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

My favourite England innings, one where they do so badly in the middle that the recovery at the end leaves you with some cause for optimism

Anderson not making Latham play enough in that first over. There was one that jumped, but Latham showing discipline...

Anderson might well be setting the batsman up, but from what it appears, he is just not making them play enough here...

That was quality from Burns, struggled at times for fluency but gritted it out and showed his class at the end. He is for me the only opener we've tried since Cook and Strauss who looks capable of excelling long term, his all round ability is a big plus.

On the flipside Sibley doesn't look up to test cricket, gets out early too often and whilst he can grind it out, has no second gear so is easy to bowl to. Crawley and Pope look all at sea at the moment, need a prolonged period of time working with Thorpe and co.

A few near things as Broad and Anderson are beating the edge more than on day one...bit of uneven bounce making batting a little more tricky. But 10 without loss after seven overs...
Supposed to be another thirty overs but I can't see them getting that many in tonight - not expecting Root and Lawrence to be doing much bowling. So NZ are likely to be just short of 200 runs ahead by the close. Suppose this might give them some chance of eventually setting England sixty overs to bat ? At least the game will be technically alive going into day five...

Root wasting reviews here...that is obviously pitched outside leg - and he's hit it anyway ! Two of their three referrals burnt in nine overs

Root and England reviewing like there is no tomorrow. Anderson and Broad, after those initial moments, asked some tough questions, and the New Zealand batters seem to be on ultra-survival mode. Number of close calls, but the right decisions being made each time, other than England's decisions to review...

England have bowled well without much to show for their efforts. The New Zealand openers not trying to take much initiative. So long as they see the day through, can't fault them too much.

Robinson with the first strike for England, and its that man Conway. Didn't look as assured as he was in the first innings, a few too many play and miss...

Its a great time for England to attack Williamson. Stumps aren't too far away, he's new to the crease, and New Zealand will still be under just a little bit of pressure now as the lead hasn't gone up as quickly even if they batted for more than an hour. Will be interesting to see how they would go if a wicket falls now. Taylor looked all at sea in the first innings, will they send in a nightwatchman? Wagner? Jamieson?

Ah well, Wood getting warned for running on the wicket...

Are they going to play on beyond the usual extra time? Seems like it, to make up for the time lost yesterday.
But if they really mean business, they should do something about the absolutely appalling overrate...

Well, here is the contest, Anderson v Williamson. The old horse had the first round going for him, KW would surely want to reverse the order...

Took his time to get off the mark, did Williamson. Not quite looking his usual self out there is the NZ Skipper.

Williamson looked a dead duck there!, but survives with the tiniest of edges!. He didn't look sure even about the review there!

Gone now though as Robinson wins the verdict on his own review ! Must admit that one shocked me : I thought Root was wasting another one , or that it would have been umpire's call at most.

msp83 wrote:Are they going to play on beyond the usual extra time? Seems like it, to make up for the time lost yesterday.
But if they really mean business, they should do something about the absolutely appalling overrate...

The conventional end is 18:30 I think (11 minutes ago), with an extra half hour taking it up to 19:00. Still going to lose out on 9 overs or so.

I thought that was going high down leg but reckoned the ball before was out!!

Whatever way seen, excellent spell from Robinson who is having a consistently good match.

Not sure how late they can play tonight ? Do they just keep going until they have the 98 overs for the day ? Seems odd as there is always a cut off time on a normal day , even with "overtime".

I thought I heard 7:30 mentioned earlier on Sky but not sure. Sadly, there will almost certainly be some cut off time before the 98 are bowled.

Williamson's luck lasted all of one ball, and England at last got a review right. Neil Wagner in as nightwatchman. He'd hope to last the day, and then come out tomorrow and swing his bat for a few runs.

There again, Wagner coming in as nightwatchman suggests stumps are close.

Good effort from England in the field, but only two wickets means it'll take an almighty collapse, or a generous declaration, to make this test a live one. Robinson will be tough to drop for the next test.

And that was the worst over rate of the test! 88 overs in 6hrs and 50 minutes of play.

