Well, this isn’t going particularly well. New Zealand looked by far the stronger team on day two and we’re already struggling to keep the match competitive. Sigh. I thought this series would be tough but I didn’t expect us to get such a pasting. It’s been like watching an eight year old try to beat up a bear with a feather duster.
Normally I’d have some sympathy for the team in such circumstances. They do try their best after all. However, on this occasion I can’t help feeling that we kind of deserve this shellacking. England’s selection for this game was so completely inept that we’re simply reaping what we sowed.
The decision to bowl first has also backfired badly. When you insert the opposition (especially after choosing an all seam attack) you really have to knock the opposition over for less than 250. In an ideal world you’ll dismiss them for about 180. So to watch New Zealand rack up 375 was a big disappointment. It looks a really competitive score on this wicket, especially as we’ve already been reduced to 39-2.
Our big chance in this game came on day 1 when the ball seemed to nip around quite a lot. However, not for the first time on this tour, the bowlers didn’t quite get it right. And then, as the pitch flattened out on day 2, the Kiwis have pressed home their advantage impressively.
It could have been a lot worse too. When New Zealand were 315-5 a score of 450+ looked very possible. However, their tail failed to wag much at all due to a curious bout of happy hooking. It was a bit weird seeing England’s medium-fast plodders bouncing out some capable late-order batsmen. Perhaps the Kiwis thought they had enough runs already?
I don’t want to sound too negative but I wasn’t particularly impressed with any of our bowlers. Stuart Broad was the pick of the attack with 4-73, but other than the brilliant ball he produced to dismiss BJ Watling I thought he was disciplined rather than particularly penetrative. In fact, that particular delivery, which had a lot more heat on it, only served to remind me of the bowler Stuart Broad can be when he’s in top rhythm (which he clearly hasn’t been on this tour).
Chris Woakes was another bowler who worked hard, showed patience, and picked up a couple of wickets, but he didn’t half look ordinary. Sam Curran was also innocuous and struggled to hit 125kph at times. Meanwhile, other than the odd over here and there, I thought Jofra Archer looked knackered and somewhat unhappy with life. The decision to leave out a specialist spinner looked more and more misguided as the day progressed.
Our batting effort also started nervously, and the fresh Kiwi seamers immediately seemed to get more out of the surface than our weary troops. Dom Sibley looked particularly lost in his short innings. He ducked into a bouncer and was hit on the head – a really nasty blow that clearly shook him up – and then he played all around a straight one and was lbw.
Meanwhile, despite some gorgeous fluent drives, Rory Burns again looked a bit too frenetic for my liking. He could (and should) have been caught twice but somehow survived to the close.
The difference between the two teams thus far was summed up by the dismissal of Joe Denly. A ball from Matt Henry took a clear outside edge but died a little and flew to the keeper very low. The alert BJ Watling, being the class act he is, moved forward decisively to snaffle the chance just millimetres above the ground.
A very similar chance came England’s way when Watling himself was batting (and had yet to get established). The ball flew low to Ollie Pope, but England’s part-time keeper initially took a needless little step to his left as the ball passed the batsman. He was consequently unable to move forward quickly enough to take the ball on the full. Instead it bounced agonisingly short, the chance went begging, and Watling went on to make another vital half-century.
England have been punished for every single mistake the selectors and management have made.
James Morgan
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To be fair – while I agree that if you insert the opposition in England, you want to bowl them out for <250, I think that’s not the case on flat pitches like this one. NZ have put up a fairly similar score to what we managed in the first Test; while I don’t back our batsmen to put up 600+ in reply, I don’t see how things would have gone much better for us if we’d decided to bat first…
Couple of odd things:
1) This is the second time England made a blatant mistake leaving out Leach to be rapidly followed by some “he couldn’t have played anyway” story, First time he was chucking, this time he was chucking up. Hmm.
2) Broad had a LBW appeal against Mitchell early on turned down and they couldn’t review it because all the reviews had been used. When TV showed what would have happened, the ball was shown going over the top. Pardon me, but there was no way that delivery was going over the stumps.
Funny how Broad seemed to up his game when he might have twigged that with Anderson and Wood coming back, his place in SA looks in jeopardy. As for Stokes’ bowling, this is what you get when a team is set up so that someone cannot be said no to. They’ve marketed Stokes as some sort of force of nature (‘Firestarter’ is in my local remaindered bookshop for £3), he’s believed it and now no one can say “Ben, that’s really not a good idea”.
Well, toothless bowling attack can’t bowl on a supposed flat wicket, average batting at best, poor captaincy, an average county coach that even only two games in looks out of his depth, poor team selection and unfortunately rather a lack of interest in test cricket it seems. Add an incompetent supposed “governing body”…..Blimey not much hope is there.
Contrast Australia vs Pakistan: Warner a ton and 300 odd not out, Laberchange two consecutive tons, a 4 man bowling attack including a spinner. And they haven’t even needed Smith yet. I’m looking forward to them playing NZ next, two top sides. England? Not improving and fast becoming a second string test side I’m afraid.
It has been poor by England. Illness may explain the nonselection of Leach,but in that case why not call up Parkinson? The all-seam attack has done poorly, and the start to England’s innings has been anything but convincing. Unless the weather saves England this his 2-0 to New Zealand written all over it.
Interesting explosive rant from Rob Key on the Cricket Debate today when he said that in (eg.) 2004 season there were about English 20 batters who scored more than CC 1000 first class runs (some, a lot more than 1000) – last season there was just 1 (Sibley).
He said that the bad, seam friendly pitches and Dukes ball (April, May and September, mostly) were too easy for the bowlers, and impossible for the batters. If he is right – then there isn’t much hope for English Test cricket.
Of course, they make matters worse with serailly inept selection, management and captaincy (and a boy’s gang mentality – if you aren’t in the Joe gang (Ben-cough-Foakes) you can’t play with my ball) – but there probably just isn’t the skill among the pool of England qualified test players to beat a good team like NZ.
*Even though* nobody in NZ seems interested enough in Test cricket to turn up and watch it – nearly empty grounds, and mostly Brits at that.
Give him his due, Broad had some excellent insight into how the NZ attack work, and how they plan to take wickets with this ball on those pitches – “Its not a 3 slips and a gully approach”, requires deliberate variation and being what they call ‘funky’. His delivery to get Watling was an example, and then the short balls that got Mitchell, Santner.
That said, with a bit of variation in England’s attack, seemed odd that they didnt mix it up more, especially given I’d assume Broad, with his expertise and know-how, had worked this out earlier. NZ seem to hunt as a pack, whereas England seems to have a group of individual bowlers.
And I’d like to have seen Ferguson bowling here, if only for the comparison with Archer. I really thought Archer would have a bigger impact, but maybe the pitches and ball just nullify the advantages that pace normally give. Hard to tell without some other express pace to compare
Look on the bright side at least you aren’t Pakistan supporters.
Cheer up folks, they were 39-2 as well. We’re less than 350 from a first innings lead. They haven’t any great bowlers and we bat well down the order. Root is due a innings, Stokes normally produces when it matters and Pope is one of the most talented batsmen of recent years. Then we’ve Woakes and Curran to take advantage of a tiring attack. The pitch is still decent and we’ve time to push on for a win.
Signed,
Pollyanna.
Hope you are all feeling more cheerful this morning following a double ton from Root and a good 70 odd from Pope. Why does our tail fold when we are on top and only perform well when we’ve been a few for 40? We would probably have scored more if Leach had been batting! If the NZ weathermen are better than ours, a draw is inevitable. .
OOPs. Typo. For 40 read 4!
Ron