*Official* New Zealand in England 2015

[Hurricane]

Well that's a shame.

Indeed. It hurts our chances.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Indeed. It hurts our chances.

I think Boult and Southee should be fine anyway because they'll relish the conditions. It'll hurt the batsmen more... KW, Anderson and McCullum going in with 0 preparation is bad.

 

[Hurricane]

"It's not ideal, but it is what it is. We did it in the West Indies [last year] and the players who came from the IPL went straight in and were very successful. We won the first test.

According to Rossco in the article on the previous page

 

[Flem274*]

well he's hardly going to say we're ****ed

 

[NZTailender]

On England: beware a wounded animal and all that. On the opening front things will be fairly square. Cook is an English ATG and recently hit a tonne with his captaincy, and despite that 100, there are still clouds that will hang over him. Even so, it'd be fair to say Cook>Latham, the latter with much to prove after solid debut away tours but quiet home series. For the second spot, it's even stevens with England either having to debut someone new (Lyth) or go back to someone else, which is the position we're in. Lyth would have the advantage of the unknown about him, though (assuming he's the choice) Guptill has recent form for some confidence at least.

Middle order is interesting. I just don't rate Ballance and he's going to be found out this English summer IMO. I'd take Kane over him any day. Bell and Taylor is an interesting one. Bell is hot and cold while Taylor has been in a bit of a visual funk in terms of his batting. 2014 was a lean year in Tests, and I wonder how he's preparing for this series. Even there, for mine.
Root is one of England's bright points, and IMHO will probably outscore McCullum and be a major thorn in our progression through the wickets, as he'll most likely come in to an olderish ball against Seamer #3 & Craig and have more chance at survival.
6 is a bit open as ??? will CJ be fit and who will replace him, and wtf is going on with England and their 6, 7 & 8? It's insulting to all concerned really as Stokes is a better batsman than Ali who himself is what - batting all-rounder or spinner who can bat? The indecision over it places Buttler in a tough spot because he needs to be able to work with the tail which would be easier if he has Ali coming in after him in a buffer to the numpties than coming in at 8.

Anderson's been Anderson'n, and Broad's usually a beast at home and their home ground advantage and experience with the Duke shades them over Boult & Southee at this stage (especially since Southee has been as out of sorts as Broad). Third seamer remains to be seen for both sides but I have a feeling whoever we pick will be better than whoever England pick. Craig will probably bowl 2 to 3 times as many overs Ali and should do better.

I think it's 60-40 in our favour.

 

[Bahnz]

Anderson's been Anderson'n, and Broad's usually a beast at home and their home ground advantage and experience with the Duke shades them over Boult & Southee at this stage (especially since Southee has been as out of sorts as Broad).

Generally agree with the post, but I'm gonna say no to this one. Yeah, Southee had a distinctly chequered World Cup, but it shouldn't be forgotten that he bowled extremely well at times, and not just in the England game. He was dreadfully unlucky not to get at least one wicket in his opening spell against SAF in the sf. Likewise, while he was a bit more hit and miss, he still bowled well to pick up a couple of important wickets in the group game v Aus. And his new ball bowling in the IPL has been just sublime. Now obviously that has to be taken with a big chunk of salt, but when you see him going past the edge two or three times an over in the power play, you know he's finding some rhythm. In a situation where the ball holds its shine for more than 4 overs, I think he might suddenly spring back into regular wicket-taking form.

Broad by comparison looked just awful during the world cup - slow, wayward, gun barrel filth. I didn't see a ball of the recent WI series, so I can't common on his most recent form, but I'd argue Southee's generally been bowling quite a bit better than Broad over the last 6 months. Having said all that a few people have already pointed out that Broad is a completely different animal when at home, so we'll see.

Third seamer remains to be seen for both sides but I have a feeling whoever we pick will be better than whoever England pick.

Not sure about this either. Woakes looked really quite excellent in English conditions against India last summer. If England pick him, then I reckon he'll cause our guys plenty of problems. Our best bet to match him is probably Henry, but as good as Henry has been it's a lot to expect him to come in and start taking wickets straight away - especially given that he'll have spent the month in the lead up to the first test sitting on his arse for the Super Kings.

On an unrelated note, it's really time that the Super Kings changed their logo.

 

[Dan]

Woakes is still injured, I do believe.

 

[Bahnz]

Ah ok, that might indeed give NZ the edge in backup bowling.

 

[Pothas]

1-1 draw or an England win. We are still a good side at home.

 

[Hurricane]

On England: beware a wounded animal and all that. On the opening front things will be fairly square. Cook is an English ATG and recently hit a tonne with his captaincy, and despite that 100, there are still clouds that will hang over him. Even so, it'd be fair to say Cook>Latham, the latter with much to prove after solid debut away tours but quiet home series. For the second spot, it's even stevens with England either having to debut someone new (Lyth) or go back to someone else, which is the position we're in. Lyth would have the advantage of the unknown about him, though (assuming he's the choice) Guptill has recent form for some confidence at least.

