Cricket

[bnm]

England were all out in their second innings for 478, with Broad finally falling for 162 on the final day.

The Broad I watched on the highlights only got 10.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

The Broad I watched on the highlights only got 10.

I was trying to give him a little more batting confidence...

The posting in question now gives a certain Mr Cook the credit...

 

[DownSouth]

Well done to England for fighting back, it shows the beauty of Test cricket when a match can have so many twists and turns while a T20 can be practically over inside the first half hour.

I should imagine that not many sides in a 5-day Test Match score over 500 runs in their first innings, ...then proceed to lose the Test Match.

It has happened only 14 times, but seven of them have been since 2000.

This probably reflects the increased proportion of matches achieving results thanks to less time being lost as cricket has grown up and the organisation of the sport has become more professional. Weather-affected matches which would have petered out as safe draws are now achieving results thanks to better drainage technology, the making up of lost time and the use of lights to augment poor conditions.

Only one of the seven times in the last 15 years has involved a side losing after scoring over 500 in their first innings and declaring - that was Adelaide 2006-07 where Shane Warne almost single-handedly turned the match and got England out in time to set Australia an ODI-style chase in the last session.

Well, they say Cricket is a strange game. Was it the pitch, was it the Kiwis?

The ODI-style batting approach of the Black Caps would be a big part of it, most sides should have been able to save it when faced with that situation in the fourth innings on the final day.

Special mention has to go to Henry and Boult though, if the batsmen had done their job they would not have been out there to face the last 18 overs protecting the last wicket. They did very well to hang on for eight overs.

Cook read the changes almost perfectly in the final innings, quite possibly the first time in ages where his captaincy has brought home a win. He should bowl Joe Root more often to develop his role as a partnership breaker, a bit like Michael Clarke uses Steve Smith for Australia.

But the most part of it would have to be that the England players performed much closer to their full potential in the second innings. The first innings collapse at the top shouldn't be ignored, they should be easily accounting for an ODI specialist team like NZ when they have a much wider talent pool and the advantage of picking the pitch at home.

 

[Busaholic]

Another extraordinary thing happened on a Southern England cricket field yesterday, almost due south of St John's Wood at Hove in the Sussex v Warwickshire county championship match. Jonathan Trott hit a six!!!! Not to win a match off the last ball, or even to secure a batting bonus point, but just for the devil of it. Now Trott holds the record for the most test runs scored without a maximum, by a country mile, and I've always understood this stood for his first class career as a whole, unless anyone knows any different. Please don't let me find out the six was made up of two runs plus an overthrow for four more!

Now to the matter of Jason Gillespie and his non-appointment as England coach. DownSouth, you are spinning it more than Shane Warne in stating he turned the job down. This does not accord with the reports from the Somerset v Yorkshire county game yesterday that the Yorkshire team were commiserating with Gillespie on not getting the job, quoting captain Andrew Gale as saying they were sorry for him but delighted for the team, but he'd quickly got over it. I also use an Australian website for a lot of cricket info and opinion, to back up the BBC and British newspapers, and they're reporting it as above too. If you have any incontrovertible evidence, please do present it.

 

[Arglwydd Golau]

Now to the matter of Jason Gillespie and his non-appointment as England coach. DownSouth, you are spinning it more than Shane Warne in stating he turned the job down. This does not accord with the reports from the Somerset v Yorkshire county game yesterday that the Yorkshire team were commiserating with Gillespie on not getting the job, quoting captain Andrew Gale as saying they were sorry for him but delighted for the team, but he'd quickly got over it. I also use an Australian website for a lot of cricket info and opinion, to back up the BBC and British newspapers, and they're reporting it as above too. If you have any incontrovertible evidence, please do present it.

Shane Warne's media role in the UK is purely to spread misinformation and mischief, which he does very well. Take everything he says with a very large pinch of salt.
Gillespie was clearly the favourite of all the media hacks, but for once in recent times the ECB managed to keep a lid on leaks and wrong-footed them all in appointing Bayliss. It is interesting that he has a particularly strong background in developing 50 and 20 over teams. Not my especial interest, but England certainly do need to improve in that area.

