***New Zealand v England 2nd Test***

got me bewildered too. couldn't back them with stolen on their recent away record. asking a lot for those who've been out there for majority of this never ending tour to raise themselves for 1 last effort now when they haven't been able to do it so far and have one eye on the plane home

mike selvey said on the verdict the other day spinners have hardly bowled an over for new zealand at the hagley oval in the 4 tests played there so far so seems little point or likelihood of them picking leach now. at the best of times england loathe to pick a spinner who can't bat. more likely they turn to livingstone to bolster the batting although i'm far from convinced about him and he didn't look good in admittedly a handful of 1 day games for england last summer

Wood and Leach ought to come in and personally I would add another batsman. There are plenty of bowling options all of which are sheite!

Not going to bet on this. England might win! But equally might play like the second rate cricket nation we are becoming!

Eng beat Saffers home and away....at home less than a year ago, on pitches not that different to NZ pitches.   I may get on Eng after thinking about that.   

The 58 not was just a freaky abberation like Aus'60 all out at trent bridge and Saffers 83 at wanderers .....both v Eng.   

This is my way in

woakes dropped for the 2nd test

here's a thing bayliss, why don't you fkin start from the top and ditch all the people who have failed

so that's yourself OUT for starters

cook is averaging a pile of fkin sh1te in the last year or 2 if you take out the "runs" on that hideous MCG pitch
then there's the rest of the "batting"
score 58 on a flat deck and the response is to drop your best bowling all rounder

hard to believe the team could get even sh1tter but it has!!

he is kn0bhead KOD

coming out with this crap about woakes didn't take a wicket

well england only took 8 in the entire match ffs

plus woakes is never given the new ball, its always given to broad, who on the evidence of the last 2 years is a lesser bowler than woakes is now despite having had the luxury of bowling with the new ball and jimmy's pressure from the other end

and then there's the batting, woakes is a test match number 7, arguably even number 6 in a sh1te team (which england are)

52 runs, 172 minutes, 118 balls in the 2nd innings, I'd like to see the same sort of digging in from the prats batting above him
supposedly "front line batsman"

"cardinal the pitches in eng are completely different to NZ!

We shall disagree on that.....NZ pitches grounds promote swing and seam like Engand.

well yes the purpose built cricket grounds more so, rugby stadia like eden park with a drop in pitch not so much
there tends to be a bit of moisture in the pitches early on which is why a lot of teams in tests in NZ elect to bowl 1st
pitches in eng tend to be drier & deteriorate as the game goes on, therefore batting 1st is generally best
but there are variations between each ground

WD eng are a fkin shambles and have been for a long time
remember headingley...

I lost £750 on Eng women this morning..... I don't want another disaster on my hands from the men.

I’m irritated about the Woakes dropping too: yes he’s picked as a bowler but he’s as a good a batsman as Stoneman or Malan, I think. I also think Ali is being a bit harshly treated, although I accept that his bowling has been useles this winter but as a batsman I’d actually rate him above Stoneman and Malan, who’ve neither of them shown much test class (one Malan innings apart). Leach may be a better spinner but he’s hardly likely to pull up a lot of trees on a Kiwi wicket and can’t bat so he’s not really a like for like replacement. From the squad they’ve got I’d leave him out and put up with an unbalanced side with four quicks, made all the more so by dropping your other bowler who bats. Suppose they could trust Leach as one of four bowlers and hope for a bit from Stokes. It’s a mess. Having said that, I laid England so should be happy. I also laid draw at 5 and 5.1 so that’s gone nicely too.

There doesn't seem much point in Leach playing either given the record of the surface

I got on Eng at 2.40 so enjoying seeing this coming in.

This pitch looks a good one, yesterdays pic I posted showed something that would have excessive seam and potential for another collapse but this looks fine.  https://twitter.com/SkyCricket/status/979452142770466817

since 2012 NZ have played 28 tests at home prior to this 1
26 captains chose to bowl 1st
2 chose to bat 1st

nasser talking 100% sense again

precious prats in the batting line up when are they gunna fkin contribute or go home

I am staying on Eng, I can take profit and get out if I want to.

vince batting 3 again, hmmmm yeah that should work PMSL

INtersting post toss, NZ went well out and ENgland came in. That was weird to see.

afraid so juce, the cupboard is bare

I may take back 1/2 my stake,fear of being stranded with no rain to save me this time.  I'll ponder on that for 10 mins