The International Cricket Thread 2018

[taylorsworkrate]

Probably need to take our medicine now and revise the target to 350, otherwise we'll continue to gift wickets and get 320.

350 on this is probably about a par score, but no better than that.

[taylorsworkrate]

This is fucking dreadful

[taylorsworkrate]

They must be doing this shit on purpose now. Unfathomable crap

[taylorsworkrate]

I'd be withholding the match fee for the middle and lower order players regardless of whether we win this match or not. All of them have just thrown their wickets away. NZ were dead and buried in this match and we have gifted them 6 wickets to pretty much put them on top

[Villafirst]

Why has Chris Woakes been brought back so late? He bowled his first 5 overs for only 14, and won't get his allocated 10 in now? Rubbish captaincy!

[taylorsworkrate]

Why has Chris Woakes been brought back so late? He bowled his first 5 overs for only 15, and won't get his allocated 10 in?

Yep, really don't get that at all. Easily our best bowler at the moment. We've also screwed ourselves by using up the review with a ball that clearly pitched outside leg stump. A couple of times since then a review would have resulted in a wicket. Poor captaincy from Morgan on both fronts.

The truth is though, that we should have got a minimum of 50 more runs in our innings. We were absolutely pathetic from the moment Bairstow got out

[Villan For Life]

We were easily 50 runs short as Taylorsworkrate says and the Twenty20 mindset of our middle order means they completely misread what the match situation required.

I watched the first 25 overs of our innings. Both Root and Bairstow defended the good balls and put the bad balls over the boundary. Bairstow in particular hit some huge sixes.  That we collapsed is no surprise but why do our players insist on trying to go big from the first ball that they face?

[OCD]

Don't know why Root isn't captains in ODI's when he captains tests and is playing.

[paul_e]

What a strange game.  I turned it off withus on 220ish for 1 and looking at a 360+ score with Root and Bairstow looking in complete control then got up to find we'd lost and the middle order had just rolled over one after the other.  I don't get how that happened, NZ looked utterly beaten.

[Villa Lew]

Superb knock from Ross Taylor, especially coming in, when both openers were out for ducks and hardly been able to run. Set up for a great decider on Friday/Saturday, looks like an early alarm call.

[tomd2103]

Decent start for us here with the ball.  Been able to pick up a couple of wickets and kept it pretty tight.

[tomd2103]

Kiwis all out for 223.  Bairstow's catch in the deep to remove Southee was superb. 

[paul_e]

223 all out looks decent without context but in truth we've let them put 60-70 more on the board than they should've.

Credit once again to Woakes for another superb performance with the ball.

[JD]

This is becoming a stroll. 100 needed and no wickets lost.

Can't understand how badly NZ batted it is a great batting pitch and a wonderful sunny day here.

[JD]

Brilliant innings by Bairstow, he has torn NZ apart.