Durham promoted with two games left to play! Cue puce expressions at the ECB who will be thoroughly disgusted. But celebrations should be put on ice. I gather an inquiry is under way into two misdemeanors Durham are though to be guilty of. If found guilty of either of these serious charges, they will not be allowed entry to Division One of the County. Championship. It has been alleged that Durham have on more than one occasion played with a round ball, and on several others on a pitch was largely green in colour. Clearly outrageous behaviour from a County which refuses to learn. Well done lads! FTECB
Had to be. Pity about Roy, but he just can't get fit. But opening is a hard job. Looks like Malan and Bairstow, which is fair enough. Back up not really there though.
It's a funny one re Brook. He was left out of the original squad to much wailing and gnashing of teeth. He got a chance in the NZ series to force the selectors' hand, got 37 runs @ 12.33 and that was enough to replace Jason Roy (4271 ODI runs @39.91). Not saying I don't agree, but shows that cricket isn't all about the stats and selection is often quite organic
This is on Saturday, utter bastards, I am out fishing on a boat all day, I have emailed them and asked the to change it to Sunday https://www.ecb.co.uk/matches/37265#overview
England v New Zealand Teams coming out Now The teams England: Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (capt/wk), Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Chris Woakes, Sam Curran, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood. New Zealand: Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (capt/wk), Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry, Trent Boult. England batting first, NZ won toss
