NZ vs England | 2nd test | Wellington | 13/03/2008 to 17/03/2008

[Saj]

Solid start from England who have dropped Hoggard and Harmison.

Currently 42 for 0, with NZ having won the toss.

 

[Raul Madrid]

these 2 teams deserve as few posts as possible on this thread.

eng 107-3

a mini collapse

and NZ dropped 2 catches.

 

[Raul Madrid]

in 1st and 2nd test, botham and other english pundits slagging off the curators of the pitches saying 'flat pitch' this and that.

eng 136-5

 

[Robert]

Ambose sparing a few blushes here, doing a half-decent Gilchrist impression.

 

[PlanetPakistan]

What a fabulous innings that was from Ambrose.
It might sound a big statement to make but i genuinely feel that an innings such as this can really revive England as a test team which will be great because currently the world of cricket needs a strong English side.

 

[James]

It remains to be seen whether Vettori has taken his place alongside the likes of Hussain at Brisbane 02, Ponting at Edgbaston 05 and Dravid at Mumbai 06. Bowling first can be a series-altering suicide that hangs over a captain for a long time.

Either way, England were given a lifeline they did not deserve and at least we are in the game, thanks to a very good innings indeed from Ambrose, and yet another quietly valuable contribution in the England shirt from Collingwood. Something like 420 would be nice, and it is very possible, as Ambrose is full of confidence and Collingwood is good in these situations. However the overrated top five failed yet again, and it is starting to become a worry. For three of them to get a genuine start and all get out before at least a half-century is criminal to say the least.

 

[Rob H]

England 342 AO

New Zealand - 9/2

Anderson with both wickets, bowling Bell who played an awful shot and having How caught at slip playing the drive to a snorter of a ball.

 

[12thMan]

Fleming 21(72) - Taylor 34(46)
NZ 73-3 after 28 overs

 

[tmac4real]

ambrose and collingwood guided England to a respectable total. Fantastic knock from him.

 

[PlanetPakistan]

Oram gone
Sidebottom picks up his
113-5

ENG aren't safe yet because Mccullum has the ability to do an Ambrose and NZ still have their best batsman(Vettori) still to come...oh and as i write Jimmy picks up his 5th

113-6

 

[PlanetPakistan]

Big wicket for ENG
Mccullum was looking very dangerous

 

[PlanetPakistan]

oh Monty- that was awful

 

[Robert]

Given good weather England should square the series.

I don't much rate Vettori. If you take out his runs and wickets against the Bangles and Zimmers he's not much.

 

[PlanetPakistan]

Given good weather England should square the series.

I don't much rate Vettori. If you take out his runs and wickets against the Bangles and Zimmers he's not much.

I agree. He is a fairly overrated test cricketer.

 

[Robert]

Monty must be the worst fielder in international cricket. Nutmegged twice, and messing up a stumping.

Devon Malcolm was an awful fielder too, but at least he had a bullet throw.

 

[James]

A very good performance all day. We are a better side than New Zealand and this was the first day in the series where this was made obvious. I was always confident that things would show signs of returning to normal in this match - like I said at the time, our showing in Hamilton was possibly the worst England performance in my time as a fan.

I stayed up for most of it as it was my day off today. When we lost the last five wickets so quickly I was a little worried but it turns out that 340 was definitely an above-average total on this wicket. We say it time and time again, you can't tell until both teams have had a bat. Should be an easy win for England now really - if we lose from this position it will be more because of ourselves than New Zealand.

