NZ Test tour of Eng, June 2-27

[sussexpob]

Stokes looks in the type of mood that either ends with an 88 ball century, or a dismissal in about 2 minutes

[bigfluffylemon]

I literally posted that as the ball thundered on his pad.....I'd say I'd cursed him, but his own lack of talent does that well enough

How many chances at the last chance saloon for JB?

Hopefully zero. But he only scores runs when he's in that saloon.

[bigfluffylemon]

3 50+ scores in 29 innings since the start of 2021.

His innings at Sydney was great, but he's done sod all else in that time.

[sussexpob]

46 from 33 for stokes, then out.

[bigfluffylemon]

Stokes holes out.

I guess I can see why he was trying to impose himself, but NZ still 140 ahead. Has that really helped the team that much?

I suppose there is an argument that the only way England could win would be to be all out before lunch tomorrow 50-100 behind then tempt NZ to bad aggressively to set a target and get them cheaply. If England bat to parity or even ahead, there won't be enough time left in the game for NZ to set a target and bowl England out (barring collapses, of course)

But seems like a long shot.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Curious sort of innings.

[Durhamfootman]

Curious sort of innings.

more curious than the Lords second innings?

[Durhamfootman]

on what seems like a flat old piece of nonsense where lots and lots of batters are scoring runs, it doesn't surprise me one bit that YJB got an eleven ball 8

[Arthur Crabtree]

Batting at three an over since Stokes got out, so his innings not part of a team strategy. Puts me in mind of some of Botham's innings when he just went out to see what shape his mojo was in.

[bigfluffylemon]

Deficit down to 90.

Root has 13 150+ scores, the most by any England player. Cook had 11, Hammond, Hutton and KP all scored 10.

[bigfluffylemon]

86 overs bowled today, 5 minutes until close, so they'll be short again.

Have they got through 90 any day this series yet?

[sussexpob]

Well England could only have lost the game today, and they have avoided that. Will either team be brave enough to push for a result, or will England wander to parity and NZ bat out a draw?

Certainly going to take a change in the conditions to get a result.

Regardless of any of that Root continues to be a monster. Pope finally had a breakthrough. Lees contributed well. Foakes once again was steady at the point the innings could have dropped off.

That leaves Bairstow without a chair when the music stops. The others have bought more time, and hopefully can build on their scores. Bairstow has to be replaced

[alfie]

Pretty obvious England have not been thinking about just playing for a draw. Even apart from the Stokes frenzy , their approach all day has been to take every scoring opportunity and push for a position from which they can put the NZ second innings under a bit of pressure. The situation at the close means they have almost achieved that part of the plan.

Lot to do still , of course (and to be honest , I doubt the Kiwis will be so obliging as to collapse on day four anyway) ; but if the remaining bats can get level or even a little ahead fairly quickly tomorrow the game will at least be "on" rather than the prospect of a day or so of playing out time to a bore draw. Pitch has been fine to bat on , bar the odd killer ball delivered with a new one ; but there were some signs that spin might play a part over the later stages. And I suppose we might also note that almost every batsman who eventually went big was reprieved early on by butter fingered catchers so I'd hesitate to simply classify it as a complete road. Has been consistently good for fast scoring though : that outfield could hardly have been smoother !

If NZ bat well and have a decent lead by end of day , I suppose the question would arise as what kind of target they would be willing to set England ? You'd think they'd be fairly conservative given the scoring rate over three days ; so I suspect the only real chance of a result either way is for them to be bowled out in time for a run chase. Reckon the draw remains favourite ; but after all the twists and turns we have already seen in this series I'm not ruling anything out.

Can't say any of it has been dull...

[bigfluffylemon]

England have clearly been told not to hang around this morning and get on with erasing the deficit. They are clearly aiming to get a result one way or the other. So Root gets out hitting, and now Broad promoted to have a swing.

Not sure if it's the best approach when 1-0 up in the series, but at least they're trying to avoid a bore draw.

Well played Foakes. Amazing stat that both sides scored 500 but no-one who's made it to 50 has done so without being dropped.

[bigfluffylemon]

This is only the sixth time I can find that both teams having scored more than 500 in the first innings in a test in England.

Last time it happened, was in 2006, and England actually won - rather like this match, both sides compiled over 500 in just over 3 days, then England set 300 odd to win and bundled Pakistan out on the last day.
https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/pak ... -scorecard

I think this is already the third highest aggregate score in the first and second innings in matches in England.