England's Summer of Cricket 2022 as Joe Root Steps Down

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Joe Root has decided to step down from the captaincy. Main problem now is - who should take over?

Stokes is the only one really in contention. But should he be lumbered with the captaincy? His workload is immense as it is. But if he doesn't take the job, then who?

Let's hope Root's stepping down doesn't effect his batting! Captaincy cares hardly showed in his stats over the last few months.

The boat is capsizing. It looked like it might be sunshine and roses, instead it's dark clouds and misery.

Duty281 wrote:Still 42 overs left in the day, they won't all be bowled, but it'll be a marathon two and a half hour last session. Could be something ghastly like 100/6 at stumps and England's advantage all but disappeared, or it could be sunshine and roses at 130/2.

Oh and Potts' injury is just cramp, apparently. Normally they lie down and stretch if they have that.

Not quite stumps, but yes.

Did Tino say he's going on the second day? Might be a finish tomorrow.

Well this is absolute rubbish as usual, and a complete waste of a strong bowling performance

Why’s England’s batting so bad? I thought they’d won after their bowling efforts.

92/2 to 100/7.

Meet the new England. Same as the old England.

If Parkinson bats tonight it'll be an extraordinary test debut.

New Zealand's attack showing their experience and class by not panicking during the early partnership, just putting the ball in good areas and trusting it will pay dividends eventually.

Once Root falls it just feels like a formality.

Wow. That went south quickly. In truth I was hiding behind the sofa once Root got out ; but didn't expect the total fold up...

NZ bowled very well ; but that's horribly disappointing after a 59 opening stand !

Barring a Broad century tomorrow , looks like a single innings shootout coming up...rough on anyone who bought tickets for Saturday

Still shaking my head : pitch really doesn't look like a minefield. McCullum has some work to do...

Duty281 wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Still 42 overs left in the day, they won't all be bowled, but it'll be a marathon two and a half hour last session. Could be something ghastly like 100/6 at stumps and England's advantage all but disappeared, or it could be sunshine and roses at 130/2.

Oh and Potts' injury is just cramp, apparently. Normally they lie down and stretch if they have that.

Not quite stumps, but yes.

Did Tino say he's going on the second day? Might be a finish tomorrow.

Can we blame you for invoking the spectre of 100/6 ? Though I suppose that was optimistic given it was at one point 100/7

That was some day of cricket. 17 wickets. England seizing a strong advantage through their bowling exploits, only to cede said advantage through their customary batting collapse. A bit like the 2005 Ashes test at Lord's, where McGrath scythed through England.

Certainly advantage New Zealand now. I don't expect them to be as poor with the bat in the third innings (or England to be as good with the ball), and at worse they'll only be facing a small (below 50) deficit after England are bowled out.

Don't think New Zealand started off well with the ball (too short), but after the wicket of Root, Southee and Boult pushed their lengths up and got the rewards. England clueless, once again, when the ball started moving.

None of the English top three are currently test level players, and expecting Pope to succeed at 3 when he's never batted in that position at FC level is typical England lunacy. Stokes looks lost with the bat and has done since his comeback, alas. It's all well and good smashing sixes against Division Two players, but when it's Boult/Southee/Jamieson it's an entirely different game.

We must focus on and grasp the positives. NZ are 7/4 to win this test. That's a good positive to grasp.

alfie wrote:

Duty281 wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Still 42 overs left in the day, they won't all be bowled, but it'll be a marathon two and a half hour last session. Could be something ghastly like 100/6 at stumps and England's advantage all but disappeared, or it could be sunshine and roses at 130/2.

Oh and Potts' injury is just cramp, apparently. Normally they lie down and stretch if they have that.

Not quite stumps, but yes.

Did Tino say he's going on the second day? Might be a finish tomorrow.

Can we blame you for invoking the spectre of 100/6 ?  Though I suppose that was optimistic given it was at one point 100/7

Well I also tried to invoke 130/2! Be amazed if England manage that this summer.

Jesus I went to nets and we were 70-1 and come back to find they’ve done an England!

What on earth happened?

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Jesus I went to nets and we were 70-1 and come back to find they’ve done an England!

What on earth happened?

It was good bowling from NZ in the recent trend of hitting a very consistent line just outside off and that full length that keeps threatening the stumps then trusting the ball will do a bit either way. England's batters were no match though.

It was all too familiar.

Crawley playing some sublime drives but not making a score. Pope played a beautiful cover drive but largely looked frenetic. Bairstow dragging on. Stokes hasn't looked right with the bat at Test level for a while realistically.

