New Zealand in England
With New Zealand arriving in England a couple of days ago, its time to have a look at what might happen in the upcoming series. The information below has been written exclusively for cricket-blog.co.uk so I hope you enjoy!
The performances of the New Zealand (”Blackcaps”) Test side on English soil have been nothing short of abysmal. Of 47 tests played, New Zealand has won just 4, with England winning 25 and 18 matches drawn. The Blackcaps have faired slightly better in One-Day Internationals (ODIs), winning 5 matches of the 15 played, England 9, with 1 no result. In the recent tour of New Zealand, England recovered from one down to win the Test series 2-1, though lost the series of 5 ODIs 3-1.
ENGLAND v. NEW ZEALAND – SOME MEMORABLE MOMENTS
TEST MATCHES
First Test, Hamilton, 2008
New Zealand consigned England to one of their most ignominious defeats, winning the first Test by 189 runs. The Blackcaps declared on 177-9, leaving England needing 300 from 81 overs. Kyle Mills stunned the tourists with four wickets in twenty-four balls. At 36 for 4 at lunch, England`s batsmen attempted to salvage a draw, but were defeated by Chris Martin`s bowling, 3 for 33. England totalled a mere 110.
Ryan Sidebottom, 3rd Test, Napier, March 2008
Left-arm seamer Ryan Sidebottom led England to a commanding position with career-best figures. 15 wickets fell on the second day. At the close of play, England was 91-2, a lead of 176, Sidebottom`s figures being 7-47.
The Nottinghamshire bowler took his tally for the series to 23, the most by an England bowler in a series against New Zealand. Despite a stubborn fourth-innings performance by the hosts, the required total of 543 was beyond their grasp, England winning by 121 runs and the series 2-1.
Mike Atherton, 94 not out & 118, Christchurch 1997
Atherton “carried his bat” in a poor first innings of 228, trailing New Zealand by 118 runs. The bowlers got England back in the game, leaving them needing 305 to win. Atherton led the way with a match-winning century.
Dennis Amiss and Tony Greig, 1st Test, Trent Bridge, Nottingham, June 1973
All appeared well in the 1st Test, England amassing some 250 runs, and dismissing the tourists for 97.
However, in the 2nd innings, Geoff Boycott was dismissed after 2 balls, followed in quick succession by his high-order batting colleagues. This brought Tony Grieg to the wicket, joining opener Dennis Amiss. Grieg went on to score 139, whilst Amiss carried his bat for 138 no, England declaring at 325-8, a lead of 478. This was just as well, since New Zealand batted superbly in the fourth innings, with Congdon scoring 176 and Pollard 116. The tourists totalled 440, succumbing by a mere 38 runs.
ONE-DAY MATCHES
Memorable ODI performances in England / New Zealand one-day cricket include:
England Batting
David Gower, Brisbane 1982, 158
Bill Athey, Old Trafford, 1986, 142 no
Keith Fletcher, Trent Bridge, 131
England Bowling
Vic Marks, 5 for 20, Wellington Reserve, 1984
New Zealand Batting
Nathan Astle, Christchurch, 2002
Astle scored Test cricket`s fastest ever double century off 153 balls, with the second hundred coming off just 39 deliveries. He was eventually out for 222.
New Zealand Bowling
Most expensive: M.C. Snedden, The Oval, 1983, 12 overs, 105-2, 8.75 runs per over
Given New Zealand`s spectacular lack of success, England are overwhelming favourites for the 5 Test series, best-priced 2/7 with William Hill, New Zealand at 11/1 with totesport, and a drawn series at 5/1 with Stan James. The 5-match ODI betting is likely to be more open, though prices are not widely available.
Twenty20 Championship in England
I wanted to talk about this when the news broke - I wasn’t able to, but better late than never! If you don’t know about the what where and when, go read the bbc report, then come back here for my view.
Allan Stanford, the American Billionaire looks keen to invest in a tournament that would give England a good IPL rival twenty20 competition. It looks like this is a great idea for a number of reasons, and I think that Stanford has given all the right noises that he seems like the right kind of guy to be a driving force in its conception.
Stanford has had a lot to do with Twenty20 in the West Indies, building his own ground for the competition over there, and bringing a sense of excitement and even innovation in the fact that they use cricket bats painted black in the competition. It is said that he has absolutely no interest in the longer forms of the game, especially Test Cricket, but with the sums of money he can bring in that is not that much of a problem - it will all be money for the game and raise the profile of cricket as an entertaining sport.
I also like the fact that we don’t seem to be rushing too much into this, looking at doing it in 2 years time. This should hopefully mean that when it comes about it isn’t as a knee jerk reaction and is planned out properly with all the relevant interested parties consulted and listened to. Twenty20 in this country currently has a spot in the middle of the summer to itself, so it shouldn’t be that difficult to schedule something in - the only difference really is the marketing and and the rules in terms of players etc. Will it still be counties and will they bring in players even more specifically for the tournament - and will you be allowed more overseas players than currently? Lots of questions, but there is a decent length of time to come up with the answers and as long as the right people are making the decisions I feel positive.
