I don’t want to say “I told you so” but I told you so. England’s shortsighted decision to take just the one wicket-keeper to New Zealand backfired dramatically overnight when it emerged that stopper Jos Buttler had injured his back. This means that Ollie Pope, who was picked as an exciting young batsman, will be forced to keep in the second test at Hamilton unless Jos makes a Lazarus-style recovery. Let’s be honest. This is one big cock up all round. The ECB...
Embarrassed – Day 5 At Mount Maunganui
At the end of day two at The Bay Oval, England had reduced New Zealand to 144-4 and had built a strong position. The Kiwis were still over 200 runs behind, their first four batsmen were back in the hutch (including their best player Kane Williamson), and they were facing the prospect of batting last on a surface that was showing signs of wear. Everything pointed to an eventual England victory. Three days later England had lost by the humungous margin of an innings and 65 runs. Talk about inept...
Chastening – Day 4 at Mount Maunganui
During the first session last night I put up the following poll on Twitter. Needless to say the final option was the runaway winner. It was so tedious to watch. How much do we have to drink to make this session interesting? #NZvENG — The Full Toss Blog (@thefulltoss) November 23, 2019 New Zealand only scored 54 runs before lunch and there was no sign of a wicket whatsoever. I don’t blame the Kiwis as they were doing what all good sides do: grind the opposition into the ground. Our batsmen...
Facepalm – Day 3 at Mount Maunganui
Four wickets fell on day one at The Bay Oval. Ten wickets fell on day two – including the dismissal of Kane Williamson when a ball leapt alarmingly off a length from nowhere. The ball was swinging a bit too. So how many wickets fell on day 3? Two. Just two miserable wickets. And one of those was a miracle catch by debutant Dom Sibley. Sigh. It’s all so disappointing. I really thought England were going to win this game from their overnight position. They dominated day one. They were...
Swing Comes To The Rescue: Day 2 at Mount Maunganui
Well, the day didn’t quite go as planned but England are still in a great position in the first Test. With New Zealand 144-4, and crucially still 209 behind, I’d expect us to push on and win the game from here. Yes this is a bold prediction. And talk of an England win could well prove premature. But when an innocuous looking delivery from Sam Curran leapt at Kane Williamson from nowhere late in the evening session, took the edge of his bat, and was taken wide at slip, New...
Old School – Day 1 From Mount Maunganui
Well batted lads. That was encouraging. With the exception of Joe Root – who played possibly the worst defence grope since Boycott’s gran first grabbed a stick of rhubarb – everyone played nicely. It was a struggle at times against a very disciplined attack on a slowish pitch, but I’ll take 241-4 every day of the week. The tone of the day (i.e. “over my dead body”) was set by the openers who both played promising little innings. Burns battled hard, as he...
