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[invisibleman18]

You would think it's too big a task. But there can't have been many teams who have had 2 full days in good batting conditions to get it.

[invisibleman18]

Massive wicket getting Oram right at the end. That was the partnership we needed to break. Oram will be absolutely livid as there was only 1 more ball after that before coming off for bad light!
196 to win with their last 2 recognised batsman in. This next wicket is massive now. If McCullum gets going again tomorrow and Vettori gets himself in, they'll have every chance of winning. We have to break this partnership early and if we do, we'll win.

[invisibleman18]

[bestofbarry]

its not looking good at all is it

[invisibleman18]

Pietersen did get there, but there's been no resistence from anyone else. So on a flat pitch where there hasn't actually been a result in a test since 1996 and only 1 side has ever won a test there (!), we have been thrashed on the first day.

[Bevc]

253 all out  Not looking good for our guys  Pete (friend) says he'll lend his services when he goes down tomorrow

[invisibleman18]

Absolutely incredible!
At 101-1 it looked like we were going to be batting on day 4 needing 250 odd to make them bat again. But Sidebottom has skittled them again and it's 138-7 and we are well in this match now!
6-33 so far for Sidebottom. He's been absolutely amazing on this whole tour. 22 wickets now in the test series I think. Amazing story. Played 1 test in 2001 and didn't take a wicket and was not really heard of again until he played his 2nd test 6 years later in 2007! Now he's pretty much the first name on the team sheet.

He's become this good because he had to go away and learn his trade in county cricket. If you look at someone like Anderson, he's been part of the England setup for years so he's always either 12th man or away on tour. He's hardly played any county cricket - more career ODIs than first class matches highlights this. And in fact I believe he played in the England ODI side before he had played a first class match! He had played just a couple of one day games (and if I remember correctly he was in Australia with an academy squad during the 2002 Ashes tour and an insane amount of injuries led to him being called into the side in the ODI series where he performed well enough to earn a place in the world cup side). Consequently, performances like his 5 wicket bag in the 2nd test are a shock. Usually it's much more like today where he's been smashed for 54 runs from his 7 overs so far. Even players like Hoggard and Harmison, the centrally contracted players. Always away with England so they don't play much county cricket these days and that's probably why those 2 were sh*t in the first test here. Hadn't bowled much for a while. After his 1 test, Sidebottom went away and played 6 full years of county cricket learning how to really bowl at that level , and that may be a major reason why performances like today are becoming expected from him.

[invisibleman18]

Yes probably true of Hoggard. Harmison has been quite poor for several years though, and I think he's played his last test for England tbh. Broad has shown plenty of talent and I think he will play a sh*t load of tests for England for a long time to come. There's also Anderson who can be great when on form. Although when off form, he can be quite a liability. Don't forget there's a certain Mr Flintoff making a long awaited comeback and he's aiming to be ready for the return series when NZ go to England this year. Looking at the current 11, perhaps he could come in for Anderson which would improve both our bowling lineup (providing Freddie is 100% fit) and obviously our batting (even if he's 20% fit!).

Not sure what to do with the batting lineup. Obviously Cook, Pietersen and Collingwood are the ones you can't drop. Bell is a bit debateable at the moment although probably can't be dropped either. Unless Strauss makes a hundred in this innings, I'm not sure there's much point persisting with him beyond this series. That makes Shah the obvious candidate to come in. Then there's Vaughan. Does he remain, or is it time for Collingwood to captain the test side? Is there another batsman out there capable of batting in the top 3 or 4? The only change I can see for the home NZ series is Shah for Strauss. Oh how I long for Trescothick! Such a tragedy he will probably never play for England again.
With a fully fit Trescothick, Flintoff and Simon Jones, we'd be twice the side we are without a doubt! You just can't replace players of that quality easily.

With NZ at 101-1, who could have believed we would be batting again today?!
18-1 with a 103 run lead. What we need now is the top order to fire for the first time in the series. Similar situation to the 2nd test now. We need Cook and Strauss to bat through to the end of the day today. Then we need to bat all day tomorrow by which time we would have about a 400 run lead. If there are wickets left, have a bash on Tuesday morning (day 4) then give ourselves 5 and a bit sessions to bowl them out.

Another failure for Vaughan in a dismal series for him personally. Have to wonder whether he is becoming a bit past it. Other than his comeback innings against India (I think it was India, not 100% sure on that), he's not had a score of any note since). Such a shame. He was an absolutely incredible batsman at his peak.

This pitch has got nothing at all in it for spinners and Monty only bowled 1 over in that innings. I wonder if perhaps playing Shah instead of him might have been a wise choice for this match. Would have lengthened a short batting lineup and he and Pietersen could have got through a few overs of slow bowling for a bit of variation if needed.