The International Cricket Thread

[olaftab]

Ace review that.

[Rory]

What did Jimmy's parents feed him when he was a child? He's indestructible.

[olaftab]

Watch Anderson get injured now and miss the Ashes.😂

[Rory]

Watch Anderson get injured now and miss the Ashes.😂

Well if that does happen, you'd better not blame me!

[olaftab]

I have already blamed you in my mind Rory.

[Rory]

I never knew you were so judgmental, Aftab. I'm just glad that Jimmy is going to stay fit and power us to Ashes glory.

[olaftab]

I am unforgiving when superstitious errors lead to humiliation by Aussies. It’s happened far too often and I am convinced it’s not about that they have better players it’s just that we curse ourselves😂

[Rory]

I am unforgiving when superstitious errors lead to humiliation by Aussies.

That's perfectly understandable!

[olaftab]

Southee hitting the ball all over the place. Follow on will be academic at this rate.

[olaftab]

Follow on endorsed with 226 lead is quote unique in modern cricket so once again it’s brave cricket from England.

[tomd2103]

Follow on endorsed with 226 lead is quote unique in modern cricket so once again it’s brave cricket from England.

Not coming from hindsight and been proven wrong by Stokes and McCullum many times already, but did find the decision a bit questionable to be honest. 

I think it is more the overall situation to be honest.  1-0 up in a 2 game series and a chance to bat the opposition out of the game.  Top three hadn’t fired in the first innings, so would have given them a chance to get some time at the middle.  Also, given how quickly we score, you would have thought that they would have amassed a big enough score to give them plenty of time to bowl NZ out in the fourth innings.

As good as they are, Anderson and Broad are obviously no spring chickens so it is a tough ask to ask them bowl back to back as well. 

[Risso]

This team doesn't seem capable of a bad decision though. New Zealand are now minus 24 for three, so even after a good session they still need to get another 250+ just to have something to bowl at. It's still a relatively new ball, so if England can get 2 to 3 quick wickets, we should roll them over no bother.

[paul_e]

Follow on endorsed with 226 lead is quote unique in modern cricket so once again it’s brave cricket from England.

Not coming from hindsight and been proven wrong by Stokes and McCullum many times already, but did find the decision a bit questionable to be honest. 

I think it is more the overall situation to be honest.  1-0 up in a 2 game series and a chance to bat the opposition out of the game.  Top three hadn’t fired in the first innings, so would have given them a chance to get some time at the middle.  Also, given how quickly we score, you would have thought that they would have amassed a big enough score to give them plenty of time to bowl NZ out in the fourth innings.

As good as they are, Anderson and Broad are obviously no spring chickens so it is a tough ask to ask them bowl back to back as well. 

I suspect this is purely because it's a green pitch. Quite often then become a bit unresponsive on days 4 and 5 so we didn't want to have them batting on that. As Risso says they're still in a very tough situation and it only needs a couple of early wickets tonight to take this away from them. I'd back us to chase anything up to about 250 without much concern and I don't think they have the options to push anything more than that unless we fall apart.

There was a interesting post on facebook by cricinfo earlier pointing out that Southee is now joint 10th for the most 6s in test matches. The bit that matters though is that the top 2 are Stokes and McCullum, which goes a long way to explaining why the team plays like we do.

[Risso]

I also like the fact that if we do win, then teams will know that we can win in every single circumstance.

[olaftab]

Follow on was correct decision as Basin Reserve turns into Rawalpindi mat pitch after the first two days. So batting on to get a lead of 500 would have removed the immediate pressure on NZ and ensured an almost certain draw.