New Zealand tour of England - May/June 2015

[swacker]

Squad for the first test:

Cook
Lyth
Ballance
Bell
Root
Moeen
Stokes
Buttler
Jordan
Broad
Anderson
Woods

So, in reality, nothing has changed. Good to see Lyth will make his debut.

 

[Skater]

Squad for the first test:

Cook
Lyth
Ballance
Bell
Root
Moeen
Stokes
Buttler
Jordan
Broad
Anderson
Woods

So, in reality, nothing has changed. Good to see Lyth will make his debut.

My team would have been:

Cook
Lyth
Ballance
Bell
Root
Ali
Buttler
Stokes
Plunkett
Broad
Anderson

I think Stokes and Jordan are just too similar to be in the same team, and I think Stokes is a bit better than Jordan so I'd keep him in. Plunkett would come in for Jordan because I think we need his pace. If it was a spinning wicket (which Lord's doesn't tend to be) then I'd have played Rashid.

Broad would also be given these two Tests to prove he is over the knee surgery and somewhere near to his best. If he has a couple of bad games, he doesn't play the first Ashes Test for me.

 

[IceAgeComing]

why would you play stokes as a bowler, considering he took a grand total of three wickets during the west indies series, one of those being when the West Indies had less than 10 to win and Bravo was playing shots to finish the game as quickly as possible. Like he'd be OK as an all-rounder or as a fifth option if England were playing three seamers and a dedicated spinner, but they aren't doing that so they should pick a proper bowler.

I'd personally go for

cook
lyth
ballance
bell
root
ali
buttler
jordan
broad
wood
anderson

with the squad selected; although I didn't see any of the England ODI so its a bit of a blind pick of Wood. Personally I'd have put Plunkett in the squad, but hey, that's not too surprising! The spinner thing is priority one for me, especially with how dry English pitches have been during the height of the last few summers: and I think that Australia will target Ali just to make England bowl Broad and Anderson a tonne... Although its a bit harsh on Rashid considering that he had match figures of 8-118 in his first championship game back after playing no competitive cricket for several months...

 

[bigred]

why would you play stokes as a bowler, considering he took a grand total of three wickets during the west indies series, one of those being when the West Indies had less than 10 to win and Bravo was playing shots to finish the game as quickly as possible. Like he'd be OK as an all-rounder or as a fifth option if England were playing three seamers and a dedicated spinner, but they aren't doing that so they should pick a proper bowler.

I'd personally go for

cook
lyth
ballance
bell
root
ali
buttler
jordan
broad
wood
anderson

with the squad selected; although I didn't see any of the England ODI so its a bit of a blind pick of Wood. Personally I'd have put Plunkett in the squad, but hey, that's not too surprising! The spinner thing is priority one for me, especially with how dry English pitches have been during the height of the last few summers: and I think that Australia will target Ali just to make England bowl Broad and Anderson a tonne... Although its a bit harsh on Rashid considering that he had match figures of 8-118 in his first championship game back after playing no competitive cricket for several months...

I think your team is the eleven that will play. Stokes' poor bowling in WI will cost him. No point in picking Rashid for the Lord's test as Ali will barely bowl himself you'd imagine. Can see Rashid getting Jordan's spot on a couple of the Ashes grounds though. Particularly if we get a dry summer and prepare wickets without pace to stop Johnson and Starc making a mess of us.

I personally would have gone for Plunkett over Wood, but I hear nothing but good about Wood so let's hope we've unearthed the next a '250 test wickets man'.

I would have probably picked Hales over Lyth, but that would have been incredibly harsh on him. They're showing good loyalty to a guy who carried drinks for 4 weeks. He seems like a top bloke also. Good luck to him. It's about time we found Strauss' replacement. This is the 6th attempt.

 

[War]

News and Analysis : NEW ZEALAND IN ENGLAND 2015 | IPL costing NZ players valuable preparation | Cricket videos, MP3, podcasts, cricket audio | ESPN Cricinfo

I really don't think the IPL absentees will affect NZ much, this is what their coach said last year when they arrived in Windies and also had many players missing due to IPL.

How to deal with pitches like plasticine

"For those coming from the IPL it’s not like they’ve been on holiday. They’ve been immersed in cricket for a long time so the transition won’t be as difficult."

 

[Chewie]

Our players haven't had very much match time outside of McCullum, and jet lag may play a factor too

 

[War]

Our players haven't had very much match time outside of McCullum, and jet lag may play a factor too

: Worcestershire v New Zealanders, Tour match, New Road, 4th day | 'Warm-up exactly what we wanted' | Cricket videos, MP3, podcasts, cricket audio | ESPN Cricinfo

Although that is obviously not ideal, as coach Hesson mentioned in that interview before, the guys are experienced and in our crazy world of international fixtures, where the IPL causes this headache for many teams - they would have faced this scenario before.

I believe the very top players have found ways to adapt their games across formats over a very short space of time in recent years.

 

[Chewie]

I think the problem is more adjusting to the conditions, including the different balls used

 

[cooks1st100]

I think the problem is more adjusting to the conditions, including the different balls used

While I agree about the ball, I find it difficult to see what differs between the conditions of the two countries. Having grown up in the U.K. and also having spent some time in N.Z. I found the weather to be very similar. Too similar for me which is why I jumped ship to Aus.

 

[War]

News and Analysis : England v New Zealand, 1st Investec Test, Lord's | 'Expecting a humdinger of a series' - Butcher | Cricket videos, MP3, podcasts, cricket audio | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[Chewie]

While I agree about the ball, I find it difficult to see what differs between the conditions of the two countries. Having grown up in the U.K. and also having spent some time in N.Z. I found the weather to be very similar. Too similar for me which is why I jumped ship to Aus.

There is a difference to India though where those in the IPL have just come from

 

[cooks1st100]

There is a difference to India though where those in the IPL have just come from

Good point Chewie, I'd completely overlooked that due to my lack of interest in novelty cricket!

 

[blockerdave]

I'd say it's swings and roundabouts - the format and conditions may have very different, but equally they've been playing high-intensity cricket against some world-class performers: that's not going to hurt.

 

[Skater]

Something's not right, it's been cloudy all week, hailing at times, and on the morning of the Test match we wake up to glorious sunshine and blue skies. That's the wrong way round surely! Here's the forecast for this Test:

 

[_Sam_]

Wood and Lyth presented with their caps, question of Jordan or Stokes now then I guess.