England Cricket 2024

[Petcha]

Great article from Ronay here...

Australia’s mission improbable: crack the genius of Jasprit Bumrah in 10 days | Barney Ronay

India’s supreme fast bowler destroyed the top order in Perth and the hosts have little time to avoid a second Test repeat

www.theguardian.com

Was Bumrah even playing against NZ? I missed most of that. How the hell did that ragtag fend him off if these aussie thoroughbreds can't play him?

 

[planetgeli]

Great article from Ronay here...

Australia’s mission improbable: crack the genius of Jasprit Bumrah in 10 days | Barney Ronay

India’s supreme fast bowler destroyed the top order in Perth and the hosts have little time to avoid a second Test repeat

www.theguardian.com

Was Bumrah even playing against NZ? I missed most of that. How the hell did that ragtag fend him off if these aussie thoroughbreds can't play him?

Only played 2 of the 3 tests and was ineffectual on what were largely spinners tracks. 41 overs, 3-127, and 2 of those were nothing wickets in a run chase NZ were always going to get.

The bowling belonged to Ajaz Patel and the batting Will Young.

Neither of whom get a game this time.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

And Mitch Santner! 13 wickets in just one match in the series.

I can see the logic in NZ's selection. They've gone with Philips as a batting allrounder who bowls spin and and newbie Nathan Smith as a bowling allrounder who bowls seam-up. So five bowling options, four of them seam, and batting down to no. 8. Plus two other batters who can bowl a bit in Mitchell and Ravindra. It's a balanced side.

But it's incredibly tough on Young.

Ajaz Patel is about as specialist an international cricketer as you can get. A red-ball-only option who specialises in playing away tests in Asia.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

And the terms 'logic' and 'England's selection' really don't go together. NZ at home don't play a specialist spinner. They play a batting-all-rounder spinner. And that's only the third-most-questionable selection.

I have a feeling with England that a lot is going to ride on how well Woakes bowls and if he can finally break his away-record hoodoo in conditions that should suit him. If he can't, I think England are in trouble.

 

[planetgeli]

Great article from Ronay here...

It's a decent article but that's because it's about Bumrah, rather than Ronay. The article could have written itself. Ronay is a smug, conceited 'look I'm being clever' writer usually. Can't stand the cunt. Anyway, moving on...yes, no Patel. Because NZ know horses for courses.

We've taken three spinners.

 

[Petcha]

And Mitch Santner! 13 wickets in just one match in the series.

I can see the logic in NZ's selection. They've gone with Philips as a batting allrounder who bowls spin and and newbie Nathan Smith as a bowling allrounder who bowls seam-up. So five bowling options, four of them seam, and batting down to no. 8. Plus two other batters who can bowl a bit in Mitchell and Ravindra. It's a balanced side.

But it's incredibly tough on Young.

Ajaz Patel is about as specialist an international cricketer as you can get. A red-ball-only option who specialises in playing away tests in Asia.

Hmmm.. I'm minded of the old mantra of never change a winning side. NZ has just done what no other side has done in India. They do have incredible depth considering their resources. Young's technique against spin wasn't easy on the eye from what I saw but hey it worked.

I hope Williamson can warrant his selection there. He'll probably score a double though.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Hmmm.. I'm minded of the old mantra of never change a winning side. NZ has just done what no other side has done in India. They do have incredible depth considering their resources. Young's technique against spin wasn't easy on the eye from what I saw but hey it worked.

I hope Williamson can warrant his selection there. He'll probably score a double though.

You can't not pick Williamson. Yes, Young did extremely well in India, but he had a poor test record up to then and of course conditions will be completely different at home. Tough as it is on Young, I can see why they've done it. He's unlucky that Mitchell and Ravindra are both so good. Williamson is currently 3 in the ICC test ratings (was 1 until very recently). Mitchell is 5. And Ravindra is the dashing young star.

 

[Idaho]

Re Australia, specifically Smith, is age catching up with him? Standing in front of the stumps to put the bowlers off their line, knowing you've got the reactions to defend your pads works... until the reactions slow down a millisecond.

 

[Petcha]

Still would have given the gloves to Latham and kept Young

 

[planetgeli]

Re Australia, specifically Smith, is age catching up with him? Standing in front of the stumps to put the bowlers off their line, knowing you've got the reactions to defend your pads works... until the reactions slow down a millisecond.

