England's Winter of Cricket 2022/23

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The Lions are doing some Bazball v Sri Lanka A.

Sri Lanka A were bowled out for a paltry 136, Fisher with 5/34, and the Lions have already amassed 249/3 in 48 overs. Hameed, who's captain, 81 off 109, Lees 56 off 69, and Haines unbeaten with 62 from 72.

Hi Guildford... I think Foakes has plenty of admirers , no ? Except maybe for his judgement of reviews

Kiwis continuing to make England work today ! What are you making of Leach in this match ?

Duty281 wrote:Not surprised to see Mitchell notch yet another contribution against England. The guy is just a run machine against England.

Think England may have preferred the pace of Stone on this track. Broad banging it in isn't quite the same.

Nice jinx , Duty

Mitchell bounced out by SB and it's 297/5...

A very welcome break for the hard working England pace man...and his team.

NZ lead just 71. If England can get Williamson or Blundell now this could all end rather quickly...but I'm not writing the Kiwi resistance off just yet. Big half hour now until lunch

It was a nice jinx, but all its done is brought Blundell to the crease. Similarly insurmountable!

NZ need about 170 more to make the test interesting.

99 ahead at lunch. Given the placid pitch that's only just NZ's session ; but their excellent scoring rate has them in with a chance of pushing the lead up quickly after the break against tired England bowlers.
We saw what Southee could do in the first innings - and Bracewell is also yet to bat so plenty of scoring options left. You'd think this is the key partnership though.

I am seeing a stat claiming that no team has ever chased more than 200 and won , after enforcing a follow on ! Highest being 198 - in 1911. Probably rare that anyone has been asked to though : and when they have usually time has run out ; unlikely in this case. Interesting though.

I think the highest score ever made in the 4th innings by a team that enforced the follow-on was Australia's 212 v India in 2001...and they lost!

alfie wrote:Hi Guildford... I think Foakes has plenty of admirers , no ? Except maybe for his judgement of reviews

Kiwis continuing to make England work today ! What are you making of Leach in this match ?

Hi Alfie - yes, Foakes does have plenty of admirers and rightly so. But there again, so does Bairstow and also rightly so. Not that easy for me to picture them both in the same side.

I haven't seen that much of today's opening session but have rather mixed feelings about Leach from what I have and generally anyway. He seems to have stuck at it and not been overly expensive with the benefit being the seamers haven't had to bowl more than their fair share. However, there seems insufficient variety and threat. The track probably isn't offering much assistance to him but it's in these situations that I like a bowler to try and take the batter by surprise by doing something different - give the odd one more flight, for instance. Whilst not a stupid bowler, he hasn't seemed canny or clever like a Swann or even a Tufnell could be.

Resumed. Not over keen on this idea of Robinson banging the ball in short... presume Stokes isn't up to bowling at present 'cos that is generally his job.
An unusual Anderson tactic too : keeper up on the stumps , just one slip , and three close catchers arrayed between square and mid on.

No joy yet. 340/5

England are looking tired, fair to say, and it's a good time for Williamson to find some form in this short series. Still got Bracewell to come after this, he's no mug, then Southee can give it some tap, plus Blundell's currently going nicely.

Think Stokes is still experiencing discomfort from yesterday. Jimmy also looking spent.

But what do I know ? Robinson short ball nearly worked as one carries to Anderson but he can't hold on to the low chance

That will encourage them to persist I guess...

Jimmy must be upset over missing that because he actually bowls a no ball now ! Rare.

Leach back on and starts with a no ball. Something I forgot to mention before - for a bowler of his pace, any no ball is appalling. 3 from him in the match so far.

Feels like England are getting a bit ragged with things starting to go NZs way. England still very much on top given the dead pitch but if these two can get the lead up to 200 then it's very much game on given how tired the bowlers are understandbly getting.

England could really do with some overs from Stokes but I'd presume he isn't fully fit to bowl given he's just had the 2 overs from 122.

