England's Summer of Cricket 2021

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2nd June-14th June: Two tests v New Zealand

23rd June-26th June: Three T20s v Sri Lanka
29th June-4th July: Three ODIs v Sri Lanka

8th July-13th July: Three ODIs v Pakistan
16th July-20th July: Three T20s V Pakistan

4th August-14th September: Five Tests v India

Yes, this will be a tricky assignment for England. A largely inexperienced batting order up against the variety of Southee, Jamieson and Wagner, plus De Grandhomme's military medium and Santner's 'spin'.

Burns pulls one for four. Good start.

Good umpire is Michael Gough ain't he

Best umpire in the world. Will be a shame when neutral umpires return and we have Joel Wilson guessing decisions.

Jamieson gets Sibley...very tight on umpire's call, but looked 'out' in real time. Took 7 balls for Jamieson to get a wicket overseas.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Good umpire is Michael Gough ain't he

Yes. He doesn't get too many wrong. Feared Burns was in trouble for a moment but going over...

Sibley is gone though. Jamieson found his radar and that is out . Umpires call so England don't lost their review but one wicket down much earlier than they'd want...

Sibley playing in a different postcode there

Umpire Gough is exceptional. Simon Taufel levels.

Sibley gone early. Jamieson has been getting movement but hadn't quite found the right areas. As soon as he did though.

That familiar sense of foreboding induced by watching England's top order is back...

Sibley may feel a bit unfortunate as that was apparently only just clipping the stump...looked very dead live so not surprised it was given.
Not going to get into discussions about umpire's call : think everyone is pretty wedded to their view on margins etc . But whether you use drs or just a human there is always going to be an element of luck in a mode of dismissal that is predicated on something that would have happened if... rather than an actual event...

Moral : make sure you don't miss straight ones !

And just to underline the "luck" point : Burns would have been gone just then had he been given out to Southee

Best he doesn't keep getting hit on the pads , I think...

I get real Chris Tremlett vibes from Jamieson. That natural shape away and steepling bounce.

I thought Burns was gone in real time there to Southee. Umpires call on impact so it would have stayed with Gough's on-field decision.

Southee is such a smart bowler these days. Varying his pace beautifully to get the most movement possible.

Just another double hundred needed please Joe...

Oh dear...that was very poor from Crawley. 18/2 and the skipper is being called upon to right the ship rather early...

NZ very much on top.

Very poor from Crawley, no patience whatsoever and fell into the trap.

Root at the crease early against a still-new ball, just what Williamson would have wanted.

Oh Zak.

Is there an argument to move Bracey up the order in this situation? He's a genuine top 3 batsman that wants to face the new ball.

Southee was brilliant in that spell. Jamieson a bit erratic, bar the last over, but he's bowled a few pearlers.

Big session needed for England with the bat.

Southee varying his pace is finding that little bit of variable bounce. The pitch is mostly good for batting but it is definitely slightly two paced.

With the sun beaming down I think this will still be very good for batting tomorrow but start to give plenty to the seamers on days 4 and 5.

Starting to see the first signs of inconsistent bounce - one grubbering on Burns, one rising up to rap Root's knuckles. Not a good indicator for England who will, probably, be batting last on this.

Don't think the Kiwis have bowled well to Burns so far. Much too straight and he has been allowed to score quite easily.

Surprised De Grandhomme was the first change bowler, but he's found some good swing early on.

Odd that Williamson has gone for de Grandhomme rather than Wagner first change. Perhaps a plan for Root to try to keep him on strike early on. When Root has a bit more pace on the ball he's brilliant at using that pace to rotate the strike.

CdG is bowling very well in fairness.

Wagner being so good with an older ball compared to most seamers makes him a lot more versatile than many seamers. He must be such a useful bowler to have as a skipper.

Funny things , cricket pitches. This one looked a complete road yesterday (though I did suspect there was just a hint of the two paced which has become more pronounced today) : but today it has seemed to do just enough to keep the seam bowlers interested : bounce if you put your back into it , some stopping a bit - and now the variable bounce which you really don't expect on day two ...

Still looks good for batting though. Get properly in and you'll be hoping to score plenty - as Conway demonstrated rather ably.

alfie wrote:Funny things , cricket pitches. This one looked a complete road yesterday (though I did suspect there was just a hint of the two paced which has become more pronounced today) : but today it has seemed to do just enough to keep the seam bowlers interested : bounce if you put your back into it , some stopping a bit - and now the variable bounce which you really don't expect on day two ...