Another good reason for having our own competition like this is to help keep a bit of power in international cricket over here. There is no doubt that India are a very powerful country when it comes to cricket politics, and with the IPL/ICL we have started to see the repercussions of that power - Test Cricket has already lost some of its stars and county cricket is also feeling the pain. Maybe this is a bit selfish, but I don’t think one superpower is healthy as they end up dictating to the rest of the world who can play where and when. Spread the money that players can earn and hopefully it will all be a bit more balanced.
It might be that we end up with too many players that start to try and specialise in the shorter form of the game, and these players might not make the transition to the four and five day games, but that kind of happens now anyway so in my mind this isn’t an issue… yet.
So it all seems positive, and I’m struggling to see a negative side at the moment - anyone out there know anything wrong with this proposal?
Pink Cricket Balls
I posted last November about an MCC trial during 2008 to use pink cricket balls instead of white balls with a view to implementing this into international one day cricket. Their trial started on Monday, and Tuesday morning on the BBC news the sports reporter talked about it as he was part of the first trial. Looking at the ball which was in the studio (not sure how many overs it was used for), and what the reporter says, it sounds like it was a decent trial. The pink lacquer doesn’t get dark like the white ball, and if it rubs off at all, the white underneath can be seen and it still remains quite visible.
From first impressions, it seems like pink cricket balls could well be the way forward, but we will have to see how the ball responds under lights and most importantly for its success, if the TV cameras can pick it up ok. It was the TV cameras not being able to pick up a yellow ball which condemned that idea, but with pink being not that far in the colour family from red this should be better.
If the manufacturers and shops could get a few of these manufactured I’m sure there would be plenty of people looking to buy them and give them a go themselves!
Cricket Being Played Again!
I havn’t talked much about the actual game of cricket over the past couple of weeks - too much new England shirts and Telegraph fantasy cricket to worry about!
However, the county season has begun under grey skies and on damp pitches (this April is rubbish compared to last year), with the County Championship and Liverpool Victoria cups. I tend not to cover county cricket in too much detail here, there is far too much going on and not enough time to keep on top of it all, but I also find some interest at the start of a season, and below I mention how the start of the season will affect some of the England hopefuls.
Sky Sports showed their first game of the season on Sunday between Durham and Yorkshire in the LV Cup, and they managed to pick a decent game with a surprisingly tight finish. Yorkshire managed to nearly win the game thanks to Bresnan and Shazad, after looking right out of it, and it was a really good game to see the end of. Hopefully we’ll have more decent county cricket, but in the sunshine! Twenty20 managed to hit the worst part of the summer last year but that is always good fun, although now it will forever be compared to the IPL/ICL - the first of which started last Friday.
There are a few test match places up for grabs, so the start of the season is an important one for some England hopefuls and those who need to cement their place in the team. Shah will probably miss out but needs to score some runs to put pressure on Strauss who himself needs to score (for the same county - no run outs there please!). If Ravi Bop can continue his storming start to the season his hat will be in the ring as well.
Flintoff needs lots of hours batting and bowling, the second part of which Harmison, Hoggard and Anderson also need. Mustard and Ambrose both showed promise over the winter tours, but one of them needs to step up to the plate, and a decent start to the county season might just help them do that. Add in players such as Plunkett and Mahmood who will harbour thoughts of getting back into the frame and it could be a fighting first month in the bowling department!
Also, my own games of cricket start in a couple of weeks time - I should probably have played a friendly or two, so I’ll go into the first league game a bit cold but hey, its too cold to play cricket at the moment!
Telegraph Fantasy Cricket 2008 - Players To Consider
I spent an hour or so yesterday looking at the player lists for Telegraph Fantasy Cricket 2008, so it seems only fair to let you know some of the players I was picking out. Bearing in mind, I still havn’t chosen my final XI, so these won’t necessarily make it into my team. My general strategy though I’ve decided is to go for an all round team, with few high rated players. I’m going to pack the 5 and 6 point players into my team I think, with county proven players who are going to win the LiveCricketUpdates.com mini league for me!
Batsman
After the first week of county games and LV cup games, Ravi Bopara has had a storming time of it. He also bowls, so there could be vital extra points there to be had. Although, being 7 points he isn’t cheap and he could be a risk - if he keeps his form up England will call him up and if he doesn’t, there is little point in having him!
Francois Du Plessis via South Africa to Lancashire is only a 3 point player, but he has a big reputation as a player for the future so things will be expected of him. Hasn’t really had a chance yet to show what he can do, but if you like a risk and need a 3 pointer he could be it.
