Cricket: New Zealand at home

[TANGODANCER]

297-8 at stumps? Could be good if we get the tail out quicksticks. Much depends on our own batting. Absolute cracking catch by Lyth. Full bore, just short of the boundary and facing into the sun. After a big dropsy session off Ali, mind...

[TANGODANCER]

350 all out doesn't sound disasterous, but we gave away fifty runs in half an hour to the tail enders. They smacked us all over the park. Lets hope we get a grip now.

[Worthy4England]

Well done Cook on becoming England's all time leading run scorer.

[TANGODANCER]

Well done Cook on becoming England's all time leading run scorer.

Yeah, big roar from the Headingly crowd for that. Cracking stuff, especially when added to Jimmy's 400 wickets. Well done both.

[Dujon]

It's good to see a decent opening partnership. In this case a superb platform for those following. A half decent second partnership and the ship is holed and going down fast. Hopefully Bell can produce something and the tail helps wag the dog. Still, nearly 100 behind so I don't think a first innings lead is looming on the horizon. I hope it happens.

From reading the BBC reports I get the impression that England's fielding was nothing short of atrocious, which I found surprising. I'd had the impression that they'd improved considerably over the last couple of seasons. One batsman dropped by three different fielders in the space of five balls? Strewth!

[TANGODANCER]

Catches weren't all straight forward Dujon. Pretty even stuff so far. The Kiwis are good competitors and McCullum comes across as a really decent sort in his interviews. Re Bell, was really hot stuff a while back then seemed to lose it. Surprising how quick that can happen. I'll quote Trott and Matt Prior as examples. I'm quite happy with the games so far, the entertainment is pretty good.

[TANGODANCER]

Now we're struggling. 267-8 and three wickets gone in the first 45 mins.

[Worthy4England]

That'll teach me to bemoan the fact our top order were being largely propped up by our middle/lower middle order. Top order fires and every fcuker decides to have a day off.

[TANGODANCER]

350 all out. How Even-Steven can you get? I'm betting this is great for the spectators.

[Bruce Rioja]

Well done Cook on becoming England's all time leading run scorer.

The bitter old Yorkshire c*nt, Boycott, reckons that that shouldn't mean anything to Cook. No. course it shouldn't, you fecking gobshite.

[jaffka]

Rich from Geoff 'I play for myself' Boycott.

Gobshite!

[TANGODANCER]

Well done Cook on becoming England's all time leading run scorer.

The bitter old Yorkshire c*nt, Boycott, reckons that that shouldn't mean anything to Cook. No. course it shouldn't, you fecking gobshite.

I never tend to kick the old brigade, but since he's been a pillock since he was young it's about time they put him out to grass. He never did that much except stonewall everybody to death.

[Bruce Rioja]

Well done Cook on becoming England's all time leading run scorer.

The bitter old Yorkshire c*nt, Boycott, reckons that that shouldn't mean anything to Cook. No. course it shouldn't, you fecking gobshite.

I never tend to kick the old brigade, but since he's been a pillock since he was young it's about time they put him out to grass. He never did that much except stonewall everybody to death.

And nice person his Mrs.

[Dujon]

It looks like day 3 was a right rip-snorter. Judging from the scorecard the Kiwis really got stuck into the bowling. Will McCullum bat through (assuming wickets don't dissolve) for two sessions before declaring? What will Cook do if England can snare the remaining wickets reasonably quickly? Ah, stratagems and timing, the heart of many a test match. It seems that a day over the hills could be a day well spent. Which leads me to the crowds: I was looking at some photos on this here Internet on my Saturday and it looked like the ground was more than half empty. I know it was a working day for most (Friday) and that it's 'only' New Zealand as the opposition . . . but? Were my observations misleading?

[TANGODANCER]

435-8 and in danger of slipping away from us. Got to clear it away now and get some real batting performances. Have a feeling we might have to work real hard.

[Montreal Wanderer]

435-8 and in danger of slipping away from us. Got to clear it away now and get some real batting performances. Have a feeling we might have to work real hard.

A feeling? What is our record fourth inning run chase? With this lot?! Just hope for a draw...perhaps a lot of rain....

[TANGODANCER]

435-8 and in danger of slipping away from us. Got to clear it away now and get some real batting performances. Have a feeling we might have to work real hard.

A feeling? What is our record fourth inning run chase? With this lot?! Just hope for a draw...perhaps a lot of rain....

Well, you got that bit right Monty...

[Montreal Wanderer]

435-8 and in danger of slipping away from us. Got to clear it away now and get some real batting performances. Have a feeling we might have to work real hard.

A feeling? What is our record fourth inning run chase? With this lot?! Just hope for a draw...perhaps a lot of rain....

Well, you got that bit right Monty...

A professional baseball team needs four good starting pitchers to obtain a good record. Back in the day, the old Boston Braves had only two good pitchers - Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain. They got into a pennant drive one September, where they needed to win more than two of four games. The local paper published the following doggerel:

First we'll use Spahn
then we'll use Sain
Then an off day
followed by rain
Back will come Spahn
followed by Sain
And followed
we hope
by two days of rain.

The fans shortened this to "Spahn and Sain, and pray for rain". The Braves won the pennant that year. Perhaps if we pray hard enough we can draw the test and win the series.

[bwfcdan94]

Fingers crossed the heavens open tomorrow, if they don't Cook and Lyth need to make it to lunch if were to hold on.

[TANGODANCER]

Fingers crossed the heavens open tomorrow, if they don't Cook and Lyth need to make it to lunch if were to hold on.

How about we set about them and get the runs to win? Unlikely the weather will be kind, but you never know.