 

[Whistler40145]

Indeed they do. I don't know whether England focus more on Test Cricket with limited overs format being less important?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Back on the home front to the match played at Southport, in what looked like to be ending in a draw, Derbyshire slumped from a position of 119-1 in their second innings to 166 all out, meaning that Lancashire won by an innings and 15 runs,

 

[Whistler40145]

A good win for the Red Rose county, impressive batting by Prince and spin bowling by Kerrigan and Lilley.

 

[ainsworth74]

Durham also managed to pull a win out of the hat. Having been reduced to 100 for nine and being still more than 200 behind Worcestershire some inspried batting by Borthwick and Onions in the first innings and then Collingwood (on his birthday no less) in the second saw Durham win by 7 wickets this afternoon and propelling us to the top of the table

 

[Buttsy]

Durham also managed to pull a win out of the hat. Having been reduced to 100 for nine and being still more than 200 behind Worcestershire some inspried batting by Borthwick and Onions in the first innings and then Collingwood (on his birthday no less) in the second saw Durham win by 7 wickets this afternoon and propelling us to the top of the table

I was at the first 2 days of that one, and Cox dropped one/didn't quite carry off Onions when about 140ish which would have given Worcester the chance of their 2nd win (Durham would have followed on). The conditions when Worcester batted for the 2nd time were gloomy and it was swinging lots...

Durham got the best batting conditions on day 2 (lunch -tea) and on day 3 (lunch - close) and so, with quality such that they have in their batting, got a unexpected win after being 103-9 chasing 323 on first innings.

Shows once again why the longer form of the game is so fascinating as it was a nailed on Worcester win at lunch day 2...

Hope Worcester can find the 4 other wins probably required to stay up this year. At least this time around, they're getting 300+ in one innings at least, though something needs to be done about the top 6 (bottom 5 have scored most of the runs so far) and the 2nd innings collapses (should have won at Sussex as well).

 

[Whistler40145]

Same England squad for the next test tomorrow?

 

[Busaholic]

Same England squad for the next test tomorrow?

Why change a winning team? I'd imagine both teams would be unchanged, unless Watling's injury, which didn't seem to affect his batting, keeps him out. Or will NZ leave Craig out and play another seamer?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Weather forecast for the area of the Test Match seems somewhat hit-and-miss with regards to the forecasted showers.

General "rant"
I still am concerned with the BBC area weather descriptions as I can well understand London and the Home Counties being in their description of "the South East"....but when they refer to "the North West", this can mean anywhere between Cape Wrath and Manchester...

 

[Whistler40145]

Indeed, the Kiwis will have at least two changes to make, one enforced, Watling isn't fit and they won't use Latham as wicketkeeper, so Ronchi will get his debut. Corey Anderson also got injured, so who's going to replace him if he's not fit?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
It's always dark at Headingley!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

How many times must it now be that Jimmy Anderson has broken through the openers. The extremely early wickets to fall of both Guptill and Williamson were noted "scalps" for him to claim, which ensured that he has now over 400 Test Match wickets.


--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

New Zealand, to their credit, kept the run rate up well as the day progressed. A good stand between Ronchi with 88 and Latham with 84 put respectability on the score line of 297-8 made from only 65 overs

 

[Whistler40145]

Guptill doesn't seem to be in good form at the moment.

 

[Busaholic]

Guptill doesn't seem to be in good form at the moment.

Guptill had made exactly 100 runs from nine test innings prior to the Lords test, which is why he had been jettisoned by NZ. They've had problems with openers for years at a time when the rest of their cricket has improved, although Vettori's retirement hasn't helped: why they've not called on the services of offspinner Patel, playing with such effect once again for Warwicks is a mystery.

 

[DownSouth]

Guptill had made exactly 100 runs from nine test innings prior to the Lords test, which is why he had been jettisoned by NZ. They've had problems with openers for years at a time when the rest of their cricket has improved, ...

But to be fair, they don't exactly have the depth that larger cricketing nations like England have.

Even with the rapidly declining participation rates of recent years since the ECB sold off the broadcast rights to Sky, there are still enough active cricketers in England and Wales to make up almost a quarter of the whole NZ population!

... although Vettori's retirement hasn't helped: ...

An even greater one man band than Murali, because at times he carried the batting as well as the bowling!

... why they've not called on the services of offspinner Patel, playing with such effect once again for Warwicks is a mystery.

