Wellington Test

[miked]

Stokes declares himself fit so England as expected are unchanged with
betel at no3 and Pope keeper at 6. No news on NZ.

Meanwhile both teams have been docked 3 WTC pts and fined 15% for slow
over rates [seeing that Bash bowled ~20 overs on the 1st day, it was
rather crap], leaving stokes fuming. Maybe england should concentrate on
over rates rather than winning ASAP, unless they can persuade the ICC to
give extra points for early finishes ;) Anyway there was never any
chance of england making the final; ATM its India vs RSA next year.

mike

[miked]

15 wkts on the 1st day and really rather abysmal batting by england
either side of brook-Pope partnership, even if the ball was moving
about, and then brook ran himself out, and pope skyed a miscue once too
often. When the pitch is giving assistance, england do seem obsessed
with the idea of attack attack before they get an unplayable one.
Sometimes ok, but the entire team doing this? NZs day at about 50-1
until those late wkts especially of Kane. It all depends if England can
finish the job or whether they struggle with the tailenders again, and
how easily they throw away their wkts in the 2nd.

mike

[John Hall]

Post by miked
15 wkts on the 1st day and really rather abysmal batting by england
either side of brook-Pope partnership, even if the ball was moving
about, and then brook ran himself out, and pope skyed a miscue once too
often. When the pitch is giving assistance, england do seem obsessed
with the idea of attack attack before they get an unplayable one.
Sometimes ok, but the entire team doing this? NZs day at about 50-1
until those late wkts especially of Kane. It all depends if England can
finish the job or whether they struggle with the tailenders again, and
how easily they throw away their wkts in the 2nd.
mike

Apart from England batting first this time, and the lack of runs down
the order, it was almost deja vu of the first Test.

[miked]

Post by John Hall

Post by miked
15 wkts on the 1st day and really rather abysmal batting by england
either side of brook-Pope partnership, even if the ball was moving
about, and then brook ran himself out, and pope skyed a miscue once too
often. When the pitch is giving assistance, england do seem obsessed
with the idea of attack attack before they get an unplayable one.
Sometimes ok, but the entire team doing this? NZs day at about 50-1
until those late wkts especially of Kane. It all depends if England can
finish the job or whether they struggle with the tailenders again, and
how easily they throw away their wkts in the 2nd.
mike

Apart from England batting first this time, and the lack of runs down
the order, it was almost deja vu of the first Test.

I dont think NZ dropped brook 5 times, actually i dont think he was
dropped once, which was prob why we made 280 not 480. This was a wkt
very similar to a CC match in May, something most of the batters, maybe
not bethel, must have experienced many times. And stokes said he would
have batted anyway, why then did they approach it like a minefield, why
crawley did bat like a tailend slogger? apparently he is the first
england player to hit a 6 in the first over of a test match, which
surprises me as its the sort of thing Milburn might have done.

mike

[John Hall]

Post by miked

Post by John Hall

Post by miked
15 wkts on the 1st day and really rather abysmal batting by england
either side of brook-Pope partnership, even if the ball was moving
about, and then brook ran himself out, and pope skyed a miscue once too
often. When the pitch is giving assistance, england do seem obsessed
with the idea of attack attack before they get an unplayable one.
Sometimes ok, but the entire team doing this? NZs day at about 50-1
until those late wkts especially of Kane. It all depends if England can
finish the job or whether they struggle with the tailenders again, and
how easily they throw away their wkts in the 2nd.
mike

Apart from England batting first this time, and the lack of runs down
the order, it was almost deja vu of the first Test.

I dont think NZ dropped brook 5 times, actually i dont think he was
dropped once, which was prob why we made 280 not 480. This was a wkt
very similar to a CC match in May, something most of the batters, maybe
not bethel, must have experienced many times. And stokes said he would
have batted anyway, why then did they approach it like a minefield, why
crawley did bat like a tailend slogger? apparently he is the first
england player to hit a 6 in the first over of a test match, which
surprises me as its the sort of thing Milburn might have done.
mike

When the captain of a side that's put in says they would have batted
first anyway, one always wonders if they are being honest or just trying
to boost their side's morale. Though Stokes seems less likely to lie
than most. Anyway batting first seems to have turned out OK. I can't
remember when England were last in quite such a dominant position after
two days.

