The Official Cricket Thread

[Ymx]

Our Saffers have done well !

[Mahoney]

Stunning cover drive

[Kiwias]

Beautiful off drive by Conway takes him into the 190s

[Thor Sedan]

Wayhey!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Kiwias]

A six takes Conway to 200

Brilliant innings.

[Kiwias]

.a very close runout but a great innings

[Mahoney]

That’s as tight as they come… shouldn’t have been, Root completely stuffed it up!

[Thor Sedan]

Well that was silly.

But what an innings.

[Kiwias]

That’s as tight as they come… shouldn’t have been, Root completely stuffed it up!

A total air shot with his first attempt and Conway yards short

[JM2K6]

Shame he couldn't carry his bat. Incredible work nonetheless.

[Kiwias]

Another close call but in our favour this time

[JM2K6]

Terrible wicket, ffs Crawley.

[Mahoney]

Really loose.

[Hal Jordan]

Nice to see England have reached their customary early innings target of fuck all for two with ease.

[Thor Sedan]

Hmmmm....what happened last time Root and Burns batted together against NZ in a test?

[SaintK]

Nice to see England have reached their customary early innings target of fuck all for two with ease.

Yep, off to the usual start

[Hal Jordan]

Nice to see England have reached their customary early innings target of fuck all for two with ease.

Yep, off to the usual start

From the BBC

In the winter England's first two wickets averaged 25.6 combined.

That is the worst England have ever had in any Test season and second worst by any team to have played five Tests in a season.

[ScarfaceClaw]

Root may as well just go out as an opener.

[Mahoney]

Why do they want to change this ball? It’s doing plenty.

[Thor Sedan]

Bah - England settled now. Was hoping that we might be able to pick up a couple more quickly. Burns and Root seem to like batter together - why don't they just open? (I mean Root kind of opens anyway).

[Enzedder]

Looking at the bowling and I think that the pitch is a featherbed. However, the occasional delivery does something unexpected - and you look at the England bowling effort today, and realise that without Boult we have very little to fall back on.

[Enzedder]

And don't get me started about slow over rates. Fine every bloody player in the team shitloads and they'll find a way to bowl 90 overs in a day.

[Ymx]

Well, England won the 1st and last session today.

[Rinkals]

Wood has bowled much better today. Pulled his pace back a bit and was less random as a result. Maybe a bit fortunate with the wickets but totally different to yesterday. His record at home is appalling so hopefully it's a sign that he's starting to understand what he needs to do.

NZ won't be happy with some of those wickets though!

Commentators were saying that most of the big wicket takers in the English domestic game are fast medium pacers with good control.

Wood seems to have listened to that advice.

Would like to see KJ just go after the bowling and hopefully get a couple of lusty blows.

340+ would be a pretty good first innings score - pitch seems to be starting to throw up a bit of variable bounce short of a length. Wagner must be champing at the bit.

Yes, that about sums it up.

Find a tearaway fast bowler with enough pace to put the fear of God into batsmen.

Coach it out of him by telling him to calm down and learn some control.

Hey Presto! you've got another middle-of-the-road medium paced trundler.

[Rinkals]

And don't get me started about slow over rates. Fine every bloody player in the team shitloads and they'll find a way to bowl 90 overs in a day.

Christ knows why everybody gets their knickers in a twist over slow over rates.

If you don't have a spinner bowling you are not going to fir in 15 overs per hour.

Nobody, apart from the broadcasters really gives a fuck.

Mind you delaying the start of the overs so that the batsman can change his gloves and spend five minutes scratching out his guard does seem to be taking the piss.

[Saint]

Wood has bowled much better today. Pulled his pace back a bit and was less random as a result. Maybe a bit fortunate with the wickets but totally different to yesterday. His record at home is appalling so hopefully it's a sign that he's starting to understand what he needs to do.

NZ won't be happy with some of those wickets though!

Commentators were saying that most of the big wicket takers in the English domestic game are fast medium pacers with good control.

Wood seems to have listened to that advice.

Would like to see KJ just go after the bowling and hopefully get a couple of lusty blows.

340+ would be a pretty good first innings score - pitch seems to be starting to throw up a bit of variable bounce short of a length. Wagner must be champing at the bit.

Yes, that about sums it up.

Find a tearaway fast bowler with enough pace to put the fear of God into batsmen.

