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New Zealand [615/9d] defeat England [353, 197] by an innings and 65 runs to win 1st Test

England is a good team, probably behind India and Australia only and earlier I said NZ because they had performed better in recent times. However, their players as always lack the consistency in their game.

Broad is looking in good touch these days but his career has all been about this only, at times when he is in good rythm does well and at times looks ineffective at all. His form will not last long but he has done enough to be considered a very very good player for England.

Archer has brought a new fire in the England bowling but they don't have a quality spinner and their hopes are also from top order to keep performing consistently with the bat.

Stokes is the best thing they have produced since Botham and is the reason why they have a World cup trophy in the bag and still the only team to remain undefeated against the rivals Aussies at home but he will have his ups and downs and hence I don't see him averaging over 40 throughout his career.
 
Archer was actually disappointing yesterday, his pace was down and he didn't look up for it.

Curran was the pick of the bowlers.
 
KP
bell
trott
prior
Strauss
cook

this is a strong batting team. They were very good for a couple of years. bowling is stronger now in my opinion.

If we compare the current lineup to the 2012 one, the best XI IMO would be:-

Cook
Strauss
Trott
KP
Root(2019)
Stokes(2019)
Prior
Swann
Broad(2019)
Archer(2019)
Anderson

Bell was a good batsmen but he was nothing special, doesn't belong to anywhere close to elite group.
 
England should bat how they did in this game. See off the new ball. They than have the lower order players to take advantage of a softer ball .
 
England have much more rounded attack than last time they were in NZ with four medium fast, one-dimensional seamers.

I like the whole balance of the team a lot more with Root at 4 and Pope at 6.
 
New Zealand trail by 129 runs with 5 wickets remaining in the innings

That is lunch , the game is in balance right now.
 
New Zealand trail by 59 runs with 5 wickets remaining in the innings

Both barsmen looking good. One of this should look to get a big innings here.
 
Catch dropped !!

Difficult chance , but still a miss . Can Kiwis make poms pay for this.
 
Watling batting well here. He is a very solid player , has played several priceless innings. This can be another match winner if he continues a little bit more.
 
Both batsmen have settled down here , if both can get hundred here , Kiwis will be in strong position.
 
Watling is arguably the best wicket-keeper batsmen of this era.
 
BJ Watling is the best wicketkeeper batsmen in the world.

Absolutely love him, always scores tough runs for us when we're in trouble.

He'd average 50+ if he cashed in when we got off to good starts.
 
Watling is arguably the best wicket-keeper batsmen of this era.
The great thing about him is he scores runs when the team needs it most. We would have lost so many matches and not turned a lot of games around if it weren't for him.
 
The great thing about him is he scores runs when the team needs it most. We would have lost so many matches and not turned a lot of games around if it weren't for him.

Still remember his headingley century where newzealand won the test match in England for the first time since 1999.
 
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The great thing about him is he scores runs when the team needs it most. We would have lost so many matches and not turned a lot of games around if it weren't for him.

I remember he smashed india in 2014 and single handedly won them the series 1-0.
 
yep credit has to be given to watling the south african born kiwi.
best wicketkeeper batsman of this era easily. pant will soon average under 35 unless he improves his temperament. Outside of pant there is no one else with a higher average right?

Damn new zealand are real tough in their own conditions. I underestimated them.
So? England in trouble now hey.
 
New Zealand’s lower middle order rallied superbly to drive them into the lead, as they ended the third day of the opening Test in Mount Maunganui on 394/6, 41 runs ahead of England in the first innings.

Having started the day playing catch-up after being reduced to 144/4 at the end of day two, New Zealand had lost just two more wickets when they ascended into the lead. And it was BJ Watling, the wicket-keeper, who led their fightback, with his eighth Test century. By stumps on Saturday, 23 November, he had moved to an unbeaten 119 and had Mitchell Santner, batting on 31, for company.

Watling, who resumed on 6, first extended his fifth-wicket stand with Henry Nicholls to 70, as the duo saw off the first hour and a bit. After 18 wicketless overs, Joe Root turned to his spinner, Jack Leach, who trapped Nicholls in front with one that stayed low, with his fifth ball. Umpire Kumar Dharmasena ruled Nicholls out, but DRS came to the batsman’s aid, as it showed the impact to have been outside the off-stump.

The new lease of life was a short one, though, as Root brought himself on from the other end in the next over and hit Nicholls’ pad again, with HawkEye showing that the ball would have thudded into leg stump this time around.