Do you know anywhere online where I can watch footage of Atkinson's
hat-trick? It's not on the BBC's site, presumably because they don't
have the necessary rights.

[miked]

Post by John Hall

Post by miked

Post by John Hall
Apart from England batting first this time, and the lack of runs down
the order, it was almost deja vu of the first Test.

I dont think NZ dropped brook 5 times, actually i dont think he was
dropped once, which was prob why we made 280 not 480. This was a wkt
very similar to a CC match in May, something most of the batters, maybe
not bethel, must have experienced many times. And stokes said he would
have batted anyway, why then did they approach it like a minefield, why
crawley did bat like a tailend slogger? apparently he is the first
england player to hit a 6 in the first over of a test match, which
surprises me as its the sort of thing Milburn might have done.
mike

When the captain of a side that's put in says they would have batted
first anyway, one always wonders if they are being honest or just trying
to boost their side's morale. Though Stokes seems less likely to lie
than most. Anyway batting first seems to have turned out OK. I can't
remember when England were last in quite such a dominant position after
two days.

itwas an excellent day for england, although i stopped listening after
crawley got out.

Post by John Hall
Do you know anywhere online where I can watch footage of Atkinson's
hat-trick? It's not on the BBC's site, presumably because they don't
have the necessary rights.

try here

i'd completly forgotten that the last england bowler to do this was
moeen !

mike

[John Hall]

Post by miked

Post by John Hall

Post by miked

Post by John Hall
Apart from England batting first this time, and the lack of runs down
the order, it was almost deja vu of the first Test.

I dont think NZ dropped brook 5 times, actually i dont think he was
dropped once, which was prob why we made 280 not 480. This was a wkt
very similar to a CC match in May, something most of the batters, maybe
not bethel, must have experienced many times. And stokes said he would
have batted anyway, why then did they approach it like a minefield, why
crawley did bat like a tailend slogger? apparently he is the first
england player to hit a 6 in the first over of a test match, which
surprises me as its the sort of thing Milburn might have done.
mike

When the captain of a side that's put in says they would have batted
first anyway, one always wonders if they are being honest or just trying
to boost their side's morale. Though Stokes seems less likely to lie
than most. Anyway batting first seems to have turned out OK. I can't
remember when England were last in quite such a dominant position after
two days.

itwas an excellent day for england, although i stopped listening after
crawley got out.

Post by John Hall
Do you know anywhere online where I can watch footage of Atkinson's
hat-trick? It's not on the BBC's site, presumably because they don't
have the necessary rights.

try here
http://youtu.be/TEOsTqKmAZw

Thanks for the link.

Post by miked
i'd completly forgotten that the last england bowler to do this was
moeen !
mike

Atkinson now joints a short list of England players with a century, a
ten-fer and a hat-trick, along with I think Moeen and Broad, but there
can't be too many others.

[miked]

Post by John Hall

Post by miked

Post by John Hall
When the captain of a side that's put in says they would have batted
first anyway, one always wonders if they are being honest or just trying
to boost their side's morale. Though Stokes seems less likely to lie
than most. Anyway batting first seems to have turned out OK. I can't
remember when England were last in quite such a dominant position after
two days.

itwas an excellent day for england, although i stopped listening after
crawley got out.

today was pure bazball with Bashir taking most of the punishment - 5x6?
- and only when blondel finally misjudged a reverse sweep, did stokes
bring himself on and proceeded to take the last 3 wkts with bouncers. I
was surprised at first when england declared so early, partly cos Gus
had said last nite that they were in no hurry and he hoped they would
bat on well into the day. I guess hes not close to the decision makers,
but also the weather was very gusty and stokes could hardly hit a ball.
although he made 80 at chch, there were plenty of airshots in that too.
perhaps they wanted to get off early to play some golf on monday and
tuesday when the weathers gonna be fine. despite the 6s my memory of
this 1 will be a chicken playing cricket with some lobsters during the
tea interval on day 2.