Coach it out of him by telling him to calm down and learn some control.

Hey Presto! you've got another middle-of-the-road medium paced trundler.

Lot of truth to this. I had the TV on in the background yesterday - from memory they weren't even saying it was medium fast bowlers that took the wickets in England, they were outright pure medium bowlers. The reason for that is simple - the majority of first class cricket in England is played in VERY damp conditions (early Spring/late Autumn), where as long as you can hold the seam vaguely upright the ball will swing. If you're fast you're banging it into a damp wicket that won't bounce and you're not getting swing.

This Lords wicket is a touch unusual - we've come off a VERY wet May so everything is a touch on the lush side, and suddenly the sun is out, the wicket is baking off a bit, speeding up, and the bounce is quite rapidly becoming variable. Absolutely Wood should have a better understanding of bowling to the conditions, but he's an unusual English bowler - his figures abroad are massively better than those at home, because on tours the outright pace is one of the few real weapons a pace bowler will have.

Add to that that we've gone in with a 4 bowler pace attack (with a part timer spin) and you can't effectively use a pace bowler as you need him to pick up more overs than he really should. The balance of the side is way out while we're missing so many names, in particular in the batting as it leaves us selecting a side like we did in the early 90s.

[Saint]

And don't get me started about slow over rates. Fine every bloody player in the team shitloads and they'll find a way to bowl 90 overs in a day.

Christ knows why everybody gets their knickers in a twist over slow over rates.

If you don't have a spinner bowling you are not going to fir in 15 overs per hour.

Nobody, apart from the broadcasters really gives a fuck.

Mind you delaying the start of the overs so that the batsman can change his gloves and spend five minutes scratching out his guard does seem to be taking the piss.

Too much time wasting and not enough sensible decision making. Fair enough a team isn't going to hit 15 overs per hour - but there's nothing stopping us in the UK starting the days play at 10am to give us more time to get the overs in. Back in the '05 Ashes series we actually did implement that change and it worked so I have no idea why we stopped. We waste far too many "good" hours just because "that's the way we've always done it"

[ScarfaceClaw]

Forecast is looking grim for today. Rain most of the day. I’m north of London and it’s raining here now.

Hope the teams got the cards in.

[JM2K6]

Commentators were saying that most of the big wicket takers in the English domestic game are fast medium pacers with good control.

Wood seems to have listened to that advice.

Would like to see KJ just go after the bowling and hopefully get a couple of lusty blows.

340+ would be a pretty good first innings score - pitch seems to be starting to throw up a bit of variable bounce short of a length. Wagner must be champing at the bit.

Yes, that about sums it up.

Find a tearaway fast bowler with enough pace to put the fear of God into batsmen.

Coach it out of him by telling him to calm down and learn some control.

Hey Presto! you've got another middle-of-the-road medium paced trundler.

Lot of truth to this. I had the TV on in the background yesterday - from memory they weren't even saying it was medium fast bowlers that took the wickets in England, they were outright pure medium bowlers. The reason for that is simple - the majority of first class cricket in England is played in VERY damp conditions (early Spring/late Autumn), where as long as you can hold the seam vaguely upright the ball will swing. If you're fast you're banging it into a damp wicket that won't bounce and you're not getting swing.

This Lords wicket is a touch unusual - we've come off a VERY wet May so everything is a touch on the lush side, and suddenly the sun is out, the wicket is baking off a bit, speeding up, and the bounce is quite rapidly becoming variable. Absolutely Wood should have a better understanding of bowling to the conditions, but he's an unusual English bowler - his figures abroad are massively better than those at home, because on tours the outright pace is one of the few real weapons a pace bowler will have.

Add to that that we've gone in with a 4 bowler pace attack (with a part timer spin) and you can't effectively use a pace bowler as you need him to pick up more overs than he really should. The balance of the side is way out while we're missing so many names, in particular in the batting as it leaves us selecting a side like we did in the early 90s.

Hang on, no one is telling tearaway fast bowlers to become medium pacers. The genuine quicks continue to be genuinely quick. Fast medium bowlers continue to be told to work on their pace. Medium pacers largely get ignored by England regardless of their domestic record, because of their lack of pace.

The point about wood is that pace alone isn't enough at this level. Not that we're trying to turn him into a slower bowler - just that express pace with no control or guile is less useful than slightly slower bowling that is better executed, in certain conditions.