Still looks good for batting though. Get properly in and you'll be hoping to score plenty - as Conway demonstrated rather ably.

I have one of those odd feelings that it will die a bit tomorrow then wake up again on days 4 and 5. England will have had the heavy roller on it before the evening session and again tomorrow morning.

It's not a complete road but there's plenty of runs in this track if good batsman get set.

I'm always torn on Burns watching him play in Test cricket. Having watched him a lot in CC cricket early in his career I think he's a very good player, a better one than he's yet shown in Test cricket. Even in very good nick as he is at the moment his technique just feels under constant pressure from quality seamers.

I'm in no way convinced he's an opener that will average high thirties at this level but he could definitely edge into the mid-thirties doing the sort of job that Alviro Petersen did for SA for a time.

He's played an important hand so far today after those two early wickets. England really need a partnership to build a platform before Pope and Lawrence come in.

A couple of the top 7 other than Root getting a score would do this line-ups confidence the world of good.

At the risk of hexing him I think Burns has played pretty well today - after some early shaky patches. Solid enough in defence ; and he's picked off anything loose to keep the score ticking over.
Never going to get style points ; but he can do the sort of job you want from an opener ; though he needs to raise that Test average if he's to be a long term fixture.
36 is a decent start . But England need him to keep going. NZ with their quite varied attack are going to keep nagging away even as the ball gets older so a lot of hard work to do yet...

Burns has been watchful and punished anything on the pads with a plethora of singles. Root's been shackled, but overall I feel NZ have been too negative post-tea.

A lot of balls left harmlessly alone; seems the Kiwis have set up to contain rather than take wickets, despite finding quite a lot of swing.

alfie wrote:At the risk of hexing him I think Burns has played pretty well today - after some early shaky patches. Solid enough in defence ; and he's picked off anything loose to keep the score ticking over.
Never going to get style points ; but he can do the sort of job you want from an opener ; though he needs to raise that Test average if he's to be a long term fixture.
36 is a decent start . But England need him to keep going. NZ with their quite varied attack are going to keep nagging away even as the ball gets older so a lot of hard work to do yet...

I'd agree I think he's played well but even when in touch I just feel his technique against the top end seamers feels under pressure at this level. His head falling across and bat coming down nearly perpendicular to straight balls such as that not out LBW to Southee that was umpires call on impact makes me worry about him batting against really good bowlers who can work those weaknesses over.

In county cricket I think seamers who try to bowl straight enough to exploit that weakness will give enough gimmes that Burns will capitalise on before the bowler gets it bang on. It's a tiny margin for error there trying to pitch it full enough to be hitting without being a half volley, straight enough to pitch inline without drifting onto an easy clip off the pads. Very small margins that county bowlers will be less accurate at hitting but top Test bowlers can be ruthless at exploiting. Far more balls pressuring the weakness and far less drifting too full or straight where that strange bat face angle and Burns very good eye allow him to pounce.

As said I'm actually somewhat a Burns advocate. I think he has played some important knocks and has the ability to play more. He's added more stability at the top than several recently. The consistency, and hence average, just isn't there at the minute though.

Burns, who can hook and pull very well, taking on Wagner's short balls, which he bowls very very well. This should be a fun little battle.

Fifty for Burns

Very timely , for him and England. 88/2

Not enough pace in the pitch to make that short-ball tactic viable. Solid fifty for Burns.

Time for Mitchell 'Ashley Giles' Santner.

Good stuff from Third Degree.

Typical from Root as well. I looked away a bit back and Root was tied down on around 16 from 60-odd deliveries. Look back after being distracted (darn work...) and he's on 38 from 87 deliveries. Soaks up pressure then makes scoring look so easy once set.

England need one of these two to go big as Conway did.

Good session from Burns and Root - there’s a bit in the pitch, but nothing major really (Crawley’s dismissal a total brain fart), and with New Zealand essentially deciding to deploy a three man bowling attack and two part timers, a chance for England to bat tomorrow and the likes of Burns to cement a spot in the side for the summer.

Rubbish session from the Kiwis. Had England on the ropes at tea, but played a safe, containing strategy and allowed the hosts to establish a good platform going into day three. Burns must have been delighted with the number of straight balls on his pads.

