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

[Flem274*]

all his initials imo

LRPLT

I'm trying to find a youtube clip of that really ****ed up Sri Lankan advert with the Indian tourist guide to help you pronounce those initials. The what is my name LULULULULULU ad.

edit: or we could just call him lurplit

 

[M0rphin3]

Any evidence of him doing it in the past?

Quality And +1 for AD referenc

 

[L Trumper]

calm down everybody, still bairstow and prior to come. And i have a horrible feeling that broad will found form again with a match-saving knock

outrageous prediction!

 

[Jarquis]

Matt Prior, wafg.

 

[Cabinet96]

Fell asleep at Tea with Bell falling off the last ball of the session. When I woke up four hours later I had assumed we probably lost and went to bed. Just caught the final 4 overs of highlights an hour ago, without knowing the result, and **** me. Brilliant game. While Prior will get the plaudits I think Bell's innings, he batted 100 balls longer, was the key. Really held the innings together while the rest of the top order (bar perhaps Cook) failed. Broad also showed that he should get far more runs than he does.

Full credit to NZ though. They were brilliant throughout this test and the series, and deserved to win it. It's also a massive wake up call for England about the state they're in. They'll still go into the Ashes as favourites, but they'll need to raise their game if it's to be the cakewalk many would have you think it'll be.

And full credit to the NZ and English contingent on CW throughout the series as well. There seems to be a lot of talk on CW at the moment about the standard of tour threads going downhill, but this has been a thoroughly enjoyable series to post about. Hats off the everyone involved.

A casual 'accidental' kick maybe? It if was close the boundary.

I remember Sehwag did that in the India v South Africa test at Kolkata in 2010 to try and keep Amla away from the strike and get Morkel on. The umpires were having none of it though.

At least you still have your house, though.

And my avatar...

 

[CWB304]

Fair play to Bell, he played a blinder and proved me wrong about his mental strength and ability to grind it out in these situations. His innings was even more important than Prior's; had he gone cheaply England wouldn't have made it to tea. I only watched the final session and it was the most tension that I can remember feeling since watching Lara holding off the Aussies in Bridgetown in 99. Prior's beginning to look as if he could become an all-time legend of the game; Broad showing lots of guts despite being really out of touch. Hope he kicks on from here with both bat and ball. He can do so much better than he is at the moment.

Interesting that the commentators were joking about the incident with the yorker that almost got him out lbw. For one thing he did amazingly well just to get some bat on it; and the second was that he had lost all control of his body in his fall and thus was completely at the mercy of chance when his neck fell on the bat handle. A few inches and a slightly different angle of impact and he would have sustained a potentially crippling injury.

Anyway,very proud of England today and much respect to NZ also; particularly to McCullum, who proved that the coach was right and that he is indeed a better skipper than Ross - although the way the latter was engineeered out of the position was still wrong -, and Boult, who's become one heck of a bowler. Looking forward to the matches in England; with their current seam attack and Bracewell potentially returning they have a very good chance of causing an upset.

 

[harsh.ag]

Yeah, McCullum had a great series as skipper, especially the manner in which he used the bowlers, though at times I felt that Boult was being underbowled. England really got lucky on this one. Man, if only Boult could have bowled a reverse swinging yorker to Monty !

 

[Neil Pickup]

My brain has just realised it only got 4 hours sleep from 6-10am.

Any suggestions?

 

[flibbertyjibber]

My brain has just realised it only got 4 hours sleep from 6-10am.

Any suggestions?

Early night tonight, I am going for one. Sod the football.

or alternatively, watch the football and send yourself to sleep.

 

[Prince EWS]

My brain has just realised it only got 4 hours sleep from 6-10am.

Any suggestions?

Man up.

 

[wpdavid]

Depends on early season form. Feel for Bairstow, no cricket in ages and then shoved in a test match and expected to shine. Reminds me of Anderson all those years ago.

Dead right. If Bairstow is next cab off the ranks, you don't change that after one poor test, especially in the circumstances you described. The one thing that probably has gone against him is that Root will have kept his place in the side ahead of him, but that's another matter.

 

[Garson007]

We drew England here in South Africa, for much the same reasons NZ did in NZ. We then went on to beat them at home. I have faith that NZ can do the same!

 

[KiWiNiNjA]

Broad took a bat handle to the throat as well. It's fair to say I've never seen that before.

I'm sure it's not the first time he's taken something like that to the throat.

 

[James]

Nice post-match interviews for those who haven't seen them - Cricket: McCullum sticks by his declaration decision - Sport - NZ Herald News

 

[social]

The timing of the declaration is only relevant because NZ didnt win

If the bails had fallen off when Prior was 20 odd, no-one would care

 

[KungFu_Kallis]

It's also a massive wake up call for England about the state they're in. They'll still go into the Ashes as favourites, but they'll need to raise their game if it's to be the cakewalk many would have you think it'll be.

Noone who knows cricket seriously thinks that. Except maybe that tosser Vaughan...

 

[grecian]

The timing of the declaration is only relevant because NZ didnt win

If the bails had fallen off when Prior was 20 odd, no-one would care

Blimey, I agree with Social, the declaration was pretty perfect, allowed attacking fields, decent catching and the Kiwi's would have won.

 

[KungFu_Kallis]

I think Trent Boult might be better than Tim Southee.

I honestly never thought I'd say that, I've always been of the opinion Southee was the better bowler of the two whilst also possessing a higher upside, but Boult has just been soooooooo good over the last nine months it isn't even funny. 41 wickets @ 30 and that doesn't even do him justice, should be 50 @ 25 and that's just the drop catches portion of it (not the going past the bat a million times without reward)

I've rated Boult as a serious bowler for years, believed he should've been playing test cricket 18 months earlier than what he was, and would become enraged after reading a "Neil Wagner will save NZ cricket" article whilst Boult got zero media attention. But not even I thought he'd be this good, not this early anyway. It's a big call but I genuinely believe he's nigh on being a top five pacer in the world already.

Wagner has been way unluckier, and looked the more threatening today from boundary's edge imo. I still rate him an equal if not better bowler, though his stats don't show it yet. Boult has been consistent though and often gets some swing with the new ball at a decent pace, so more than handy. Doesn't do quite enough with the old ball though.

Edit: Wagner never gets the new ball... he's being used as an old ball specialist, which is fair enough, but obviously tougher for him that way. Would love to see what he can do with a new cherry sometime as he does for Otago.

 

[Гурин]

outrageous prediction!

That was just simple 'luck', luck of the unlukiest kind. Say whatever you want about Gambhir(ing), he might be irritating and redundant but he seems to score a double ton every time the kiwis are playing

A bit more happy about Taylor's solid catching once again after people were criticizing him up here during the lunch break. One single performance doesn't prove anything, that's sure, but it felt good nonetheless.

 

[grecian]

Wagner has been way unluckier, and looked the more threatening today from boundary's edge imo. I still rate him an equal if not better bowler, though his stats don't show it yet. Boult has been consistent though and often gets some swing with the new ball at a decent pace, so more than handy. Doesn't do quite enough with the old ball though.

Edit: Wagner never gets the new ball... he's being used as an old ball specialist, which is fair enough, but obviously tougher for him that way. Would love to see what he can do with a new cherry sometime as he does for Otago.

Wow the boundary's edge must look very different from watching on tv, Wagner is not in the same league as Boult, and not that close to Southee. He bowled better today, but most of his wickets are from poor balls. Unluckier, nah, quite the opposite.