Rinkals doing his thing of trying to turn it into a condemnation of English cricket is funny as per, but there's absolutely no evidence that fast bowlers are being coached out of being fast. It's pure nonsense.

English county cricket has a ton of problems and almost all of them can be aimed at the scheduling, as you point out.

[Gumboot]

And don't get me started about slow over rates. Fine every bloody player in the team shitloads and they'll find a way to bowl 90 overs in a day.

Christ knows why everybody gets their knickers in a twist over slow over rates.

If you don't have a spinner bowling you are not going to fir in 15 overs per hour.

Nobody, apart from the broadcasters really gives a fuck.

I'm not a broadcaster but as a test cricket fan I give quite a big fuck actually. Without England's tardy over rate this game would be further advanced and the threatening rain delay wouldn't be as much of a "lost time" concern.

[JM2K6]

And don't get me started about slow over rates. Fine every bloody player in the team shitloads and they'll find a way to bowl 90 overs in a day.

Christ knows why everybody gets their knickers in a twist over slow over rates.

If you don't have a spinner bowling you are not going to fir in 15 overs per hour.

Nobody, apart from the broadcasters really gives a fuck.

I'm not a broadcaster but as a test cricket fan I give quite a big fuck actually. Without England's tardy run rate this game would be further advanced and the threatening rain delay wouldn't be as much of a "lost time" concern.

Yeah as sky pointed out yesterday, over rates have been decreasing decade on decade. There's no excuse for it, there's just too much time spent doing nothing. Fans certainly care about it.

(Also I think you meant over rate and I'm pretty sure New Zealand's is bad too)

[Gumboot]

(Also I think you meant over rate and I'm pretty sure New Zealand's is bad too)

Oops yes over rate. And you're right, most teams do it...just like the batsmen taking all those drinks breaks between overs....it's all time pilfered from the game.

[Woddy]

Always enjoy watching someone completely at ease with their game translate that to internationals. Fantastic knock. Made it look easy.

England's selection is a bit of a mess. No front line spinner, and the justification was... To fit mark wood into the team.

The fuck? Wood is desperately mediocre at test level. I know everyone gets excited at his pace and he's a very nice man, but he very very rarely justifies the hype. NZ have found him the easiest to bat against today. Was Olly Stone injured?

I hope he turns it all around and proves me very wrong. Though he'll probably take 2-105 in the match then be out with an injury. I just don't understand why England treat him like some sort of rare treasure when he's done very little to back it up.

Edit: I like what I've seen of Robinson so far, but he does look a little chubby so I'm not surprised he's flagging...

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/eng- ... er-1265070

[JM2K6]

Always enjoy watching someone completely at ease with their game translate that to internationals. Fantastic knock. Made it look easy.

England's selection is a bit of a mess. No front line spinner, and the justification was... To fit mark wood into the team.

The fuck? Wood is desperately mediocre at test level. I know everyone gets excited at his pace and he's a very nice man, but he very very rarely justifies the hype. NZ have found him the easiest to bat against today. Was Olly Stone injured?

I hope he turns it all around and proves me very wrong. Though he'll probably take 2-105 in the match then be out with an injury. I just don't understand why England treat him like some sort of rare treasure when he's done very little to back it up.

Edit: I like what I've seen of Robinson so far, but he does look a little chubby so I'm not surprised he's flagging...

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/eng- ... er-1265070

Love a bit of Dobell, but he's absolutely barking if he thinks Wood bowled well on day one. He was shite. Fast, yes, but worried the batsmen less than any of the other quicks.

That "point of difference" doesn't look anything different to what Stone offers, let alone Archer. Stokes also gets people out in similar ways on a regular basis.

He's also a bit wrong about the stats.

Since the Caribbean tour of early 2019, though, he has bowled off a longer run, retained his fitness pretty well (for a fast bowler) and taken his wickets at a cost of 22.46.

It's at a cost of over 25. And that boils down to two matches against SA where he took his wickets at 13 (9 in one excellent match), then averaging well over 50 against both West Indies and Sri Lanka, plus his wickets at 27 in this match. And it's not like he played regularly so the fitness concerns are still live imo.

