It’s the final game of the three match series - no results so far, so all to play for. And… England haven’t exactly covered themselves in glory. I think the smart money is on a draw, even if there’s no rain interruptions, and if anyone is going to win from here I suspect it’s going to be New Zealand.
Still, wait until they get to England and can’t protect their batting with over-friendly pitches that lead to dull games.
I always like to see NZ do well, and am rooting for the Kiwis in this one too. They’re doing quite a good job in this test, and I’m really hoping they don’t squander the 200 run lead they’ve got.
As I write McCullum and Fulton are having a bash around before a possible lunchtime declaration. The lead is over 360 now.
Not enforcing the follow on was a bit odd, maybe McCullum thought his bowlers needed a rest? I’m hoping this test doesn’t attract rain like the first two did. New Zealand’s only managed to bowl England out twice in the four innings we’ve seen so a draw does seem the likely outcome, even without any rain.
NZ definitely in the driver’s seat having got four wickets, but as lisiate says they still have to get England all out. They should be able to wrap up six wickets in one day, with more than 400 runs to defend. Is there any chance that weather may play spoilsport?
Oh guys I wish I wish…
NZ is a minor cricketing nation these days much as it saddens me. In the 1980s we used to laugh at Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Zimbabwe as the wooden spooners but now they present frighteningly competent teams.
For better or for worse, cricket is disappearing as a sport in this country. To be fair, rugby is shrinking too but holding on.
Bdesh has 1 point and Nz has 78 points, so Nz is still a fair distance away from the wooden spoon.
If they beat England tomorrow they will have 85 points. I won’t be surprised if they win the Champions trophy as they always do well in ICC tournaments.
Given how England have played so far in this test, I think they will struggle to bat the day out with 4 wickets already down. Ian Bell is capable of batting the day out, but the others will have to stay with him and there’s only 3 batsmen left (although Broad may bat out some time).
I fully expect to wake up tomorrow to hear about NZs victory, which will drop England to third in the Test Championship thing.
In all fairness, NZ deserve to win this series. They were well on top in the first test before the weather intervened and have bossed this test match from the toss. There is the makings of a good side there I reckon (Rutherford and Brownlie look decent and Taylor and MacCullum are both decent bats too). The problem, as ever with NZ cricket, is likely to be strength in depth, particularly over time.
Nevertheless, good for them. As an Englishman, I’m obviously hoping for a sterling rearguard action to save the series - but I don’t think we’d deserve it at all and would actually be reasonably happy to see them go down in this one (on the proviso that it sorts some heads out for the coming summer).
Although New Zealand had to follow on in the second test, and the English were also cheated out of a probable win by rain. Two tests losing time to rain in the midst of a pretty severe drought!
It’s certainly been a much better series than I’d dare hope for. I’m starting to think that Hesson may actually have been a good choice as coach. I’m still dark about the shabby way Ross Taylor was treated though.
Ken001 raises a good point though, in this day and age where employers often insist on working on the weekend and the like New Zealand’s small stock of cricketers is shrinking by the year. Perhaps we need to up our immigration from other cricket playing nations?
Ian Bell has scored 18 runs off 130 balls. I don’t think I’ll be staying up to listen to this thriller.
Bell and Root have survived the first hour without any real trouble. Only 74 overs left to bat it out!
England need to play out one over, NZ need one wicket. What a test match!
what the hell…only 2 balls to go n 1 wicket to get. Prior on strike,
And Draw it is. well fought out by Prior and co
Feel bad for Nz. They battled so hard and deserved a win to come their way. Anyways, this should be encouraging for them that they were so close to a series win against such a good test team.
Well, blimey. Undeserved for NZ - and particular Boult and Wagner of the bowlers - and a mighty let off for England. Bell and Broad did a damn good job occupying the crease but Matt Prior - what a hero.
Yeah - I wasn’t going to stay up either but more because I have to be at work this morning. More than one type of thriller though isn’t there!
Well, it’s probably not the Ashes build-up they wanted but as mentioned earlier, this should be a timely wake-up call for England that there is a lot more hard work to do before they can be confident of beating Australia, despite their troubles. The sort of mentality displayed by the lower order yesterday could turn an Ashes series, so that at least is encouraging. Roll on the summer!
Yesterday was a great example of the Black Caps’ amazing ability to drag their fans through roller coaster rides of hope and despair, often in one session. As the overs ticked by with no wickets I started to chalk it up as just another wasted opportunity, only for Williamson to get two in one over setting up three overs of nail-biting tension. And then fail to get the final wicket.
There certainly is, and it sounded like this was a close one! Good game in the finish, actually, that England didn’t particularly deserve to draw - although Matt Prior probably deserved his century to mean something.
I still think England with beat NZ in England, though, probably 3-0.
Bit late to the party, but as an Aussie fan that was a great final Test.
I was hoping that NZ would get the win, but it was a phenomenal effort by the Poms to get out of the series 0-0. That last hour or so was absolutely gripping viewing, even as a neutral.
PS As long as both of the back to back five Test Ashes coming up don’t end 5-0 to England I’ll be happy. For want of a better word.
PPS I went to school with better batsmen than most of the current Aussie top order. Michael Bevan was one of them, and he wasn’t even considered the best player at the school at the time.