Eng Test tour of NZ, Nov 28 - Dec 18

[bigfluffylemon]

Mitchell is hanging in there but England quicks are steadily getting through the tail. Going to take a miracle for NZ from here.

Root is now 3 catches shy of Dravid for the all-time non-wicketkeeper record.

[backfootpunch]

Daryl mitchell doing his best chanderpaul impression so far this innings

Having a net while his team is collapsing

Not sure why he's not been playing shots to try to get the target up since smith got out.

[backfootpunch]

Atkinsons pace seems to have dropped significantly since his debut

Gone from high 80s to low 80s

Wonder why

Might be exaggerated this test as he is clearly struggling for rhythm. Bowling loads of no balls.

[Arthur Crabtree]

My impression is Root missed quite a lot too. But a great record.

[bigfluffylemon]

Irritating last partnership of 45. But goes to show there aren't too many demons in the pitch. 104 to chase - I'm sure there will be the inevitable England wobble, but should be easily gettable (famous last words).

Carse 6-fer and 10 in the match. Well bowled, lad.

[Arthur Crabtree]

104 to win. No sweat.

[bigfluffylemon]

Another failure from Crawley, but Duckett is rattling along.

[bigfluffylemon]

8 wicket win and a 37 ball fifty from Bethell to finish it off.

Very comprehensive, but could have been a very different tale if NZ had been more on it in the first two days.

Still, we saw a 1-0 win in convincing fashion in Pakistan before it fell apart.

[backfootpunch]

Can't be many specialist batsmen in the history of the game who have played 50 games and averaged lower than Crawley 31.29

At some point you have to think continually picking him is doing him more harm than good.

He looked like he turned a corner averaging 53 in the ashes and 41 in tough conditions in india but he's averaging in the mid to low 20s since then.

He's more than young enough to be dropped go away and work on his game then come back a better player in a year or two.

[Durhamfootman]

Good win. I feel that Carse's 6fer and Bethell's 50 will do them both the power of good

[Arthur Crabtree]

Crawley barely makes a run for a year, and then makes a double hundred. But he's overdue the double hundred.

[alfie]

To be fair to Crawley , he had two pretty good series against Australia and India (about as tough a test as you can get) and seemed to be on an upward path : then just after a couple of quiet games against West Indies he got injured. (And I wonder if that the hand injury may still be troubling him to some extent as he has been fielding outside his normal slip position ?) He has found runs hard to come by since returning - just the one score on a road in Pakistan ; but it is still only a handful of innings.

Overall average does mean he is under a bit of pressure to find form soon. Not sure he is ever going to attain the sort of consistency you'd ideally like in an opener so it is a question of whether the high points make it worth accepting some dry spells. But I won't be surprised if he comes up with a big one to quiet the critics for a while ; and I certainly wouldn't be dropping him just yet - especially as there really isn't an alternative opener in the party. Think Bethell was given a tough enough role as an unfamiliar number three without asking him to go one higher : not that he'd be in much earlier than he was this week

[sussexpob]

I think if Zak has another disaster test and Bethell makes another 50, he might be the one without a chair when Smith returns and the music stops.

[sussexpob]

Didn't see any of this test due to the time. Test cricket is all over the place....NZ hammer India, England lose 2 in a row to Pakistan who can't buy a win, India then smash Australia and England beat NZ....

All over the place... but its good for the game I guess.

Wonder when the last time 3 away teams in tight billed series won in the same week

[Arthur Crabtree]

England unchanged for tomorrow.

They usually rotate the quicks these days. But not this time.