But Colin de Grandhomme, whose impressive batting form had earned him a promotion to No.4 in the T20I series, continued to produce good work with his willow, as he partnered Watling in a sixth-wicket stand of 119.

Five balls into the partnership, Watling creamed Leach through backward point for four to bring up the New Zealand 200, and from there began a frustrating period for England.

De Grandhomme shed all his attacking instincts to buckle down with 4 off the first 20 balls he faced, before slapping Leach through backward point for his first boundary.

England opted to go into lunch without having availed the second new ball that had become available three overs earlier, but immediately after the break, Dharmasena flashed the bright new cherry. Sam Curran made first use of it, but off his second over, de Grandhomme cracked back-to-back fours.

The 91st over brought up the fifty of the partnership, as well as the New Zealand 250. Jofra Archer was reintroduced in the next over, but de Grandhomme was unfazed, launching the fast bowler for a six and four, as New Zealand collected 38 runs in nine overs against the second new ball.

Archer continued to bowl at pace, hitting speeds of 152kph, but that did not deter de Grandhomme from calmly pulling him for a brace and bring up his half-century. Watling, too, showed no respect to Archer’s pace as he punished lapses in length. A four from his bat, off Leach in the 103rd over, raised the hundred of the partnership, and a single next ball gave New Zealand their 300.

De Grandhomme was dropped on 62 by Rory Burns at gully, but fortunately for England, it did not cost them much, as he added just three more runs before a full-blooded cut in the first ball after tea was intercepted by a diving Dominic Sibley, who grabbed a one-handed stunner at gully.

England’s plan against Mitchell Santner was a no-brainer, as they exploited his weakness against the short ball, at one point even striking him on the chest, when Stokes pitched one short but Santner overestimated the bounce.

Mitchell Santner gets out of the way of a short ballMitchell Santner gets out of the way of a short ball
He looked far more comfortable against the spinners, creaming Leach through the covers and launching Root, with a skip down the track, over long-on, even as Watling moved towards his hundred. The wicket-keeper batsman flicked Sam Curran past Stokes at leg slip to bring up New Zealand’s 350 and level the scores. Another four in the bowler’s next over took him to 98, before a neat clip past mid-on gave him the hundred.

With the fast bowlers worn out and Root turning to his spinners, Santner settled down, quietly having moved on to 24 by the time the fifty-run stand between him and Watling came up. Archer, Stokes and Broad returned for a final burst late in the day, but Watling and Santner stuck on until stumps, putting New Zealand in sight of a substantial first-innings lead.

https://www.icc-cricket.com/news/1499454
 
yep credit has to be given to watling the south african born kiwi.
best wicketkeeper batsman of this era easily. pant will soon average under 35 unless he improves his temperament. Outside of pant there is no one else with a higher average right?

Damn new zealand are real tough in their own conditions. I underestimated them.
So? England in trouble now hey.
Watling moved to NZ as a 10 year old, he's a product of the NZC system.
 
England have much more rounded attack than last time they were in NZ with four medium fast, one-dimensional seamers.

I like the whole balance of the team a lot more with Root at 4 and Pope at 6.

England attack still has the issues on flat decks, there's no out of the box tactics they can employ, curran at best is a county seamer, broad needs the right conditions, leach a non spinning spinner, which leaves archer who has a captain with more braines than a club captain
 
Tough day for England.

Looks like a very flat pitch now.

Draw is coming unless England throw away their wickets in the 3rd innings.
 
With southee and wagner still to come who both can bat the kiwis could get a lead which could cause england a few problems.
 
Archer was actually disappointing yesterday, his pace was down and he didn't look up for it.

Curran was the pick of the bowlers.

Root does not use Archer properly. We saw this in the Ashes too. He gives him the most overs when he should use him in five-over bursts. With Stokes bowling less these days, Curran and the spinner should bowl more.
 
Is there a better batsmen than Watling when a team has their backs against the wall?

I swear he always scores runs for us when our top and middle order have failed.

It's insane how often he does this.
 
Is there a better batsmen than Watling when a team has their backs against the wall?

I swear he always scores runs for us when our top and middle order have failed.

It's insane how often he does this.

He is such a street fighter.
 
NZ did well. They probably can't lose this Test match now.

England are still struggling in Test format.
 
Is there a better batsmen than Watling when a team has their backs against the wall?

I swear he always scores runs for us when our top and middle order have failed.

It's insane how often he does this.

Toughest cricketer playing cricket nowadays. He's 35. You guys are going to miss him in a couple of years.
 