Still a sizeable deficit so the English will have to bat through most (all?) of tomorrow just to attain parity. Williamson must be bolder with his captaincy rather than letting the game drift as it did for most of the last 150 minutes.

Over-rates were even worse today.

So, at England 111-2 at stumps, think that's an even day. England would be the happier side though. They managed to restrict New Zealand to under 400 on a poor flat pitch when they were set to go well beyond that. And then weathered the early loss of 2 wickets to put the innings back on track. Root and Burns, if they apply themselves, will have lots and lots of runs to score from this track. But while it is useless for bowlers, it doesn't offer anything great in terms of balls coming on to the bat either, so they will have to bide their time and show good temperament as well.
All the more reason to credit Wood and Robinson for their efforts, they really brought England back from the dead. The old firm of Anderson and Broad, seem to be taking some time to warm up. Perhaps England should play them more, let the engines running more...

Southee bowled really well changing his pace up and find some swing as well. Colin de Grandhomme did a creditable job for a 4th seamer, good discipline and some decent swing in between. Kyle Jamieson made an early impact and asked a few questions, but looked a bit short off rhythm. Santner, for a limited slow bowler, should have looked to provide better control, but bowled rather poorly even by his standards. Surely, the dead pitch gave him nothing to work with, but all those rubbish short balls, can't be blamed on that.
The biggest letdown for Williamson and New Zealand, was that Neil Wagner had one of those rare bad days today. The pitch with the lack of pace and bounce, negated his short balls to a great extent, but Wagner ended up being a bit too predictable and didn't adapt well.

England batsmen, if they show good temperament, should score big on this track. Probably, only Root has the game to score at a brisk rate on this one, but this is an opportunity for the likes of Pope to play a big innings. And that lad Lawrence, if he gets going, might look to play his shots. Not sure he's cut out for test cricket in testing circumstances, but he might prove to be useful on this track.
Debutant Bracy is a top order bat in county cricket right? Does he also keep regularly? What kind of a batsman is he? A builder of innings or more of a smasher?
Is Robinson as good as say Sam Curran with the bat?

Has James Neesham retired from test cricket? Among CDG, Anderson and himself, a crop of seam bowling all-rounders emerging in the last decade, he seemed the best probably.

Been to Lord's for both days.

Thoughts. NZ let Eng off the hook with Nicholls' needless dismissal. Eng did not look like getting anyone out then suddenly NZ lose four wickets for six runs.

Conway looked good - neat, compact. Crawley played an awful shot. Root showed how to play a fighting innings. Again after tea NZ let it slip. They had bowled a tight, off-stump line but the short-pitched stuff didn't work and the scoreboard started moving.

Endless, inane announcements, ridiculously overlong drinks breaks (the players are fed drinks constantly anyway) and a funereal over rate.

Sky have done a mini-documentary of England's 1993 tour to India. First episode (of three, I think) has been released:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhLGAY1mtXE

Duty281 wrote:Sky have done a mini-documentary of England's 1993 tour to India. First episode (of three, I think) has been released:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhLGAY1mtXE

Spinwash looks like it will be a brilliant mini-series. Such an interesting viewpoint to have footage shot that way (Dermot Reeve with a handheld camcorder). The players are all so relaxed around it as it's a teammate with a camera practically shooting a holiday video as a keen amateur photographer.

To then get the players to speak about the tour in the present day with foresight and having seen how the game has changed is just fascinating when played alongside that old footage. It of course helps that it was a very eventful tour with a lot of characters in the touring party!

Good stand between Root and Burns has brought England back into the game ; though we should be cautious as 111/2 can easily become 150/5 and it all changes...

Path to an England win still a difficult one. Given the slow scoring and abominable over rate in this match it would take all Friday just to get up near the NZ total (and I see there is a chance of some rain interruption forecast) so they'd then need to knock over the NZ second innings a lot quicker than the first : you'd imagine that would require the pitch getting a lot trickier. Not impossible ; but I think NZ are still a little ahead on points at present as England will be batting last.
They might be a bit disappointed they couldn't cause more damage after those initial two wickets : as others have said , they looked to be a bit too "patient" in their bowling approach as the last session wore on. Bit like England on day one - and perhaps the nature of this pitch (still very sound for batting , if not fast scoring) has dictated that.
This is supposed to be "moving day" , eh ? So the first session may give us a better idea of where this match is going. Have to confess I have not found it quite as gripping as I'd been expecting so far : perhaps there has been just a little too much caution on both sides for my taste ; and the too bland surface has taken a lot of the menace from the bowling (though I did enjoy Southee's opening spell).
Ideally would hope to see England up the batting tempo on day three and put the pressure back on the tourists : this probably depends largely on Root . I do miss Ben Stokes...