They would have a good idea of who is the next best spinner behind Vettori already, from both Craig and Patel having played on equal terms in the Plunket Shield over the home summer. That would surely be better for comparing them than trying to compare Craig's performance against England in the first Test with Patel's performances against domestic-level players.

 

[Whistler40145]

Well done Alistair Cook, has now overtaken Graham Gooch, to become England's highest Test run scorer.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Well done Adam Lyth, maiden Test century on home ground.

I presume the last Lancastrian to make a Test century at Headingley would be Michael Atherton?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Those last three England wickets to fall have brought the match into some type of equilibrium.

 

[Arglwydd Golau]

Those last three England wickets to fall have brought the match into some type of equilibrium.

Yes, I almost agree, think NZ might have got their noses in front. They bowled well with the new ball, it would be unlike them to let it slip in the morning.

One for the statisticians....first time since 1914 that England have the highest run-scorer and wicket-taker (Cook/Anderson) in the same team. It was Hobbs/Barnes 101 years ago.

 

[Busaholic]

Yes, I almost agree, think NZ might have got their noses in front. They bowled well with the new ball, it would be unlike them to let it slip in the morning.

One for the statisticians....first time since 1914 that England have the highest run-scorer and wicket-taker (Cook/Anderson) in the same team. It was Hobbs/Barnes 101 years ago.

Another one for the statisticians, but I'll pose it in the form of a question. In the last test, Ben Stokes became the fifth test player to have scored 600 runs and taken 25 wickets in their first ten tests. Can you name ANY of the four others without looking it up? A very difficult one, most are not exactly household names now, and possibly weren't at the time.

Some clues - one Englishman, South African, Indian and West Indian. Not Botham or Flintoff, Shaun Pollock or Kallis, Kapil Dev or Ravi Shastri, Learie Constantine or Sobers. None of recent vintage, aside from the West Indian. Don't cheat, plausible guesses please and I'll reveal all after the end of this test.

One other complete bit of trivia. Luke Ronchi, as well as scoring the fastest ever test fifty at Headingley, is the first test player to bear the first name Luke. Given his advanced age, is there still time for our own Luke Wright, one of the great might-have-beens of English cricket?

 

[DownSouth]

If it were not for the 'none of recent vintage' bit I would be guessing Ravi Ashwin for the Indian player, he was picked as a specialist bowler but still was one of the team's better batsmen who stood against the tide in 2011-12 when India toured here and got whitewashed.

Carl Hooper for the recent West Indian player? How recent is recent?

... Given his advanced age, is there still time for our own Luke Wright, one of the great might-have-beens of English cricket?

I don't think Wright will ever play Test cricket, but I rate him as a quality limited overs player who is far better than his stats would suggest. There's certainly time for him to improve his List A performances and get back into the ODI team ahead of England's home World Cup in 2019 when he'll still only be 34 years old.

He looks good in the Big Bash League where he handles quality pace nicely and bowls well at the death. As the World Cup is usually won by the team with the best attack, those would be handy attributes to have in the team.

Well done Alistair Cook, has now overtaken Graham Gooch, to become England's highest Test run scorer.

I also read that during the same innings he passed Boycott in the tally of minutes batted for England, with only Atherton ahead of him.

Well done Adam Lyth, maiden Test century on home ground.

I presume the last Lancastrian to make a Test century at Headingley would be Michael Atherton?

Home ground? I thought Headingley would be even more of an away ground than the Wanderers, the WACA or Eden Gardens for a Lancastrian

 

[Busaholic]

If it were not for the 'none of recent vintage' bit I would be guessing Ravi Ashwin for the Indian player, he was picked as a specialist bowler but still was one of the team's better batsmen who stood against the tide in 2011-12 when India toured here and got whitewashed.

Carl Hooper for the recent West Indian player? How recent is recent?

I don't think Wright will ever play Test cricket, but I rate him as a quality limited overs player who is far better than his stats would suggest. There's certainly time for him to improve his List A performances and get back into the ODI team ahead of England's home World Cup in 2019 when he'll still only be 34 years old.

He looks good in the Big Bash League where he handles quality pace nicely and bowls well at the death. As the World Cup is usually won by the team with the best attack, those would be handy attributes to have in the team.


I also read that during the same innings he passed Boycott in the tally of minutes batted for England, with only Atherton ahead of him.


