England v New Zealand, 2nd Test, Headingley, 29 May-2 Jun, 2015

Congrats to Cook on becoming our leading run scorer. Didn't think he'd get there sometimes. But he has and again, a big achievement.

First Test 50 for Lyth. That will help him settle as an opener at the top level.

Meanwhile Cook closing in on his 68th such score... a whole career between them, even if only three years in terms of age.

Unbeaten at tea. Really good partnership so far. Can't harm in giving Lyth a bit of leeway to carve his career out. He's batted nicely. Cook has been a bit streaky, but mainly has looked pretty well set

Excellent from England. No doubt they'll be criticised for not going out and scoring breath-taking 40-odds, but New Zealand's reckless abandon has given England time aplenty to be slowly ruthless, and, so far, they are executing that ambition to perfection. Cook's game looks in much better shape than last year. He is leaving balls outside off-stump, he looks certain in his shot selection. He seems to have even found a ready source of that most treasured component of a batsman's game, luck. He still shouldn't be captain, but he's England's best opener.

Yeah, he's playing tighter now which is eliciting buffet balls from the bowler, be it short or wide. He's lapping them up. Which was essentially what he was doing in his glory period a few years back. I expect, as usual, the problem will be when he gets the hurry up from livelier bowlers and nicks off. That'll probably start off his head falling over etc. and next thing you know, he'll be back to mincemeat. Hopefully not and he has looked very good, but I just have a sneaking suspicion.............

As a couple of pundits have pointed out, his decline could be traced back to his return to ODI cricket, trying to force things and losing the discipline that is his greatest asset in Test cricket.

If he plays little or no one-day cricket from now on, he might be able to stay in that Test mindset and have a few more years at something like his best.

Really good knock from Lyth. I like the way he stuck at it when the bowling was good. Too early to say how he'll go, but he's looking like his game is in decent order. It's about time that he's got some runs though, I was getting a little impatient.

Brilliant start for NZ with the second new ball.

Just got home and have to say the crowd looks pretty sparse. Didn't look like too many yesterday either.

Great bowling from Boult in the evening session. Still extremely unconvinced by Ballance despite his colossal average - I'd much prefer Bell at three, Root at four and Ballance at five. He looks like he'd do a better job of the Graham Thorpe hold-it-together role than coming in early against the new ball.

I thought we'd see the Burnley Lara there, certainly when Stokes went if not Root... have they gone too far the other way in terms of getting the batsmen to put themselves out there late in the day?

Reality check : Ballance is sh*t.
I don't give a toss about his average and "accumulation" and all that crap.

French Cricket - as Nasser pointed out - sums him up perfectly.
Six inches, backward and across his stumps - every f**king time.

Prediction:  He will not average more than 20 against the Aussies over 5 tests against their quicker quicks.
If he lasts 5 tests that is .....

Stokes : A one hit wonder ? The jury's out.

Fair play to the Kiwis - they stuck at it all day long and reaped the benefits at the end of the day.

Yeah, averages mean f**k all... Bradman was shit and Chris Martin was a much misunderstood quality batsman.

So, Ballance is shit and averages over 50. Let's wait until a batsman has a career average south of 35 before criticising him, shall we? And Stokes a one-hit wonder based on a dismissal to the new ball when a nightwatchman should have been out there? For the f*ck of absolute f*ck's sakes. The reactionary state of cricket fans has reached a time horizon of a couple of innings now. If Lyth had gone cheaply today he was under pressure. Bell goes first over tomorrow and he's nearing the exit door, if he makes a century he's a legend. Let's judge players over a career, as opposed to a couple of weeks, or a couple of balls...

Monkehh jinxed Stokes with all his talk of "TN".

TN my arse.

Well done to Alastair and Lyth.

Pity about the challenge England put up to the new ball (though credit to the Kiwis for coming back, too - they may be cavalier batsmen at the moment, good and bad, but they are competitive sticklers in the field).

Merlin wrote:

Stokes : A one hit wonder ? The jury's out.

With two centuries? The jury's back: you're an idiot.

beamer wrote:Yeah, averages mean f**k all... Bradman was shit and Chris Martin was a much misunderstood quality batsman.

So, Ballance is shit and averages over 50. Let's wait until a batsman has a career average south of 35 before criticising him, shall we? And Stokes a one-hit wonder based on a dismissal to the new ball when a nightwatchman should have been out there? For the f*ck of absolute f*ck's sakes. The reactionary state of cricket fans has reached a time horizon of a couple of innings now. If Lyth had gone cheaply today he was under pressure. Bell goes first over tomorrow and he's nearing the exit door, if he makes a century he's a legend. Let's judge players over a career, as opposed to a couple of weeks, or a couple of balls...

Not reactionary at all!
I was at Lord's and I saw first hand the Ballance "soft shoe shuffle" - back and across.... always ... repeatedly ... constantly.
He's a walking wicket - and btw, HTF can you compare him to Bradman FFS ?!
He's only played a couple of dozen tests!

