Root and Pope gone has surely put this firmly in New Zealand’s favour. And made an England win the least likely result
A draw is obviously the favourite by a mile at the Bowl now but I now think a Hants win is more likely than a Yorks win. More likely we bowl them out and chase the target than Yorks getting far enough ahead to declare and then bowl us out.
It's a nice feeling that any team will have to bowl extremely well to run right through our batting now. Having a batter at 7, two genuine all rounders at 8 and 9 and Kyle is hardly a bunny at 10 either. They can all score quickly too whatever the match situation which is a huge bonus.
I appreciate it's hardly the most pressing issue right at this moment, but watching these first two tests under McCullum and Stokes, it's very hard to envisage Moeen and Buttler not getting another chance at some point. Similar to when Morgan and Bayliss took over the ODI team, it just feels like the shackles are off. And Moeen and Buttler could thrive (at last).
