Yes on paper looks great - would be very happy with that going into the Ashes. With Foakes and then a bowling attack of Leach plus 3 of Anderson/Broad/Robinson/Archer !!
Those two wickets in quick succession threw them off their axis it seemed, although I didn't see the last eight overs. Shame. However the men are flying!
England need 210 to win with 9 wickets in hand. I am sure we will target that in the usual manner. If we win be the first time the team have won 5 consecutive overseas tests since 1915.
80-4. Pope gone. Not looking good. I’m going to bed ! Edit Brook run out without even facing. Awful start and the chance of those records is in tatters.
Lost by one run ! That run out of Brook was decisive though the biggest mistake was enforcing the follow-on. Should have batted NZ out of the match, secured the series win, and then taken almost 2 days to bowl out a demoralised NZ.
Now we know how the Aussies felt all those years ago ! Credit to the Black caps. Shame we just didn’t get over the line- those little errors early in the innings cost us .
Hopefully we won't always try to find ways to make the match more exciting when well on top in a match. It would have been nice to have won the series.
Was pretty gutted when I saw the result this morning. Was pretty comfortable when I called it a night. I’ll no doubt feel better if we stuff the struggling Aussies.
Yes winning in an entertaining fashion is great. If we'd been 1-0 down in the series , or even level, enforcing might have been the right call, even if their tailenders had just been smashing the ball around at the end of their first innings.
Of course in ye olden days the follow on was almost always enforced - odd to think of Stokes as a traditionalist!
Stokes and co probably thought we’d bowl them out easily and didn’t expect such resistance. Doesn’t help when your most in form batsman gets out without even facing a ball then others try loose shots.
I'm sure he didn't, but given the way Southee (?) had tonked the bowling around on what was becoming a very good wicket, and the average age of our bowling attack being 61, plus how the series was positioned, I didn't think at the time it was the right call. There was plenty of time to add a quick 250-300 leaving them 450-500 odd to chase batting 4th. The pressure of batting last with no real prospect of drawing the series should have seen us win. The downside of enforcing the follow on was that we probably wouldn't see Brook bat again. Ironically we batted again and lost, without seeing Brook bat again.
Down to Malan and Woakes. Seems to be a slow wicket so no chance to score quickly . EDIT: Woakes just gone .
Why Is Vince still anywhere near any England team ? Has he ever done anything, in any format, for England ?
Almost 12 years since you made the very first post on this thread. Broad was mentioned in that first post, almost 6000 posts ago......
Just shows the longevity of him and Anderson! Meanwhile today Roy has got a century v Bangladesh to bounce back from a few low scores recently. Australia have beaten India it seems. Also a good recovery after the first 2 tests .
England hit 326-7 with Curren and Ali contributing strongly at the end . You’d think that would be enough .
I used to fancy Jan Francis.....a lot. I have a signed autograph from her . I therefore hated "Vince" ...
