**Official** England in New Zealand

[superkingdave]

lol callapso starts

[Days of Grace]

Martin gets a wicket, and now his average is under 40, and thus he is no longer what I consider dire/rubbish in the ODI game. Well done that man.

[steds]

I make that time to go to bed, I think.

[Perm]

Originally Posted by Days of Grace

Martin gets a wicket, and now his average is under 40, and thus he is no longer what I consider dire/rubbish in the ODI game. Well done that man.

He's been bowling well as of late, for sure. At the moment he's showing how poor he usually is though.

Pietersen - class. As Ian Smith was saying, the guy has a prescence at the crease that makes bowlers respect him.

[steds]

Is it raining? Or are my eyes more useless without my glasses than I think?

[Perm]

Originally Posted by steds

Is it raining? Or are my eyes more useless without my glasses than I think?

There are drops around, and the farmers will be praying that the heavens open up.

[Perm]

Originally Posted by steds

I make that time to go to bed, I think.

Premature as always steds

[steds]

Oram's started alright.



...I say as Cook drives him for 3.

[Perm]

Originally Posted by Flem274*

I know that, don't you patronise me. I was commetning that it proves the Milmows of this world very wrong and he shouldn't judge of a hit and giggle and its obvious that, whilst inconsistent, we can definitely still perform very well in ODIs.

I wasn't patronising you. You've got to realise that one good game doesn't erase the fact that we have some issues that we need to sort out. Twenty20 cricket is far from 'hit and giggle' too, and I imagine if we'd won either of those games, you'd be talking us up.

EDIT: We got thrashed in South Africa and Australia, our last two serious series. England aren't the greatest ODI side remember, still have their fair share of passengers.

[Natman20]

I think sometimes cricinfo is quite funny.

3.30pm "If Seddon Park had a roof like Stadium Australia this wouldn't be a problem," says Andy from New Zealand. No, we'd have other problems, such as a generation of fans with complexions like snooker players. All hail the grassy-banked cricket grounds I say.

Meanwhile, Dr Santana from Samoa has just emailed to offer me Viagra for the fourth time this hour. Anyone else out there? Drop us some feedback.

[Days of Grace]

36 overs 'ere.

NZ will be aiming to keep this under 200 me thinks, and with England falling over like a sack of ****e, it may very well be 150.

[Perm]

Michael Mason bowling magnificently here. Gutted to see KP fail to kick on, think the rain break can be blamed for that.

[KiWiNiNjA]

England showing how bad they really are.

Its funny how a few games in "joke format" make people think they are suddenly awesome. Remember this is dire old England folks.

Oh, and NZ is ranked 3rd in the world.
Oh, and havent we won 7 out of 9 against the Poms?

[Nnanden]

Can anyone tell me how Mason went? Did he get some movement? Normally gets a bit predictable after a while.

England's running is ridiculous. Tee he he.

[Perm]

Originally Posted by KiWiNiNjA

England showing how bad they really are.

Its funny how a few games in "joke format" make people think they are suddenly awesome. Remember this is dire old England folks.

Oh, and NZ is ranked 3rd in the world.
Oh, and havent we won 7 out of 9 against the Poms?

England did beat Sri Lanka 3-2 in Sri Lanka, and beat India 4-3 in England. Not to mention the the Commonwealth Bank series, which (aside from the World Cup) have been three of their last four ODI series. They lost the NatWest Bank series against the West Indies, but that team still contained tripe like Prior, Plunkett and Panesar.

Also, you've got to realise that possibly the biggest reason we managed to reach #3 in the world is no unavailable to be selected. Add to that Stephen Fleming's retirement, McMillan's too, and Vincent's mental illness. While we've still got the core group of players (McCullum, Vettori, Oram, Mills, Styris), we've also got players like Chris Martin, an out-of sorts Jeetan Patel, a Ross Taylor who is entirely dependent on one shot and a largely unproven Michael Mason. Jamie How has had a good start to his career, but hasn't proven himself just yet, while Ryder hasn't proven anything other than a big of a slogger, to me anyway. Fortunately for us, the class of core players we've got has largely hidden our weaknesses, except when under heavy scrutiny. I really don't want to sound overly negative, but we've still got a lot of passengers.