In a little under 12 hours time play starts at Lord’s in the Embers* series between New Zealand and England. As always cricinfohas comprehensive coverage. New Zealand was surprisingly competitive when England toured down here earlier this year, and the last test was only saved with a tense last-wicket stand by England.
Can New Zealand continue to challenge the England team? Or will the Black Caps revert to their usual mediocrity and merely give the English a couple of training games before the Australian series?
Personally I think we’ll see a close but rain affected first test, ending in another draw, only for New Zealand to stumble to a large defeat in the second.
*I couldn’t think of anything more appropriate to call the Test series before the Ashes.
England should be favourites, being as they are at home, but I have come to have a lot of respect for the NZ side after the winter tour. I think they are at an interesting phase of their development as a side - akin to where England were in the early 2000s, when Nasser Hussain and Duncan Fletcher focused on making them hard to beat - and, as such, I don’t think they will be a light touch by any means. England need to view this as a tough series, IMO, and apply themselves accordingly, as the NZ side is good enough to take advantage of they throw their wickets away or struggle with the ball.
Good to see the IPL simply can’t bear to share the stage with any other form of cricket too - arrests for match fixing on the opening day of the Lord’s Test (though how anyone can tell Sreesanth was throwing matches is anyone’s guess - he has a long and proven track record of being shit).
This is not correct to say. There shouldn’t be a competition. Let people watch IPL or England Vs Nz, whichever they wish to. IPL is a popular cricket league which fans like to watch and which offers good money to the players. It shouldn’t be seen as some sort of ‘threat’ to world cricket.
Regarding spot fixing, its not a blot on Cricket, Ipl etc. Its just about corruption of a few individuals. could have happened in any country, any sport, any league.
I think you mistake a flippant comment satirising the “traditional” English reaction to the IPL with my being serious. If you think that I genuinely believe that the IPL engineered a match fixing scandal, of all things, to take attention away from England, I’ll have some of what you’re drinking thanks.
Spot fixing - sadly - is a blot on cricket. It would be a blot on any sport too. It is being turned up regularly with respect to cricket, because it’s one of the easiest sports to run a spot fixing scam on, due to the large number of discrete events and the insanely detailed level at which one can bet - but to say that it’s not a blot on cricket is pretty short sighted. It’s a bit like saying drug taking is not a blot on cycling. It’s good to see the authorities are working to catch offenders in cricket. Long may it continue.
This is off topic anyway. How about some thoughts on the England-NZ series?
Settled look from NZ - this is the 4th match in a row they’ve picked the same XI, which, for them, is pretty much unheard of.
Open questions for England - what sort of form is Finn in (he’s not been great for Middlesex thus far this year)? Swann and Broad are both coming off injuries - are they going to be able to fire? Compton, Root and Bairstow could do with decent series, especially Bairstow and Root - one of them is inevitably going to make way when England decide to put Pietersen back in the side.
I do not think anybody is non-serious here. neither you nor the people who perceive IPL as a threat.
“take attention away from England” - unfortunately there is no particular interest\attention over here on England Vs Nz, people would watch the contest but not comparable with IPL, as expected since it doesn’t involve Indian team or players. So there’s no question of me suggesting the same.
You may take all possible precautionary measures implemented in most comprehensive manner. It still doesn’t rule out the possibility of corruption. We have seen Cronje, Boje, Azheruddin, Jadeja, Gibbs, Butt, Asif and Ameer getting caught in match fixing or spot fixing. Now you can say that that was a blot on India, Pakistan and RSA and on international cricket but I disagree. Unless it happens regularly, I view this simply as corrupt behavior of a few individuals, nothing to do with a country or cricket.
Regarding England Vs Nz, England are a very formidable team in England, where the series is happening. Nz’s batting looks untested and inexperienced, they will surely be the underdog. Also think tht Matt Prior who has been an underrated player for long, is among the best wicket-keeper-batsmen ever.
I assure you, you are wrong. I was not being serious. So you can extract me from the definition of “anybody” to start with.
