The Cricket Thread 2016

[The Left Side]

Great catch to win it

[olaftab]

Well done England great all round performance. May be Cook's critics  and Pietersen's friends  can shut up for a little while.

[olaftab]

What a game. 523 in the first innings and they lose. Incredible.

Typical New Zealand all show no substance.

[olaftab]

Great catch to win it

Yes Moeen did very well for that one and also C&B for the wicket prior to that.

[tomd2103]

Well done England great all round performance. May be Cook's critics  and Pietersen's friends  can shut up for a little while.

Hopefully with regards to the latter, but I'm still not convinced about the former.  He had a good day today, but I still think there are questions about his captaincy.

[paul_e]

Well done England great all round performance. May be Cook's critics  and Pietersen's friends  can shut up for a little while.

Hopefully with regards to the latter, but I'm still not convinced about the former.  He had a good day today, but I still think there are questions about his captaincy.

He made the same mistakes as always today and, in my opinion, he'd set up for the draw when our last wicket went down, it was only when we skittled the openers cheaply that anyone really gave us a chance of winning it (from what I can tell, I didn't watch until the last half hour) and only when McCullum went first ball that it became a genuine prospect, that's certainly the feeling all the online live feeds gave.

[Chris Jameson]

Poor bloke can't win with some whatever he does!

[Villan For Life]

To win a test when you were reduced to 30-4 in the first innings and concede a lead of 134 is remarkable.

The thing with Cook is that he is a poor tactician. He captains by example and leads from the front. He is popular with his team and you could see that by the reaction of the players on the balcony when he reached 3 figures yesterday. When he is in form his critics will be silenced. He's been through a poor run of form and I think the loss of the one day captaincy has helped him focus on tests and the results are clear.

[dave.woodhall]

With the usual caveat that I know nothing about cricket, 8/1 England to win seems very good odds given the scores so far.

17/2 was even better.

[Andy Poole]

What a day!

Got a nice spot in the Tavern stand, square of the wicket. The place was rammed, stand after stand had to be opened up as so many to watch. Other than the Warner stand, which is for the bacon and egg boys and their mates, I'd say it was a full house.

So many first timers too. Hats off to MCC for a job well done.

[Chris Jameson]

You can't beat a good Test match, glad you enjoyed the day Andy.

[steffo]

I thought he got it right. We couldn't lose the game on the last day and we took our chances.

The 5 day game has reached a new level - over 1500 runs scored and 20 wickets taken with only 8.5 overs remaining of the game.

[olaftab]

What a day!

Got a nice spot in the Tavern stand, square of the wicket. The place was rammed, stand after stand had to be opened up as so many to watch. Other than the Warner stand, which is for the bacon and egg boys and their mates, I'd say it was a full house.

So many first timers too. Hats off to MCC for a job well done.

Well done Andy sounds like you got your money's worth. You took a chance to go on a day that was seen by nearly everyone as a dead day but what a day! Fortune favours the  brave.

[tomd2103]

I thought he got it right. We couldn't lose the game on the last day and we took our chances.

The 5 day game has reached a new level - over 1500 runs scored and 20 wickets taken with only 8.5 overs remaining of the game.

Don't want to be too critical after a great win, but it would have been interesting had we not been bowled out.  It forced Cook's hand, as I'm not sure he would have been too keen on declaring. 

[PaulWinch again]

Stokes has showed why he must play and why he'll be a hell of a player.