Quite a lot of "nearly" moments since lunch...dropped catch , several others going very close to fielders...and I think if Robinson hadn't misjudged where that lofted drive was going and moved sideways he'd have managed to catch that one. So a wicket "might" come at any minute.

But with the lead up at 140 and the bowlers all having worked hard to share 124 overs , you wouldn't blame Stokes & co from getting a bit concerned.

Some very unusual fields being employed. Can't say Stokes isn't proactive . But flat as this pitch is , it is probably more batsman error than anything else that is likely to bring about a break.

Let this test be reason number one for why you don't enforce the follow-on, barring fear of rain/time constraints.

Still 34 overs away from getting another new ball. By that time the New Zealand lead may have reached 250.

Fifty added in that hour. Couple of chances ; but they are still together.

Anderson must be weary ; seven over spell ; miserly , just 12 runs. So it is Root now to resume...

Duty281 wrote:Let this test be reason number one for why you don't enforce the follow-on, barring fear of rain/time constraints.

Still 34 overs away from getting another new ball. By that time the New Zealand lead may have reached 250.

Not an unreasonable conclusion , Duty. But probably need to await the end result ? If the pitch remains super easy and England successfully chase 280 tomorrow we might all reckon it was the only way to prevent a draw !

Certainly a real battle today.

Commentators getting a bit ahead of themselves, talking about how NZ will try to force a result. These two will just want to get to tea unscathed!

Lead 155. England basically hoping for a false shot or a bit of extra bounce.

alfie wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Let this test be reason number one for why you don't enforce the follow-on, barring fear of rain/time constraints.

Still 34 overs away from getting another new ball. By that time the New Zealand lead may have reached 250.

Not an unreasonable conclusion , Duty.  But probably need to await the end result ?  If the pitch remains super easy and England successfully chase 280 tomorrow we might all reckon it was the only way to prevent a draw !

Certainly a real battle today.

I still think England will win - although that belief is coming under strain! - but it would have been a lot simpler if England batted on for a bit and declared early today, allowing a nice recharge for the bowlers overnight. Instead England have been kept in the field for the equivalent of two full days of play. It's an old attack, too, which exacerbates the issue.

In the old days, you'd get Trescothick or Atherton or Vaughan in to bowl around now. It's time for Stokes to throw the ball to Crawley or Brook. Actually, I recently saw a video of Anderson bowling slow left-arm - is that worth a shot?

50 for Blundell. He and Mitchell, England still have no answers to stop them scoring so highly. Looks like a 300+ chase...

Century for Williamson. With four of his last six centuries he has gone on to score 200+, which is phenomenal.

It's one thing to score a century in the innings that he becomes his country's leading test run-scorer; but imagine if this innings leads his side to victory after following-on. What a story it would be.

Duty281 wrote:In the old days, you'd get Trescothick or Atherton or Vaughan in to bowl around now. It's time for Stokes to throw the ball to Crawley or Brook. Actually, I recently saw a video of Anderson bowling slow left-arm - is that worth a shot?

50 for Blundell. He and Mitchell, England still have no answers to stop them scoring so highly. Looks like a 300+ chase...

I think Stokes might have hoped to bowl a few himself - but the body just isn't up to it. Which is proving costly as yes , the bowlers are all pretty wrecked by now.

Hundred for Williamson

Making up for his lack of runs earlier in the series. And putting his team into a good position to achieve a draw - or even a win ? Certainly looking like over a 300 chase...which might test even this outfit ! Though I'm sure they'll go for it given any sort of possible RRR...

Duty281 wrote:In the old days, you'd get Trescothick or Atherton or Vaughan in to bowl around now. It's time for Stokes to throw the ball to Crawley or Brook. Actually, I recently saw a video of Anderson bowling slow left-arm - is that worth a shot?

Apparently Archer bowls some left-arm wristspin. I'm dying to see that in a Test. If we got Robinson bowling offies in sunnies then surely it can happen?

Jokes aside the move away from part timers on the whole is interesting. The Collingwood or Scott Styris overs are no longer really a thing. I'd guess seamers fitness improving has played a role there. Probably a bit more analysis showing how ineffectual they might have been too given most those sort of bowlers end up averaging about 60!

