept ( PUN INTENDED) him out. That's also how you've ended up with Crawley at 6 of course ( he should be batting ahead of stoke really but it's a bit academic)

At least Crawley is getting to play. It felt a bit like he was being bought along fornthe ride on this tour and being made to feel special rather than being realistically considered for a playing spot. Even more so when he scored a century in the warm up and still got left out for Denly.

Gooseberry wrote:Tbf on the Pope situation what was their other option? Have Bairstow hanging around the squad waiting for to get injured and bringing the mood down in training?
Or ask Burns to open and keep wicket?

It was a very last minute issue with Buttler that kept ( PUN INTENDED) him out. That's also how you've ended up with Crawley at 6 of course ( he should be batting ahead of stoke really but it's a bit academic)

At least Crawley is getting to play. It felt a bit like he was being bought along fornthe ride on this tour and being made to feel special rather than being realistically considered for a playing spot. Even more so when he scored a century in the warm up and still got left out for Denly.

If the understudy is going to bring the mood down, that probably points more to him being the wrong man for that role rather than an understudy not being needed.

I watched about the first 40 overs and, despite my reservations, Pope kept dececently. Not bad at all for Surrey's third choice gloveman, behind not only Foakes but also Jamie Smith. Still seems overly demanding though for a young guy trying to make his case to be a Test batsman to have to keep for 100+ overs before walking to the wicket as well as having his place in the order changed again.

Meanwhile, play should start 30 minutes earlier today due to so much play being lost yesterday. Simply common sense to start earlier than try and just add it onto the end of the day. However, still something the English cricket authorities need to cotton onto.

guildfordbat wrote:

Gooseberry wrote:Tbf on the Pope situation what was their other option? Have Bairstow hanging around the squad waiting for to get injured and bringing the mood down in training?
Or ask Burns to open and keep wicket?

It was a very last minute issue with Buttler that kept ( PUN INTENDED) him out. That's also how you've ended up with Crawley at 6 of course ( he should be batting ahead of stoke really but it's a bit academic)

At least Crawley is getting to play. It felt a bit like he was being bought along fornthe ride on this tour and being made to feel special rather than being realistically considered for a playing spot. Even more so when he scored a century in the warm up and still got left out for Denly.

If the understudy is going to bring the mood down, that probably points more to him being the wrong man for that role rather than an understudy not being needed.

I watched about the first 40 overs and, despite my reservations, Pope kept dececently. Not bad at all for Surrey's third choice gloveman, behind not only Foakes but also Jamie Smith. Still seems overly demanding though for a young guy trying to make his case to be a Test batsman to have to keep for 100+ overs before walking to the wicket as well as having his place in the order changed again.

Meanwhile, play should start 30 minutes earlier today due to so much play being lost yesterday. Simply common sense to start earlier than try and just add it onto the end of the day. However, still something the English cricket authorities need to cotton onto.

It was Bairstows tantrums that I was alluding to, so yes my very point. Hes just not the sort of guy to want to be a spare part, once the decision to drop him had been made it was best to keep him away from the squad.

I guess the counter is BUTFOAKESHOULDBEINTHETEAMANYWAY and yeah OK he couldve gone along for the ride and annoyed Bairstow even more.

Anyway as you say the decision was made a long time ago to not take a proper reserve keeper and so far Pope hasn't ruined christmas, theres plenty of other issues England have to face.

But at least they arent as bad as Pakistan.

Early wicket. The previously immaculate Latham misjudges one.

Opening for England.

Curran bounces out Nicholls - a real opening for england now

Curran channelling his inner Neil Wagner, with a 127kph bumper.

What a god awful review

Terrible, terrible review. Nothing going for it. They’re not for hopeful punts (unless you’re desperate).

Still, it’s been a good start for England. Established control of the scoring and got out the two danger men. Bowling as a unit so far today. Much better than yesterday.

Watling looks like he’s getting settled, though, and this is a near identical position to the first test.

Ben Stokes with dicky knees and a part time leggier bowling in tandem? Be nice to have a spinner now, wouldn’t it Joe?

Ooft, that looks dead. Bloody terrible review earlier though.

Too high! The review would have been wasted again anyway.

Really glad we decided to grind our bowlers into the dirt on a road. Top decision at the toss that

Well New Zealand back in control. After the initial high, England got sucked into a lull period of hanging on for the new ball and then bowled a lot of ineffective dross while they waited, allowing New Zealand to compose themselves.

Then when the bloody new ball showed up, England did nothing with it!

Been impressed with Watling and the debutant Mitchell. Good patience, something England’s batters can learn from, and good grind. 350+ would be a good score and it looks as though that’s where NZ will end up. Still got Santer to come, remember!

Such rubbish, negative bowling from England in this afternoon session. Bowling as though the opposition are 475/3 and they’re trying to stem the run flow. Embarrassing and tired stuff.

It looks flat now, but I bet the Kiwi bowlers will find plenty of life in this wicket.

England have found something to make this a touch more interesting, Broad and Woakes mainly doing the business to put New Zealand 357/8.

Well, Santner ain’t having it. Already hit two 6’s on his way to a quick 23

375 all out. Best of both worlds for the Kiwis. A big enough score to seriously challenge, and they didn’t bat too long to put the draw as favourite.

Testing 80 minutes for England’s batters.

Feel for the batsmen now. That’s a big enough score to need serious concentration, not so big to be too much to beat, leaving the win open, but nearly two days down and probably having to get a lead as they’ll be batting on the last day.

Root has to deliver with the bat because he’s put the pressure on his team here

Sibley falls for 4

Denly falls for 4, shortly after Burns was reprieved by a drop.

England in deep trouble. Excellent opening spells from Southee and Henry.