My dear old things, it's STW TMS!

He always seemed quite switched on. I quite like it as a left-field idea.

He did fantastic things as captain and leader of their test team – both results and their attitude to the game. If he can bring that mentality to the team then he’ll do well.

Oh dear – Andrew Symonds killed in a car crash ;-(

Top team mate off the pitch by all accounts, not necessarily the easiest for the coaches and team admins to manage though.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/61453300

Just saw that. I was listening to him commentating on the BB only a few months ago and he came across really well.

darn it

Aghhhh.

Off and running in an hour, so what do we expect ?

I think they’ve picked a good team, you can argue about Pope at 3 but it’s not far wrong in my eyes.
The Kiwi’s didn’t look great against the county XI so I think we have a chance.
To be honest, I’m just happy the summer is starting.

I’m just looking forward to Soul Limbo playing in 5 mins

England to bowl.

Go Jimmy.. Great catch

😳😳😳😁😁

Test match cricket is just a joke now.

What a morning session, shame about Leach

the slog is on from NZ tail.

You can see why Jimmy was dropped.

37 overs and 3 bowlers down

Interesting morning with the ball. Batting today late in the afternoon will test the opening order.
Well done potts

Ugh, same old

Thank God for that. Thought we were in danger of a first innings lead for a while.

Don’t know why I assume it will ever get any better!

I meant to say yesterday that only Eng could relinquish their authority having bowled out the oppo in 2 sessions. Today at lunch we could be looking at a 2 day match, which would be utterly insane – remotely possible though with neither side capable of batting it seems.

so still clueless then. one day we might get a proper captain! who’s the current third best player in the “team” ?

Normal service resumes.

going to chasing 350+ at this rate. pray for rain 😉

Why clueless?

I thought Stokes tried pretty much every option available. All our real fast bowlers (Wood, Archers, Stone) are injured, we don’t have anything close to a proper spinner.

He tried all the bowlers from each end, some short stuff, varied the fields. What else could he have tried?

He tried all the bowlers from each end, some short stuff, varied the fields. What else could he have tried?

line and length ? spraying it about like the IPL ain’t cutting it you know test cricket. It’s like none of them have ever bowled at lords.

England have worked hard to throw this one away.

mayhem 🙂
3 in 3

Southee is on a death or glory trip !

At the start of this morning’s play I thought NZ would most likely set us an impossible run chase. 90 minutes of mayhem later, we have a very gettable target that most teams would take in their stride. Sadly, I have no confidence in this team and expect them to be bowled out before lunch tomorrow. Hope is all I have, not expectation.

276 feels like a lot for this batting lineup.

good grief

blimey a no ball

England’s batting is a real shambles.

I’m surprised Broad and Anderson came back. They work themselves into the ground, with virtually no rest in between innings, and our top batsmen can’t leave a ball…

class act

So, the rollercoaster that is Eng finds itself presented with a chance of victory tomorrow. So what’s it to be – 61 runs or 5 wickets?

I reckon we’ll somehow nick it, although I’m concerned we’ll start too defensively and be into the tail early doors. But I’m calling an Eng win just after lunch.

Root seems to always get out early the next day if he’s not out overnight. I think they have enough wickets though – they only need a couple of tail enders to slog 20-30 odd if someone else can stick around.

I’ll go for Root out in the first over and the rest collapsing in a heap for less than 20. At leat if that happens now I’ll have the consolation of feeling smug about being right online 🙂

5 wickets in hand ought to be a straightforward England victory but it’ll inevitably be a last wicket nail biter.

I’ll go for Root out in the first over and the rest collapsing in a heap for less than 20.

This is what I’m expecting. Hoping they can knock them off without drama though.

Vaughan was correct in his summary though – we have learnt nothing from this test – we have bowlers that can bowl well when the ball does a bit in English conditions; we struggle when it goes flat; we have Root and Stokes with the bat but not a lot else; we still play rash shots.

I’m surprised Broad and Anderson came back.

If I was Anderson or Broad, after the little shock of being dropped this winter, I’d be booking my retirement in for the end of the English summer now. After the careers they have had I’d want to be in control of the ending rather than announcing your international retirement 9 months after you were last selected. You’d want Alastair Cook’s ending, not Ian Bell’s. Also, for sentimental reasons, a pre-announced retirement is probably the best guarantee of being selected as much as possible for the rest of this summer. Maybe one or both of them have already done it in private. After this match finishes today, that gives them a match on each of the ‘big’ English test grounds, including one on their home ground apiece too. A good last ‘tour’.