Bairstow goes, on 162 off 157, have taken England from the depths of 55/6 up to a lead of 22. I watched a bit of him and Overton yesterday, they went along at such a rate. England at 350 and there’s still 15 overs to the new ball!
I felt bad for Overton getting sent off at 97, just shy of his century. Still, hell of a debut.
England ended up all out at 360 for a 31 run lead. NZ now chipping away at a comparatively leisurely 2.6 RR (England finished at a blistering 5.37). Best quote I saw: “England found out that they are bad at Test, so now they play ODI for 5 days!”
Currently at lunch with:
New Zealand 329 & 13/0
England 360
NZ trail by 18…
Sorry for the delay, stumps on Day 3 (early due to rain which had delayed things at least once earlier as well).
New Zealand 329 & 168/5 (off 51.5)
England 360
NZ lead by 137
As I’m a Yank who’s been following cricket for a couple of years, I’m thinking NZ is in a tough spot. They need a solid lead to get the win. And by solid lead, I’m thinking they need another 200-250 at a minimum (320-370 lead). Based on their current run rate (3.24) that uses up most of tomorrow (75-80 overs) leaving England with a full day plus to chase.
Now, England’s ODI mentality is boom or bust for sure. Boom and NZ loses. Bust is the question…
Let’s say England ends Day 4 down 200+ with 3 or 4 wickets gone. Can they shift gears and go back to “small ball” (American baseball term) and just chip away? Get lucky and hit their number for the win or drag it out for the draw.
The thing I don’t have enough experience to judge is what the rain does to the pitch. Does it favor bowlers (what I would expect) or batters? Experts?
It’s unlikely that the Kiwis will set a sporting declaration.
There’s still a lot of time left in the game because ENG scored so quickly.
NZ can bat out Day 4 and the 1st session Day 5 and give ENG two sessions to chase 350.
Not sure they can hang in that long but they need to kill off overs and time.
The effect of rain on the pitch will be minimal. The pitch will be well covered.
Essentially no pitch is easier to bat on in Day 5 than Day 1/2. It will get lower and slower and become more like an ODI/20/20 deck. But the Kiwis don’t have a spinner to exploit the developing turn that Leach was starting to get. In what I saw of the 1st session it didn’t look like many were keeping low but there’s not much bounce either. So slips catches will be hard to get and it’s more likely that shooters will get LBW.
NZ has the pair in that’s in scintillating form, but if one of these goes early, it’s curtains. Even if they put on 100, England would still be favorites if they are chasing 275 or so.
Right now I would say 65% England 25% NZ 10% The Draw.
I know the draw seems almost impossible, but the forecast for Monday is not good at all. So if England are chasing 250 starting at 3-ish tomorrow they may have to biff it from the outset.
Of course everything I knew about Test cricket has been flushed down the toilet by this series…
The first bit is almost done, let’s see if they can stretch the target to 275.
Updating my probabilities to 40% Eng, 35% NZ, 25% the Draw. Looks more and more like it will be a stop start day tomorrow.
I think NZ are a bit higher than Eng at the moment, with this pair at the crease. Chasing over 200 still isn’t easy, whatever Bazball might tell you, and if NZ are still batting at Tea then it will be strongly in their favour. It’s a big if, with the new ball only 10 overs away, but still.
The new ball is due and has been taken (a couple of minutes before your post)
England is slightly favored after 3rd innings, with about an 11-1 odds for a draw. I see rain forecast tomorrow, so would think odds of a draw would be higher.
Come on Zak, you can do it. Get another single digit score so that the selectors can demonstrate just how much faith they have in you and select you again anyway.
He’s done one better! Ran out his competition. Strategic thinking learned at The Posh School?
England now 183/2 at stumps day 4, and I’m more optimistic. England’s to throw away - we’re certainly capable of throwing it away, but with only 113 runs left it seems unlikely that even Old England would have messed this up. Rain is still a factor for tomorrow, but I don’t think it’s expected to be a total washout so there should be time.
NZ missing a spinner, and without movement with an older ball their attack seemed toothless in this evening session.
And England romp home with only the early loss of Ollie Pope to spoil the party, but that just brought Bairstow in to rub it into the Kiwis for a bit. Only 15 overs required in the finish.
