Black Caps vs England Series

[Rapido]

Soft, Southee.

Let the recognized batsman at the other end face 1 ball in the morning before he gets out in the deep.

Soft. Dumb. Was that an ivernight plan they spent hours strategising over?

To big to fail, phoning it in ... etc, etc

[booboo]

Spoke too soon...

[Bovidae]

The NZ bowlers will be happy that there is plenty of movement with the new ball.

[MajorRage]

Ball going everywhere, huge movement.

348 after being put in is a win

[mariner4life]

you know what? lose the toss and get sent in, I'll take 350.

But you look at the card and they could easily have added another 90 with some better decision making

[sparky]

348 all out. Not a dominant NZ total, but certainly not a bad one, probably about par. Game on!

[Rapido]

Cool today, compared to yesterday.
Assume it is same in Chch.
Should be a good bowling day, actually.

[No Quarter]

Yep still plenty in this wicket, first hour will be key, a couple of early wickets will have them under a lot of pressure

[MN5]

Every single time I’ve actually sat down and watched Zak Crawley bat he has been absolutely shit.

Good to see this continue

[Cyclops]

Duckett a bit streaky but the runs still count. Hopefully that luck runs out soon. Wonder how much longer before we see O'Rourke.

[Bovidae]

Latham better hope that wasn't the chance.

[ACT Crusader]

@MN5 said in Black Caps vs England Series:

@Chris-B said in Black Caps vs England Series:

@Rapido said in Black Caps vs England Series:

Soft cricket by nz. I think every wicket today was ugly, with Kane being the slight exception being surprised by the bouncewhile platung a normal attacking shot. Just a soft, soft day. Back to the happy-go-lucky standards of self-policing these guys have set for themselves since 2021. India was a fluke.

Yeah - the pitch wasn't really doing anything.

I've said before that in the first two innings of a match you really want to get to about 220/4 - and largely regardless of the pitch - and from there if you bat well you get 500 and if you don't you get something less.

We could've got to 220/3 if Mitch hadn't decided he was in a T20 game and thought he'd "take the field on".

I reckon we're 150 short and if England bat well we'll be a long way behind the game at stumps.

But, who knows.

> The masterly Sri Lankans who thumped us, who thumped India, who thumped Australia - got bowled out for 42 overnight.

Which emphatically sums up the state of test cricket at the moment, no team is consistent at all.

Consistently inconsistent….

Or alternatively there are finer margins between winning and losing test cricket these days with how batting sides attack.

[Bovidae]

Smith gets Bethell. The quickest of the bowlers used so far.

[Bovidae]

And Root for a duck. Smith is having nb issues though.

[Chris B.]

That's a very handy over - despite the no-balls!

[foobaNZ]

As a batting the no balls would annoy you more than the bowler if you're trying to survive before a break! Lucky the 2 wicket balls were good.

[Snowy]

Smith goes to lunch averaging 6 in test cricket. That will feel good.

Long may it last.

[booboo]

Come on@Dodge , you're a wicket short.

[Cyclops]

So many no balls in that over I'd forgotten that it started with the wicket of bethell. Than over basically swung the session from a England win to a win for us. Smith needs to sort his run up though.

[KiwiMurph]

It's his debut test - he gets leeway on the no balls.

I'll take the no balls if he is a wicket taker.

Seems to be quick enough at mid 130s