England v New Zealand Test Series 2026

[andy]

Bethell goes caught behind

[Durhamfootman]

3 consecutive failures?

it's almost as if he needed some practice before walking into the team

[sussexpob]

Or to actually prove he's a test player by scoring some runs at a lesser level.... And not against Australia's C attack in a dead rubber

[sussexpob]

The umpire just called a no ball because Ravindra came in too close on the leg side, against the bodyline rule of two close fielders behind square on the leg side...

After 6 consecutive overs of 5-6 bouncers from archer last night, if I were Latham I'd make a complaint about that. Rules being applied strictly, but it's ok to ignore archer hitting Phillips on the body 4 times?

[Arthur Crabtree]

Gay goes. Another 50 but might have cashed in..

[sussexpob]

Root follows... One of the new debutants needs to make a score

[Arthur Crabtree]

Yes, long tail starts next wicket... Good fightback from Kiwis.

[sussexpob]

Brook out now...england in big trouble

[Arthur Crabtree]

Passed the follow on.

[sussexpob]

Probably jinx it, but these two looking solod

[Arthur Crabtree]

Here comes the tail...

[Durhamfootman]

well, England have made a right @rse of that

lots to do tomorrow

[bigfluffylemon]

3 consecutive failures?

it's almost as if he needed some practice before walking into the team

Practice? Are you nuts?

I'm reminded of that Flanders and Swann song about England. Practising beforehand ruins the fun...

[sussexpob]

Practice? Are you nuts? I'm reminded of that Flanders and Swann song about England. Practising beforehand ruins the fun...

Judging on how far his bat has been away from his front pad in all three dismissals, I think he needs more than some warm ups.... a whole technique might be in order.

[sussexpob]

I can't help but feel the last 48 hours have been deja vu. First it was the squad selection... we picked a guy with a plus 30 average and only 40 FC wickets because he bowls fast. We picked a guy with the 30th best average in CC Div 1 this year for pace bowlers with over 10 wickets, because he bowls at more nip than the other options. We brought back a guy who has been on a Barbados beach and hasn't bowled more than 4 overs in months, and didn't even care to turn up for the last game... because he bowls fast. One week after a medium-pacer bowling on the dot won MOTM, we arrive back at the failed tactic of the Ashes. The risk was obvious, I said as much before the start of the game.... and the result? NZs last 5 wickets scored more than their first 5. This is what happens when your new ball bowler has been in Barbados on a beach for a few weeks and you expect him to bowl 95 mph. And when you run everyone else into the ground because he can only bowl 4 over spells most of the time, you end up with the Tongue/Baker combo of looking very good in first spells, to getting smacked around. The tactics have gone back to Australia as well. As soon as Blundell and Mitchell put up some resistance, England just bazooked the middle of the pitch to almost zero positive results.

And then the batting. Did this look like something different. Duckett came out and smashed everything that moved, got lucky to get to 30 odd, then brainfaded trying to steal a run because going at over 6 an over for 10 overs wasn't enough. He'd already have been out on a suicidal run about 2-3 overs in, but you know - Carpe Diem or whatever! Bethell failed again, no preparation. Root then came in and went after the bowlers, toe edged one through the slips, but it didn't matter, he wanted to smack a few. Brook comes in, hits a 6, edges short of a fielder, fails. James Rew gets dropped taking on the short ball aggressively, and a few balls gets out the same way....

This is supposed to be a new era. A fresh start after admission that the formula was wrong.... 1 test has passed, and we have gone back to the pace wins games with the ball, with the bat we went back to running towards unnecessary danger, and in terms of preparation we have picked 2/3 players who have no preparation whatsoever for this test. The number 1 bowler hasn't bowled, the most important batting position is occupied by someone who hasn't batted, and our keeper is Somerset's third choice gloveman in recent times, and has not had the gloves in any of the recent games.

Key told us this week he was unhappy about his captain not embracing all the changes... well, what changes Rob? For 3 days we changed, but in this test we have reverted right back to OZ