New Zealand vs England - clash of the titans Cricket

[Certain Navigator]

Intriguing series, at least in the sense that all three games turned out to be mis-matches. NZ had two of the best three seamers (Henry and O'Rourke, along with Carse), and the best spinner (Santner), but also the worst bowler fullstop (Southee), far and away the worst fielding performance (in Chch), and a significantly inferior batting lineup — Brook may have only got 1 run in 2 digs in this test, but he performed when it mattered while Williamson only got going after the horse had well and truly bolted. And the rest of the NZ batters were even worse.

It's hard to escape the impression that NZ management and players were distracted by the Southee Retirement Travelling Circus. And that management is far too cosy with senior players. England, admittedly due to forced circumstances, have found a new batting talent in Bethell, but NZ is still relying on a bunch of 30-somethings and a fast-diminishing wonder boy (Ravindra). Hopefully there'll be some concerted younger talent-identification before the next test series.

[Kiwias]

Intriguing series, at least in the sense that all three games turned out to be mis-matches. NZ had two of the best three seamers (Henry and O'Rourke, along with Carse), and the best spinner (Santner), but also the worst bowler fullstop (Southee), far and away the worst fielding performance (in Chch), and a significantly inferior batting lineup — Brook may have only got 1 run in 2 digs in this test, but he performed when it mattered while Williamson only got going after the horse had well and truly bolted. And the rest of the NZ batters were even worse.

It's hard to escape the impression that NZ management and players were distracted by the Southee Retirement Travelling Circus. And that management is far too cosy with senior players. England, admittedly due to forced circumstances, have found a new batting talent in Bethell, but NZ is still relying on a bunch of 30-somethings and a fast-diminishing wonder boy (Ravindra). Hopefully there'll be some concerted younger talent-identification before the next test series.

Clearly the BCs are still in the process of a change in players after the golden generation that took the team to #1 and to the WTC championship, you are pretty harsh on Williamson who had scores of 93, 61, 37, 4 (only real failure), 44, and 156, averaging 65.8. There were overall far too many wickets gifted to the England bowlers and I am happy that Southee is now gone, as good a player as he has been over a long time. Great to see O'Rourke perform so well, meaning we have genuine pace in our attack to back up Henry.

[JM2K6]

Well done NZ, comprehensive win.

Very pleased with Bethell and Carse being the big winners from this tour. Pope started off brightly but we're back to where we were when he was at 3. Brook was incredible until the final match. Atkinson continues to be excellent.

Huge question marks over Crawley, Bashir, Potts (albeit he's never first choice), and sadly Stokes's fitness.

Excellent series to watch even if the matches weren't particularly close.

[Mahoney]

Benefit of the doubt has always been a "thing" in cricket (sports?) and home teams have generally been given that benefit since Jesus was a lad. Seems that even with technology, that law still applies.

Not sure the South African women would agree. They've been on the receiving end of some pretty dubious decisions in the absence of DRS from their own umpires!

[Certain Navigator]

Intriguing series, at least in the sense that all three games turned out to be mis-matches. NZ had two of the best three seamers (Henry and O'Rourke, along with Carse), and the best spinner (Santner), but also the worst bowler fullstop (Southee), far and away the worst fielding performance (in Chch), and a significantly inferior batting lineup — Brook may have only got 1 run in 2 digs in this test, but he performed when it mattered while Williamson only got going after the horse had well and truly bolted. And the rest of the NZ batters were even worse.

It's hard to escape the impression that NZ management and players were distracted by the Southee Retirement Travelling Circus. And that management is far too cosy with senior players. England, admittedly due to forced circumstances, have found a new batting talent in Bethell, but NZ is still relying on a bunch of 30-somethings and a fast-diminishing wonder boy (Ravindra). Hopefully there'll be some concerted younger talent-identification before the next test series.

Clearly the BCs are still in the process of a change in players after the golden generation that took the team to #1 and to the WTC championship, you are pretty harsh on Williamson who had scores of 93, 61, 37, 4 (only real failure), 44, and 156, averaging 65.8. There were overall far too many wickets gifted to the England bowlers and I am happy that Southee is now gone, as good a player as he has been over a long time. Great to see O'Rourke perform so well, meaning we have genuine pace in our attack to back up Henry.

Harsh on Williamson? I don't think so. In the first two tests, Brook got two big first-innings hundreds and they were absolutely vital — if they'd both been ducks, England could well have lost both matches. By contrast, the outcome was pretty much determined by the time Williamson came out to bat in the second innings at Hamilton — a duck there would still have left NZ with more than enough runs to win easily.

A high average is great, but just as important is scoring runs when they're most valuable. Which from a team's perspective is usually in the first innings, not in the second against part-time spinners.

[Enzedder]

Looking at the WTC standings (Saffers have qualified for the Final)

England would also qualify if they added bowling their overs quicker to their Bazzball mantra... 22 points deductions is fucking ridiculous.

https://www.icc-cricket.com/tournaments ... /standings

Surprise, surprise - Saffers have no deductions

[Sandstorm]

Surprise, surprise - Saffers have no deductions

Hey, we only do lineouts slowly

[Calculon]

Looking at the WTC standings (Saffers have qualified for the Final)

England would also qualify if they added bowling their overs quicker to their Bazzball mantra... 22 points deductions is fucking ridiculous.

https://www.icc-cricket.com/tournaments ... /standings

Surprise, surprise - Saffers have no deductions

I'm sure they will get thrashed in the final against Oz but it is a little bit amusing that an extremely average team which played the fewest matches, and that don't take test cricket seriously (I mean they sent their B team to New Zealand), ended up top of the table.