Wagner saw the day through, doing first part of his job. Hopefully he can add a few tomorrow.
Not quite the draw yet. New Zealand ahead by 165 with 8 second innings wickets remaining. The pitch is still on the flatter side, but England bowled really well, and there is pressure unlike the first innings. Though they lost their top batsman and the man with the first innings double ton, Tom Latham has stuck it out and they do have a decent, deep batting lineup. They need another 80 100 runs to feel entirely safe.
England need to stick at it, keep the discipline, and hope to engineer a collapse like in the first innings. Couple of early wickets can play havoc with the batter's mind and take the pitch out of the equation. With Williamson gone and Taylor seemingly out of touch, this New Zealand lineup with de Grandhomme at 7 is a touch light on class. If England can bowl them out for another 70 runs around lunch, then they can seriously think of the chase...
As for NZ to win, they would hope that Latham will be able to keep one end safe, and the rest can bat normally at first and then try to take the attack to England around lunch. Bat half an hour after lunch, get that lead close to 300 and then declare and watch England managing to produced one of those classic panicky collapses in under a session with Santner taking 6-38...
Draw most likely, England win has a slightly greater possibility than an NZ win...

NZ 165 ahead with 8 wickets in hand going into the last day. They hold the better cards but how to play them?

I would give Wagner license to play his shots whilst the others play sensibly until lunch and then review. Hardly radical or scintillating and very unlikely to end in anything other than a draw but that should consolidate and secure their position.

Edit: hadn't seen msp's post when I posted. Different words and more detail from him but don't feel we're too far apart.

A nightwatchman when you're in a position of batting to try and win the game? NZ should lose the game alone for that

Essentially a Cronje-esque declaration (an above board one!) or England taking these last 8 wickets inside two and a half hours is needed to make this game come alive.

All 98 overs (96 with the changeover) will be bowled today, if necessary, because of cricket logic which dictates that all overs on the final day must be bowled no matter how long it takes...a courtesy that doesn't exist for days 1-4.

Taylor swinging for the fences so seems as though the Kiwis will be declaring at some point; hopefully an enticing declaration.

Broad ends his wicket drought by pinning Latham LBW. The very least Broad deserved.

Bit surprised to see that the Kiwis are really going for it today : had looked pretty wedded to just batting out time last night. Guess they've figured there might be enough in the pitch on day five to put England under pressure after lunch.

Broad will be relieved to have broken his wicket drought at last. Looked good live ... but umpire's call was good enough anyway.

210 ahead. If they keep going at four plus per over they will be 300 on not too long after lunch and could get , what , 60 or so overs at England ?

I suppose there is an argument that this test match (and series) doesn't count for an awful lot. No test championship points on the line or anything - it is essentially a warm-up for the Kiwis' final v India in a couple of weeks.

With that in mind, Williamson might want to set up a contrived scenario to see if his bowlers can successfully defend a total with 70 or so overs left, even if means possibly letting England in.

55 in those first 12 overs.

Judging by Taylor's baseball swings, the declaration is coming sooner rather than later.

Yes , fair point about the relatively less vital nature of this series. And certainly the way Taylor especially is swinging they appear to be aiming to pull out sooner rather than later...may not even be looking for 300 ?
Perhaps they don't have a lot of respect for this England batting order after that first innings ! Might be different if Stokes was in the lineup ; but I'm not sure this group will be up for much of a chase.

I see England's foolish waste of reviews has caught them out now...as I thought , Anderson had one then if they'd only had one in hand...

Yeah, I thought that was plumb in real-time. Didn't count for too much as Wood gets Taylor next over.

Five down the Kiwis. Hope England do have a little dart at the target if the possibility arises - plenty of natural shot-makers in the side even without Stokes.

Taylor gone now ...so with five down you'd think this innings is likely to wind up one way or another soon enough to make the fourth innings "live".

What would England actually fancy chasing , I wonder ? 280 , maybe. But at say four per over I reckon they'd be struggling to get there so I don't think NZ are risking much by continuing to go after the bowling.

Duty281 wrote:Yeah, I thought that was plumb in real-time. Didn't count for too much as Wood gets Taylor next over.

Five down the Kiwis. Hope England do have a little dart at the target if the possibility arises - plenty of natural shot-makers in the side even without Stokes.

Suppose you could say there are some shot makers...the question though is whether any of them are much good !
Can't see Burns or Sibley racing away from the off. But I guess if they could get off to a solid start rather than be 25/2 Root might be prepared to attempt a chase , at least until a few wickets go down. He won't really want to lose their fourth match in a row though.
Bit of rain about now . I'm still fancying the draw here...

Root strikes...nice catch by Burns.  Lead 262 , four wickets left. Lunch in twenty minutes so I doubt they'd close then. Probably whack it around for a few minutes in the afternoon session and get England in with a nominal 300-320 ; which doesn't seem to be much incentive to chase.
De Grandhomme not holding back...

Scratch that. Rain heavier , early lunch. 75 overs left , 73 with the change. They won't want to bat more than another six to eight , surely ?