And why a night watchman?
Stokes scored 194 runs in the last test.
He faced the new ball with verve and gusto scoring at a run a ball.
Same bowlers, same conditions, just a different venue.
So why "protect" him with a NW ?
He's a N0 6 batsman FFS !
Flaying at a ball 4feet outside off stump .... can't defend that idiocy I'm afraid!

Nope - this isn't reactionary ... just plain facts.


I repeat - Balance (unless he gets his sh*t together) will be a walking wicket against the likes of Johnson,
Rhino, Starc, Siders, Forkbender and the likes. Average : 20 ish.

Lyth got his sh*t together - and well played him.
He was back to the Tyke that put Middlesex to the sword last season ... saw that game live too.
Ballance sadly still needs to ... else he gets fingered by the Aussies and his career won't get any further.

Dello wrote:

Merlin wrote:

Stokes : A one hit wonder ? The jury's out.

With two centuries? The jury's back: you're an idiot.

Let's just wait and see shall we ...
Summer and single swallow's come to mind ...

Merlin wrote:

beamer wrote:Yeah, averages mean f**k all... Bradman was shit and Chris Martin was a much misunderstood quality batsman.

So, Ballance is shit and averages over 50. Let's wait until a batsman has a career average south of 35 before criticising him, shall we? And Stokes a one-hit wonder based on a dismissal to the new ball when a nightwatchman should have been out there? For the f*ck of absolute f*ck's sakes. The reactionary state of cricket fans has reached a time horizon of a couple of innings now. If Lyth had gone cheaply today he was under pressure. Bell goes first over tomorrow and he's nearing the exit door, if he makes a century he's a legend. Let's judge players over a career, as opposed to a couple of weeks, or a couple of balls...

Not reactionary at all!
I was at Lord's and I saw first hand the Ballance "soft shoe shuffle" - back and across.... always ... repeatedly ... constantly.
He's a walking wicket - and btw, HTF can you compare him to Bradman FFS ?!
He's only played a couple of dozen tests!

If you think I was "comparing him to Bradman" you're an even thicker c*nt than I thought you were, and that's saying something... just saying if you think averages are meaningless you could argue even he was crap.

And why a night watchman?

Because it was dark and the ball was swinging round corners, FFS...

Geez, the Snoozies will take that. 0-177 to 5-253!! Another good Test in the offing.

Congrats to Lyth on his maiden Test ton in just his 2nd Test.

Merlin wrote:

Dello wrote:

Merlin wrote:

Stokes : A one hit wonder ? The jury's out.

With two centuries? The jury's back: you're an idiot.

Let's just wait and see shall we ...
Summer and single swallow's come to mind ...

I dont think there is much doubt you are an idiot

embee wrote:

Merlin wrote:

Dello wrote:

Merlin wrote:

Stokes : A one hit wonder ? The jury's out.

With two centuries? The jury's back: you're an idiot.

Let's just wait and see shall we ...
Summer and single swallow's come to mind ...

I dont think there is much doubt you are an idiot

amazes me theres any debate on the matter

also amazes me how all the english doom and gloom merchants are now cheering their guys again. doesnt take much to change your minds

I think you may be mishearing the cheering.

It's acknowledgement of whatever is done well. The reservations remain (and have been audible, if more sotto voce since the last two days at Lord's) about what has been / is being done a lot less well. Haven't you heard the "one swallow ..." and "remains to be seen" comments?

If a sort of bipolar disorder is a professional hazard of following England, most of us are not that loud about the moodswings. Though the bad stuff has been pretty rank since 2011 - hence the slatings on here - most of us are no mayflies.

We can't attack spinners. Mark Craig was just allowed to bowl in a four man attack and went for less than two runs an over. Hit him out of the attack and McCullum has nowhere to go and has to over-bowl his quicks. As it was, Bout and Southee were fresh enough at the end of the day to strike back with the second new ball. 

Remarkable tactical naïvety, really.

beamer wrote:

If you think I was "comparing him to Bradman" you're an even thicker c*nt than I thought you were, and that's saying something... just saying if you think averages are meaningless you could argue even he was crap.

And why a night watchman?

Because it was dark and the ball was swinging round corners, FFS...

You certainly sounded like you were making a Bradman comparison!
Okay, here's a question for you, the ultimate Ballance apologist ...
Do you think he'll average more than 20 over the next 5 and a half tests?

Admit it FFS - he has a blatant fault of falling across his wicket AND going back to quicks.
Proper French Cricket.
That, for a No 3, is fatal.

PS - a bit OTT with the abuse for someone defending a sh*t style AND having a night watchman for a #6
batsman with an excellent average.

It was dark ?!!!
What?  Under blue skies with the lights on? FMD ...
Swinging round corners?!!  
Bollocks ... sure it was swinging, but only a bit ... certainly not "around corners" !
Anyway, he'd done it all before at Lord's ...and seriously hurt the Kiwis then!
So  why "protect" Stokes this time round?
Utter bollocks defence.