I keep saying it but I really don't think Lees is the answer. I just don't think he's a better bat than Burns or Sibley for a start.

Leach is a doubt for the second test as it is required that he takes a minimum seven days off and the second test is in eight days time. It's also his third concussion, so greater caution may be advised.

Hopefully players will stop those dangerous dives where they're taking a huge risk just to save one or two runs. One of the Kiwi fielders nearly injured themselves late on when a huge clump of turf was uprooted after they slid in at high speed.

The "just to save one or two runs" argument is referring to it as if they're one off circumstances is the issue. If fielders don't attempt those kind of efforts every time it's pushing them it adds up to a lot more than one or two runs over a Test match. All too easy to say stop attempting these dives but it's certainly not how I think most of us would be looking back at unambitious fielding on a day such as Edgbaston 2005 or Headingley 2019. Just taking 10 to 20 runs off Australia's chase or adding that to England's chase then suddenly seems a lot more important!

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Jesus I went to nets and we were 70-1 and come back to find they’ve done an England!

What on earth happened?

Guess they just can't do it without you , Olly Have to tie you to the chair for the duration I'm afraid...

An extraordinary day really : pitch didn't look too bad ; but although there was some movement for the seamers (apparently , and counterintuitively , more in the evening session according to the data) it seems strange that so many generally competent batsmen were all at sea on it . Really only Crawley and CDG looked remotely comfortable at any point so perhaps it is a little two paced ?

Have to credit some good bowling from both sides :as Duty says , NZ started off a bit erratic but got markedly better - especially once Jamieson came on. England seemed to get a little caught between pure defence - Lees and Pope got hopelessly bogged down after Crawley fell - or trying to counter attack : Root , Stokes and Bairstow all got out to virtually their first attacking strokes but were probably better advised to play themselves in a bit longer. I am not going to panic over one day and doubt McCullum will either - but they'll want to bat a lot smarter in the second innings , whatever they end up having to chase.

Oddly enough (20/20 hindsight) this was probably a good day for Root to have come in at three after the good opening stand ; as I doubt he'd have let the initiative pass to the bowlers as Pope (perhaps understandably in the unfamiliar position) rather did. Of course he might also have been bowled second ball so it's just a hypothetical... Not going to judge the decisions re batting order on one outing.

As to where things go from here : who knows ? Doubt NZ will bat as poorly again ; and with Anderson 16 overs in and not a lot of rest may be some questions about the England attack second time around. Lot depends on whether conditions actually change dramatically on day two which is hard to gauge : it looked as if batting got easier post-lunch as the NZ tail wagged and Crawley went through the gears quickly - but later events rather gave the lie to that...

Whatever runs Foakes & co can scrounge in the morning might be significant in a low scoring game. Wonder if England might have been better advised to call up someone a bit useful with the bat ( Bess ?) as concussion sub - as Parkinson might be called on more for his batting than bowling opportunities , should the pace men continue to proper ! Doubt they envisaged this situation at the time though

Ah well : watching England play Tests is rarely dull...

First objective for England today is to see if they can get a lead of 50+. Maybe if Broad nails a few it'll happen.

It should be a good day for batting. Days two and three are usually the best for batting at Lord's, but it isn't a typical Lord's pitch.

alfie wrote:An extraordinary day really : pitch didn't look too bad ; but although there was some movement for the seamers (apparently , and counterintuitively , more in the evening session according to the data) it seems strange that so many generally competent batsmen were all at sea on it . Really only Crawley and CDG looked remotely comfortable at any point so perhaps it is a little two paced ?

Have to credit some good bowling from both sides :as Duty says , NZ started off a bit erratic but got markedly better - especially once Jamieson came on. England seemed to get a little caught between pure defence - Lees and Pope got hopelessly bogged down after Crawley fell -  or trying to counter attack : Root , Stokes and Bairstow all got out to virtually their first attacking strokes but were probably better advised to play themselves in a bit longer. I am not going to panic over one day and doubt McCullum will either - but they'll want to bat a lot smarter in the second innings , whatever they end up having to chase.

Oddly enough (20/20 hindsight) this was probably a good day for Root to have come in at three after the good opening stand ; as I doubt he'd have let the initiative pass to the bowlers as Pope (perhaps understandably in the unfamiliar position) rather did. Of course he might also have been bowled second ball so it's just a hypothetical... Not going to judge the decisions re batting order on one outing.