This is a frequently broken 31 year old with a mediocre international record who has only briefly showed the kind of threat that his mates in the media talk about. I was very happy with his bowling yesterday, but I'm tired of hearing people talk about him as if he's a precious jewel that's so crucial to England. His displays just haven't backed it up. If he starts performing now, great! It's clear England are going to keep banking on him so I bloody well hope so.

I also hope Olly Stone can stay fit, given the start he's made in test cricket, and that England stop trying to break Archer...

[Ymx]

Is there any chance of cricket today? Or has it been called off? No access to TV at moment.

[SaintK]

Is there any chance of cricket today? Or has it been called off? No access to TV at moment.

Very little I suspect
60% chance of rain over London until 6:00pm an then 30% thereafter!!!
Set fair tomorrow, Sunday and Monday mind!

[Biffer]

Yes, that about sums it up.

Find a tearaway fast bowler with enough pace to put the fear of God into batsmen.

Coach it out of him by telling him to calm down and learn some control.

Hey Presto! you've got another middle-of-the-road medium paced trundler.

Lot of truth to this. I had the TV on in the background yesterday - from memory they weren't even saying it was medium fast bowlers that took the wickets in England, they were outright pure medium bowlers. The reason for that is simple - the majority of first class cricket in England is played in VERY damp conditions (early Spring/late Autumn), where as long as you can hold the seam vaguely upright the ball will swing. If you're fast you're banging it into a damp wicket that won't bounce and you're not getting swing.

This Lords wicket is a touch unusual - we've come off a VERY wet May so everything is a touch on the lush side, and suddenly the sun is out, the wicket is baking off a bit, speeding up, and the bounce is quite rapidly becoming variable. Absolutely Wood should have a better understanding of bowling to the conditions, but he's an unusual English bowler - his figures abroad are massively better than those at home, because on tours the outright pace is one of the few real weapons a pace bowler will have.

Add to that that we've gone in with a 4 bowler pace attack (with a part timer spin) and you can't effectively use a pace bowler as you need him to pick up more overs than he really should. The balance of the side is way out while we're missing so many names, in particular in the batting as it leaves us selecting a side like we did in the early 90s.

Hang on, no one is telling tearaway fast bowlers to become medium pacers. The genuine quicks continue to be genuinely quick. Fast medium bowlers continue to be told to work on their pace. Medium pacers largely get ignored by England regardless of their domestic record, because of their lack of pace.

The point about wood is that pace alone isn't enough at this level. Not that we're trying to turn him into a slower bowler - just that express pace with no control or guile is less useful than slightly slower bowling that is better executed, in certain conditions.

Rinkals doing his thing of trying to turn it into a condemnation of English cricket is funny as per, but there's absolutely no evidence that fast bowlers are being coached out of being fast. It's pure nonsense.

English county cricket has a ton of problems and almost all of them can be aimed at the scheduling, as you point out.

I think the point is more that the climate, plus the ridiculous scheduling in England where no four day cricket is played in July and August when wickets are hard and bouncy, means that it's very difficult for quicks and wrist spinners to prosper and break through in the long form of the game.

It's the scheduling that really gets my goat tbh. last year there were no four day county games scheduled from something like the 3rd July to the 28th August. That's the England Test side dead on it's arse in the next few years.

[ScarfaceClaw]

Is there any chance of cricket today? Or has it been called off? No access to TV at moment.

Very little I suspect
60% chance of rain over London until 6:00pm an then 30% thereafter!!!
Set fair tomorrow, Sunday and Monday mind!

Monday won’t matter. Today is day 3 so only need to worry about Sat and Sun. It’ll be a draw.

[SaintK]

Is there any chance of cricket today? Or has it been called off? No access to TV at moment.

Very little I suspect
60% chance of rain over London until 6:00pm an then 30% thereafter!!!
Set fair tomorrow, Sunday and Monday mind!

Monday won’t matter. Today is day 3 so only need to worry about Sat and Sun. It’ll be a draw.

Doh! Of course.

[Woddy]

JM - I've long been rather underwhelmed by Wood myself (other than his very apparent enthusiastic personality) as he doesn't seem to do much with the ball other than hurl it pretty quickly. For that reason, I've been intrigued as to why they've kept going with him. Thought this argument gives some rationale, and he does appear to have taken more wickets, and more crucial wickets, since he lengthened his run-up, whatever the detailed stats might be.

Archer's just as fragile imo, and I don't think England bowl him into the ground at all.