Must say a touch surprised by an Un-Williamson-like approach from New Zealand, going after the bowling from the beginning. Wagner didn't last long, but Taylor played his shots and gave some early momentum to the innings and didn't give Root a chance to put in a very attacking field. New Zealand lost 4 wickets in that session, but added over a hundred runs. Think they are more or less safe here. Not sure it will be a smart idea to give England 75 overs to chase 272 though, particularly in the first test of the series that New Zealand have dominated. So might as well play on for another 7 or 8 overs, and try and add another 30 40 more to the total. England would have more of a nothing chase on their hand, And even if they get going, Williamson can spread the field, and with no Stokes or Buttler, this lineup may not be able to challenge much.
And if there is continued possibility of rain around, New Zealand should just look to bat as long as possible, bat normally and perhaps give the bowlers a little work out at the end. With 6 down though, they may not have much option here though.

Blimey, the Kiwis have declared at lunch. It's game on.

273 to chase in 75 overs.

I think England can chase this. Bookmakers offering 12/1 on an England win which is silly.

Jamieson with a lovely spell of 5 overs and 5 maidens. Such a consistent line and length, he really is a top-class test bowler.

Burns and Sibley have got through the first ten overs unscathed and laid a decent platform. Sibley nearly ran himself out...but he survives.

Very much surprised NZ dangled such a large carrot. Quite apart from ignoring the Guildford Doctrine of never declaring at an interval so as to rush the opening bats  , they have given them - in theory - sufficient time to chase the runs if they're good enough. An undeserved opportunity, if you like , after being generally outplayed for most of the match.
In truth I can't see England getting near it  : they've started solidly enough but upping the rate later won't be easy against this good NZ attack. And the RRR is already ticking up...

Better than just a last day Bat-a-thon though.

Perfect start from the openers, though how Sibley survived v Jamieson is a mystery.

The NZ win has nearly been eliminated from the equation, the ball is a lot softer, and there's a good platform for the middle order to come in and chase this down. RRR still comfortably in England's reach - I just hope they have the courage to try and win a test match, rather than dead-bat for a draw.

Seen some terrible reviews in this test match, that was another one. Williamson's normally fairly astute on such matters.

Santner's turn.

They're sort of obliged to try , aren't they , after being presented with such an offer ?
Imagine they will make a push at some point ; but once a few wickets fall (as is more likely than not) they'll back off. Need over four per over now , and no one has sustained anything like that rate for more than a few overs in this match .
Might be an assault on Santner now he's on...

Far too radical a declaration from Williamson on this track. Its tough to get wickets on this. England's usually shaky top order doing a good job upfront, negating the only chance New Zealand had. If Root gets going, and if the others can bat around, with them batting down to 8, England pretty can't be ruled out.
However as alfie noted, its going to be not so easy to get the rate up, and in trying to do that they might lose a few wickets. But even then England should give it a shot after tea, if the openers are still together or if they haven't lost more than a wicket by then. If needed, they can always shut shop.

Also, an opportunity for Santner, he was getting a couple to turn towards the end of the England first innings. If he can spin a few and get a couple of wickets, England's mental issues against spin might just come back and they might start treating him as Ravindra Jadeja instead!

This is a really good platform for England. The RRR is above 4, but the more they bat normally, there is always the chance to push for something at 6 for may be 15 20 overs...

Neil Wagner with the first strike for New Zealand. Burns goes. They really needed that.

Good, probing spells from Wagner and Jamieson, but Sibley and Crawley are surviving, without doing anything flashy. Don't think England need to try anything silly here, should go for it in the last 90 minutes if they are still in with a chance.
Think Crawley should bat normally though, he can't really bat like boycott, trying that might actually lead to his downfall. Nothing stupid like in the first innings, but don't go into a shell just like that.

msp83 wrote:This is a really good platform for England. The RRR is above 4, but the more they bat normally, there is always the chance to push for something at 6 for may be 15 20 overs...

You could try for six an over off the last twenty overs , provided you had wickets in hand , though no guarantee of getting it. But to even get to that position they need about another hundred off the next 27 ... Not looking likely at the moment.
Will certainly need to step it up after tea.

Because of the way the batsmen are playing, the bowling, already very good, is looking even more threatening.

Southee is back on. As the ball is doing just that little bit more in the air, this is going to be interesting. Think they should have CDG back on as well, he's good when the ball swings.

And of course these bats are also playing for their places after thin recent returns. They're surviving , at the moment. But you wouldn't say either of them look at all secure.
Bowling has been pretty good. As expected.

Crawley gone to Southee. No surprise. His place in the team must be really under threat : I like him , but he seems to be very much out of sorts at present and may need a spell. Unfortunately there won't be much County red ball stuff for a while...