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

[NZTailender]

Originally Posted by Kippax

Two things Bondy...you've forgotten who your mates are, in the changing room. Three years ago you were with us...and the other thing is you're just an idiot, you keep in close contact with a veritable hospital ward full of Stags, even though you were one of the most frustrating fast bowlers to watch....

Haha, nice use.

[Hurricane]

Originally Posted by hendrix

Never understood the love for Bennett.

A few cheap wickets in the world cup even though he was getting the line wrong half the time.

Bennett is unreliable injury wise and should never be selected for new zealand again.

He makes Jacob Oram look like an iron man.

[wellAlbidarned]

He's pretty reliable at not playing tbf

[Hurricane]

Originally Posted by NZTailender

Haha, nice use.

great video

[Howe_zat]

Originally Posted by straw man

Heh, eleven South Africa born players between the two limited overs squads.

Made in Africa sticker as eleven from the Veldt pad out England, NZ squads - Cricket - NZ Herald News

Yet another bit of implying it's vaguely a bad thing while completely missing the point.

The number of South-African born players in these sides is concerning, but only because it shows how much of a minority sport cricket really is. The team doesn't represent the population because most of the population isn't interested.

[GingerFurball]

Originally Posted by morgieb

He said born.

Yeah I know, I'm counting KP etc as 'South Africans' - it's just tha IIRC KPs being rested and I was under the impression that Dernbach and Kieswetter had been dropped.

[Mike5181]

Originally Posted by Howe_zat

Yet another bit of implying it's vaguely a bad thing while completely missing the point.

The number of South-African born players in these sides is concerning, but only because it shows how much of a minority sport cricket really is. The team doesn't represent the population because most of the population isn't interested.

Cricket isn't popular in England?

[Howe_zat]

Not remotely. Football is omnipresent and both rugby codes, tennis and F1 all come ahead of cricket. More to the point cricket is almost never played in state schools, excluding voluntary clubs. The vast majority of people here, at least my age, have never seen a game and couldn't name an England player.

[BoyBrumby]

Originally Posted by Kippax

Two things Bondy...you've forgotten who your mates are, in the changing room. Three years ago you were with us...and the other thing is you're just an idiot, you keep in close contact with a veritable hospital ward full of Stags, even though you were one of the most frustrating fast bowlers to watch....

Forgotten how good that was; just love the look of shock and hurt on Rigor's face.

Was a lot of discussion on CW at the time when people thought it was kosher and Fleming was really giving him a serve.

Originally Posted by Howe_zat

Not remotely. Football is omnipresent and both rugby codes, tennis and F1 all come ahead of cricket. More to the point cricket is almost never played in state schools, excluding voluntary clubs. The vast majority of people here, at least my age, have never seen a game and couldn't name an England player.

Team sports-wise I'd guess cricket is second or third, actually. Real big ****ing drop off after #1 tho, obvz. Union probably has more followers (particularly if we're talking UK rather than England), but cricket does have the schedules more to itself when the footy season ends.

Definitely has more reach than league because the latter is still primarily centred along the M62 corridor.

[Cabinet96]

I wouldn't say the game really lacks popularity. It's probably the 2nd or 3rd most popular sport in the country. But the lack of cricket in state schools is a worry. I've never played a cricket match at school, bar the odd plastic bat and tennis ball game. My whole interest comes from being introduced to it by family. On the other hand, I just got born into football really.

[straw man]

Originally Posted by Howe_zat

The number of South-African born players in these sides is concerning, but only because it shows how much of a minority sport cricket really is. The team doesn't represent the population because most of the population isn't interested.

Yes it's concerning both from the perspective you raise and also because it's a huge loss for South African cricket and society. At some point their continual export of so many people to other parts of the world is surely going to affect their cricket, and already does affect their country. I looked around NZ first class sides recently and approx 1 in 7 players is born in South Africa. That is enormous and is not just a minor oddity.

Popularity/non-popularity of cricket in NZ has been discussed on here quite a lot before though I was at least heartened by how many followers of the game made themselves heard (angrily) after the recent captaincy debacle, while in the media as the gloss slips more quickly from the ODI format, I think more people are placing a higher value on tests and that is surely good for cricket in NZ.

I grew up playing and watching lots of soccer but when I was in the UK I found its all-consuming nature completely off-putting. I didn't meet many people who were interested in cricket though.

[Bahnz]

Yeah, I feel the exact same way about Rugby in New Zealand. I really liked it as a kid actually. But around the time of the 2003 world cup, I just got incredibly sick of the all consuming coverage and ridiculous media bias, so I just kinda stopped paying attention to it (both the sport and the reporting of it). Nowadays I only tune in to the sport during world cups, and I haven't watched a rugby international in a non-cup year since about 2004.

[Neil Pickup]

Originally Posted by Howe_zat

Not remotely. Football is omnipresent and both rugby codes, tennis and F1 all come ahead of cricket. More to the point cricket is almost never played in state schools, excluding voluntary clubs. The vast majority of people here, at least my age, have never seen a game and couldn't name an England player.

So what? It's in far better health than football, regardless of participation numbers.

[flibbertyjibber]

Originally Posted by hendrix

Honestly this is just **** stirring. whoever this "source" is is a wanker.

Relationships between people are not always good but after a while people forget about things like this.

They forget them if the team wins or plays as well as it can. If not the press jump on it. Will be interesting to see how NZ play in the double series coming up. Are they a team or just a bunch of individuals etc...?

[KiWiNiNjA]

Didn't realised tonights game was being televised. w00t!

Although, now that I know about it, it will probably be rained out.