As to where things go from here : who knows ?  Doubt NZ will bat as poorly again ; and with Anderson 16 overs in and not a lot of rest may be some questions about the England attack second time around. Lot depends on whether conditions actually change dramatically on day two which is hard to gauge : it looked as if batting got easier post-lunch as the NZ tail wagged and Crawley went through the gears quickly - but later events rather gave the lie to that...

Whatever runs Foakes & co can scrounge in the morning might be significant in a low scoring game. Wonder if England might have been better advised to call up someone a bit useful with the bat ( Bess ?)  as concussion sub - as Parkinson might be called on more for his batting than bowling opportunities , should the pace men continue to proper ! Doubt they envisaged this situation at the time though

Ah well : watching England play Tests is rarely dull...

Hi Alfie - as ever, a good post with summary to match.

Just as neither of us ever want to pick a side for the next Test whilst a current Test is being played, I'm with you on not judging the batting order on one outing. However, I won't let that stop me throwing in a left field thought.

Foakes regularly bats with success at number 5 for Surrey. That suits his rather classic style when he typically starts off slowly and accelerates to second or third gear but rarely higher. However, if he's batting at 7 with a weak tail starting at 8 he's likely to end up marooned with a not out 25 or, as has particularly happened in his limited Test career, he gets out cheaply biffing which isn't his game. In contrast, Bairstow can race through the gears to top and has pedigree batting at 7 with another established batter and with the tail.

I just wonder if it might be better for the two to swap batting positions in this particular England side.

That said, I'm instinctively against picking someone solely as a batter and playing him at number 7. We've done that dance with Buttler. All in all, I would leave things as they are for now and allow more time to form a proper view of the current batsmen (including the keeper) and the batting order. However, whilst Foakes is undoubtedly a good batsman, I do think more thought needs to be given his place in the order (assuming he continues to be picked) to get the best for the team rather than just an automatic keeper's slot at 7.

It’s been commented before about how Parkinson is an old school one dimensional cricketer, but nothing shows it more than batting below Anderson. Hopefully his fielding has improved.

It's of course not Broad's primary job to score runs and it is an insignificant issue in the run of England's batting woes. But Broad's lack of application with the bat can be frustrating. Similar to Robinson and Archer batting so poorly at times. With Foakes still at the other end a player with Broad's ability should be doing more than arbitrarily having a heave at every single ball.

I know he's batting with the tail, never ideal, but that's a really poor dismissal from Foakes. Catching practice.

JDizzle wrote:It’s been commented before about how Parkinson is an old school one dimensional cricketer, but nothing shows it more than batting below Anderson. Hopefully his fielding has improved.

Fielding will be the bigger one I feel. From memory of seeing him early on he didn't have a strong arm either so it's not even that easy to hide him. Another talented spinner in Amar Virdi has similar issues fielding.

He's an exciting spinner though and I'll be happy to see him get a bowl even in the circumstances. I do share others worry that he might be too slow in the air. Very few spinners these days succeed being that slow at international level as top level batters are so better at using their feet and pick up length, both of which are easier if it's slow through the air. I think Parkinson has done enough for Lancs to get the chance to prove whether his methods can work though.

Wasted innings by Foakes.

Nasser was speculating before if he would tee off but that's not really what he does. Ended up caught at slip or between a rock and a hard place.

Duty281 wrote:I know he's batting with the tail, never ideal, but that's a really poor dismissal from Foakes. Catching practice.

Yep, poor. Yet again this innings.

It's the hope that kills you.

king_carlos wrote:It's of course not Broad's primary job to score runs and it is an insignificant issue in the run of England's batting woes. But Broad's lack of application with the bat can be frustrating. Similar to Robinson and Archer batting so poorly at times. With Foakes still at the other end a player with Broad's ability should be doing more than arbitrarily having a heave at every single ball.

Absolutely.

Broad's objective should have been to bat at least one hour with Foakes. If Foakes had got out earlier, Broad could then have switched to biffing mode.

king_carlos wrote:

JDizzle wrote:It’s been commented before about how Parkinson is an old school one dimensional cricketer, but nothing shows it more than batting below Anderson. Hopefully his fielding has improved.

Fielding will be the bigger one I feel. From memory of seeing him early on he didn't have a strong arm either so it's not even that easy to hide him. Another talented spinner in Amar Virdi has similar issues fielding.

He's an exciting spinner though and I'll be happy to see him get a bowl even in the circumstances. I do share others worry that he might be too slow in the air. Very few spinners these days succeed being that slow at international level as top level batters are so better at using their feet and pick up length, both of which are easier if it's slow through the air. I think Parkinson has done enough for Lancs to get the chance to prove whether his methods can work though.

