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 always does, and was peppered by bouncers, as he always is, but he came through to register his sixth score in excess of 50 for England.

Dom Sibley also played quite nicely in his debut innings of 22. In fact, he looked more composed than Burns until he shaped to play a ball around off-stump through his favoured leg-side and edged one to slip. It was a shame. I think he misread the line somewhat and therefore presented a slightly closed face.

What did you make of Sibley? I think he sets up quite nicely. His initial back and across trigger movement is somewhat reminiscent of Steve Smith although he then plants his front foot a lot straighter. His MO is also slightly similar in that he covers off-stump, so he should know exactly what to leave, and he’s then able to pick off anything straight through the leg-side. Obviously the parallels end there as Sibley has a different back-lift, doesn’t possess the same range of shots, and looks slightly less like a hamster, but you can’t have everything.

Joe Denly also played nicely. In fact he played very nicely indeed. He dug in (much like he did in the latter half of The Ashes), looked technically sound, and pounced on anything short. Neil Wagner tried to rough him up but the phlegmatic Denly simply lined him up and then swatted him away through mid-wicket on several occasions. It was a good contest for a while but the Kentish man ultimately came out on top.

In some ways Denly looks a little like James Vince at the crease but possesses more patience. He drives fluently too, and gave an audible moan when he eventually edged a good ball from Southee and was caught behind by Watling for 74. He probably thought a maiden Test hundred was around the corner. He’ll get there one day I hope.

Overall England’s top 3 did their job nicely. They didn’t win any prizes for exciting cricket but frankly who cares? They ate up a combined total of 382 balls (that’s over 60 overs), took the shine off the ball, wore down the Kiwi’s attack, and set the platform for Stokes and then Pope to accelerate late in the day. Their approach was old school and it worked.

Talking of Stokes, England’s talisman played really, really well. He defended stoutly and drove imperiously. He looks totally at ease both mentally and technically.

I like the way Ben plays because it looks so simple. There are no extravagant movements or idiosyncrasies. He simply keeps his head still, his bat comes through straight, and he seizes upon anything wide, short, or over-pitched with a full swing of the bat. One back foot drive off Boult late in the day was a shot of the highest class.

Ollie Pope also produced an eye-catching cameo as the shadows lengthened in the evening session. He’s only made 18 thus far, so we shouldn’t get over-excited, but I loved his positive approach. England might have been tempted to send in a nightwatchman but I guess young Ollie was having none of it.

The only downer for England was the performance of Joe Root who sadly looked all at sea. Whatever technical work he’s done since the end of The Ashes looks really ill-advised. His trigger movements were exaggerated and his feet seemed totally out of sync – one seemed to be doing a pasodoble and the other an American not-so-smooth.

Although we probably shouldn’t read too much into one bad day at the office, his performance was actually quite worrying. Why on earth did he think such dramatic changes were required? It suggests a scrambled mind. Yes some might say he’d become a bit of an LBW candidate but he was still making plenty of half-centuries.

Joe’s main issue in recent times, as far as I was concerned, was his inability to convert good starts into big scores. Therefore I’m confused. Surely his problem was mental not technical?

Personally I would have preferred Root to go back to basics rather than reinvent himself. The shot that got him out, which he limply groped to slip, looked awful. What was he trying to do? Joe used to be such an calm and orthodox batsman. Now he looks like a cat on a hot tin roof.

Anyway, back to the positives. With an overnight score approaching 250 and six wickets in hand, England find themselves in a handy position. I’m not sure how much this pitch will deteriorate – it’s hard to say because they’ve played so little first class cricket at this ground – but if we can reach 400 (or more) then the bowlers will at least have the advantage of scoreboard pressure on their side.

As for the Kiwis they bowled pretty well but were let down by some sloppy fielding. Two or three chances went begging which could have put a completely different complexion on the day.

The pick of the attack was the big man, Colin de Grandhomme. He’s so accurate. Indeed, he reminds me quite a lot of Jacob Oram. Southee and Wagner also toiled away and picked up a wicket each.

The disappointment for the hosts was the performance of Trent Boult who didn’t really look himself. And where was Lockie Ferguson? On a flat pitch his extra pace might have made the difference. It will be interesting to see how Jofra Archer bowls when the time comes.

James Morgan 

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7 comments

  • New Zedaland will come hard at England in the first hour of day 2, but if England continue to show discipline and weather that early storm they should earn themselves the opportunity to cash in on bowlers who have a lot of overs in their legs. Burns does not always look entirely convincing, but once again demonstrated his ability to grind out an innings even when not at his very best. If England do get through the first hour of day 2 without damage a total in excess of 400 is definitely on the cards, and that would leave them in control of the match,

  • Burns looked out of form, but we definitely stick with the sort of player who is starting to grind out regular fifties when he is not in good nick. Sibley leaves a lot of balls outside off, but his technique is structure so he cannot play them; we will have to discover whether he can score at Test level, or just stick around while the bowlers target fifth stump. I guess in county cricket, they eventually stray back onto the stumps, and he can work them through mid-wicket, but in Tests, this may not happen.

    • With slips and gulleys waiting outside off I’d rather Sibley ignored that new ball line anyway. I’ve seen him on the county circuit take a new guard when he gets in so it’s more difficult to for bowlers to keep him quiet. Captains are loathe to let their bowlers waste the new ball by being left, so the pressure is on them to make the batsmen play. I hope no one messes with Sibley’s technique on this tour as it’s what got him selected in the first place. Not losing wickets is our priority to address, not the run rate.

  • I think 400 is a bit ambitious, but when was the last time an England top 3 batted 60 overs? 241-4 is most certainly an old school 1st day and has a nice ring to it for us oldies. Wouldn’t be too worried about Root yet, as he rarely fails in both innings and it was nice to see the batsmen not having to rely on a contribution from him to make a decent start. Burns looks a bit of a John Erdrich to me, able to make ugly runs fairly regularly. Denley continues to improve, as does Stokes, who seems to have found a balance between red and white ball that allows him to contribute whatever the circumstances. Can’t judge Sibley on that performance, but I hope he’s suitably disappointed not cashing in on a solid start the way he so often does for Warwickshire. Pope looked positive under pressure, which is a good sign and hopefully can go on.
    Overall if this is a foretaste of the future it looks a well balanced batting line up, now all we have to do is take 20 wickets and not drop catches. Simples.

    • It’s just a figure of speech, a bit like polititions being ‘economical with the truth’, The ECB ‘safeguarding the future of the game’ and Smith, Warner and co. being ‘misunderstood’. Not to be taken literally.

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