Bit of a comeback from England after the customary top order collapse - 83 runs at a run a ball from Root and Stokes. Hopefully Stokes can become a Flintoff-like all-rounder for England.
Disastrous start but good come back, two attacking players in now, yes stroller like stokes aggressive batsman & bowler.
Fair play to Stokes and Root they've really stabilised this innings. I hope Stokes makes his century, on 92 off of 93 at the moment.
Feck! Commentators curse strikes again the very next ball!!! Poor judgement by Stokes to allow himself to be bowled there.
354-7 is an excellent score in any situation let alone from 30-4. NZ must be disappointed but the way England came back at them is very encouraging. Shame the top order folded though, the Aussies wouldn't have let us get away with it...
The top order were disappointing, but it was a good toss for New Zealand to win and the pitch was always going to flatten out after the first couple of hours or so. Great stuff from the young England players.
Strange to see Ali batting at number 8 after he was originally picked as a middle-order batsman and has opened for the one-day team. Right decision though, as Stokes could be the long term answer at number 6.
Looks like I chose the right day to go. I had a great day there yesterday. Was sitting in the Edrich stand so no shade all day and my face is bright red today
You're right Strolls, time for some mockers...... They don't look in any sort of trouble at the moment.......
Nicely poised going into the last day. Though I get the awful feeling that Cook will bat on for too long before declaring and effectively ruin what could be an excellent last day. I reckon another 30-40 minutes pushing the target to around 335-340 would be enough to be tempting for NZ and for England's bowlers to have a go. Shame we didn't push on last night and another 20-30 runs would have been ideal. Our best hope is NZ bowl us out inside 10 overs to take the decision out of Cook's hands...
It's been a fine test match and is set up for a really interesting final day. The problem for Cook is that NZ are a naturally attacking side so even if he set them 330- 350 in say 65 overs they are very capable of chasing down that type of score as was shown at the recent World Cup, although I accept that test cricket is very different to the bash of the limited over game, they have that type of mindset. Additionally each day has produces 300+ runs so Cook has a difficult decision to make........
Another top innings from Stokes (he must have secured the number six spot), but Cook has scored too slowly. It's my birthday today and I am otherwise engaged, otherwise I would have gone down there - £20 on the door, with under-16s free. Could be an exciting last day with all results possible.
