A Fine England Performance @ Cricket

[DTCwordfan]

We now lead by 11 - with 3 second wickets standing......dreadful. What's gone wrong with the England XI?

[Cloverjo]

Maybe some players look great in their county teams but aren’t quite ready for international level. I suppose England might as well ‘blood’ the rookies when there’s not too much on the line.

[jourdain2]

Appalling. They are missing Ollie Robinson, of course, and didn't play a spinner - which helped N.Z. to score so well. Even so, I stand aghast at the exhibition they made of batting. Trying to remember when I saw anything like it - I can't. I grew up worshipping Brian Close, Fred Truman et al. Just pathetic.

Many of our batsmen are very experienced. Sport can go either way, but I am still left shaking my head in disbelief.

[jno]

we don't need a spinner on English soil - even if the opposition spinner's just taken for 4 for 60.

They do have a few players injured (Archer) or being rotated (Stokes), and a couple of oldies (Anderson and Broad) who can't play every match.

Then again New Zealand have given several of their first XI a rest - and the replacements have been doing so well they may force their way into the world cup final. Unfortunately none of the England stand-ins has done as well.

[sunny-dave]

If you take Buttler, Bairstow, Stokes, Foakes and Archer out of a team then it will inevitably be weaker.

The combination of a (deeply flawed) rotation policy and kowtowing to the IPL has meant that England selected an inexperienced team and, in particular, a woefully weak batting line-up. The new(ish) chaps didn't make the grade - let's hope the older guard can pull things together before The Ashes this winter.

[jno]

I don't think they're going to be able to squeeze all those back in, dave. You've got three wicket-keepers there for a start. They might choose one of them just as a batter but at least one of them won't make it.

I don't know when Archer will be back. He's been badly mishandled - heavily overbowled since he joined the team - and wrecked his elbow. It will take quite a while to mend. Totally avoidable.

[sunny-dave]

I agree about Archer - he was a brilliant find & they broke him by overuse.

Stokes and Buttler will play, I'm sure, and possibly Bairstow as a batsman - Foakes is less likely (unless Buttler is crocked), but would still be an asset on the Ashes tour.

[jno]

Buttler was in the team because head honcho Ed Smith liked him (so do I). But England now have another head honcho, so I don't know.

[Canary42]

They're not bad players (e.g. Burns 81, Lawrence 81 n.o. in first innings) but they lack concentration (both got 0 in second innings).

Also the slip fielding is appalling compared with NZ who are magnificent in that department.

[brainiac]

England were outplayed in every department: batting, bowling, fielding, and NZ even seem like a thoroughly decent bunch, who enjoy each other's company. I hope they do well against India.

I live in Gloucestershire, so wanted Bracey to do well, but he looked like a social cricketer in a County game: doesn't move his feet when keeping (and batting, come to that). Doubt the poor guy will ever see an England Test shirt again.

Ah yes, not for nothing is it called TEST cricket, and too many of those playing today are just not up to it. How much rest does Chris Woakes (for example) need? And Bairstow is playing for Yorkshire today! An embarrassment all round.

[drmorgans]

Am I the only one who wonders whether Root is right as England captain? There's no doubt he is a brilliant batsman and not a bad spin bowler, but he's no Brian Close or Ray Illingworth. We may be missing some key players and their replacements may not be as good but surely we should be doing better than this? There are periods when the game drifts. Is there a plan, with the flexibility to cope with our regular mini-collapses, or the ball "not doing anything"?

[William51]

We have to accept we are not among the best in the world. It is the same again, a damage limitation exercise.