Appears the New Zealand side will have one two changes from their last Test match. Todd Astle replaces injured Mitchell Santner and Watling in for Blundell behind the stumps.
And qualify for the WC in the process. Bit reminiscent of the infamous South African loss - I'm sure if Scotland knew quite how close they were to being in front then they would have had more of a go.
Surely Scotland knew what the D/L target was ball by ball ?
I think what happened was that the rain had threatened, from time to time, all day without actually happening so they probably weren't paying D/L the respect it deserved until it was virtually upon them and the teams were off within seconds of it arriving.
Appears as though there will be two changes for England from the last test of the Ashes...
Crane and Curran out, Stokes and Woakes in.
Nothing officially announced as yet though. Would mean we line up as Cook, Stoneman, Vince, Root, Malan, Stokes, Bairstow, Ali, Woakes, Broad, Anderson. Wouldn't be impressed if Bairstow is down at seven again.
Appears as though there will be two changes for England from the last test of the Ashes...
Crane and Curran out, Stokes and Woakes in.
Nothing officially announced as yet though. Would mean we line up as Cook, Stoneman, Vince, Root, Malan, Stokes, Bairstow, Ali, Woakes, Broad, Anderson. Wouldn't be impressed if Bairstow is down at seven again.
Appears as though there will be two changes for England from the last test of the Ashes...
Crane and Curran out, Stokes and Woakes in.
Nothing officially announced as yet though. Would mean we line up as Cook, Stoneman, Vince, Root, Malan, Stokes, Bairstow, Ali, Woakes, Broad, Anderson. Wouldn't be impressed if Bairstow is down at seven again.
Still not convinced by that bowling attack - we badly need an X-Factor in the attack and Wood could do that job and bowl in short four-over spells at express pace.
Those four-seamers are all roughly the same speed and style and on flat decks with no lateral movement that is not enough.
Appears as though there will be two changes for England from the last test of the Ashes...
Crane and Curran out, Stokes and Woakes in.
Nothing officially announced as yet though. Would mean we line up as Cook, Stoneman, Vince, Root, Malan, Stokes, Bairstow, Ali, Woakes, Broad, Anderson. Wouldn't be impressed if Bairstow is down at seven again.
Also disappointed if Bairstow is as low as 6 let alone 7. He is easily in our beat 3 batsmen let's have him at 4 or 5 where he can actually have an impact.
My view is we should be building the side around the axis of Root Bairstow and Stokes as our middle order for the foreseeable. We should find the best players to fit around that.
Appears as though there will be two changes for England from the last test of the Ashes...
Crane and Curran out, Stokes and Woakes in.
Nothing officially announced as yet though. Would mean we line up as Cook, Stoneman, Vince, Root, Malan, Stokes, Bairstow, Ali, Woakes, Broad, Anderson. Wouldn't be impressed if Bairstow is down at seven again.
Still not convinced by that bowling attack - we badly need an X-Factor in the attack and Wood could do that job and bowl in short four-over spells at express pace.
Those four-seamers are all roughly the same speed and style and on flat decks with no lateral movement that is not enough.
Plenty of movement expected for Anderson, Broad and Southee in the evening especially.
I would enjoy seeing Bairstow at five but I don't want to move Malan who has done quite well in that position himself during the last couple of series.
The issue is that we have so many batsman who can bat at four, five, six and seven and not enough who want can bat or want to bat at three. That's putting aside the issues we have with openers.
The simplest solution is to stick Root up there but he seems adamant about staying at four. Malan doesn't strike me as a player who could bat at three, nor does Stokes. Bairstow may be able to do it as he's proving himself as a useful ODI opener but it is somewhat more of a gamble...
Appears as though there will be two changes for England from the last test of the Ashes...
Crane and Curran out, Stokes and Woakes in.
Nothing officially announced as yet though. Would mean we line up as Cook, Stoneman, Vince, Root, Malan, Stokes, Bairstow, Ali, Woakes, Broad, Anderson. Wouldn't be impressed if Bairstow is down at seven again.
Still not convinced by that bowling attack - we badly need an X-Factor in the attack and Wood could do that job and bowl in short four-over spells at express pace.
Those four-seamers are all roughly the same speed and style and on flat decks with no lateral movement that is not enough.
Plenty of movement expected for Anderson, Broad and Southee in the evening especially.
True - forgot about the D/N aspect.
However, on our last tour of NZ our bowlers really struggled on those drop-in pitches which offered none of the movement you'd normally associate with Kiwi tracks.
He's bowling like a dream, but all three of them were too stuck in their crease and not getting to the pitch of the ball to negate the swing. Pretty basic stuff if we're honest and something we should be used to considering they play the majority of their cricket in England.
Comments
NZ team expected to be:
Raval, Latham, Williamson (c), Taylor, Nicholls, de Grandhomme, Blundell Watling (wk), Astle, Wagner, Southee, Boult
Crane and Curran out, Stokes and Woakes in.
Nothing officially announced as yet though. Would mean we line up as Cook, Stoneman, Vince, Root, Malan, Stokes, Bairstow, Ali, Woakes, Broad, Anderson. Wouldn't be impressed if Bairstow is down at seven again.
Those four-seamers are all roughly the same speed and style and on flat decks with no lateral movement that is not enough.
My view is we should be building the side around the axis of Root Bairstow and Stokes as our middle order for the foreseeable. We should find the best players to fit around that.
The issue is that we have so many batsman who can bat at four, five, six and seven and not enough who want can bat or want to bat at three. That's putting aside the issues we have with openers.
The simplest solution is to stick Root up there but he seems adamant about staying at four. Malan doesn't strike me as a player who could bat at three, nor does Stokes. Bairstow may be able to do it as he's proving himself as a useful ODI opener but it is somewhat more of a gamble...
However, on our last tour of NZ our bowlers really struggled on those drop-in pitches which offered none of the movement you'd normally associate with Kiwi tracks.
Stoneman
Root
Malan
Stokes
Bairstow
Ali
Woakes
Overton
Broad
Anderson
Let's see how root does at 3.
NZ to bowl
Hope we can put on a score. NZ have some solid bowlers, and Williamson and Taylor would get into any team on current form
Cook 5, c Latham b Boult
Root 0, b Boult
Malan 2, c Watling b Boult
Boult causing major problems with a swinging ball...
I didn't know we were playing in the Caribbean............calypso collapse !!
Malan this time.
He's bowling like a dream, but all three of them were too stuck in their crease and not getting to the pitch of the ball to negate the swing. Pretty basic stuff if we're honest and something we should be used to considering they play the majority of their cricket in England.