Once again England toil when the ball doesn't swing. They don't have the ability to take the pitch out of the equation and Root's captaincy is ordinary.

This is not to excuse England and Pakistan's bowling ineptitude, but I've said time and again as evident by the ongoing Tests in Brisbane and Mt Maungani, that the Kookaburra ball produces dull and tedious cricket.

Meanwhile in Kolkata wickets are tumbling with the pink SG in front of a packed house. When you have a ball that keeps bowlers interested, you have more entertaining Test cricket. Sort it ICC.

Finally, I really like the grittiness of Watling. A proper WK batsman.
 
Rated #3 in the world. Beat India 4-1, beat SL 0-3 away, held the Aussies 2-2 and would have won that series but for rain in the second test.

Australia would have also won in Headingley but umpire didn't gave lbw to Stokes.
So please stop complaining about it.
 
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Rated #3 in the world. Beat India 4-1, beat SL 0-3 away, held the Aussies 2-2 and would have won that series but for rain in the second test.


Had the stokes lbw been given Australia would have won. The series was drawn and Australia were the better team for having drawn an away series.
 
England missed their chance yesterday to fashion a winning position in this Test, so their best bet now (for the series as a whole) is to avoid defeat tomorrow and then push for victory in the second and final match.
 
Santner is a very handy lower order batter, much like Vettori. He may hit a few hundreds during his career and end with an average of 28-29.
 
Rated #3 in the world. Beat India 4-1, beat SL 0-3 away, held the Aussies 2-2 and would have won that series but for rain in the second test.

how on earth can you say that for sure? they won the 3rd test match due to a freakishly good innings, how do you know that still would have occurred had england not been deprived in the 2nd. fair enough perhaps, if england had dominated the 3rd test
overall australia were the slightly better team
 
Kiwis are batting too slowly. Think they should ante up their game. They need a 100+ lead to feel comfortable as they will be batting last.
 
NZ - 433/6 after 165.2 overs.

They are leading by 80 runs.

I think NZ should bat for two full sessions and then give themselves four sessions to bowl England out.
 
These days NewZeland has been the only test playing nation where the wickets get better to bat on, as the game progresses. This is not good publicity for test cricket. Who wants boring draws? ICC should do something about this.
 
Looks like we're batting time to grind their bowlers into the dust for the next match. Probably will accelerate after lunch and declare 30 mins before tea.
 
These days NewZeland has been the only test playing nation where the wickets get better to bat on, as the game progresses. This is not good publicity for test cricket. Who wants boring draws? ICC should do something about this.

no. new zealand are allowed to tailor the pitches to suit their players at home. Nothing wrong with that. Almost every team does it.
 
no. new zealand are allowed to tailor the pitches to suit their players at home. Nothing wrong with that. Almost every team does it.
We don't tailor pitches, we actually want result oriented pitches for good entertaining cricket. These types of pitches don't favor us, and we're usually on the wrong end of tosses for the 2-4 session green tops.
 
Next session we need to smash 150 runs as quick as we can and declare.

That way there will only be two results possible.
 
Next session we need to smash 150 runs as quick as we can and declare.

That way there will only be two results possible.

how much you reckon is a winning total for n.z from this point on? the field is so tiny lol.

if they can get close to 300 then they have one whole day to get England all out.
 
how much you reckon is a winning total for n.z from this point on? the field is so tiny lol.

if they can get close to 300 then they have one whole day to get England all out.

This ground is actually quite big and has 80m boundaries.

It's the rugby grounds which are small, the new grounds like Hagley and Mt M. are decent.
 
Santner needs to go T20 mode, Watling is nearing 200 so its a bit much to ask him to go for it.
 
NZ have every chance of winning this. This pitch looks wore down but England are too tired to take advantage.

Watling is too clutch. Most underrated player in the world. Santner is also a big time player.
 
Santner is so good when he's set, he needs to give himself time because he can bat.
 
Probably best that Watling gets going to or he might miss out on a double.
 
Brilliant innings from Santner.

Hopefully Southee can tee up a few and Watling can get his double so we can declare during the break.
 
Double for Watling

tenor.gif
 
what a stunning performance. take a bow. BJ freaking watling. Champion player.

God Damn Mitch too lol. has he always been a handy bat?
 
Watling! you legend in sheep's clothing.

I remember people ignoring him in world test 11 thread.
 
3-4 wickets before stumps would be ideal.

England are out of this game and are batting to save the Test.
 
Santner takes 3 after a maiden century :)

Hopefully can get the remaining 7 tomorrow and win the Test.
 
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