Maybe that's why Crawley was diving across him earlier

comment by King of the Gil (U7905)
posted 29 minutes ago
comment by Emile Death Rowe (TCM) (U8959)
posted less than a minute ago
Regardless of whether it was right or wrong to bowl first, to have them rollicking along at over 4 an over isn't too clever. We need another brace of wickets quickly. Hopefully we can keep them below 350 and at the rate they are going, they will reach that today. Hopefully it'll be all out rather than for 3/4.
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I think they've got carried away with this positive approach. If the pitch is flat and runs are flowing you need to drag your lengths back a bit. Jimmy has the only respectable economy rate.
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Indeed, you've got to pick the right moments to attack and then sometimes you need to compromise. If you've got 500 on the board then you can be relentless with attacking fields in a bit to get wickets. I just dont back our batters to pass NZ if they get any more than 275.

Anderson is so good though, 2/26 on a flat pitch and going at less than 2 an over whilst the rest go at over 4.

Should be dropped though cos he's almost 40 and we need to think about the future rather than winning test matches.

Ffs Root

Need a wicket

One thing I would add is that England at least haven't panicked today and resorted to short pitch stuff. They've kept pitching it up and giving themselves a chance of taking wickets and have been rewarded with some. There has been movement though which worries me for when we come to bat.

Over rate is shocking once again

Utterly pathetic from England

Leach is more like a leech. a blood sucker

Jack Leach is not an international test bowler

Need a wicket.

Looking like either a NZ win or a draw. cant see England bowling them out below 500

great bowling from LEECH.. bowls a short and wide delivery goes for 4. so repeats it again.

Got this wrong would have given Potts the new ball.. But theres that pre-programmed thinking again.

It's not been the best of days in the field. Plenty of midfields along with the dropped catches and not even going for catches.

I don't mind us having a bad day, we just need to not follow it up with another bad day that costs us the test match. This will be a good test for this team to see if we can knuckle down. Unfortunately I see us "taking the positive approach" and getting out to silly shots on what looks like a flat deck.

Well we are going to have to produce a day 3 first session from Lords tomorrow and take all 6 wickets for about 50 runs and then bat well.

Root won us the last game but that absolute dolly that he dropped means he owes another hundred.

Poor from England today

England made the "right call" by bowling first in the second Test against New Zealand, according to fast bowling coach Jon Lewis.
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It wasn't though.. Just because NZ wanted to bowl doesn't excuse England making an error and bowling first.
Secondly Lewis needs firing just for that comment. At least be honest.

I actually think tactics and poor fielding had a bigger impact than the decision to bowl. Better decisions on the field and taking chances could easily have seen NZ with a score below 300 their first innings.

Crawley and Pope on borrowed time.. Actually "score" some runs when you bat first time around..
Just stop picking them if they fail AGAIN.. And alll Zack Crawley does is drop catches. mis-fields and scores no runs.and that dozy look on his face. makes we wanna. well lets not mince words..
Utter failures apart from 3/4 players the rest are garbage. and theres No reason England cant get over 400 batting first.

Batting first always puts pressure on teams in the 4th innings.. Now England are under massive pressure.. If they give a way a decent lead that is. So i would always bat first in most circumstances..

I think Ollie Pope has been messed around alot to be honest. Putting him at number 3 (a position he never bats) and then saying its his final chance is a prime example.

He reminds me of Ian Bell a bit. Picked early in his career, get messed around alot and struggle for consistency, get told you're not good enough and get dropped. Hopefully he has the same redemption arc.

comment by Tamwolf (U17286)
posted 10 minutes ago
I think Ollie Pope has been messed around alot to be honest. Putting him at number 3 (a position he never bats) and then saying its his final chance is a prime example.

He reminds me of Ian Bell a bit. Picked early in his career, get messed around alot and struggle for consistency, get told you're not good enough and get dropped. Hopefully he has the same redemption arc.
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Well dealing with adversity often proves to be the best way. For me ian Bell came of age with a match saving innings against South Africa in 2010. Ollie Pope needs to stand up and be counted when it really matters

I don't really think it was the wrong decision to bowl we've just been poor in the field and the bowling has been meh.

If Root had caught Mitchell last night they'd have been 190/5 with a long tail exposed.

Another ton for Mitchell. Well played.

This is when you need a quality wicket taking spinner to make inroads, sadly Leach isn`t it.