I’ve basically come to the conclusion that the IPL is probably the way cricket is going to garner more appeal from non-traditional cricket followers, which is all to the good for interest coming into the game. I think the one thing that I would like is for the IPL/BCCI to come to an agreement with the ICC that the tournament has a window of however many weeks, so that the international sides can plan for it and avoid scheduling cricket within the window - which should head off some of the problems that England in particular are having with their players wanting to play IPL but not wanting to miss international cricket - and ensure that the IPL can get the most talent onto the field from all the nations, thus improving the product. After that, it’s a matter for the BCCI/IPL to sort it out.
We will have to agree to differ on spot fixing I am afraid. People thought drug taking in cycling was a few isolated and corrupt individuals. Now we know that doping programmes were endemic and sophisticated. I fear that we are at the thin end of the wedge with spot fixing in cricket - and the authorities are doing the right thing in keeping the pressure up.
I am going to finish my end of this hijack now.
NZ have got off to a really good start here. They’ve bowled very well in the opening session and have got off to a decent start in the second as well. The run rate is well down, they’ve taken a wicket and are really examining the technique of the English batsmen. They’ve just taken Cook actually for a second wicket.
window for IPL - that would be a good thing, I support it. Few issues in this -
India can’t allow Pakistani players in IPL for now(non-cricketing reasons).
Foreign players who don’t get bought in for the league. I think the league should have atleast 15 teams - atleast one each from the states of UP, Bihar, MP, Gujrat, one for Chhattisgarh+Jharkhand+Orissa, one for North East India. This way more foreigner will be picked up. A team plays some teams once and other teams twice in the league stage so the tournament doesn’t become too long.
I do not know about doping in cycling, but in cricket I do not think spot\matching fixing is anywhere close to being endemic. Also, spot fixing while being wrong and unacceptable, is nowhere as serious as match fixing or doping for performance enhancement. That said, the authorities must be as cautious as they can and ban the guilty for life. Sorry for the hijack. my last post on IPL in this thread.
With 18 overs left, I think it fair to say that NZ have been right on top today. They have the new ball in hand for a 10 over blast tonight, have bowled really well up to now and taken two great catches to get rid of Cook and Trott. If they can nip out a couple before close of play, they are going to be in the pound seats to win this game.
Been impressed with them - they’ve not given England anything. Only black spot is that the pitch is already looking to be wearing at a quick rate - so Swann might have a good time with last use of the pitch.
I’m rooting for the Kiwis. That drawn test in the last series was terrible. They’ve done quite well so far, 160/4 but play’s been interrupted by rain, as lisiate already predicted in the OP. Is that going to curtail much of the match?
The rain has stopped play for the day now. New ball due first over tomorrow morning.
The weather for tomorrow and Saturday is not forecast to rain. There maybe some showers on Sunday and Monday - but I suspect that we should get most of the time that this match requires. NZ are the favourites for me at this point. If they can get one of these and Prior in the opening session tomorrow morning, there is a good chance that they could build a substantial lead.
They have scored 450 ish in 2 of their last 5 innings and one of the other ones was a 260-6 declared to try and force a result. Admittedly, all of these innings took place in NZ. But they were all also against England.
There is enough firepower in the NZ batting line up if they apply themselves properly to put this game out of England’s reach, as was proved in the English winter.
I’ve got no problem with the thread veering all over the place into discussions of other cricketing matters. It’s just following the long tradition of cricket commentators doing the same over the course of a day’s play…
A good day for New Zealand, taking Cook, Trott and Bell’s wickets for less than 50 each has to be counted a victory for the bowlers. I’d loved to have woken up to see England a few more great, but mustn’t be greedy.
NZ have got Root, taken Prior with the following delivery and now have England at 192-6. They have done exactly what I said at post 12 and, provided they don’t let England off the hook, should shoot them out for sub 300. It’s going to be up to the NZ batsmen to put them in a winning position, but the bowling unit have been really good over the 4 sessions played already.
Broad gone now too, plumb lbw - 199-7. It’s going to take Swann and Bairstow bashing it around, as Anderson is not going to contribute and Finn is still working out which end of the bat is which.
Oh dear. This is exactly why we cannot afford any complacency whatsoever about the standard of the Aussies. Still, we have a good bowling attack so if they can get as much out of the pitch as the visitors, we still have a chance in this game. Could be the lowest-scoring 4-innings test at Lords since England vs West Indies in 2009.