Theres some worry over brooks ankle, hopefully he wasnt doing what rehan
was with a medicine ball before the start [seemed to be trying to drop
kick it!], and unless 1 of the bowlers is flagging, i'd expect the same
side for hamilton.

England won in under 3 days with 1091 runs and 26wkts from about 224
overs.
Meanwhile Oz have just beaten India heavily in under 4 days under lites
to level at 1-1 each. I think i said before the start it might be 2-1 to
oz and 3-0 to NZ, i still think oz will win but it might be 3-2.

Post by John Hall
Atkinson now joints a short list of England players with a century, a
ten-fer and a hat-trick, along with I think Moeen and Broad, but there
can't be too many others.

I think Broad did it twice, and i thought botham did it in 1981 at
Manchester but maybe i'm wrong as although i watched the famous
headingly match live on tv, i was away on holiday for old trafford and
missed the whole thing. it was by all accounts even more dramatic.

mike

[John Hall]

Post by miked

Post by John Hall
Atkinson now joints a short list of England players with a century, a
ten-fer and a hat-trick, along with I think Moeen and Broad, but there
can't be too many others.

I think Broad did it twice,

Broad has two Test hat-tricks, if that's what you mean.

Post by miked
and i thought botham did it in 1981 at
Manchester but maybe i'm wrong as although i watched the famous
headingly match live on tv, i was away on holiday for old trafford and
missed the whole thing. it was by all accounts even more dramatic.
mike

Perhaps not quite as dramatic, but his Old Trafford century was a better
innings than the Headingley one. I remember it came as a blessed relief
after Tavare had been crawling along at about ten runs per hour. And
also in that series he took 5-1 to enable England to narrowly win the
Edgbaston Test, which was probably the most remarkable performance of
the three. But IIRC he never took a Test hat-trick.

[miked]

Post by John Hall

Post by miked

Post by John Hall
Atkinson now joints a short list of England players with a century, a
ten-fer and a hat-trick, along with I think Moeen and Broad, but there
can't be too many others.

I think Broad did it twice,

Broad has two Test hat-tricks, if that's what you mean.

Post by miked
and i thought botham did it in 1981 at
Manchester but maybe i'm wrong as although i watched the famous
headingly match live on tv, i was away on holiday for old trafford and
missed the whole thing. it was by all accounts even more dramatic.
mike

Perhaps not quite as dramatic, but his Old Trafford century was a better
innings than the Headingley one. I remember it came as a blessed relief
after Tavare had been crawling along at about ten runs per hour. And
also in that series he took 5-1 to enable England to narrowly win the
Edgbaston Test, which was probably the most remarkable performance of
the three. But IIRC he never took a Test hat-trick.

yes it was the 5-1 i was thinking of. i didnt see it live, only the
hilites on bbc later, he was on a hatrick but didnt manage it.

mike

[David North]

Post by John Hall
Atkinson now joints a short list of England players with a century, a
ten-fer and a hat-trick, along with I think Moeen and Broad, but there
can't be too many others.

The only other one is Johnny Briggs.

[John Hall]

Post by David North

Post by John Hall
Atkinson now joints a short list of England players with a century, a
ten-fer and a hat-trick, along with I think Moeen and Broad, but there
can't be too many others.

The only other one is Johnny Briggs.

Thanks, David.

[dnorth]

Post by miked
I dont think NZ dropped brook 5 times, actually i dont think he was
dropped once, which was prob why we made 280 not 480. This was a wkt
very similar to a CC match in May, something most of the batters, maybe
not bethel, must have experienced many times. And stokes said he would
have batted anyway, why then did they approach it like a minefield, why
crawley did bat like a tailend slogger? apparently he is the first
england player to hit a 6 in the first over of a test match, which
surprises me as its the sort of thing Milburn might have done.

Milburn only batted in the first innings of a Test 5 times, and in one
of those he batted at #3. Only twice did he face the first ball, so
probably didn't get many chances in the first over in the other two
innings (once each with Boycott and Edrich at the other end).