The Cricket Thread

[JJH]

23.1 overs left in the day - c'mon!

 

[hodge]

Can't see Southee blocking all that well, decent amount of time, England SHOULD get right in them here.

 

[JJH]

That man again with a Wicket.

Closing in on victory.

 

[JJH]

18 overs left to knock 2 over - should be done.

 

[hodge]

1 left, come on!!

 

[Gashead]

On the brink now, should do it from here

 

[JJH]

Ali gets Southee next ball caught and bowled!

1 left.

 

[Skinner]

 

[JJH]

Jimmy to get the last Wicket would fitting for such a great Test Match.

 

[JJH]

Wicket?!

Or not?

Given not out - and Cook instantly reviews.

 

[JJH]

Decision stays with the Umpire.

Not out.

 

[Skinner]

MOTM Stokes???

 

[JJH]

MOTM Stokes???

Quite possibly - he's scored a combined total of 193 over two Innings with the bat if I remember correctly, and has put in a quite brilliant performance with the ball.

He certainly gets you off your seat - an exciting Cricketer.

 

[Saddlerrad]

Stokes HAS to win MOTM. Without his 100, not only do we not set a good total, but we take time out the game. Only Root could have scored at that speed in our team. The one person who can take it away from our team? McCullum, he gets him out first ball. Who is the only man that can bat all day and give that real barnacle, Chanderpaul kind of innings - Williamson. Both out to Stokes in the same over.

Take Stokes contribution out of this test and we at VERY BEST draw.

 

[hodge]

Stokes HAS to win MOTM. Without his 100, not only do we not set a good total, but we take time out the game. Only Root could have scored at that speed in our team. The one person who can take it away from our team? McCullum, he gets him out first ball. Who is the only man that can bat all day and give that real barnacle, Chanderpaul kind of innings - Williamson. Both out to Stokes in the same over.

Take Stokes contribution out of this test and we at VERY BEST draw.

Buttler

 

[TomPNE94]

YES WHAT A CATCH

 

[JJH]

YEEEEESSSSS!!

 

[Mustard]

yesss cracking catch from moeen

 

[JJH]

Unbelievable catch Moeen Ali.

What a magnificent Test Match.

 

[Gashead]

Good win that against a decent NZ side!

 

[hodge]

I have a feeling some comments from the last 5 days are going to be quoted....

 

[JJH]

Deserved a crowd of that many there to see that.

Who says Test Cricket is dying?

 

[Super_horns]

One of the best tests ever in terms of the quality at times and twists?

Highest scoring at Lords since 1990...

 

[JonBCFC]

We won! We actually won! Against a very good NZ team too.

 

[JJH]

One of the best tests ever?

Highest scoring at Lords since 1990...

The quality it was played at was fantastic.

The fact that they scored 500 odd in the first innings and we sti won the Test by some margin against a very good NZ side is pleasing, and exciting.

 

[JJH]

Hats off to Alastair Cook - even if I still stand by the fact that we should have declared this morning, it's been a fantastic individual performance, and strong Captaincy has been demonstrated.

Thoroughly deserved.

 

[Skinner]

Best thing about this test was definitely Rod Tucker

 

[Saddlerrad]

Fantastic win against a side I rare hugely, in terms of style of play, entertainment and quality. I think when we look back over the summer we may remember this test as the one 'that showed us we can play this way' as such. For far too long England have been predominantly dour to watch. Game has moved on, you can play periods of ODI cricket throughout test matches. I'm hoping that this sends waves through the team that 'we can do it' as such. It may be the difference between losing 4-0 to the Aussies and maybe getting a 2-2 draw. I still expect them to go home with the urn relatively comfortably. But if we perform like this, what could have been embarrassing may turn out to be a good competition.

 

[gingerbeardedrunningman]

Just seen highlights on SSN, the ball that took McCullum was awesome! Great passion and effort lead to technically great swing from Stokes. Well played.

 

[Pyeman]

The Stokes situation sums up the England side perfectly. He's the kind of player that will get out for a duck as many times as he makes a century, but that shouldn't stop him from being assertive and trying to dominate the opposition. It's worth him getting a few low scores if he also plays a few innings like yesterday.

For too long we've been so afraid of failure that it has prevented us from really performing to our potential. Hopefully this shows the whole England team that it's worth taking a calculated risk when the potential reward is so high.