England v New Zealand | 1st Test | Lord's | 18/5/13 | Day 3

[Marshland]

And god do I get annoyed with Broad and Finn. Do absolutely nothing for most of the innings, get one wicket apiece of actual batsmen (and Brownlie is barely an actual batsman).

You must be joking. Brownlie was the reason why we drew Australia, and he also scored a ton at Cape Town in the innings after we had been bundled for 40-odd against Steyn and Philander and the rest.

He is good. Maybe not so much against spin, but certainly good enough to be called a batsman!

 

[Ruri]

You must be joking. Brownlie was the reason why we drew Australia, and he also scored a ton at Cape Town in the innings after we had been bundled for 40-odd against Steyn and Philander and the rest.

He is good. Maybe not so much against spin, but certainly good enough to be called a batsman!

He seems like the weakest link in your lineup. Even more so than Fulton. He was the poorest bat of your side when we played your lot in NZ.

I dunno, just don't like him.

 

[cricketworm]

Match is perfectly well set. Either way it's going to be an entertaining end. Thanks to NZ's approach, shifted the approach of the match from batting and now with bowling.

 

[ads101]

NZ are battling well to make it a good fight. Tomorrow morning session should be crucial.

And god do I get annoyed with Broad and Finn. Do absolutely nothing for most of the innings, get one wicket apiece of actual batsmen (and Brownlie is barely an actual batsman). And then Finn goes on to get easy wickets to bad shots from the tailenders and ends up with respectable figures. How is it that Jimmy has bowled 4 more maidens than everyone else combined, and gone for 17/16 runs fewer than Broad/Finn who have bowled 3 and 6 overs fewer? England are so overly reliant on Jimmy and Swanny that it's stupid. Swann and Jimmy put the team on their backs, if we wanted a specialist tail-remover, that's what we had Flintoff for, and Finn can't bat that well to be our Flintoff.

Finn did this in the ashes too I remember. Bowled rubbish and let off all the pressure. When Australians started trying to up the run rate, got a fiver.

Thought Finn had changed and supported his inclusion in the team again. All that happened it seems that he's learnt how to bowl in LOI rather than becoming that world class pacer he's bound to be in tests. Still horribly inaccurate/too many bad balls. Still would persist with him though, he'll eventually come good but not sure how long it'll take.

Broad, time to move on until he drastically changes. He bowls in a few tests and always goes back to same old Broad.

 

[Amjid Javed]

Match is nicely poised, i think if england get 230 lead here it may just be enough, have to say test matches which go back and forth in terms of chances of victory for both teams are always the best to watch.

 

[Executioner]

This is some ince juicy stuff. I would have loved to watch would be effectively the last day of the test match, had it not been for my exams

 

[Gunther]

Match is nicely poised, i think if england get 230 lead here it may just be enough, have to say test matches which go back and forth in terms of chances of victory for both teams are always the best to watch.

I suspect that England need to be close to 300 to be comfortable. As Kane Williamson and Rooty showed, once a batsman get his eye in, it can tough for the bowlers.

Hope, Finny does his best Gillespie impression tomorrow and then Broad and Swann connect a few. That would definitely deflate the Kiwis.

 

[Ruri]

I suspect that England need to be close to 300 to be comfortable. As Kane Williamson and Rooty showed, once a batsman get his eye in, it can tough for the bowlers.

Hope, Finny does his best Gillespie impression tomorrow and then Broad and Swann connect a few. That would definitely deflate the Kiwis.

I would be reasonably pleased with 250, though it would still be close. Anything below that would be slim chances indeed.

And Finn needs to step up his bowling for us to have a chance.

 

[Anfield]

I would be reasonably pleased with 250, though it would still be close. Anything below that would be slim chances indeed.

And Finn needs to step up his bowling for us to have a chance.

Is 250 some kind of magic number? Under 250 slim chance,,,250 and voila. lol

I think England is already in the driving seat. I don't think NZ would be able to score over 170 in 2nd Innings. England has bagged this one.

 

[Gunther]

Is 250 some kind of magic number? Under 250 slim chance,,,250 and voila. lol

I think England is already in the driving seat. I don't think NZ would be able to score over 170 in 2nd Innings. England has bagged this one.

This is not a sub continenta wicket we are talking about. The Lords wicket in the recent years has become easier to bat on in the latter parts of the game as the conditions tend to settle down a bit.

If England cannot knock off the top order quickly(within 80-100) then NZ would be firm favorites in my view.

 

[Ruri]

Is 250 some kind of magic number? Under 250 slim chance,,,250 and voila. lol

I think England is already in the driving seat. I don't think NZ would be able to score over 170 in 2nd Innings. England has bagged this one.

Quite.

It's a good psychological number. A number that neither side has reached so far on this pitch. Even then I said it would be close.

 

[Anfield]

This is not a sub continenta wicket we are talking about. The Lords wicket in the recent years has become easier to bat on in the latter parts of the game as the conditions tend to settle down a bit.

If England cannot knock off the top order quickly(within 80-100) then NZ would be firm favorites in my view.

5th day batting is always difficult no matter where you're playing. NZ doesn't have the batting to score the runs.