Wednesday, June 03, 2015

NZ wipe floor with England by 199 runs to win T2 & level series 1-1.


After the Black Caps batting had propelled their team (at a great rate rate of knots) to a very healthy lead their bowlers took a while to work through the rickety (with some exceptions inc a gutsy Alistair Cook &  persevering Jos Buttler) England batting. 

Well done, Kiwis. But you'll need to regroup before you take on Australia later this year. Your batting is good, your fielding much improved on what we used to expect from you, but your spin bowling is erratic. Mark Craig is a great slip fielder and at times surprisingly good batter, but he's bowled too short  too often. He extracted a lot of spin from the D5 Headingley wicket but his length was too often awry.

As for England, Cap'n Cook has gone from flab to backbone in the series, and Adam Lyth looked OK in this match, but there's not much else  to report.

In just over an hour Australia take on the West Indies in T1/2. I'm expecting this to be a 2-0 walkover (or warm up for the Ashes, as some have uncharitably suggested). If it isn't the Ashes will be more, much more, interesting.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/england-v-new-zealand-2015/engine/match/743941.html