The Cricket Thread

405-5

 

460-5. Trail by 93

 

I get the impression England are aiming to win this.

 

Amazing day for England, 383 runs for the loss of just 4 wickets, and 2 excellent big hundreds. I think Tom’s right, they fancy their chances here, if they can get a reasonable lead tomorrow.

 

Pitch is starting to turn so Leach could have a big impact yet.

 

Southee to Root, who you would expect would still be getting his eye in for the day. Forward defensive? A clip to square leg?

Nah, a reverse scoop to the third man boundary for 6.

Just unbelievable.

 

Great 50 for Ben Foakes.

 

Root caught at cover for 176

 

Bad call by Potts, Foakes run out.

527-8.

Still NZ’s to lose, even if England don’t get parity.

 

I don’t pretend to know much about Cricket , but surely it’s to early to say who’s likely to win ?

 

H 94 - 3. Vince gone for 33. Looked a bit suspect to me, but what do I know?

 

Decent enough day. Would have preferred to only been three down, but can't really complain.

Still a lot of work to do tomorrow though. Not least trying to get through to the new ball without losing a wicket.

 

Brad mopping up their tail cheaply might be crucial and I suspect that our own lower order will have a big part to play tomorrow.

 

Foakes really is different class behind the stumps. Bizarre it has taken this long to get him back there.

 

He's always been a great keeper. Now his batting has improved he needs to nail his place behind the stumps. Easily our best keeper but we do need runs from him as well.

 

Agreed, which is why it would have made some sense to keep Buttler for as long as we did if he was scoring runs, but he hadnt been consistent at test level for a long time.

 

Full credit to Trent Bridge and the ECB for making it free entry today. It's going to be a hell of a finish and a full ground to see it.

 

I still make the draw the slight favourite - if England lose early wickets they can just shut up shop. I'd say draw is 50% chance, England win 30%, NZ win 20%.

 

Abbott's first 3 balls: 2 4 6.

 

Get to 350 and then have a swing. Not much point these two playing defensively.