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

[straw man]

Pleased with that win - it's nice to win but I could also see the whole tour going downhill fast if England had gone two up so quickly.

 

[NZTailender]

The former just happened to be bowling when they fell, really.

Got the two top scorers itbt.

 

[Prince EWS]

Got the two top scorers itbt.

Check out the guy who doesn't know what former means.

 

[jcas0167]

Really pleased for Ian Butler. Both the Herald & DomPost had nice stories on his comeback (I didn't realise he'd been clocked at 150kph before his major back injury in 2004), but I wasn't expecting him to make such a triumphant return.

Also, good to see McCullum deliver a match winning innings as captain. I was starting to wonder whether he could still do it.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Gonna be a cracker. Anybody else going?

Definitely.

 

[hendrix]

Have to be impressed by the way Mitch is bowling atm, but....is he actually that good? Reason I ask is, people keep on saying his attributes are "he's aggressive and hits the pitch hard", yet every time I watch him bowl he's hitting the same sort of speeds that Kyle Mills does on a good day. Is he secretly a nagging, accurate swing bowler pretending to be a tearaway? I'm not watching atm, is he hitting good speeds? Weird thing is, the speedo will say 135kph but batsman play him as if he's quick.

yeah it's a fair question.

In SA he did genuinely get some swing. Not as much as a proper swing bowler like Boult and Southee do, but enough to make him dangerous.

Didn't see any swing from him here tonight even though Boult was swinging it beautifully.

At worst he's still a better option than Wagner, IMO.

Some of Boult's deliveries were so ***y in that first over.

 

[ch00baka]

How quickly is Butler getting it through these days? Surprised to see him do well in this format as his ODI and list A records are abysmal.

 

[Prince EWS]

How quickly is Butler getting it through these days? Surprised to see him do well in this format as his ODI and list A records are abysmal.

About 140 clicks, surprisingly enough. Given his terrible injury I'd be somewhat surprised if he was managing to get it through at that sort of heat consistently in FC matches - it's different when he's only got to bowl the four - but he's been having a really good PS season so he just might be.

 

[Days of Grace]

On ya boys, always knew you could do it.

 

[straw man]

On ya boys, always knew you could do it.

It's ok, they'll make sure not to win any more

 

[straw man]

Heh, just realised something - remember when Ian Butler was described as 'pea-hearted' with a tendency to 'infect the whole team with his misery'

That was Dougeh's dad

 

[Bahnz]

Heh, just realised something - remember when Ian Butler was described as 'pea-hearted' with a tendency to 'infect the whole team with his misery'

That was Dougeh's dad

Nah it was Hamish's dad who said that.

 

[Kippax]

No, email was to Rutherford, from Dougeh's dad.

"Butler is a pea-hearted, selfish bloke who offers the team only the ability to bowl a ball every now and then over 140kmh.

"This is the sort of character Johnny doesn't want in the team. He is one of those blokes who gets a dose of the sniffles and infects the whole team with his misery."

Brendon Bracewell, 45, was a fast bowler who played six tests for New Zealand between 1978 and 1984-85 but was plagued by back injuries.

 

[Howsie]

lol, how did Boult go for 40? Serious question. They couldn't even lay bat on him in his first few overs, one of the bowlers take him for 20 in that last over or something.

 

[Prince EWS]

lol, how did Boult go for 40? Serious question. They couldn't even lay bat on him in his first few overs, one of the bowlers take him for 20 in that last over or something.

Buttler and Tredwell smacked him 'round near the end.

 

[_Ed_]

Off the top of my head, it strikes me that our record must be pretty good in Hamilton limited-overs matches that don't involve Richard Levi?

 

[Bahnz]

lol, how did Boult go for 40? Serious question. They couldn't even lay bat on him in his first few overs, one of the bowlers take him for 20 in that last over or something.

Boult is like Bracewell or Mills. Can be dangerous up front with the swing he generates, but becomes cannon-fodder in the closing stages as he has few variations to fall back on.

 

[M0rphin3]

^Yeah. Boult/Dougeh shouldn't be in the T20 team anyway IMO.

Good win, nevertheless. I hope Ross's not in a form slump now.

 

[Neil Young]

I know I'm the guy that hates everything but....every single one of our commentators is just awful. Just fundamentally moronic in their analysis of the game (and these dozy ***** used to play for us!). I even like some of the Aussie and English comms, but absolutely none of ours.

Got to agree. No redeeming features in the NZ comms box. Few in the Aussie one. Many in the English one.

 

[Prince EWS]

Ian Smith is an utter tool but I don't find him to be a completely worthless commentator tbf. He's like a poor man's Ian Chappell.