 

[12thMan]

someone is out sometime ago
Eng 51-1 - lead of 196
It is probably Vaughan as a lefty is still batting but then Strauss could have come up the order and not Bell

 

[12thMan]

Cook 50
Eng 106-1 - lead of 250

 

[12thMan]

Eng 109-1 after 38 overs - lead of 253

 

[12thMan]

Bob Willis is on as the game is going slow. a LBW shout and Rudy says no. It was clipping the top of stumps so not a bad decision
Eng 127-1

 

[12thMan]

Cook out ct at 1st slip by Fleming off Mills
Eng 127-2 - lead of 271
Pietersen in

 

[12thMan]

Strauss LBW Oram
Eng 129-3

 

[12thMan]

I think Pietersen survived a LBW appeal against Vettori. There was doubt if there was an inside edge but not clear
Eng 146-3

 

[12thMan]

300 up for Eng
Eng 158-3 after 53 overs - lead of 302

 

[12thMan]

Pietersen runout. Batsman hits a straight drive but the ganjaa badmash bowler got a hand to the ball and ball went to hit the stumps
Eng 160-4 - lead of 304

 

[James]

Lead of 421 with 1 wicket left, basically we have 6 sessions to bowl them out again. Just an adequate performance today, nothing to write home about, yet we still find ourselves in a position of great strength. Shows how well we played in the 1st and 2nd innings.

There is always a sour note. Anderson pulled up after the game and may be unable to bowl, which leaves us with Sidebottom, Broad, Panesar and Collingwood. Sounds kind of rubbish. New Zealand wouldn't dare win even with that advantage...would they?

 

[Saj]

Only the weather can save NZ in my opinion.

Must admit I thought it was a strange decision to bowl first by Vettori. When on song Anderson is a wonderful bowler isnt he, but sadly he is so inconsistent.

 

[James]

Even with Anderson missing, a 420 lead should be more than enough. It is 100 runs more than NZ's record chase, which was their only ever 300+ chase in test cricket - yes EVER. 420 is more than the frickin world record. Like I said if England don't win from here it is solely down to them. Surely even England must win this one.

 

[PlanetPakistan]

cricinfo
There are no plans to send him for a scan as yet, and he was able to put weight on his foot soon afterwards. But he was seen leaving the ground on crutches, and it remains to be seen whether he will be fit to bat when England resume tomorrow on 277 for 9, let alone bowl

Why not?

 

[Raul Madrid]

looks like Jimmy will bowl today.

 

[Raul Madrid]

Where's Syrian's hair gone?

 

[Raul Madrid]

Eng all out 293

NZ need a world record 438 to win from 175 overs in 2 days.

 

[Raul Madrid]

Jacob Oram fined 20% for looking at his bat and then punching his bat in 1st innings

 

[Uzzy]

Jacob Oram fined 20% for looking at his bat and then punching his bat in 1st innings

Pathetic, and I don't mean Jacob Oram.

 

[legslip]

Hopefully Fleming can score big in this innings and retire with a career 40+ average. He surely does not want to leave it to his last test unlike Inzamam against SA, only to succumb under pressure.

 

[Raul Madrid]

Someones out

18-1

 

[James]

Really ropey performance, and lucky to pick up the crucial 6th wicket at the end. I suppose England are England so we had to make the game interesting, but I'm bored and annoyed now, hopefully on Day 5 its over as quickly as possible.

 

[Rob H]

Vettori out of there early for a duck. Back of a length ball from Sidebottom, inducing a drive type stroke, regulation outside edge to Cook at third slip.

246/7

 

[KB]

To be honest there has been some mediocre cricket in this match from both teams.

England look like a stronger team than New Zealand, but have appeared diffident.

 

[12thMan]

Sidebottom gets a 5fer as Mills is LBW
NZ 270-8 - need 168 more to win

 

[12thMan]

Mark Gillespie comes in. In 3 innings he has made a 0 - 3 ball duck, 4 ball duck. 5 ball duck.

Hawkeye says Mills LBW ball was going over by an inch but Rudi says "Hello! not on my shift"

 

[Saj]

Most impressed with Sidebottom again. He seems to have got an extra yard of pace and was consistently moving the ball around both ways during this test match.

All to play for in the 3rd test.

 

[SameerM]

Sidebottom and Broad were great. Anderson too but the fool got injured playing football!

it WAS a bowlers pitch so u cud argue that the TOSS, lost NZ the game.