The Silver Fern

If anyone cares the top 10 in the Ballon D'Or was as below

• Rodri
• Vinicius
• Bellingham
• Carvajal
• Haaland
• Mbappe
• Lautaro
• Lamine Yamal
• Kroos
• Kane

Women's

• Bonmati
• Graham Hansen
• Paralluelo
• Smith
• Horan
• Swanson
• Katoto
• Caldentey
• Rodman
• Putellas

Erik Ten Million+ Compensation

Was beginning to seem inevitable and ironic it came after a game they actually played OK in and still lost.

I think Evanilson has looked good so far, just has been wayward/unlucky in front of goal - but then Solanke's numbers last season were a bit of an outlier and 10+ is an OK season for a "mid-table striker".

Arse v Liverpool was intense, pretty even game and a draw was fair. Arse had to retreat a little in the second half when Gabriel went off and then Timber went off so without Saliba they looked shaky.

Well played Wellington

Can't cope with this

Pretty pleased with only being 8 points down into that wind. Need to be canny in the second half and play the game at the right end

WA against Tasmania. From 52-2 to 53 all out with the only run a wide. Batters 5 to 10 all with ducks. Spectacular.

@Chris-B said in Black Caps tour of India:

So which to watch and which to flick over to check the score - the cricket or the rugby?

Sorry about your NPC lads!

Doesn't the cricket start just as the NPC final finishes?

I've liked the strategy that the NZ batters have had for the spinners. It is almost a paint by numbers of sweep, reverse sweep or come down the wicket mixed with defence. Has been effective so far at disrupting their line and length and we've managed a very healthy strike rate without too many risks.

Seems to be a season for journeymen strikers who have been written off. Wood, Welbeck, Jimenez. It's good to see

@mikedogz said in Other Cricket:

Out in the 39th over, imagine if he could have batted through .....

Dammit we're in the final! Sangster looked pretty damaged on the sidelines on Saturday but we definitely have more depth in the pack than a few years ago - and the core of a side that has been together for 3-4 seasons. I'm hopeful but not confident - much like last weekend.

That second half from the Bay was epic. Just so solid. Sorry getting emotional here. Carter's try in the corner will go down in Bay folklore

Fantastic! That is all

For Conway, it looked like he made a determined effort not to be tentative - he's a bit of a bat dangler at times so it was good to see how crisply he was hitting it. You can criticise him for the shot he played to get out but he did that to Ashwin earlier in the innings so it was a definite gameplan. Problem with the one he got out to was the length - he yorked himself.

Some outstanding catches - Conway, Ajaz, Henry. India looked a bit psyched out and there is no way they should have gone from 31-3 to 46 all out.

It's a pretty long tail with Henry at 8 - here's hoping we don't fold in the first session tomorrow.

@bayimports said in BOP v Canterbury (SF):

@Duluth said in BOP v Canterbury (SF):

@KiwiPie said in BOP v Canterbury (SF):

@darylmitchell said in BOP v Canterbury (SF):

That BOP backline is certainly one of the strongest in the comp but that pack looks lightweight and average, can't see them winning this one.

I can't see it either but I'll go along as it is our first ever home semi-final. And stranger things have happened.

Betting market has BOP as favorites

Just looking at each teams last game and then losing Sangster up front on top of that 1.97 for Canterbury seems very generous.

$25 for a ticket and put $25 on Canterbury to win - it's worth $50 to see us reach our first ever NPC final or it's a free ticket to a semi-final.

@darylmitchell said in BOP v Canterbury (SF):

That BOP backline is certainly one of the strongest in the comp but that pack looks lightweight and average, can't see them winning this one.

I can't see it either but I'll go along as it is our first ever home semi-final. And stranger things have happened.

@Higgins said in BOP v Hawkes Bay (QF):

@KiwiPie Have they got round to floodlighting it yet?

SunLive - Welcome to Tauranga Domain! - The Bay's News First

They have not - in the unlikely event that we beat Canterbury and Waikato beats Wellington, I presume they will move the final to Rotorua to play it on Saturday night.

@Number-10 said in BOP v Hawkes Bay (QF):

What is capacity - 5 or 6 thousand? About right for NPC these days?

It's a lot less than that in actual seating, especially as the temporary stand has shrunk to allow corporates above it. I think there were officially 3.7K there on Saturday and many of them were spread around the running track where you can't really get a decent view of the game.

I sense it is likely to end badly with Tuchel - he's a cantakerous sod and I'm not sure how his tactical style will work when he doesn't have the players day to day. Seems like the best thing England can do is fix on a formation and stick to it even when the personnel changes. If the wide left player is a right footer then pick the best available left-footed left back, don't try to shoe-horn in the players you deem most talented.

Relegation in the Nations League was pretty disastrous for England - qualifying for tournaments is only getting easier as the tournaments get bigger so the top division of nations league would at least have them playing against quality teams. And England's recent tournament record will be Tuchel's worst enemy - it would have been better for him if they had been knocked out by Slovakia in the round of 16 as that would have reflected how poor they were.