• Welcome to the Cricket Web forums, one of the biggest forums in the world dedicated to cricket.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join the Cricket Web community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.

*Official* 2022 New Zealand Tour of England, Ireland, Scotland & Netherlands

Fuller Pilch

Hall of Fame Member
In many ways the current England top 7 is similar to McCullum's top 7 from his time as NZ captain:

A decent left handed opener struggling to convert starts (Lees/young Latham), a tall right handed opener struggling at test level (Crawley/Fulton), a potentially class and a class no 3 (Pope/Williamson), quality no4s (insane Root/peak form Taylor), a big-hitting ex-keeper famous for smashing it in white ball (Bairstow/McCullum), an aggressive allrounder with a golden arm (Stokes/Anderson), and a sensible, quality and gritty keeper-batsman who is good at forming partnerships (Foakes/Watling).
 

Fuller Pilch

Hall of Fame Member
Big difference between the England ODI team post 2015 CWC and this England red ball team is batting depth. Not only has the ODI team got the likes of great white ball batsmen such as Morgan and Roy, they also have had heaps of bowlers who can bat really well (Mooen, the Currans, Woakes, Rashid, Willey, Plunkett etc.). The red ball team has a long tail so can't keep attacking as much as the white ball team, although Broad likes to have a slog. One or two of those bowlers I named may get back in the test team, but they are all pretty mediocre red ball bowlers (especially away from England whereas Woakes and Rashid, for example, are very good ODI bowlers).
 

SillyCowCorner1

Request Your Custom Title Now!
I think McCullum's biggest philosophy when it comes to cricket is simply: enjoy yourself, try your damn hardest but don't forget what makes you love playing this game and don't try to be anyone else but yourself.

Carpe diem, mfers

Let's have a few beers and chillax....

The captain should be in a 6x4 gaol
 

Fuller Pilch

Hall of Fame Member
Thanks, I hate it
I hate it too. Hated it when I played (often failed with bat or ball then would dwell on it, spent ages working on technique then filthy sloggers who didn't care would do better, it would often be freezing cold or if the weather was good much better to be at the beach, and it would take a whole weekend). Hate it as a fan because the Black Caps are a bit braindead at the moment and losing games they shouldn't.

Still it is the best sport in the world when things go well.:-O:-O
 

thierry henry

International Coach
But did they try that approach in Tests? Genuinely can't remember. England basically had two setups for yonks with multiple captains and coaches for the red and white ball sides. The Test side seemed to continue on the same path that was laid out in the late 2000s/early 2010s when they saw some successes under Strauss and Flower, while the L/O side reached dizzying heights never before seen by England. Who knows, maybe they'll become aggressive guns at test cricket and then flounder in L/O.
tbh all I really remember is the 2015 test series against us where both sides played very jazzy cricket and the English media sung our praises. Pretty much like this series except we're doing worse.
 

thierry henry

International Coach
I hate it too. Hated it when I played (often failed with bat or ball then would dwell on it, spent ages working on technique then filthy sloggers who didn't care would do better, it would often be freezing cold or if the weather was good much better to be at the beach, and it would take a whole weekend). Hate it as a fan because the Black Caps are a bit braindead at the moment and losing games they shouldn't.

Still it is the best sport in the world when things go well.:-O:-O
It literally takes one miniscule miscalculation to get out. You are supposed to approach batting like dismantling a bomb except it's more life and death. Anything else IS NOT CRICKET.
 

Shady Slim

International Coach
Yeah like...obviously McCullum brings a certain something to the table, but surely we don't really believe you can "good vibes" your way into being good at batting? And surely we don't believe that "actually just slog it" is in fact the key to batting success? Obviously you increase your chances of doing something amazing if you just go hyper aggressive at all times, that's just the law of averages, but is it actually good cricket?
nah he got that dawg in him tbh
 

Xix2565

International Debutant
There was definitely a shift in England's tactics for at least that summer. Go look at England's scoring rates in the 2015 Ashes. It's frequently in the 4.5 rpo range. Not sure how long it lasted though.
Was it? The series overall RPO for England still ended around 3 in the end.
 

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
Their run-rate was around 3 in the 2 games where they got pumped, but was 4-4.5 in the 3 games they won. So definitely not Baz levels of "let's give it a go, you never know", but still a very positive approach, especially compared to what we've seen in the last few years.
 

Immenso

International Vice-Captain
This thread should have been still in hibernation for at least another 2 years. That it is back up when this generation are still active and just nudged over the 30 years old mark is abysmal.

I was expecting the doom to come back in the medium term, but not 6 months after a WTC win ... supposed to happen when Kane is replaced by a Finn Allen and Trent Boult by Ed Nuttall etc
 
Last edited:

thierry henry

International Coach
This thread should have been still be in hibernation for at least another 2 years. That it is back up when this generation are still active and just nudged over the 30 years old mark is abysmal.

I was expecting the doom to come back in the medium term, but not 6 months after a WTC win ... supposed to happen when Kane is replaced by a Finn Allen and Trent Boult by Ed Nuttall etc
Wrong thread cuz
 

Fuller Pilch

Hall of Fame Member
It literally takes one miniscule miscalculation to get out. You are supposed to approach batting like dismantling a bomb except it's more life and death. Anything else IS NOT CRICKET.
Also another reason to hate it: batting well then get run out by your partner or sawn off by a blind/biased/hopeless umpire.
 

nzfan

International Vice-Captain
That's disappointing. Bracewell wasn't sounding all that great in an interview during the match. Sounded like he had a cold. Must have been already carrying covid. Likewise there may be many in the camp. Hugely disappointing Conway has it too. They should call off the last game like India did last year. In any case we aren't used to 3 match test series
 

Fuller Pilch

Hall of Fame Member
They aren't calling in extra players for Macewell and Conway in the expectation that they'll be fine to rejoin the squad after isolation before the 3rd test. My concern is fatigue after covid for a sport which requires so much concentration when batting and fielding.
 

Top