Crawley is possibly the only English player for whom the series was an almost complete failure. His scores are 43, 9, 4, 0, 6, 25 and he ran out Lees during that 25, as @Mighty_Mouse mentioned above.
Lees did better, especially in the second Test, although we’ll want to start seeing some of those starts converting.
Pope has had a couple of big scores - a 145 and an 82 - to balance an otherwise sub-20 series.
Root did what Root does, although he’ll be disappointed that he was part of some of the series’ collapses, he still managed to average 90 and pull his overall test average over 50. He also got a wicket, and his first 4th innings ton.
Bairstow… did what Bairstow does, although more, and has nailed his place down in a way that it hasn’t been before. His scores make interesting reading - 1, 16, 8, 136, 162, 71* - with those three higher scores all at a strike rate over 100. His 136 came in 92 balls, and today’s 71* came in 44, including the second fastest English half century in Tests. Oof. He scored a similar amount of series runs to Root, but faster. And he took a catch as a wicketkeeper.
Stokes didn’t get the big score, but he played some vital innings along the way, and was instrumental in winning the second Test. His influence as captain seems to be his biggest asset, though, and that’s been huge.
Overton’s 97 was great, even if tinged with disappointment, and Foakes did ok with the bat. Even Broad chipped in with a 42.
I’m not going to go into so much detail on the bowling side, because batting is where England have struggled and it’s nice to be able to say positive things about it for a change, even if they did collapse a little bit sometimes. But Broad has been huge with the ball all series, Potts has done really well, Leach did great in this game (with a little luck in the first dig) and Anderson took 11 wickets in 2 games at 18, because he’s an all time great.
But he’ll come good eventually. Must persist with him.
He’s still in the squad for the India game
The 25 summed up Crawley. He ran out Lees because he was desperate for a run after being pinned down and worked over by Trent Boult. After that he decided to go for the Bairstow approach, trusted his eye - and managed to hit Boult out of the attack, So Williamson calls up his part-time offspinner, sets a fairly obvious trap - and Crawley goes straight into it.
He has all the shots, and can be devastating - when the ball is soft and the pitch isn’t helping the bowlers. When it’s bouncing and moving around, he’s never secure and ends up batting in desperation mode. If he has a future in the side, it’s at 4 or 5 - but England have Root-Bairstow-Stokes there, so no.
The problem for England is that they have a lot of potential top-order players who have variations on this syndrome - they can flog attacks when conditions are in their favour but when they aren’t it’s a matter of time before they play one shot too many or get one that’s too good for them. Who, out of the potential Crawley replacements, would you back to bat an hour against a quality pace attack when the ball is swinging?
It’s worth noting that even Bairstow only averages 36 in Tests, and prior to his hundred in Australia last winter had reached 50 once in 25 innings. We’ll see how “Jonny eyes” work against Bumrah, Shami, Ashwin & Jadeja.
Honestly? Rory Burns. I still hope to see him back,but I’ve read mutterings that he didn’t fit in well with the team dressing room, so maybe we won’t.
Rory Burns’s last 25 Test innings have brought one hundred, three fifties and eight ducks. In the last ten games he’s batted in both innings, he reached double figures both times exactly once. Like Sibley, Hameed and indeed Crawley, he’s been going backwards from a promising start. I’d still pick him to open over Crawley, but that’s not much of a bar.
SL v AUS Day 1 @ Galle
SL win toss, bat and are in all manner of ordure @5-97 with Nathan Lyon on the way for a 5fa before SL keeper Dickwella chances his are and gets a 50 and his team over 200.
This is not a pitch where chasing 300 on the last day is a viable option.
SL bring offie Embuldeniya on for the third over.
After a few looseners were despatched imperiously by Warner he gets one into Khawaja’s pads and Dharamsema puts the finger up and is immediately and laconically reviewed by Usman.
Embuldeniya is bowling right arm orthodox around from wide on the crease. The ball is going to hit half way up off stump of the left handed Khawaja, But it’s pitching outside leg! In the 62nd over of Day1.
AUS are scoring quickly but need a big lead to stay in the game.
Warner plays for spin and out LBW to a straight one.
And Lambuschagne has just looped a reverse sweep to backward square leg, the only fielder for 50m in any direction.
AUS limp thru to stumps with 3-98 off 25 overs including a run out of Steve Smith which will save Khawaja the expense of sending Smudge and family a Christmas card for the next couple of decades.