The Cricket Thread

Brook :joy:

I do agree they need to find someone better than Jack Leach issue is they play the 100 for the hottest month in the year when you may see spin be a factor.

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Crawley out to a beauty, but I don’t know why he seems so unconvincing.

Nicely set up. England favourites, but NZ bowlers could cause problems in the morning.

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He’s doesn’t does he just something, maybe it’s the lingering aspect of how we were always about 3 down before Root would save us a year or so back and he was part of that.

Anyhow just started to read this


So far so good

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The old England return. Collapsing like a house of cards.

Two more wickets and NZ will be into the tail.

Root digging in, Stokes hanging on.

Test cricket can be exciting even if the ball isn’t flying all over the ground.

168-5 at lunch. 90 to win. On a knife edge. Stokes is injured, but so is Henry. If Root goes, England will be in trouble. If he stays, they probably win.

Ben’s knee is really worrying me. Not only has he only bowled two overs, he is hobbling at a spinner in the crease

Sorry! I just got Stokes out by popping out for some milk :grimacing:

Very nervy now.

Root gone! :scream::scream::scream:

NZ now big favourites

Root and Stokes slowed it down too much

@Bekloppt don’t fucking move!!

There goes Broad. Yup, NZ look firm favourites.

Can’t see England getting these runs now.

Disagree about Root and Stokes, they were ticking along nicely. Stokes’ injury was a big factor.

Stokes a shadow of his normal self, that left knee meant he can’t even play spinners how he normally does let alone a bouncer.

Turning point was Brook getting run out

What’s the plan here? Foakes can get these as long as the other end is tight. Is he protecting the bowler? Then why did he let Leach face three deliveries?

Why is Southee not bowling himself at this point ?

What’s the point of bouncing Leach? He’ll just duck.

Watching how Leach is playing, it looks irresponsible what Broad did

Bloody hell Foakes :slightly_frowning_face:

Anderson to hit one of these short balls for six to win it…blah will take a crunching four. Two needed.

Argh have to wide that ump. Congratulations to NZ, felt like England rather threw that away today but what a match it was.

Congratulations New Zealand.

Couldn’t have been closer.

Brilliant Test Match (should have been a tie though)

About four wides that could have been given in the closing overs. The last one is a real shocker though, how on earth could anybody be expected to play that? Umpire bottled it.

Yeah, but we’re not whiners. Losing to New Zealand is far less painful than losing to any other team. You have to admire the way they picked themselves up after following on. England still have a lot to be happy about. Brook, the return of Root and the continued greatness of Jimmy A.
Concerns: Crawley, obviously. He does play the occasional good innings, but an average 22 isn’t enough for a Test opener. We might see Bairstow opening for the Ashes. Stokes’ fitness is a real worry.
Spin: I know Leach got 5 wickets, but he really isn’t a bowler who’s going to strike fear into the hearts of opposing batsmen. If you added Jadeja, Ashwin or Lyon to this team they’d be really formidable.
Seam: A bit samey. Jimmy is great and Robinson is much improved, but it would be nice to have something a bit different. A left armer would be good, but let’s hope either Wood or Archer are available for the Ashes.

Great match. Didn’t ever think I’d see a team winning after the follow on is enforced after Kolkata 2001 but there you go.

Hindsight being 20 20 but England should have batted nz out of the match.

Yep that can’t really have many complaints given that a few of them got out playing some pretty rancid shots, should never have been left to the last two to finish it off. Still, it’s annoying that the umpires seemingly forgot the rules because of the match situation. If England needed 10 still I guarantee he wides that ball.

Crawley is the biggest worry for me, if Bairstow is fit he has to play and Zak is by the far weakest link in the batting line up. Could be as simple as slotting Bairstow in to open, I hope that’s the way they go and Foakes isn’t dropped. He’s been very good with the gloves again.

Would expect a fair amount of rotation with the bowlers in the summer. The likes of Woakes, Wood and Archer need to be fit and firing to give us a chance.

Yes. Dropping Foakes would be a mistake in my opinion. He’s been class.

It’s Australia and ab Australian team playing away from home.

They have problems from captaincy(Cummins is a very likable bloke though) to not having a settled batting lineup.

None of their bowlers(Cummins excluded) really do well on all surfaces.

Their batting lineup even with the big names can’t do well outside of aus on a consistent basis

England should be favs for this one easily even with their question marks like Crawley, leach etc.