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Post by Boony on May 15, 2008 10:37:09 GMT
So it's the first test match of the English summer today, and I guess there's no real surprise that the startat Lord's this morning has been delayed due to rain, despite the heavenly weather we've been having recently. England are playing New Zealand for the fourth test match in a row, having recently beaten them 2-1 on the other side of the world.
England have named an unchanged side, with Flintoff not fit to regain his place, and Hoggard just missing out to Anderson and Panesar in the starting lineup. New Zealand are in a period of change, as they try to fill the large hole created by the retirement of Stephen Fleming, their highest run scorer in Test history. Two debutants play in their top six, while young bowler Tim Southee is playing in only his second test.
Apparently the rain has stopped, the covers are off, and the players are warming up. Good luck, boys!
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Post by coffers on May 15, 2008 10:52:19 GMT
Eh?
It's glorious up here, not a cloud in the sky, yet.
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Post by Boony on May 15, 2008 10:53:49 GMT
Bah! It's raining in Oxford... It looks like they're about to toss in London, though, and play may well start in the next 20 minutes.
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Post by Boony on May 15, 2008 10:55:33 GMT
England win the toss and will bowl first, hoping to use the grey skies to get the ball talking and putting an inexperienced NZ batting order under pressure. Sidebottom to do the early damage?
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Post by Moo on May 15, 2008 11:24:58 GMT
Bah! It's raining in Oxford... It looks like they're about to toss in London... They might need to put the covers back on then.
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Post by Boony on May 15, 2008 11:36:38 GMT
Ah-ha! The rain's come back, so they're taking an early lunch. Oh, the excitement...
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Post by Sonic on May 15, 2008 11:46:37 GMT
Bah! It's raining in Oxford... It looks like they're about to toss in London... They might need to put the covers back on then. I think we can lay the blame on Boony too for getting a bit too excited as well.
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Post by coffers on May 15, 2008 11:57:06 GMT
They might need to put the covers back on then. I think we can lay the blame on Boony too for getting a bit too excited as well. Excited about what? What's going on under the covers?
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Post by Sonic on May 15, 2008 12:03:44 GMT
I think we can lay the blame on Boony too for getting a bit too excited as well. Excited about what? What's going on under the covers? I'm not sure. Moo seems to know about these things though. The only thing I know is that saying your excited and requiring a raincoat with cricket go hand in hand. Apparently.
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Post by coffers on May 15, 2008 12:05:54 GMT
I'm saying nothing....
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Post by Boony on May 15, 2008 13:54:38 GMT
We're not quite bowling on top form, but we've taken three Kiwi wickets for 58 runs, with another wicket disallowed for no-ball. I caught a bit of it on telly at lunchtime - it's dark and cloudy over in London....
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Post by Sonic on May 15, 2008 14:09:04 GMT
See Coffers, 3 wickets to England has got Boony excited about this game, and the fact that there has been rain means a raincoat is needed. Confirmed.
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Post by Boony on May 15, 2008 14:15:13 GMT
Oh yes, come on! Broad gets his second as Marshall edges a drive straight to Strauss at first slip. Just as it looked like they were starting to settle down... In comes Flynn, on debut.
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Post by Boony on May 15, 2008 14:49:45 GMT
And Anderson grabs his third to remove Flynn, for 9. 104-5, but McCullum is looking set and can be a dangerous player, while Oram and Vettori are the next two Kiwi batsmen. There's still some work to do here, but it's a pretty good start by the England boys...
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on May 15, 2008 14:49:48 GMT
and out he goes on his debut.
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Post by Boony on May 15, 2008 14:51:52 GMT
Unlucky, too, by all accounts. Brushed his thigh pad and flicked leg stump on the way through...
Seems we have "Good Jimmy" bowling today, and not "Rubbish Jimmy". There's still time, though.
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Post by hornet on May 15, 2008 17:19:50 GMT
Shouldn't it be LLAPSWASIFOSOS?
208-6, then. New Zealand's Middle Order In "Better Than New Zealand's Top Order" Total Non-Shock.
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on May 15, 2008 17:24:22 GMT
New Zealand should bat in reverse order, with the openers coming in at the end.
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Post by Boony on May 15, 2008 23:48:47 GMT
What's the first S for, Horn?
I forsee a day tomorrow where Vettori and Oram put on another 50, New Zealand scrape to 280, and we're 100-5 at the close, struggling to play the swinging ball and Vettori tying us in knots.
That's assuming the weather stays the same. If the sun comes out, New Zealand will score 300 but we'll be 200-2 by the end of the day.
New Zealand tried to boost the middle order by moving McCulllum from 7 to 5, which worked. Vettori should be batting at least as high as 7. With Oram batting in the middle order as well, then they either need to find a batsman happy to bat at 8 in a test team (not going to happen), or find four bowlers worthy of playing test cricket to bat 8-11. This could happen, but it leaves the batting very short because New Zealand have *no* opening batsmen.
I don't understand it, but it's quite common among a lot of the test teams at the moment. West Indies, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, New Zealand, even India. All hunting for a good combination against the new ball. When Hayden retires from the Australian team, I don't think Rogers is good enough (from what little I've seen, but he's hardly racking up the runs with Derbyshire - okay he's averaging over 50 but it's in division two. Ramprakash is averaging nearly 80 in division one, and isn't being given a sniff of a job in the England team), so even the Aussies might struggle in a year or so.
The other struggle New Zealand are going through is the players they can't pick.
The Guardian's Over by Over: "And here's what New Zealand could look like: Hamish Marshall, Lou Vincent, Stephen Fleming, Scott Styris, Craig McMillan, Nathan Astle, Adam Parore, Chris Cairns, James Franklin, Paul Wiseman, Shane Bond.
With the exception of Franklin, every single one of those names has been playing cricket this season, either in the ICL, the IPL, or in county cricket. And while some of those players have rightly retired from international cricket, there's no doubt that the likes of Bond, Marshall, Vincent and Styris could all still be, should be, in this side. And how much better would this series be then?"
I don't quite know where I'm going with this ramble. I'll end by saying we should have bowled better, and I'd have been much happier with 180 all out, given the bowler-friendly conditions today. And a big :thumb: to Anderson for stepping up and performing well when both Hoggard and Flintoff are hungrily sniffing his spot in the team. I hope for a good batting day for England tomorrow, but who knows what this team will produce?
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Post by hornet on May 16, 2008 6:19:41 GMT
Anderson always performs well when the conditions are good for swinging the ball. When they aren't, not so much.
And "standing", natch.
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Post by Boony on May 16, 2008 8:28:50 GMT
Aye, he's a fairweather bowler, like many of our batsmen are fairweather batsmen.
In other news, I've got a game tonight, weather permitting. So far this season I'm averaging about 70 with the bat and about 5 with the ball :thumb:
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Post by coffers on May 16, 2008 9:02:38 GMT
That's a nice average on both counts. :thumb:
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Post by hornet on May 16, 2008 11:56:39 GMT
Did you just get a comment published in the OBO, 800?
If so, quick, send another one - Mills went the next over. :humb:
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Post by Boony on May 16, 2008 13:46:30 GMT
Horn - aye, I did! That's about four or five in the last few years now. "Unfortunately" I was in the pub when you wrote that.... And - did I say NZ would scrape to 280 alll out? I was three runs out
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on May 16, 2008 13:55:32 GMT
So why can't people bat against the new ball then Boo? Is it just one of those random coincidental things, or is it something new the bowlers are doing, with all the technology that seems to surround breaking down their action, bowling to a plan and all that jazz?
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