Middle order is interesting. I just don't rate Ballance and he's going to be found out this English summer IMO. I'd take Kane over him any day. Bell and Taylor is an interesting one. Bell is hot and cold while Taylor has been in a bit of a visual funk in terms of his batting. 2014 was a lean year in Tests, and I wonder how he's preparing for this series. Even there, for mine.
Root is one of England's bright points, and IMHO will probably outscore McCullum and be a major thorn in our progression through the wickets, as he'll most likely come in to an olderish ball against Seamer #3 & Craig and have more chance at survival.
6 is a bit open as ??? will CJ be fit and who will replace him, and wtf is going on with England and their 6, 7 & 8? It's insulting to all concerned really as Stokes is a better batsman than Ali who himself is what - batting all-rounder or spinner who can bat? The indecision over it places Buttler in a tough spot because he needs to be able to work with the tail which would be easier if he has Ali coming in after him in a buffer to the numpties than coming in at 8.

Anderson's been Anderson'n, and Broad's usually a beast at home and their home ground advantage and experience with the Duke shades them over Boult & Southee at this stage (especially since Southee has been as out of sorts as Broad). Third seamer remains to be seen for both sides but I have a feeling whoever we pick will be better than whoever England pick. Craig will probably bowl 2 to 3 times as many overs Ali and should do better.

I think it's 60-40 in our favour.

Good post and a good read. Thanks for that.

I also think Root will go great guns. He plays the ball very late. In fact the latest I have ever seen anyone play it. He will get found out on faster pitches because of this but in England it works for him.
I also rate Ballance. He has a solid defence and if you can keep the good ones out you have a decent chance at making a score.
Bell seems form dependent in his career and is a momentum player. If we can shut him down in the first test we may be ok at controlling him.

I think England are the favourites. For us to win Ross Taylor has to regain his prime form and I don't think that is likely until he goes completely back to his old stance. He is slowly but surely abandoning his square on stance, but hasn't fully dispensed with it yet.

 

[Dan]

To me Ballance is the kind of guy who's always going to be vulnerable early. His method of batting strikes me as having a lot of moving parts that could go wrong -- the camping on the back foot, the lack of front foot movement, the bottom-handedness etc.

If I were Southee and Boult, I'd be attacking the stumps with balls that nip into him, looking to catch him LBW or bowl him through the gate. And I'd also be tempting him to drive expansively with a short cover and a pretty strong cordon in place.

 

[Antihippy]

I mean you can say the same thing about steve smith really.

 

[Dan]

Smitteh's way different to Ballance. Lots of moving parts, yeah, but I feel like TPC has coalesced all the technical quirks into something that works for him a little better than Ballance has at this point.

TPC doesn't camp on the back foot so much as he's constantly in motion, and his grip is weird too. He's an utterly bizarre batsman to analyse in terms of technique, but he just doesn't top making runs. WAFG

 

[Spark]

Smith's technique is fine. He has a lot of moving parts but gets into excellent positions when it actually matters. Ballance's technique is a different matter - his trigger movement is one of my least favourite things in the game right now. It's very, very, very obvious where sides should be bowling to him to both get him out and choke up his scoring, and that's always a bad sign.

 

[Furball]

It's very, very, very obvious where sides should be bowling to him to both get him out and choke up his scoring, and that's always a bad sign.

You should advertise yourself as a bowling consultant and make a fortune then, because it doesn't appear to be obvious to Test bowlers.

 

[Spark]

You should advertise yourself as a bowling consultant and make a fortune then, because it doesn't appear to be obvious to Test bowlers.

Yes, Indian, Sri Lankan and West Indian bowlers, known for their consistency in sticking to a bowling plan. Also stats r lyfe and your batting average after 10 Tests clearly means everything.

I'm sort of... disappointed at this post. Expect better from you, tbh.

 

[Viscount Tom]

Tbf everyone said it was obvious as to where bowlers should bowl to Graeme Smith.

 

[hendrix]

Ballance surviving 2 Boult overs is about as likely as Guptill lasting two overs from Broad. That is, very unlikely.

 

[Pothas]

Will get at least one hundred in this series.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

I hear that Guptill is out of the 1st warmup game with injury. Since Williamson, McCullum and Anderson won't be in the country I'd love to see the batting lineup:

Latham
Rutherford
Taylor
Watling
Ronchi
Craig
Doug Bracewell

Is there anyone else in the squad who I've forgotten?
Are there any other batsman available? Can they draft someone in or let the batsmen who fail bat twice?

Perhaps Craig McMillan will make a comeback or Hesson have a hit