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***Official*** England in New Zealand series 2013

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
He'd been in 4 balls, had the responsibility at #8 to help guide us towards avoiding the follow on. He shouldn't have been thinking about playing the attacking hook, but ducking under the ball and letting it go through to the keeper. Exactly what Bruce Martin is capable of doing.
Yeah, I think Howsie needs to cool it a bit on this one. That was an awful shot to play on your 5th delivery with the follow-on looming. Stephen Finn got bounced plenty during his innings on friday, and he was perfectly content to avoid anything above chest height. As a result, England were able to add another 60-odd runs onto their first innings effort. Southee could take a leaf out of his book.

Tough call coming up for the selectors if Bracewell is fit for the next test. Wagner has bowled his heart out in the last two tests, and has the best figures of any of the kiwi pacemen in this series so far (averaging 33). But probably half of his wickets have been gifts from the English batsmen, and while he's tried very hard, he hasn't looked very dangerous for the most part. Keep him for the third test, or put him back on the sidelines?
 
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grecian

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Ahh well, all on r the last one. Not undeserved for us to be drawing, hopeless in that first innings, and Finn and Panesar have bowled very poorly, on admittedly unresponsive pitches.
 

straw man

Hall of Fame Member
So we're forecasting a road with some nice 5th day rain to quash any chance of a result. Excellent!

0-0 here we come!
 

straw man

Hall of Fame Member
Yeah the stats are pretty even because really, the series has been fairly even. Though I'm going to give the Dunedin match as a points decision to NZ while the Wellington test didn't progress far enough to call a result. 1-0 to NZ in moral victories going into the third test :ph34r::D

I don't know that Bracewell has done enough to demand an automatic return in front of Wagner, and if they're considered to be fairly evenly matched then the fact that Bracewell was foolish enough to injure himself is going to count against him. And if that cut on his foot is anything less than 100% healed then it's not worth the risk. Wagner likely to play imo, while Martin is guaranteed a spot too.
 
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straw man

Hall of Fame Member
What I'm unsure of is, how can Vettori possibly prove his fitness for a test match prior to the England tour? The FC season is finished and I don't think there are any NZ A matches before England. If he really wanted to he might be able to play a First Class or even club match or two in England, but that's about it. My guess is Vettori won't be fit.

If Vettori could prove his fitness then would be worth having both in the squad imo. Early season England so unlikely that spin will play a big part, so could see fit Vettori playing the tests over Martin for his batting, though Martin absolutely must be retained in the squad after impressing in NZ.
 

Kippax

Cricketer Of The Year
There's a three-dayer against Derbyshire and a four-dayer against England A at the start of that tour.

What did Hesson say about Vettori's availability a few weeks back, "I'd want him every day, to be fair", something like that. Took some wickets in the first innings last time at Lord's.
 

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
Yeah the stats are pretty even because really, the series has been fairly even. Though I'm going to give the Dunedin match as a points decision to NZ while the Wellington test didn't progress far enough to call a result. 1-0 to NZ in moral victories going into the third test :ph34r::D
You're joking right? If there'd been a full 5 days of play, England would've almost certainly won the 2nd test.
 
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