Why in God's name didn't England enforce the follow on....? I just can't figure it out, particularly with rain scheduled for Tuesday. Stooopid, utterly stooopid !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As mentioned above, the cut off was 150 not 200 as the first day was rained off... no excuse for the slow batting though!
Why in God's name didn't England enforce the follow on....? I just can't figure it out, particularly with rain scheduled for Tuesday. Stooopid, utterly stooopid !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No idea, the NZ innings lasted all of 46 overs and the bowlers have had a week off since they last had a trundle so they should be pretty fresh.
It's academic though, England will score a few more runs tomorrow morning and then put NZ in before lunch and wrap things up before the close. If the weather is decent being that it'll be a bank holiday there should be a fair crowd tomorrow and that will bring in some cash for the coffers...
Why in God's name didn't England enforce the follow on....? I just can't figure it out, particularly with rain scheduled for Tuesday. Stooopid, utterly stooopid !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As mentioned above, the cut off was 150 not 200 as the first day was rained off... no excuse for the slow batting though!
As I understand it (I'm no expert on the vageries of cricket) the margin you refer to relates to the deficit of runs. As NZ were 185 short of England's first innings total we could have enforced the follow on. Cook/Flower (not that I'm critical of either) and predecessors have historically seemed reluctant to enforce a follow on and have 'previous' on this. Todays coverage on Sky recounted statistics which confirmed that during the last 299 times when the Follow On has been enforced the enforcing team has lost on only three occasions (most famously the Botham/Willis match against the Aussies in 1981.) I just don't understand the logic. If we had made them bat again then we could have snatched three or four wickets (or more) before close of play and would be set for a win tomorrow. The way things are at the moment with Trott and Cook we'll probably bat through to lunch at least, leaving us just a couple of sessions to bowl at NZ (granted, this may be enough but rain is likely on Tuesday) but why risk it when we could have made it more comfortable? If we put NZ back into bat this evening they would have been like rabbits in the headlights.
This NZ attack - in these conditions - are a real handful, both Southee and Boult are fine swing bowlers and certainly better than any swing bowlers the Aussies have and Wagner and Bracewell are good support bowlers too.
I would not be too hard on Compton, he batted very well in NZ on the flatter wickets that we will get later in the summer against the Aussies, he likes the ball 'coming on' to the bat against quicker bowlers.
I think that on flatter wickets later in the summer that Compton could be a good player against the Aussies, its a risk moving Root up to opener in the 1st Ashes Test of the summer, he's only 21 and has never opened for us before.
If Compton fails in his return to the Championship with Middlesex then the decision might be made for us.
'Swann also backed Cook's decision to bat again after dismissing New Zealand 24 runs short of the follow-on target.
"We thought the best way to win that game was to go back out and put a fatigued New Zealand back in to the field," he added.
"We wanted to try to build a formidable lead, let the pitch deteriorate, the foot-holes develop and give ourselves the best chance of bowling them out in the second innings."'
Follow on: it's about winning the series not the match. We are 1-0 up and do not need to take a risk. We could have put them in and they could have set us an awkward last innings of 150-200. Better sides have lost in similar circumstamces. Additionally the weather forecast is only a prediction. What if the rain didn't come on the last day but instead we had overcast conditions. It could have been even more awkward to bat. By batting again england get to guarantee a series win and demoralise nz. Compton also got one more chance (perhaps his last for now) and if he had got a big score that would have benefitted us later in the summer.
At lunch England are 429 ahead..............just can't see why we would need anymore.
Highest ever 4th innings winning figure is 418 Highest ever 4th innings winning figure at Headingly is 404 New Zealnd haven't score in excess of 300 against us in the last 10 innings. rain is on its way.
How long are they going to keep going? I was convinced they were only still out there for Trott to get to 100. Would look a bit silly to pull them back in second ball after lunch haha. Maybe another 20 runs and set NZ 450?
would still be a strange decision, is it really worth the change over time for 25 odd runs?
Yep. Gives their openers less time to prepare. After a long time in the field the last thing they want is to go out there for another 20-30 mins and then have to pad up and come straight out again.
would still be a strange decision, is it really worth the change over time for 25 odd runs?
Yep. Gives their openers less time to prepare. After a long time in the field the last thing they want is to go out there for another 20-30 mins and then have to pad up and come straight out again.
Comments
It's academic though, England will score a few more runs tomorrow morning and then put NZ in before lunch and wrap things up before the close. If the weather is decent being that it'll be a bank holiday there should be a fair crowd tomorrow and that will bring in some cash for the coffers...
I just don't understand the logic. If we had made them bat again then we could have snatched three or four wickets (or more) before close of play and would be set for a win tomorrow. The way things are at the moment with Trott and Cook we'll probably bat through to lunch at least, leaving us just a couple of sessions to bowl at NZ (granted, this may be enough but rain is likely on Tuesday) but why risk it when we could have made it more comfortable? If we put NZ back into bat this evening they would have been like rabbits in the headlights.
As mentioned earlier....stooopid !!!!
I would not be too hard on Compton, he batted very well in NZ on the flatter wickets that we will get later in the summer against the Aussies, he likes the ball 'coming on' to the bat against quicker bowlers.
I think that on flatter wickets later in the summer that Compton could be a good player against the Aussies, its a risk moving Root up to opener in the 1st Ashes Test of the summer, he's only 21 and has never opened for us before.
If Compton fails in his return to the Championship with Middlesex then the decision might be made for us.
'Swann also backed Cook's decision to bat again after dismissing New Zealand 24 runs short of the follow-on target.
"We thought the best way to win that game was to go back out and put a fatigued New Zealand back in to the field," he added.
"We wanted to try to build a formidable lead, let the pitch deteriorate, the foot-holes develop and give ourselves the best chance of bowling them out in the second innings."'
Hopefully we can pile some runs on the board this morning
101* and England 141-1.
206-2, lead of 386
Highest ever 4th innings winning figure is 418
Highest ever 4th innings winning figure at Headingly is 404
New Zealnd haven't score in excess of 300 against us in the last 10 innings.
rain is on its way.
How long are they going to keep going? I was convinced they were only still out there for Trott to get to 100. Would look a bit silly to pull them back in second ball after lunch haha. Maybe another 20 runs and set NZ 450?
I'm considering returning my Ashes tickets :-)
287-5dec.
NZ need 468 to win lol
NZ have made 449 runs already in this series, mind you it has taken them three innings to do it in.