NZ v England test matches, November 2019

[bigfluffylemon]

And gets out on 91. 277/5

Still not bad, not great. 400 seems to be minimum competitive score on this wicket, still looks a long way off.

[backfootpunch]

Same old same old

Terrible shots from stokes and pope when looking comfortable

[Arthur Crabtree]

Three wickets in two overs from NZ-Tim. Buttler batting with the tail. That was sudden.

[Arthur Crabtree]

I keep writing off Southee. But he keeps proving me wrong.

On a hattrick.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Archer averages 6.8 in Tests. Proper number 11 average. Early days though!

[Alviro Patterson]

Same old same old

Terrible shots from stokes and pope when looking comfortable

The difference between reaching 350 and 400.

On the plus side, the South Africa tour will start with test matches so players will be in the same mindset.

Jofra Archer does not look like a batsmen at this level, how does he average so much in County Cricket?

[Arthur Crabtree]

Sounds like Pope got out with the flaw that kept getting exposed in his first exposure to international bowlers. Driving without control at balls wide of off.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Archer still can't get it going with the bat.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Leach might stay in for an hour or two.

[Alviro Patterson]

6 of the 7 England wickets pitched well wide of the stumps, the batsmen should never be flashing wide in the morning session.

Colin de Grandhomme bowling bouncers, what kind of sorcery is this?!

[bigfluffylemon]

I'm a jinx today, each time I check the score a wicket falls.

Yet again England will fail to make 400. 350 on this pitch doesn't feel like enough - ok but not great. I guess you never know until both teams have batted. But it does kind of feel that, despite some improvements in attitude, most of the players have got out due to getting bored/lapse of concentration fishing at a wide one as NZ have done well keeping it tight and restricting scoring.

England's highest score in 2019 is 374, and they haven't passed 400 since Cook's farewell match at the Oval in 2018. They have only once passed 360 overseas since the Melbourne test in 2017 (Cook again). Pretty much the lowest conversion rate of 50s to 100s of any team. They just don't have the patience to turn starts into big, matchwinning scores. For all his faults, Cook had that - he often struggled towards the end, but when he did get in, he had that level of concentration to make it count.

Bets on Kane coming in and showing us how it's done?

[bigfluffylemon]

Yup. Latham goes early, Raval is playing pretty watchfully, but Kane looks like he's batting on a different surface from everyone else, apart from maybe Stokes.

[bigfluffylemon]

Stokes gets Taylor, and NZ are in a very similar position as England at this point in the innings.

Good stuff so far from the first two days - still pretty even, and every time one side looks like getting away, the other pulls it back.

[bigfluffylemon]

Jinx continues, as I seem to have got Taylor out, and now Williamson. Huge, huge wicket from young Sam Curran, and NZ are doing exactly what England did - getting starts, but failing to convert. Well well.

NZ have a lot of batting still to come though. I never thought too much of Big CdG, but he averages 39.3 - just shy of 40, and more than all but four players who have batted for England since the start of 2014 - Root, Cook, Hameed (3 tests) and Foakes.

And we dropped Foakes because?

Number 5 on that list, with an average of 37, is Ballance...

[bigfluffylemon]

England will probably be the happier of the two sides now after getting Kane. Still a good contest though - a good morning tomorrow and NZ will be right back in it.