Another 3 point batsman who has started really well is Usman Afzaal at Surrey. A ton in the county champ game and his experience of the county game make a mockery of his rating, with the only doubt being whether he’ll play every game given the strength of the brown caps batting lineup. Plus, will everyone have him in their team given he is a name people have “heard of” and see his cheap rating?
Mark Pettini has also had a good start to the season, and is only a 4 pointer. I think he plays in all forms of the game so could be someone to put in and forget about for the season! You have to be very careful not just to pick the players scoring tons at this stage of the season though, its tempting but you need to see the bigger picture!
Batsman such as Langer, Tresco, Key, Ramps, Rudoplh are all very much a given in this game. They’ll all score good runs, but you’ll pay in starting rating, and by having to make sacrifices in other areas of the team. Not to mention how similar your starting XI’s wil be!
Wicket Keepers
I tend not to spend too much on a wicket keeper in this form of the game - it seems that as long as you choose a guy who plays regularly and has some decent form with the bat that’s enough for me and I’ll save the points for other parts of the team. With that in mind, Nixon, Batty, Mustard, Foster etc are all out and I’m looking at one of three 5 point keepers; Jones, Sutton or Kieswetter. Jones is the obvious choice again as people have heard of him, but I like my team to be different so I’m looking at one of the other two probably. Kieswetter opened for Somerset yesterday and can hold a bat, whilst I might wait for Lancashire to play a couple of games before I decide on Luke Sutton or not.
All Rounders
Ryan McLaren from Kent could be in with a chance of getting into my team rated at 5 - I saw him bowl pretty sharpish last year, but I can’t remember how good he was with the bat, so I might have to check that out first.
Sean Ervine is only rated as a 5 as well, but I’ve picked him before and he’s infuriated me with his lack of getting involved with a game. He might have to bowl more with Hampshire’s winter troubles with bowlers, so he could be a decent pick for someone though.
The Dutchman Ryan ten Doeschate of Essex came close to being in my team - he scored a ton in the opening County champ game and is another one rated at 5, but I don’t know quite enough about him to happily put him in at the moment. Another one worth a look though.
Adil Rashid is a popular choice as well, but I think 6 points is too overrated for him this year. He needs more time in county cricket to deserve those kinds of ratings in my eyes.
Grahame Swann seemed to score a shed load of points last year, and as long as you watch when he gets picked for England in the ODI side he might be worth the 7 points he costs. One you will have to watch as the season goes on though, which isn’t really my style!
Bowlers
I’ve not had much chance to look at the bowlers list and decide where the worthwhile players are - but on early season wickets the seam bowlers are always the ones worth going for. Shreck and Onions are two popular choices, both with a very outside chance of making it into an England squad.
Onions had a poor year by his standards in ‘07 after a brilliant year the year before, and he could do it again. Plunkett is another bowler from Durham who is currently out of favour with the England selectors, but he should get points galore (but he is rated 7). Finally from the North East we have our friend Harmison. If he bowls well he’ll probably be called back into the England team, if he doesn’t then he won’t. Either way, you probably don’t want to pick him despite his decent enough showing in the LV cup yesterday.
Another player who impressed with both bat and ball yesterday was Tim Bresnan from Yorkshire - he is only a 5 pointer and as long as he gets a game every time he will be a popular pick. His bowler partner in crime at the end of the Yorkshire batting innings also showed himself in a good light - Ajmal Shazad. Rated only 3, he had something about him and if he plays regularly he’s a decent shout.
From Somerset Charl Willoughby has caught my eye - with the lack of anything else really standing out from Taunton someone is going to have to take the wickets, and at 6 points I think he could be a decent shout.
Apart from those mentioned i’m struggling to really find the quality in the bowling list - we have other England players in years past in Jones or Mahmood, Hoggard - but my knowledge of the county bowlers is much less than I thought!
The new England Adidas Cricket Shirts Revealed!
Ok, so this is a day early and the ECB/Adidas may not like me for doing this, but who cares.. I can reveal exclusively the new Test, ODI and Twenty20 shirts below. Top line - they look pretty damn nice, and I’ll be buying at least one of them. Pre-order them here
The Test shirt looks pretty smart, with a small red piping - but there is little they can do colour wise so that is about all I can say!
The ODI shirt is a dark blue, and has a real classy look to it. I remember we had a darker blue shirt in the past (I remember Hussain scoring a ton in it), but that also looked a bit messy and this looks so much neater, nicer and classier.
The Twenty20 shirt won’t get an awful lot of use seeing as we don’t play that much Twenty20 cricket compared to the other forms of the game, but again it looks really nice. To be honest i quite liked the red we wore in the Twenty20 world cup anyway, and this actually looks even better! And thank god it has sleeves unlike the Australian version!
So there we have it, the new England Adidas cricket kit, and I like them all. Remember they are being sold from next Friday (25th April), but if you want to pre-order, you can do so from Kitbag!
