Prediction League - England Vs New Zealand

[Kirsty Harris]

Originally Posted by Scott-Wozniak

Kirsty

Looks like Ernest has too ! Grats to the both of you !!!

Scott

Thank's - it's easy when you know how!!! Now if I could only stop being such a rubbish speller...sigh..that's pretty unlikely!!

[Ernest]

Originally Posted by Kirsty Harris

Yep, I feel like Wilkinson did when he slotted the ball between the posts to win the World Cup!

Yep, I rekon I could slot Murli into side too, given the chance...I might even consider leaving out Ashley Giles for him!!

Leave Ashley Giles out!!!When can you get Murli Kirsty,I sorted my spelling,and i am yuk!

Thanks Scott.

[Ernest]

Originally Posted by Scott-Wozniak

Kirsty

Looks like Ernest has too ! Grats to the both of you !!!

Scott

Thanks Scott,

Ernest

[Kirsty Harris]

Originally Posted by ernest

Leave Ashley Giles out!!!When can you get Murli

Thanks Scott.

Sigh... I'll do my best to get him for the 1st test v NZ...no promises mind!!!Lol!!!

But Ashley will be very disappointed, so he'll have to keep the score, like that chap in Wonderous Oblivian..!!

[Ernest]

Originally Posted by Kirsty Harris

Sigh... I'll do my best to get him for the 1st test v NZ...no promises mind!!!Lol!!!

But Ashley will be very disappointed, so he'll have to keep the score, like that chap in Wonderous Oblivian..!!

I am sue you will find away Kirsty,Feel sos for Ash though.after all he has done for us.

Did you ever find were a cinama showing wonderous Oblivian:i seem to remember you posting about it...

could not reply last night,left my mobile on,and I fould myself of into the wilds picking someone up,some people think I am a taxi.

[Kirsty Harris]

Originally Posted by ernest

I am sue you will find away Kirsty,Feel sos for Ash though.after all he has done for us.

Did you ever find were a cinama showing wonderous Oblivian:i seem to remember you posting about it...

could not reply last night,left my mobile on,and I fould myself of into the wilds picking someone up,some people think I am a taxi.

Ernest

Quick check in as I'm on my way out of the door to go to work until god knows what time tonight!!!
I know how you feel about people thinknig you are a taxi! I had two on-call issues to deal with yesterday, both stupid things that took bloody hours of my day!! Not on-call now, thank god!!

Yep, saw the film - it was good!

To drag this thread back to the topic (after discussing Ian Bothem ,sport personality of the year and the Olympic games in some detail - we areawful!!), if we can't get Murli , who do you think will make it into our bowling attack for the first test? I imagine it will be the same as the test series, with Giles/Batty being the ? - I'm wondering if Anderson might come in, with no spinner at all...

[Ernest]

Originally Posted by Kirsty Harris

Ernest

Quick check in as I'm on my way out of the door to go to work until god knows what time tonight!!!
I know how you feel about people thinknig you are a taxi! I had two on-call issues to deal with yesterday, both stupid things that took bloody hours of my day!! Not on-call now, thank god!!

Yep, saw the film - it was good!
.

A quick reply,I would like to see keedey in in place of Giles,he actually gets wickets,glad you enjoyed yor film,

see yu

ernest

[sostenurter]

Hey guys,

have been looking through the the cricinfo archives to try and back up my belief that England will win the upcoming series with NZ.

We played NZ away just two years ago and had the better of the three match series - we were unlucky to only draw it, imo.
Comparing that England side to this, we have a side that is very similar in most respects and better in some. The team in 2002 was Tres, Vaughan, Butcher, Hussain, Thorpe, Ramps, Flintoff, Foster, Giles, Caddick, hoggard.

This was an under-strength England side, because Alec Stewart and Darren Gough didn't want to take part in the winter tours.
Of that side - Vaughan is a better player now than then
Tres has perhaps gone backwards a little, but essentially he is the same player
Butch, Nas and Thorpe are (imo) as reliable as ever.
Flintoff is a much better player.
Hoggard is as good as he was then, if not slightly better.
Read and Jones are both better, as glovesmen and batsmen, than Jamie Foster
Harmison can be Caddick's equal.

Now, here is the interesting part of the question. I was surprised to see that in that series, England played only two specialist seamers, Hoggard and Caddick. Flintoff and Giles did the rest of the bowling, and no one else bowled anyting significant. Given that England went into the Tests against WI recently with three specialist seamers, an all-rounder, and a spinner, this surprised me somewhat. The other surprise was that Giles bowled quite reasonably on those surfaces - he only took six wickets, but he was the most economical of England's bowlers and bowled over 100 overs. Daniel Vettori, who I consider to be a better bowler, took only 5 wickets in the series, and was less economical. I guess we've all grown so used to Giles doing badly outside the sub-continent that we've forgotten when he was good, which actually wasn't all that long ago.

Given all this, I think England should either give Giles one last chance to prove he can do well, or drop him and play three seamers, Flintoff, and an extra batsman - Strauss or Collingwood. I personally would go for the extra batsman, trusting that Vaughan, Butcher and Tres will make up any extra bowling that needs to be done.
This side will be stronger in every respect but one (the lack of a decent spinner) to the side that played the Kiwis only two years ago on their home patch. And I think that on May pitches, the lack of a good spinner shouldn't matter too much, especially if you have a strong pace attack.
Tres, Vaughan, Butcher, Nas, Thorpe, Collingwood/Strauss, Flintoff, G Jones, Hoggard, Harmison, S Jones

Obviously, the NZ has had changes as well, for the better and for the worse, but I firmly believe that England are good enough to win this one.

[Richie Benauds Love Child]

I dont think vaughan was the player he was by a long way. Butch, although improved seems quite content to keep his average around 50, but thopre and nass will do the business. WIth strauss probably coming in our batting should be quiet good too.

My tip for the series : Tresco to take 6 or more wickets in a match.

[sostenurter]

Originally Posted by Richie Benauds Love Child

I dont think vaughan was the player he was by a long way. Butch, although improved seems quite content to keep his average around 50, but thopre and nass will do the business. WIth strauss probably coming in our batting should be quiet good too.

My tip for the series : Tresco to take 6 or more wickets in a match.

Both Tres and Butch could take wickets in this series - the conditions will suit them, Butcher has taken a 4-for in similar circumstances last year - but only if they get the chance - and the other seamers will have to do pretty poorly, or get injured, for them to get that chance.

Vaughan in NZ 2002 was an unproven player - this was before his summer and winter of brilliance, and there was nothing to suggest he was going to do as amzingly well as he did. He only had 1 or 2 Test centuries at that point. It was also the first series in which he opened, and the first with him and Tres as opening partners. He didn't do particularly brilliantly in that series.