Part timers that do get a whirl tend to be more matchup based in their use now too I think. Root is a perfect example there. England tend to bowl him when he's got lefties to bowl at or it's absolutely ragging. Given he can turn the ball and his low arm offers a different trajectory it can work well with conditions stacked for him. If Root were just bowled whenever the others were tired though as guys like Colly used too I reckon he'd have a record more similar to them. Root's offies can be useful as England tend to use him smartly but I'd say his record flatters his bowling at times due to that.

Realistically we need Stokes fit to bowl in this scenario. Having that fourth seamer takes such a load of the first three so they remain fresh. They're understandably looking pretty knackered right now.

Cracking innings from Williamson. He doesn't seem quite the same to me since the elbow injury with his ability against the short ball in particular seeming worse. He's judged this now very dead pitch perfectly though and has done exactly the right thing in just wearing the England attack down. It's often said that one of his great skills outside of scoring runs is being able to face a small number of balls and rapidly judge what a good score on a pitch will be, hence judge his innings from there. This feels a classic case of that with how he's ground them down.

England need something soon as otherwise the third new ball will be coming into the hands of utterly exhausted bowling attack and may well just come off the bat faster if Williamson is still there.

The thing about batting again , of course , is that even if England had blasted a quick 300 and declared they might still have been faced with a tough job dismissing NZ inside five sessions. The bowlers would have had a rest so it might have worked , despite this pitch getting easier the longer it wears.

But I suppose England were not actually planning to concede a 149 run opening stand

That is really what has changed this game. Credit to the NZ batsmen.

Incidentally , the sight of Leach bowling defensively outside leg stump seems a bit "un-Bazball" so I'm glad it didn't last.

Guess they are trying everything. Probably draw the line at having Crawley bowl though...

Wonderful session for NZ

No wickets , lead pushed up to 197. Big chance to push it over 300 by the close against this weary attack.

If they do : wonder what happens in the morning ? Challenging declaration or bat on ? The Death of Bazball with an England collapse or yet another chapter in the Book of Stokes Miracles ?

Imagine we will all stay tuned

Because England have been dragging their heels, 41 overs remain in the day. Unlikely to get those in in the two and a half hours that remain, but probably around 35 overs will be bowled. If NZ bat through and maintain this present rate, the lead will be around 330-350 by stumps.

Full credit to the Kiwis for their application. Would have been very easy to fold, but they've fought and everyone has dug in and applied themselves.

England, well they ran out of ideas long ago, and all the bowlers are exhausted, including Leach's fingers. Still got 20 overs until the next new ball, so I'm not sure what they're going to do until then.

In theory, England should be confident of chasing 300 on this, but I reckon the track will look a bit spicier when a refreshed Kiwi seam attack are having a go on it. Although New Zealand may still have cause to regret only picking three frontline bowlers, especially as Will Young has done very little with the bat.

Bowlers still toiling valiantly away after tea (Robinson and Leach) but no help from the pitch and the two NZ bats not ready to throw their hands away...a thankless task in this situation.
Really hard to see where a wicket is coming from.

If NZ do just bat on , Southee will have a tricky call on when to call them in. The way this England team score , how many would you feel happy to set them ? I think he'd be very reluctant to declare tonight - even with 300+ in front. And at what point would England see a target as impossible to attempt ? Guess we will see in time...

Here we go : Harry Brook can bowl too ?

Another chance goes down ! Tough c&b and Leach can't cling on...

Story of the day for England.

Harry Brook does the trick !

Faint leg side tickle revealed by a (brave and well chosen ) review

Williamson gone and a chink of light for the bowlers. End of a great innings...

Is there nothing Brook cannot do ? Though in truth that was a real "strangle" . He could have hit that anywhere !

Oh dear...Bracewell has gifted his wicket there !  Easy run but he got too casual , failed to ground his bat - foot in air and Foakes smartly took the bails...

478/7

Think Brook's spell might be over at 1/24 as the third new ball is due...