Home ground? I thought Headingley would be even more of an away ground than the Wanderers, the WACA or Eden Gardens for a Lancastrian

Not Carl Hooper, perhaps the most outrageously talented batsman ever imo : no-one in the 60 years I've been following cricket has had more time to play their shots, rivalled only by Lara. Tendulkar looked cramped by comparison, but then comparisons are odious. The languid Hooper on-drive was cricket perfection, and on my desert island with only one piece of cricket video to be replayed over and over that would be it. Reverie over, the West Indian concerned is still playing cricket so you might be able to guess with that clue. Not Ashwin either, the other players concerned are all long gone.

Luke Wright should be part of England's one day plans, but then Strauss starts his reign by confirming Morgan continuing as one day captain, so I don't have much hope of fresh thinking there! Speaking of Morgan, on his return from being the most overpaid drinks waiter in the IPL, his contribution to Middlesex's score of 220 in the 20/20 the other night was 0 from one ball, so he's continuing where he left off. Morgan must be ditched before they get round to considering Bell's future, or any of the rest of the team, like Tredwell or Bopara.

 

[Cletus]

Meanwhile in today's T20

Kent 227-7 (Northeast 114 off 58 balls)
beat
Somerset 224-7 (Gayle 151 of 62 balls including 15 sixes)

What a game
What a shame for Gayle

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Guptill doesn't seem to be in good form at the moment.

Well, not in the first innings, but in the New Zealand 2nd innings, he scored 70 from 72 balls, with 1 x 6 and 7 x 4, when New Zealand were looking forward to push onwards to set a challenging target for England to face in their second innings.

New Zealand were 195-4 last time I checked.

 

[Arglwydd Golau]

Another one for the statisticians, but I'll pose it in the form of a question. In the last test, Ben Stokes became the fifth test player to have scored 600 runs and taken 25 wickets in their first ten tests. Can you name ANY of the four others without looking it up? A very difficult one, most are not exactly household names now, and possibly weren't at the time.

Some clues - one Englishman, South African, Indian and West Indian. Not Botham or Flintoff, Shaun Pollock or Kallis, Kapil Dev or Ravi Shastri, Learie Constantine or Sobers. None of recent vintage, aside from the West Indian. Don't cheat, plausible guesses please and I'll reveal all after the end of this test.

That really isn't an easy one! You haven't given much of a clue without a definition of 'vintage' so I will plump initially for Roger Harper as the West Indian.
If I can't sleep tonight trying to guess this I'll be pretty cross in the morning!

 

[Johnuk123]

New Zealand finish today on 338/6 (338 in front) so they should win comfortably to draw the series unless we have a lot of rain.

 

[Busaholic]

Meanwhile in today's T20

Kent 227-7 (Northeast 114 off 58 balls)
beat
Somerset 224-7 (Gayle 151 of 62 balls including 15 sixes)

What a game
What a shame for Gayle

Well, I'm truly kicking myself. I've been a Kent supporter since 1957, was a member for years but haven't seen them this century so far as I live about 300 miles from Canterbury. Today was going to be the day I made the five hour return trip from my home near Land's End to see my team at the nearest county ground for me, Taunton. The only problem was the adverse weather forecast for Saturday night/Sunday morning and the rains certainly descended here last night, and to a lesser extent after I got up this a.m. so I thought I wouldn't risk it, having nothing else to do in Taunton on a Sunday if it got called off.
Gayle only took 10.2 overs of the strike, so something went amiss there hee! hee!
A fact of note - Kent had no overseas or even Kolpak players in their side so all 11 players are available for England. Sam Northeast is now bringing his talent to fruitition in both first class and 20/20 and may make the England side, possibly alongside the wicketkeeper/batsman Billings.
Seeing as you are based in Dover, would like to mention the idyllic last day of a county match I saw at the the old Crabble ground in 1975- Kent set over 300 to win in the last innings which in those days was considered almost impossible, but they made it, against Northants in memory. The talented but rather lazy Bernard Julian, a West Indian national, scored a few short of a century, one of the few significant contributions he ever made batting-wise.

 

[Phirstman]

No rain due so not looking good.

Credit to NZ who have scored freely in this match to put time back in the game to bowl as out twice and take twenty wickets.

I feel 300 as a target would be a challenge so we definitely have our work cut out now