Pietersen now gone - trying to cart the bowler, probably caused by the pressure of slow scoring.

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Ern

Oh dear,#

The best bat in the side gone now.

Bowlers will have to dig us out I suppose!!!

Yea but they need a total to bowl at, what score can England get from here - as Scott pointed out on an ever so slow pitch.

And England have no spinner.

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Ern

Paul Collinwood out stumped - oh well there is always the test series.
England 128-5.

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Ern

It seems we come down to the old debate about county all rounders against proven class specialists.

Early hours again for us Ern. No where near as painful as Adelaide though is it mate?!! Perhaps Ace can do something??

We'll have to agree to differ - the execution was bad, not the shot selection. He either needed to drop it short, go over the top or to the left or right of that fielder, unfortunately he dropped it right down his throat - it happens. Going down the ground was the right option though in the way that the Kiwi's have been bowling.

In any case, England are dead and buried, yet again. They will not get a defendable total on this pitch, NZ have taken too many wickets at regular intervals - England have simply not got going.

The Kiwi's two spinners are strangling the run scoring, they're used to bowling on these surfaces and they understand how to bowl on pitches with small boundaries.

England do not have a spinner in their side.

The only person responsible for this debacle is Peter Moores - who's got the team selections completely wrong in my opinion, and they'll lose this series as a result. It's all very well beefing up the batting, but if you cannot manage to score a defendable total how an earth are only 3 frontline bowlers, no spinners and 3 part timers supposed to defend it?

The answer of course is that they won't.

True - wonder why both Mascarenhas and Wright are in the side?.

Mascarenhas, Played two matches o wickets and 0 runs.
Swann got no wickets - but he's only bowled 5 overs - harldy a fair trial.

To right - zzzzzzzz.

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Ern

Spot on in all counts Scott - Moores has took England back to the days of bits and pieces players - and I don't see England with in effect only 3 bowlers defending a small total which looks to be England's lot.

Swann could have none no worse than Mascarenhas with the bat IMO, and this pitch is turning Swann should have been in there.
163-5 with less than 10 overs remaining.

Wright hammered a much needed 6.

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Ern

It doesn't in my mind, it comes down to the players knowing and understanding how to play on different pitch surfaces and of course selecting a side with the correct balance.

I could understand England wanting to go with an all seam attack if the conditions warranted it - but they don't. These pitches are not typical New Zealand pitches, particularly as they've been suffering from a draught. These pitches are more like the kind you find in the sub-continent - not in a country noted for it's lush green countryside.

This is fairly basic stuff one would have thought but it seems to have gone completely over Moores' head and the other plonker selector Miller.

Credit needs to be given to the Kiwi's here - Vettori is fast becoming an extremely shrewd Captain.

Wright and Shah gone - both batted well under the circumstances.

Can Mascarenhas give a cameo to give England 230-240?.

Yea - Vettori is a pretty cool headed captain.

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Ern