Friday 22 November 2019

First Test vs New Zealand

So here we are, a couple of months on from an Ashes series, test cricket is back with a series in New Zealand.  We are playing at somewhere called Mount Maunganui, in fact this is the first test match to be played here.  I can't comment about how it looks because I haven't seen a single picture of it.

As has become customary I listened to the start of the series on TMS which is as brilliant as ever.  All went to plan on Day one, England won the toss and batted and by the time I crashed on the latest opening partnership had passed fifty!!

And when I woke up in the morning the score had meandered along to 241/4 at stumps.  Yes England's top order actually batted how a test team should, Burns, Denly both made half centuries and Stokes was 67*.  This is all pretty good but it could all go wrong in the morning, i mean evening...

Day two starts in serene fashion with Stokes and Pope seeming to score freely but then both get out!  (Stokes for 91), quickly followed by Curran and Archer!  This leaves us 295/8 and it seems like same old England.  By the time I switch the radio off Buttler and Limpet Leach have calmed proceedings but we're still a long way short of a good score.

I wake up and switch the computer on with trepidation, i fear the worst.  The Kiwi's have a good batting line up, I'm sure they will be piling up the runs.  But no!  Buttler and Leach put on 52 to get us up to 353.  What's more we've knocked New Zealand's top four over, 144/4!  Curran took two wickets, Leach and Stokes one each.  Now I look forward to listening to Jofra steam in when play starts up tonight!

And while I remember Stephen Finn and Mark Ramprakash have made great additions to the TMS team, hopefully we can now jettison Vaughan and Swann, both of whom I loved as players but piss me right off in the comm box.


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