I saw him being unable to reach the keeper on the full from fine leg at New Road a few years ago, which is not a big ground.

I am excited for his bowling though. He averages low 20s compared Crane/Borthwick averaging high 30s/40s for a reason.

From three down, only one England player made double figures - Root with 11.

59/0 to 141ao.

If New Zealand can bat through the rest of the day they should be well on the way to winning this test. England have to be inspired again with the ball.

I for one am shocked Stokes didn't manage to inspire the batsmen better. I thought for sure changing skippers would somehow imbue personal pride, since apparently Root couldn't do that

Didn't take long to wrap up that innings , did it ? Nominal lead only for England , as was inevitable from 100/7 : have seen more substantial tails on a guinea pig

Question now being how well can the fast bowlers back up so quickly ? Not expecting Parkinson to be a factor unless conditions change dramatically- unfortunate for him ; though he did a useful little job with the bat. NZ will surely be a bit more solid than yesterday...but as I type it won't be so for Young !

Nice catch Foakes : nice start again from Jimmy

I know NZ could quite easily be 250-2 at close with Williamson 115*, so this could come back to bite…but at what point do we start to ask some Qs about this pitch…(if 21 wickets had fallen before the end of the first hour on day 2 on a overseas tour, there would be pitch talk galore…)

I don't think the pitch has been bad. Bit slower and lower than a usual Lord's pitch, no doubt, but certainly not an unplayable minefield.

Batsmen just haven't been able to cope with the swing and the angle of the slope. None of them have looked sure as to whether to play or leave on good deliveries, as Young just demonstrated.

Do expect NZ to score at least 275 in this innings. They're too good to fail twice. Surely?

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:I know NZ could quite easily be 250-2 at close with Williamson 115*, so this could come back to bite…but at what point do we start to ask some Qs about this pitch…(if 21 wickets had fallen before the end of the first hour on day 2 on a overseas tour, there would be pitch talk galore…)

Jarrod Kimber did a video on the first day and he said as per CricViz the Expected Wickets were only 6. To be taken with a pinch of salt, but the eye test backs it up.

A combination of poor shots, slightly unlucky drag ons and brilliant catching - which is a shock coming from England - has made the scores look worse than the pitch is.

Oh great, KP on commentary. What a way to ruin a delicately poised Test match.

As I've hinted before , I think there must be some contribution from the pitch given the clatter of wickets. Certainly not a minefield ; and both sides should have done better, even against some pretty good bowling ; but when no one in two innings can pass 43 it is generally a sign that batting is not exactly easy...

How it changes - one way or the other - from here might well decide this match. We might have a pretty good idea by close of play tonight.

Certainly looks quite easy for batting at the moment.

Zaltz wrote:If we go back to the Sri Lanka series in late 2018 - Anderson has bowled in 22 second innings and taken 15 wickets at an average of 44 and a strike-rate of 110.

Before that his second-innings were excellent but they have dipped a little bit in the last few years.

Good to see Jimmy get an early second innings wicket. His struggles in the second innings have been a growing worry as it's been a trend for a while now and not a small sample size either.

Wouldn't say easy. Only one gone ; but Williamson and Latham are playing very conservatively at present. We saw the difference yesterday after Crawley got out so I'm not rushing to judgement yet... Although you'd expect batting normally to get a bit easier as the second day progresses.

Think it may be important for Stokes to use himself more with the ball today. He probably slightly overused Anderson - and Broad - yesterday ; whereas NZ made full use of all four seam options . It paid off for them as they took their wickets much later than England had done - despite facing a very handy opening stand. Keeping them all fresh is often a good idea though of course England don't really have the variety that the Kiwi seam quartet possess.

Will be interesting to see if Potts can follow up his first innings heroics.

Ha ... Potts making Williamson his bunny

Useful wicket. By the way , did anyone in the Tipping Competition nominate Bairstow for most catches ? Not looking a bad bet at the moment...

Potts again ! Review ... looks like an edge...

Yes ! Three down...Potts on fire

Heaven knows why Latham wasted a review on that !

alfie wrote:Ha ... Potts making Williamson his bunny

Useful wicket. By the way , did anyone in the Tipping Competition nominate Bairstow for most catches ? Not looking a bad bet at the moment...

Not one of us has Bairstow in the catches

alfie wrote:Potts again !  Review ... looks like an edge...

