Black Caps Test Tour to England & Ireland

Just got inside word that there's some drizzle.

I'd like to say hopefully three days worth but fuck that mentality. One of Conway, Ravindra, Mitchell and/or Blundell need to pony up, knuckle down and actually get these runs.

Of that bunch and to play that way I'd back Conway and Mitchell most.....in saying that a carefree 60/70 odd from Ravindra would be nice........and NZ bat way down. Phillips is due a big score at test level. Smith has good first class batting pedigree. Jamieson and Henry have 50s at this level.

There seem to have been a few instances of poor shot selection but these made to look even worse by the pitch. The ball that got Bethel in the second innings was a shocker. Vaughan and Nasser are seething about it and reckon that the ECB should take away the rights to test matches at Lords until the MCC get their act together and sort out the pitch, which has been very difficult and inconsistent for some time. This would take a couple of years though.

Imagine a summer or two of test cricket with no Lords test!

Excuse my ignorance, but how long does it take to improve a pitch block?

@canefan said in Black Caps Test Tour to England & Ireland:

Excuse my ignorance, but how long does it take to improve a pitch block?

According to the article on Aunty's website this morning, Lords would need a couple of years as they would have to dig the whole square up and pretty much go from scratch again -

"What do the ECB do, if they have to dig up the pitch and start again? It means no cricket here for two years," ex-New Zealand bowler Simon Doull told Sky Sports.

@Catogrande said in Black Caps Test Tour to England & Ireland:

@canefan said in Black Caps Test Tour to England & Ireland:

Excuse my ignorance, but how long does it take to improve a pitch block?

According to the article on Aunty's website this morning, Lords would need a couple of years as they would have to dig the whole square up and pretty much go from scratch again -

"What do the ECB do, if they have to dig up the pitch and start again? It means no cricket here for two years," ex-New Zealand bowler Simon Doull told Sky Sports.

So a drop in is out of the question? Surely technology has improved to a point to where that would be better than the pitch they have now

@canefan

I guess that the feeling is that there is so much wrong with the square that a drop in simply wouldn't fix the real issues.

Someone mentioned it earlier. Ravindra is constantly dropping sitters. His dismissals are generally caused by a brain explosions.

It's a combination of a difficult pitch and really poor technique from modern batsmen. I get that there are issues with the pitch, and the up and down bounce can't really be tolerated as it can become dangerous (though I've seen worse on the sub-continent), but professional batsmen should be able to counter the sideways movement a lot better. Cover your stumps, play inside the line and don't follow the ball, and defend with soft hands so if you edge it, it doesn't fly into the slips. Do that until the shine is off the ball, then look to up the ante. This is just test cricket 101, but what I see these days is batsmen playing with hard hands early so every edge flies in the air, failing to cover their stumps (how are they getting beaten on the outside and still get bowled?!), and an inability to concentrate for long enough period of time to survive if the ball moves around for a while. T20 has a lot to answer for...

A 300+ score against a pitch with sideways movement should be well within reach.

@barky1 said in Black Caps Test Tour to England & Ireland:

Someone mentioned it earlier. Ravindra is constantly dropping sitters. His dismissals are generally caused by a brain explosions.

He was concussed that time in the deep when he missed the catch and it hit him in the head

The weather might save this one from being a two and a half day Test match.

As for the bounce - a priceless venue with a Temu wicket block.

Nass and Mel rather disparaging of the umpires and powers that be, as the players leave 11 balls in due to rain, after lunching throughout the sunshine.

Devan goes at the first ball after the resumption with hard hands. He won't be there long if he keeps this up

This is a massive challenge, Rachin will hopefully embrace it

Rachin succumbs to Robinson with another ball going on to hit off stump. A tough assignment is getting tougher. This pitch is a minefield

Mitch given LBW, review confirms it. He was unlucky, I thought in real time that it was going down leg but the umpire gave him out. If he hadn't he would have been safe. I think you can stick a fork in us

We like to bag poor pitches on the subcontinent. But this Lord's pitch is not test quality

Left Lords 2 hours ago. Crap day, crap pitch.
Paid NZ34.00 for a burger at Lords, wx cold like a miserable Wgtn southerly day.

@canefan said in Black Caps Test Tour to England & Ireland:

We like to bag poor pitches on the subcontinent. But this Lord's pitch is not test quality

Agreed, but if the rain saves NZ they don't deserve it. After all England played on exactly the same pitch.

199 further runs look a million miles away.

Twin failures from Latham, Ravindra and Mitchell are hugely disappointing. We can't always rely on KW miracles.

@MN5 said in Black Caps Test Tour to England & Ireland:

Twin failures from Latham, Ravindra and Mitchell are hugely disappointing. We can't always rely on KW miracles.

KW was 0 and 18. That's hardly a non-failure.

@nzzp said in Black Caps Test Tour to England & Ireland:

@MN5 said in Black Caps Test Tour to England & Ireland:

Twin failures from Latham, Ravindra and Mitchell are hugely disappointing. We can't always rely on KW miracles.

KW was 0 and 18. That's hardly a non-failure.

For sure. What I'm trying to say is that will happen every now and again. If it does someone else should stand up.

Although the Indians on FB are taking great delight in pointing out KW fails overseas and talking up Kohli as being better ( conveniently forgetting his average record in the last few years of his test career )