I'm not watching the game but I find the conflicting views interesting, Whatever he's doing Collingwood is once again leading from the front.

You didn't need to - you implied it with your answers, and I don't need anyone to explain to me why NZ prefer to chase - anyone with half a braincell can work that out for themselves.

I don't view it as being a weakness with the Kiwi side, but a lack of confidence, which is remarkable for a side 'supposedly' No3 in the world rankings whilst playing the No7 side.

The Australian side - No 1 in the rankings are confident of winning when batting first or second, so why not the Kiwis?

Vettori may well end up losing this game - because he chose to bowl first, where does that leave them? That's a much more interesting discussion and one I hoped might be taken up by New Zealand supporters - but apparently not.

But in any case, there's no need to get uppity.

He's only playing the way he is because the New Zealanders keep bowling him bouncers or length, particularly Martin whose completely lost the plot.

Yorkers and slower balls Martin - just not bouncers or length!

341 the target then, which I would say is possible, though not probable for this NZ team.

With line up with such an emphasis on 'strokemakers' the results can be spectacular either way. If they make a decent fist of it it will at least be good to watch.

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never believe anything until it is officially denied . . .

Well, obviously in that situation he's going to play a few slogs, but all of his sixes have just been proper cricket shots that have just been hit beautifully.

I feel kind of sorry for Kyle Mills in this case- he's done a sterling job, but he's still gone for a few runs due to the sloppiness of the other bowlers, meaning that everyone's being targeted.

And when was the last time anyone hit Vettori for 7+ an over?

Good sensible bowling in the last over prevented England from getting the 7 runs they needed to top the record top score posted on this ground by Australia 347-5.

I think England have enough runs, or at least should have: But the short square boundries remain a slight worry.

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Ern

Right then, 340-6 off 50.

That's a pretty good score on any pitch and going on the way the Kiwi's bowled and England batted about right I'd say - England were good for it.

Hard to criticise that batting performance, but they did lose their way a little after the fall of the first two wickets, which is partially understandable considering they needed to rebuild but with Nos 3 and 4 at the wicket and still plenty of batting to come, in a powerplay and with Ryders innocuous looking medium pacers I felt they could have made more of that situation than they did.

New Zealands bowling was nothing more than average, I think they tried too hard by mixing up deliveries with slower balls and cutters that were picked, offering too much width and bowling too short on a pitch that that played true. Hard to push a batsman back with a bouncer when he can just as easily hit it for 6, as duck out of the way. They needed to keep it simple and bowl a fuller length forcing batsmen to hit down the ground. Most successful bowler? Ryder, who, with the keeper up simply bowled full and straight - wicket to wicket.

Even the famed New Zealand fielding looked sloppy in places with McCullum dropping a sitter and fumbling byes later in the game, the pressure started to tell on all the fielders and mistakes were made, they started to look quite ragged towards the end of the 50 overs.

Even Vettori got clobbered for a few runs today and that just goes to show how good this pitch is, so if England can score runs on it so can New Zealand.

New Zealand can win this - but it depends entirely on how well they start and of course how well England bowl, but the pressure's on New Zealand as they have a fairly healthy run rate to keep up and they must get a good start in the powerplay overs.

For those hoping for an even contest with plenty of runs and thrills - this one could be it, regardless of the outcome!

NZ are 71/1 after 11, Ryders just been dismissed for 39, mistimed slog to midwicket. I guess Parore will claim he got out cause he was hungry.

Match is evenly poised but NZ need to carry the momentum on. How is in and he's not the fastest scorer so he'll have to focus on getting the strike to McCullum as much as possible.

As I write this, How's on 27 from 33 (SR 81) so it's good to see that he can turn it up when needed. It was also good to see that Ryder's capable of playing a good knock under pressure. 39 might not be a great return, but it was a sensible knock, and got New Zealand off to the start they needed. Well played by McCullum, too- that was a nasty blow to the hand.

Anderson 6 overs for 61 runs.

Broad 6 over for 38 runs + about 10 wides.

Anderson bowing to full, Broad to short and wide.

Colly and Sidebottom are the pick - NZ up with the rate, and either Anderson or Broad have to improve at some stage or NZ will win.

Must be said this dead pitch has NOTHING in it for the bowlers with any amount of pace.

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Ern