I see he has a few FC wickets before. Not many famous names - except Darren Stevens

Williamson might be his biggest trophy...

And now Leach cuts off Southee's first attempted strike...caught by sub Potts and NZ crumbling at 482/8.

Might delay that new ball ?

None down....Leach has Henry for a duck , safe hands of Joe Root at slip...two in the over

Looks like England will be starting their chase tonight . Question is : how many ?

256 ahead but only Wagner left to support Blundell.

And I have to go out now so will find out on return...

All over in a bit of a heap then. The inspired choice of Brook opening the door, and NZ's batsmen might need coaching on how to avoid run-outs - I recall De Grandhomme being run out due to sheer laziness last summer.

England probably relieved to only need 258.

48/1 at stumps, a typically brisk start, and England will think the toughest part of the chase is already over.

Crawley the man out with the usual Crawley innings: a few boundaries, then his dreadful technique gets exposed. Please let it be his last. Interestingly Robinson appears to have rewarded for his tidy scores by being sent out as nighthawk or nightwhatever in place of Broad.

Not at all surprised to read the story of the first 11 overs of the England reply to NZ's spirited efforts...no change to the tactics , it seems

With all day tomorrow not really any rush but peeling off 48 for the loss of Crawley probably isn't the worst use of forty minutes cricket. NZ might be disappointed their last five wickets crashed for 28 once Harry Brook made the break ? The Bracewell run out was criminal ; and maybe the tail could have dialled it back a bit to support Blundell but all credit to Jack Leach for persevering and eventually bagging his five for

Reckon there will be a crowd again for day five . NZ won't roll over ; but I fancy England will get these and keep the remarkable run of results going. The beauty of Test Cricket though is that nothing is ever quite certain so will still be worth the watch...

Duty281 wrote:48/1 at stumps, a typically brisk start, and England will think the toughest part of the chase is already over.

Crawley the man out with the usual Crawley innings: a few boundaries, then his dreadful technique gets exposed. Please let it be his last. Interestingly Robinson appears to have rewarded for his tidy scores by being sent out as nighthawk or nightwhatever in place of Broad.

Bit harsh on Crawley , Duty ? It may well be his last - at least for now ; and he won't be able to complain if it is. But although I agree he just hasn't done enough to warrant a continued presence in the side , I am not exactly rejoicing at the prospect of him getting the boot... he has some good qualities and I would love to have seen him find a way. Even this innings : a lot of hit and hope , I suppose ; but it was probably the start to the innings that England wanted.
I think you said the other day that he isn't really an opener at this level. Probably true ; and maybe he can come again in another spot : up to him , I guess ; how much he wants it and whether he can learn. For the future , anyway.

Next question will be how they replace him. Will discuss after this game.

Robinson a bit more of an orthodox night watchman than Broad ? The bowlers probably weren't queuing up for the job after two plus days in the field ...

I saw the teatime scorecard, it was quite a collapse after that to hand England a manageable target. I think Stokes could be the key tomorrow, hoping he plays in a more controlled way if needed. There's a stat that keeps doing the rounds that he averages more as captain than not. That is a fact I suppose, but it's not by much and overlooks that he was averaging over 50 in the two years before becoming captain, which based on ability seems more like it. He will still score quickly enough without trying to hit everything for 6

Reckon England in their present mood and having completed unlikely run chases in recent months would have fancied a target even as high as 350.
So I'm expecting them to knock off 258 tomorrow. 

210 needed across a complete day and 9 wickets in hand on what appears to be a quite easy wicket. Given their 4th innings performance over the summer, I don't think this hods too much fear for this England team. OK, it's not a walkover, and (amazingly) would set comfortably the record for the highest successful 4th innings run chase after a follow on.

It should be a simple task for England from here. They've got through most of the trickiest phase of the innings - the new ball - and after that it's pretty dead. Plus you consider the woeful nature of the Kiwi bowling attack. Of course, a few rash shots could make it interesting, and you'd never like to rule anything out in cricket, or in sport, but England are big favourites.