The old forecast for Lords today is not good

Duty281 wrote:Sky have done a mini-documentary of England's 1993 tour to India. First episode (of three, I think) has been released:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhLGAY1mtXE

Interesting

https://www.republicworld.com/sports-news/cricket-news/ollie-robinson-tweets-could-see-pacer-dropped-for-eng-vs-nz-2nd-test.html

Really will they drop him as is being rumored

Would be a load of nonsense to drop someone from the England squad for non-cricketing things they said at a time when they weren't in the England squad, but that's the way the world works nowadays.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:The old forecast for Lords today is not good

Currently raining. Might be an on-off day, which would make it difficult for England's batsmen, or a completely off day, which would surely guarantee the draw.

Should be playing in God's own county of Yorkshire, it's lovely blue sky up here.

Duty281 wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:The old forecast for Lords today is not good

Currently raining. Might be an on-off day, which would make it difficult for England's batsmen, or a completely off day, which would surely guarantee the draw.

Should be playing in God's own county of Yorkshire, it's lovely blue sky up here.

Still not over the awful weather down south in London costing us the 2019 Ashes

Come on Duty... 248 points are waiting for you. Gift wrapped; no restrictions.

Same goes for Guildford, king_carlos, flipper, goose... and everyone else.

https://www.606v2.com/t70218-2021-england-v-nz-world-test-championship-final-tipping-competition

Sounds like the rain is on the verge of stopping. Should get at least a few hours in today, and the forecast is clear for the weekend, meaning at least 230 overs of play remain in the test...just enough time for a result either way?

Duty281 wrote:Sounds like the rain is on the verge of stopping. Should get at least a few hours in today, and the forecast is clear for the weekend, meaning at least 230 overs of play remain in the test...just enough time for a result either way?

Won't get 230 overs in if the over rate stays the same as the first two days !

Hope they can get on for a few hours today otherwise it really does look like a dead duck match. Guess I will sit up for a bit and see if your prediction proves accurate...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXPpsBmA-gE

Alfie - this might be worth 20 minutes of your time, feature from lunch yesterday on Sky - found it very interesting!

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXPpsBmA-gE

Alfie - this might be worth 20 minutes of your time, feature from lunch yesterday on Sky - found it very interesting!

I will try and access it ...at first glance it has a "not available in your country " notice but I know there are ways around that...

Not much live action , eh ?

alfie wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Sounds like the rain is on the verge of stopping. Should get at least a few hours in today, and the forecast is clear for the weekend, meaning at least 230 overs of play remain in the test...just enough time for a result either way?

Won't get 230 overs in if the over rate stays the same as the first two days !

Hope they can get on for a few hours today otherwise it really does look like a dead duck match. Guess I will sit up for a bit and see if your prediction proves accurate...

My optimism may have been misplaced, I was hoping they'd get on at 16:00 for a few hours, but the rain's still pretty steady at Lord's (about the only area of England where it is raining today!).

alfie wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXPpsBmA-gE

Alfie - this might be worth 20 minutes of your time, feature from lunch yesterday on Sky - found it very interesting!

I will try and access it ...at first glance it has a "not available in your country " notice but I know there are ways around that...

Not much live action , eh ?

Sky have uploaded it in podcast form as well, I listened on Spotify.

Leamon is a really interesting analyst who's had quite a big impact on the England side in recent years.

king_carlos wrote:

alfie wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXPpsBmA-gE

Alfie - this might be worth 20 minutes of your time, feature from lunch yesterday on Sky - found it very interesting!

I will try and access it ...at first glance it has a "not available in your country " notice but I know there are ways around that...

Not much live action , eh ?

Sky have uploaded it in podcast form as well, I listened on Spotify.

Leamon is a really interesting analyst who's had quite a big impact on the England side in recent years.

I watched that. It really was fascinating stuff. Especially the stuff about batting first in Pakistan (can't remember the venue) and the back to front stats around it. And the increase in left handed test match openers. Really, really interesting stuff. Eye opening.

I was so intrigued I dropped a very unsubtle hint to Mrs Windows to get me the book with Fathers Day coming up. Kids present sorted in the time it takes an England no 3 batsman to get out.