Pitch looks a belter

[flanflinger]

Oh dear, it won't please Rachel at all. But this pitch looks a cracker for batting with very little in it for the seam bowlers....

Why on this type of pitch do England always lose the toss - meaning our boys have to suffer bowling all day

[sostenurter]

We lose way more tosses than we win. I don't want to make too many excuses, because England have not bowled well this morning, but what's our record of winning tosses over the past couple of years?

[Mike_Hock]

Couple of quick wickets! Couple more will swing in in our favour. Come on boys

[Scott-Wozniak]

Originally Posted by sostenurter

We lose way more tosses than we win. I don't want to make too many excuses, because England have not bowled well this morning, but what's our record of winning tosses over the past couple of years?

I think England have won 3 out of the last 16 tosses (or was it 12?)

Scott

[sostenurter]

Originally Posted by Scott-Wozniak

I think England have won 3 out of the last 16 tosses (or was it 12?)

Scott

Given that we all accept there is not much to pick between the sides from number 3 in the ICC rankings down to Number 7, tosses become even more important - they can often be the only difference between two evenly matched sides.

As with bad umpiring decisions, you hope these things even themselves out, but if you have such a terrible record as we have, it's a big disadvantage.

According to the C4 commentators, Flintoff is off the field!!! What is happeneing? Bring back Freddie!

[Scott-Wozniak]

Originally Posted by sostenurter

According to the C4 commentators, Flintoff is off the field!!! What is happeneing? Bring back Freddie!

Calm down! He's back!

At last we're getting somewhere with another wicket. One thing these Kiwi's are doing very well is judging the line of the ball and leaving any they don't have to play - Hoggy got one to nip back and caught McMillan out LBW - nice bowling.

Come on guys we need two more wickets in this session to make it Englands day!!!

Scott

[sostenurter]

Originally Posted by Scott-Wozniak

Calm down! He's back!

At last we're getting somewhere with another wicket. One thing these Kiwi's are doing very well is judging the line of the ball and leaving any they don't have to play - Hoggy got one to nip back and caught McMillan out LBW - nice bowling.

Come on guys we need two more wickets in this session to make it Englands day!!!

Scott

No, I want more, we need three wickets! Richardson is getting a bit bogged down and Oram is not going mental like we expected - though now I've said that....

Maybe Giles should come on ?

[Pete]

What a surprise, Gilo not keeping it tight.

[R W S]

NZ bat a long way down (with Vettori scoring 137* Vs Pakistan over Xmas last year helping the black caps from 314/7 to 563/ao!) in at 9!! I'd like to think we'd keep them under 350 but with Oram in and two big guns to come I may have to make a deal with God for that to happen!! Hope Kirsty is having a good time watching 'el bin' get carted around!

[Scott-Wozniak]

Originally Posted by sostenurter

No, I want more, we need three wickets!

sostenurter

Well you got one more wicket!

Can't say I'm unhappy to see the back of Richardson, jeez what a boring player. Neither was I unhappy he was out when he clearly got an inside edge. I really did feel he was extremely fortunate to get away with some of his play and misses, dropped catches etc - he was living a charmed life, and being so unbelievably stubborn and boring with it - good riddance to him - he's like a bloody limpet.

England's bowlers really do need a different policy with Richardson - he's a 'no risk taker' batsman, and if you let him, he'll just sit there all day letting balls go by. You've got apply pressure to him, for some reason not scoring doesnt seem to bother him in any way - they've got to make him play the ball, force him into making a mistake.

Scott