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[invisibleman18]

Looking at the map, that looks about where I was going to try. Looks like a number of side roads around there so hopefully find somewhere ok. Thanks.
Will you be going again tomorrow?

[Josh]

Bet you're pleased you went now

30/4

[Yamor]

Question is, can England fall any lower then this? You know, in the old days, a defeat like this would lead to wholesale changes, now they're gonna come out with some crap talk, and hardly change anything. They're idiots! England have only gone backwards since 2005. So much for the much vaunted report into the ashes and world cup display last year, they haven't done crap all anywhere it matters.

[invisibleman18]

Well it wasn't the most enjoyable venture! I really didn't think Adelaide a year ago could be beaten, but today it was. Absolutely thrashed by a mickey mouse bunch of minnows. And it was no less than we deserved over the course of this match.
Really expected a good day. If I'm honest, I didn't really believe we'd win, but I thought it would at least go down to the last hour with a couple of results possible. I just couldn't not go. Could have really regretted staying home. Such a shame that Sidebottom's hattrick and amazing display yesterday effectively increased our chances of losing as it gave NZ enough time to bowl us out. Had we not taken all those wickets yesterday, I reckon it could have been a draw.

As for today, 300 in 81 overs on a flat wicket with the batsmen we have shouldn't have been that difficult a task. We lost it in our approach to the innings. It seemed like the plan was for the openers to have a go, which they did for 3 or 4 overs. Then once Cook got out, it was shut up shop for a draw. And that's what was wrong. You just can't defend for a whole day. Eventually you play 1 loose shot and get out. This was typified by Collingwoods painful 2 from 50 balls. Eventually, he couldn't resist having a go at a poor ball outside off stump. And what happens? He chops on. Only Bell offered any resistence, really because he played a proper test innings. He defended the good stuff, attacked the bad stuff and ended 50 odd not out. No reason why Vaughan, Cook, Pietersen and Strauss could not have played similar innings.

Personally, I believe we should have attacked and gone for the win at least down to Pietersen. Vaughan, Strauss and Pietersen are at their best when they are taking the attack to the bowlers and putting pressure on them. By just defending, they let the bowlers get on top, and it was always uphill from there. Perhaps if it got past Pietersen (and this could have been late in the day), then Bell and Collingwood could have looked to be more cautious.

Like you say Yamor, it's just gone backwards. It's always the same with England in every sport. Never build on success. After that Ashes, the next few years should have been the golden era in English cricket. We should have built on that and gone on to beat everyone, and win the World Cup. Instead we've barely even won a match in either form of the game since that series. Same with the rugby. Won the Grand Slam and the World Cup in 2003 and then we were absolutely sh*t for 4 years. True, by some unbelieveable miracle we made the final again in 2007, but we were sh*t for most of that tournament and now we're sh*t again.

Anyway, aside from the terrible day's cricket it was actually quite a nice place. The drive was quite pleasant and amazingly, we actually managed to park literally right outside the ground for free. No more than 50m away. And it didn't take quite as long to get there as I thought it would. About an hour and three quarters. In fact, I'd even say it was easier to get to than Eden Park in Auckland! Of course, it took at least twice as long to drive to from where I live, but there was no hassle. It was just straight along 1 road the whole way. Eden Park is a nightmare to get to driving across Auckland with the traffic, and not to mention the closest you can park to Eden Park is usually at least a 15-20 minute walk away. And my brother got in free as he's 18 (18 and unders were free today).

On a positive note, the trip was probably worth it just for this:



Not every day you get to meet one of the greatest players and biggest legends of all time. Actually got his autograph last time England were here but to get this photo was awesome. There was another guy there getting his autograph and saying that he was his idol and all that. He used to watch videos of him playing before his own matches etc. Said he drove down from Auckland with the sole purpose of meeting him. I also got a photo with Phil Mustard before the day's play, but that sort of pales into insignificance after Botham!

[invisibleman18]

Oh well, next time.
It was a pretty nice ground. Easy to get to, even from Auckland. Easy to park. And the staff there were all incredibly friendly which is the complete opposite to the morons you get at Eden Park. I was also amazed at how they blocked off the pitch and let everyone go on the outfield during lunch. Never seen that before. Got a couple of good pics up by the pitch. The hardness of the outfield really surprised me actually. It was like concrete! You expect it to feel like carpet from looking at it.

I always seem to manage a photo with someone!
This was just at the bottom of that commentary box structure at the end of the lunch break. I just missed Atherton by a few seconds too. Saw him ahead climbing up the stairs after returning from lunch, and then Botham arrived.

Anyway, in terms of moving on in the series. First things first, the inept Harmison MUST be dropped and Broad must come in to add a bit of form and confidence and in fact, competence with the ball while also adding a little bit more batting to the lower order. At the moment, the tail is just too long with 4 bunnies. The top sides can generally bat down to 9, even 10 in some cases (like Australia and NZ). You just need a bit more security than only being able to bat down to 7 like us. If things go wrong in the top order, we're f**ked. Whereas, NZ can rely on Oram, Vettori and Mills at 7, 8 and 9 to get back on track. Of course, as I said during the ODI series, do not sacrifice a superior bowler on the basis of his batting. But in this case, we would be removing someone ineffective with no confidence, and bringing in someone high on confidence and in good form on this tour on these pitches. The fact he adds a bit of batting is a bonus. Other than that, there isn't really much else we could do with the players here in the squad. The only other realistic option is to bring in Shah for Strauss, but I'm not sure if that would be improving anything. So at the very least, I would like to see Broad in for Harmison in the 2nd test. Being England though, no doubt we'll see the same 11 on Thursday.

[Allan]

Shame the play had to be so dreadfully disappointing for you Alex.

I wonder if Scotland could beat England just now. I doubt it but I doubted the rugby result would happen.

[AL1874]

Absolutely thrashed by a mickey mouse bunch of minnows.

It might be the English team were equally as patronising towards their opponents and this arrogance helped in their down fall.

Sporting history is littered with so called “Big” teams underestimating the job in hand and believing that they only have to turn up and collect the victory (none more so than Scottish sides I may add).

Well done New Zealand, I dare say being written off as no hopers before a ball had been bowled provided all the pre-match motivation required.

Oh nearly forgot, did Beefy roll you a joint?

Only kidding great photos once more, good to see that they spend some time for photos etc.

I've met my sporting idol and was bricking it before hand in case he turned out to be an arse and my image of him would be tarnished forever.

But thankfully he was great company (he even bought me a pint ) and I will always consider him to be God.

[Bevc]

I was disappointed to see Hoggy dropped for Anderson but the proof will be in the pudding so to speak.

C'mon England!