They are all struggling (for now) at the top but none more so than Labuschange. This is worth reading.

Australia vs India: Marnus Labuschagne to be axed for second Test?

After Marnus Labuschagne's failures in the first Test with India, BBC Sport examines his slump and the issues with Australia's other batters.

www.bbc.co.uk

Not too long, some easy stat graphs to explain it all in numbers.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Re Australia, specifically Smith, is age catching up with him? Standing in front of the stumps to put the bowlers off their line, knowing you've got the reactions to defend your pads works... until the reactions slow down a millisecond.

Yeah looks that way. It never should have worked in the first place, amazing that it did, but as you say, it only takes a tiny slowing down and you're in trouble.

But we'll see how he is when (if) he gets in. Everyone is vulnerable early on.

Re Labuschagne, his record is partly explained by the fact that he was officially the luckiest batter in test cricket for a couple of years - dropped more than any other player. Bit like Rory Burns when he had a brief run of good scores - he was helped a lot by the opposition.

 

[planetgeli]

Re Labuschagne, his record is partly explained by the fact that he was officially the luckiest batter in test cricket for a couple of years - dropped more than any other player. Bit like Rory Burns when he had a brief run of good scores - he was helped a lot by the opposition.

Referenced in the opening lines of that article.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I almost feel sorry for him. He's likely to be axed but he still averages nearly 50. Who comes in, though? New Zealand have deeper batting reserves than Australia atm.

And who will bowl bouncer theory when things go pear-shaped?

 

[Petcha]

Not a great start by England. The attack looks toothless on a greentop.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Out of nowhere Bashir gets the breakthrough!

Criminal really from Ravindra.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I agree that the seamers don't look great. Woakes down on pace, which is a worry.

 

[Petcha]

A rank full toss...

He's young. He'll learn. He could have milked Bashir all afternoon for 5 an over easily.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Tricky day to assess. Certainly could have been worse for England but NZ generously gave four wickets to Bashir. Ironic given what they did in India.

Seems a pretty flat pitch. 320 may represent a poor effort by NZ. We'll see.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

NZ go bang bang last over before lunch. Pitch doesn't look so flat now.

Bethel looked alright actually. Calm and organised. Got a really good one.

Root's dismissal an odd one. Got himself in a tangle.

New bowler Smith looks v good. Batting tough and NZ's 348 now looking very good. Ball seaming both ways. It's the kookaburra so presumably that will stop at some point fairly soon.

 

[Petcha]

7 dropped catches All sitters too apparently, Brook alone dropped four times, lucky boy.

 

[planetgeli]

Are there highlights somewhere?

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Very un-NZ-like to mess up in the field. I saw two of the drops - they weren't sitters but were very catchable. At lunch, England were bang in trouble.

He only scored 10, but I liked what I saw of Bethell. At the time, the ball was seaming around all over the place. He took 20 balls to get off the mark, but that was just the quality of the bowling and the conditions. Didn't panic. Hit a couple of very nice boundaries, then got out to a bit of a screamer of a ball that he really couldn't do much about.

I'm still very sceptical about his selection, but he does seem to have something about him. Certainly wasn't overawed by the occasion.

 

[Idaho]

England in a good position after what sounded like a decent day of cricket.

 

[Petcha]

Brook should buy a lottery ticket. Can't quite believe the reports praising his innings. Dropped. Four times. He's blessed.

 

[planetgeli]

Found them you miserable gits



Brook looks like he's getting out every other ball while hitting the ball to the boundary with every other ball. Ridiculous innings. Stokes looked good at the end. But if you were a Kiwi you'd rightfully be going on about having to take 16 wickets. They were bad drops, every one catchable.

 

[planetgeli]

Cricinfo

Smith to Stokes, no run
leans back for a slash

Too much information

 

[planetgeli]

And Brook was dropped again. 5 times now.

 

[Petcha]

Gower's still banging on about what a fantastic innings this is from Brook though. Delusional.

 

[Petcha]

Finally they catch him. And he walks off likes he's the Don

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

Gus Atkinson is the tailender you want isn't he - the one the opposition really hates.