The Cricket thread

I think KP has been used and stitched up like a kipper by Graves in order to lever out the incumbent management team of Moores, Whitaker and Downton-they were put in an untenable position after Graves had apparently undermined them by his remarks about KP and a possible return to the England team. Can't believe that he was naïve enough not to see the possible consequences and it will be very interesting to see what he does next. All very messy though and if England struggle against the Aussies this summer, which is very possible, then no doubt further questions will be asked.

Cornish Chris wrote:

Pietersen 320-odd not out overnight for Surrey v Leicestershire.

I still think it would be wrong for him to get back in the England setup. For one thing, there still isn't a vacancy, and secondly we should be blooding people like Gayle and Taylor.

I heard another interview with him today, and he still seems to think that he's a victim. It's utter rubbish. Nobody made him send those texts to Jacques Kallis, and 18 months ago he was a senior player who totally went missing during that disastrous Ashes tour.  Scoring runs against second division cannon-fodder is one thing; doing it against Mitchell Johnson et al is something totally different.  Why split the changing room for a 34-year-old who's as likely to get out to Xavier Doherty as he is to score a hundred?

Andrew Stauss hates KP so i think it wouldnt have mattered if he scored 320 no and bowled Leicestershire all out himself strauss would never allow him back. Can understand the reasons but i rather it was for cricketing reasons not personal.

Five Live SX reporting that Strauss confirmed he wouldn't be considered for selection, but offered him an 'advisory role' in the ODI side, which he rejected.

Strange.

Left unbeaten on 355 in a Surrey total of 557. The next highest scorer was Sangakkara on 36. Pietersen and Dunn put on 119 for the last wicket, of which Dunn contributed five.

Lyth and Wood make their debuts for England.

The summer starts here!

Indeed Chris. Working with Blowers on in the background my dear thing

no Sir Geoffrey yet.

Oh dear. Four down already.

30 fo 4 !!!! blimey

cmon NZ

The boy Stokes can play.

Kevin who?

Cornish Chris wrote:

The boy Stokes can play.

Kevin who?

Second innings even better than the first. Fastest Test century at Lords; what a knock!

2nd fastest century by an Englishman ever!

Fastest Test 100s for England: 76 balls G Jessop v Aus Oval 1902, 85 balls Stokes, 86 balls Botham v Aus Manch 1981, 87 Botham Leeds 1981.

And now he's caught in the slips for 101. 13 x 4s, 4 x 6s. Oh well.

Fantastic test match so far, one of the very best of recent vintage and demonstrating why test cricket at its best is incomparable to any other form of the game. How should England play it from now on? A lead of 300 should be enough on the last day of a test but this New Zealand team is a very aggressive outfit and you can be sure that Mr McCullum would have very positive thoughts on chasing it down. Interesting decision for Cook should England get that far.

Tring coined a phrase once "one swallow doesnt make a porn star" i like to apply this to the england team right now.

Best thing here is for NZ to bowl England out. If they don't Cook'll probably want another 200 runs before he declares.

And England need all the time they can get to bowl them out.

Perfect start for England - Guptil gone first ball to Jimmy, who's now on 399 Test wickets. Should be a terrific day - NZ need 345 to win.

Added - Broad gets Latham first ball. NZ 0-2

blimey, will get TMS tooned in at 1pm

Stokes is gettin the wickets now

Stokes nearly scored the fastest test hundred at Lords AND take a hat-trick. Amazing atmosphere and a superb test match.

BBC Test Match Special is so missed.....what a test to watch......Sky spoil everthing for profit.

zyph wrote:

BBC Test Match Special is so missed.....what a test to watch......Sky spoil everthing for profit.

Its far better coverage imo than bbc. BBC is such an stagnant corporation when it comes to broadcasting sport.

TV Ad breaks have missed many a magic moment....it's only doing it for money......superior quality when BBC do it.

Fitting end, a crackerjack catch to finish a crackerjack test match. Congratulations to England, great fight back from a dire start, commiserations to New Zealand who played a full part-probably not many teams in test history have scored 750 runs, taken 20 wickets and still lost.Not getting carried away at all though-there were some great performances from Root, Cook, Stokes etc in this match but also one or two areas of concern-has Ballance been found out against the pitched up ball that swings, is Moeen Ali a test class spinner-he certainly is a more than useful number 8 but the lack of a top class tweaker could have cost England dear today. No doubt there will be debate on these issues but ATM they should take second place to a great match played on a great wicket. Look forward to the next one now.

zyph wrote:

TV Ad breaks have missed many a magic moment....it's only doing it for money......superior quality when BBC do it.

lol if you say so.

To be fair, BBC and C4 were forever going away to the 2.40 at Snotsville at crucial moments.

What a game!