England vs Ireland (1 ODI) & New Zealand tour (2 tests, 1 T20, 5 ODIs)

[shinboner spiggs]

He's a star this guy

 

[Damon_3388]

Ben Stokes, the new Ian Botham!

 

[Damon_3388]

Really like the look of Wood. Good pace and gets a bit out of the wicket.

Obviously he's not as tall, but he reminds me a bit of Steve Harmison with his action, pace and bounce. Apparently Harmison is a mentor of his, too, so not surprising really.

 

[Furn2]

Funny game this, every time I've watched, the ball has been moving around a fair bit but until this innings it's been big scores. something like this was always on the cards as it's not a flat pitch at all.

 

[Damon_3388]

I love how unimpressed with proceedings Corey Anderson always looks, especially when he casually clobbers a boundary.

 

[Torz]

Anderson looking to win in the next few overs.

 

[shinboner spiggs]

Unbelievable. A double wicket maiden is followed by an over of 14.

 

[Donnie Darko]

Kiwi's are on the ropes...

 

[Illinois Nazi]

* I love Test cricket.

 

[Cotchin 9]

NZ still got issues at the top of the order.

 

[Torz]

NZ still got issues at the top of the order.

To be fair, the openers got 70 and 59 in the first innings. Not a great look with two duck eggs though.

 

[shinboner spiggs]

It's a bold tactic cotton, let's see if it pays off.

 

[Hamez]

Need to sleep, want to watch Anderson bat

 

[Torz]

Great knock from Anderson. Fought fire with fire.

Would love it to be 150 to chase in the last session with Anderson still in.

 

[lewigie]

Great counter punch by Anderson. NZ could've capitulated pretty easily then.

 

[Skarrz]

What a huge capitulation from nz, first few days thought it would be a landslide win to them. I love test cricket. Hopefully england do alright but don't start becoming world beaters pre ashes

 

[swans95]

Brilliant win England! Pulsating, Fluctuating test cricket, totally worth staying up late to watch!

 

[Hellgood]

Test cricket is awesome. Thinking back 48 hours, how the hell could New Zealand have possibly lost that? I think careless sums up the way that they played the last two days - didn't try and reign in England when Cook and Root had stabilised and some of the shots being played when the game was there to be saved could only be described as such.

Great result for England, especially pleased for Cook to have played such an enormous role in first saving and then winning the test match after all the mocking of him. Stokes is incredibly talismatic when he's on, it's matchwinning performances like this one that will ensure he will be persevered through the inevitable bad times. Someone was questioning Broad's place in the side earlier in the thread, had a bad series in the West Indies but he's a proven wicket taker and on days like today there's not too many in world cricket who you'd rather be bowling.

I don't think there'll be sweeping changes to the NZ side, they just need to refine this somewhat immature notion that every situation can be dealt with by being recklessly aggressive. Some days you just have to accept that you are the nail and take the hammering as best you can, the trick is to know exactly when the hammer gets tired so you can counter at exactly the right moment. It does make for brilliant viewing and the mentality has taken them close to the top, but at some stage they need to be able to adapt so that more test matches aren't thrown away.

 

[Pera]

Thats the sort of contest you get when you actually make a decent test wicket. Kudos to the Lords groundstaff for leaving some grass on the pitch in the first session of day 1. Wickets for the skilled bowlers and runs for the batsman willing to dig deep.

Take note, Australia.

 

[HBF]

Well done England. Not too many teams win after conceeding 500 runs in the first innings.

 

[Slax]

Great test match and also signals that the Ashes might actually be a contest rather than whitewash.

 

[Ashton Agar]

What a test match that was. A great win for English cricket.

 

[Torz]

Thats the sort of contest you get when you actually make a decent test wicket. Kudos to the Lords groundstaff for leaving some grass on the pitch in the first session of day 1. Wickets for the skilled bowlers and runs for the batsman willing to dig deep.

Take note, Australia.

One of the best test pitches I've seen for a while. Was still seaming around on day 5, but with consistent pace and bounce so the batsmen could play their shots.

 

[Dan Cooper]

Well that was one with the lot. Not often you make 523 and lose.

 

[Nuke Fremantle]

Great test match and also signals that the Ashes might actually be a contest rather than whitewash.

Or might signal that the Kiwis are pretenders. Pretty funny actaully after the way McCullum talked them up pre-game.