Can't imagine how frustrating it is to be a Kiwi cricket fan at the moment. They keep throwing away solid to good positions in the third innings of games v England. Yesterday the top 7 got them back in the contest, but lazy, amateur cricket from Bracewell, and zero support from the tail, meant that NZ again fell at least 50 runs light of where they should have been.

Don't think I'm being harsh on Crawley. Sure he plays some nice shots every now and then, but he's simply not good enough for test cricket (in any position), and it's frustrating to see that England have wasted a entire summer and winter on him, when it was painfully obvious he should have been dropped long ago. This has the knock-on effect of time lost that could have been spent developing another player as opener.

Crawley has now had 25 tests as opener, which is the second most of any new opener that England have tried since Strauss retired. Crawley is only behind Rory Burns in that statistic, but when you add in the tests Crawley played outside the opening positions, he's actually overtaken Burns in tests played. And what do we have to show for it? 25 tests as opener, and an average of 25.19 in that opening spot, which is worse than Duckett, Root, Compton, Robson, Burns, Sibley, Carberry, Stoneman and Hales.

For sheer amusement, I did some stat delving. There have been 118 batsmen in the history of test cricket who have opened the batting in 25 or more tests, the number Crawley is currently at. Crawley ranks 111th in terms of batting average.

The only Englishman lower is Mike Brearley, who averaged 23, but Brearley's brain elevates that average to 230 on principle.

Crawley clearly has some ability as a shot maker, but seems to have holes in his technique and concentration that, as with James Vince, means that a fluent 20-30 and then nicking to slip seems to be his typical contribution.
The bigger question is not whether he really should make way, but more about who should replace him, and how the batting order might need to be rejigged if it's moving one of the middle order players up (to allow Jonny Bairstow back into the line up).

Not the first half hour England would have wanted...

Robinson didn't last long ; and Duckett just chased a wide one and gave Henry his first wicket so 59/3 and NZ jumping about everywhere.

Might be time to settle things down for a few minutes ?

Some early jitters, perchance, as both Robinson and Duckett fall early. Pope and Root will know if they get through this Southee/Henry combo, it should become a lot easier.

Was a pity Duckett rather threw it away as he'd played rather well again up to then. I still have some concerns about him in more "English" conditions such as he will encounter in the Ashes series ... Don't want him to try and play a Sibley role ; but treating Starc and Cummins as if they were inexperienced Pakistan bowlers might not be a recipe for success in a few months

Pope living dangerously . And could certainly do without any run outs ! Careful , chaps , eh...

Just quickly caught up with the opening 35 minutes ... oh dear! That's why I so much dislike the concept of a nightwatchman or whatever he's called in this era. Too often he falls early to give the scoreboard an ominous look for the batting side and pep the bowlers up further.

alfie wrote:Was a pity Duckett rather threw it away as he'd played rather well again up to then. I still have some concerns about him in more "English" conditions such as he will encounter in the Ashes series ... Don't want him to try and play a Sibley role ; but treating Starc and Cummins as if they were inexperienced Pakistan bowlers might not be a recipe for success in a few months

Pope living dangerously . And could certainly do without any run outs !  Careful , chaps , eh...

Agree, Alfie. Just relieved that you'll be unveiling the solutions to England's opening batter issues as soon as this Test is done. That's what you've said, isn't it, or have I read too much into it? 

Duty281 wrote:Some early jitters, perchance, as both Robinson and Duckett fall early. Pope and Root will know if they get through this Southee/Henry combo, it should become a lot easier.

Still a bit of "this" to get through ! These two bowling rather well

But I guess we expected that. As you say , gets easier once the change bowlers come on. I know Leach ended up with five yesterday , but it's hard to see Bracewell running through them on this fifth day . He's no Roston Chase

And good morning Guildford ! Thought you might be on to the nightwatchman problem

Bowlers certainly pepped up now ! Pope gone - to Wagner who will be happy with that first over ...

80/4 . Bit precarious ?

The last few minutes has seen some bad cricket.