Yes ! Three down...Potts on fire

Heaven knows why Latham wasted a review on that !

I'm not sure though that Foakes realised there was an edge. No reaction from him,

Same thing just said now by Nasser.

Actually weird that Foakes didn't even appeal ... I thought he'd nicked it immediately - the way the head swung round was a bit of a giveaway , no ?

23 wickets gone and not yet lunch on day two

alfie wrote:Actually weird that Foakes didn't even appeal ... I thought he'd nicked it immediately - the way the head swung round was a bit of a giveaway , no ?

23 wickets gone and not yet lunch on day two

Yes, weird by Foakes not appealing. This is what I've been banging on about him needing to take control and impose himself. It's almost as if he doesn't believe he belongs there.

Oh yes, a giveaway as regards the head swinging round.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:

alfie wrote:Ha ... Potts making Williamson his bunny

Useful wicket. By the way , did anyone in the Tipping Competition nominate Bairstow for most catches ? Not looking a bad bet at the moment...

Not one of us has Bairstow in the catches

Yeah I've got Root ...I usually expect the catches to go to first slip not third : but so far Joe has been a spectator. Bit unusual - even the edges that haven't quite carried have gone more to second . At least England are holding them (so far !) which makes a nice change...

It's lunch.

No idea who's ahead. Can England chase 150? I'm genuinely unsure. What a bizarre test.

On this pitch. Agree, it doesn't seem a minefield although the scorecards so far aren't pretty viewing. Just think we've seen some very skilled bowling; first from the old stalwarts and more than ably supported by the debutante Potts yesterday and today. He's bowled very smartly and accurately. Reminds me of a slightly smaller Scott Boland and he's reaping similar rewards. Then the magnificent Kiwis also gave their own masterclass in reply. So bowlers well on top.

So all up; top quality bowling putting the batsman in two minds (apart from the throw away wickets) and very little margin for error. Maybe a bit of nerves too. Think the pitch might settle down a little from later on today but the catching has been pretty good too with a few falling a fraction short of the slips with pace taken off on the shot.

Pal Joey wrote:On this pitch. Agree, it doesn't seem a minefield although the scorecards so far aren't pretty viewing. Just think we've seen some very skilled bowling; first from the old stalwarts and more than ably supported by the debutante Potts yesterday and today. He's bowled very smartly and accurately. Reminds me of a slightly smaller Scott Boland and he's reaping similar rewards. Then the magnificent Kiwis also gave their own masterclass in reply. So bowlers well on top.

So all up; top quality bowling putting the batsman in two minds (apart from the throw away wickets) and very little margin for error. Maybe a bit of nerves too. Think the pitch might settle down a little from later on today but the catching has been pretty good too with a few falling a fraction short of the slips with pace taken off on the shot.

I wouldn't call it a minefield but as Olly alluded to above it is interesting that when seaming wickets allow seamers to reap the benefits of simply putting it in good areas early in a Test there's a tendency to think "good bowling" but if a turning track allows spinners to take wickets by just landing it on a spot early it's a poor track rather than good bowling.

As I've said many times I think there should be more focus on the ball in England as well as pitches. The red kookaburra got a makeover because it was favouring the bat far too much. I've felt for a while the recent Dukes balls deserve a bit more scrutiny for favouring bowlers so heavily.

I'm workshopping this take, because their actions aren't really similar at all...but when he bowls Potts gives me big Tim Bresnan vibes - not hugely quick, but seems to bowl a heavy ball and nip it around, and can hurry the bat with the odd short ball

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:I'm workshopping this take, because their actions aren't really similar at all...but when he bowls Potts gives me big Tim Bresnan vibes - not hugely quick, but seems to bowl a heavy ball and nip it around, and can hurry the bat with the odd short ball

Yes ...good reference. Certainly see some similarities .

Be nice if he can have a comparable "talisman" effect : didn't Bresnan go about fifteen Tests without playing in a losing team after his debut ?

Duty281 wrote:It's lunch.

No idea who's ahead. Can England chase 150? I'm genuinely unsure. What a bizarre test.

Batting looking just a little easier since lunch...though you wouldn't yet say they're cruising , exactly. So it may be that a fourth innings chase - which might be only on a day three pitch ! - could be possible for a bit more than that.

But I am really not game to speculate too much given the way this match has gone so far...

No joy yet for Stuart Broad , though he's not bowled badly at all . Must be time for Stokes to have a go himself surely ? Or will we see the rare appearance of An England Leg Spinner ?