MadAsHell

New Zealand have declared this morning after about 45 minutes of throwing the bat. England 167 J. Trott 45 I. Bell 24 J. Anderson 23 N. Wagner 4/42 B. Martin 4/43 T. Boult 1/32 New Zealand 9/460dec H. Rutherford 171 B. McCullum 74 P. Fulton 55 J. Anderson 4/137 S. Broad 3/118 M. Panesar 1/83 On top of Hamish Rutherford's impressive debut innings on 171, special mention should be made of the other New Zealand debutant left arm spinner Bruce Martin. Took 4/43 when bowling in the first innings and made a valuable 41 with the bat batting down at number 9 in a vital partnership with McCullum. With a first innings lead of 293, fingers crossed New Zealand can bowl England out today and wrap the match up with a day to spare.

Stumps on day 3 as bad light stops play. England 167 J. Trott 45 I. Bell 24 J. Anderson 23 N. Wagner 4/42 B. Martin 4/43 T. Boult 1/32 New Zealand 7/402 H. Rutherford 171 P. Fulton 55 B. McCullum 44* J. Anderson 4/108 S. Broad 2/89 M. Panesar 1/83 Great effort by Hamish Rutherford and New Zealands pushed their lead over 200. Lost a few quick wickets in that last session going for quick runs and I wouldn't be suprised if they declare early tomorrow once they've pushed their lead past 250 given day 1 was lost to rain, most of the last session today was lost to to bad light and there always is a bit of rain around Dunedin if you've ever been there before. The test will be if they can get another 10 wickets with only 4 bowlers and the part time spin of Williamson? And in Shield news Fawad Ahmed took 2/35 from 16 overs against NSW. Give that man his citizenship! Edit: Updated since tea.

Congratulations to Hamish Rutherford for a fine century on debut and to Peter Fulton for his first 50 since 2006 who has since been dismissed by Anderson for 55. New Zealand now 1/166 only 1 run behind on the first innings. Edit: Spelling

Stumps Day 2 (first day play) England 167 J. Trott 45 I. Bell 24 J. Anderson 23 N. Wagner 4/42 B. Martin 4/43 T. Boult 1/32 New Zealand 0/131 H. Rutherford 77* P. Fulton 46* Go the black caps!

What did Alec have to say? I thought considering he lead several abysmal English teams for a few years he'd be a bit more careful about having a go at another country while it's down? Oh and in the latest update, NZ are 0/99 in their first dig.

England bowled out for 167 by the Black Caps in only 55 overs. Why don't you go and tweet about that Vaughan!

Wagner picks up Cook & Pietersen with consecutive delivers being his 2nd & 3rd bal of the match and England are 3/18. Go you good thing!

Got him, yes! Tim Southee bowls Nick Compton for 0 and England are 1/5 in the third over on the 2nd day of the first test against New Zealand (Day 1 washed out). Sorry, but the only thing that can cheer me up from our horrible display in India so far would be to see England get creamed by the black caps.

While you're true the worst team getting pick 6 isn't equalisation, they are still getting a top end draft pick and as we all know all to well there's no guarentee that pick 1 is going to be any better then pick 6. The other two groups would be different as they're playing for finals/positioning, not draft picks. So the bottom placed team of group 7-12 gets pick 7 and the bottom placed team of group 1-6 (assuming 5th & 6th knock out 7 & 8 in the first week of finals and then both get knocked out in the semis) gets pick 13. You're right, a lottery does work also, however the other way (as unlikely as it would be) does make the final few rounds a bit more interesting.

Interestign idea, although very complicated. My idea for this would see the need for a 24 round season which would give the players their 2 byes for the season they so dearly want. Rounds 1-18 everyone plays eachother once and has 1 bye each meaning 9 teams have 9 home games & 8 away, and 9 have 8 home games & 9 away. At the end of Round 18 the ladder is divided into 3 sections, 1st - 6th, 7th - 12th & 13th - 18th. Your win loss ratio over the 17 matches is then reduced to the 5 matches that you've played against the other 5 teams in your group and you are then ranked accordingly. Round 19 becomes a bye round as the fixture is re-worked and they can play the EJ Whitten match and maybe a TAC All Star match or something during that week. Over the last 5 rounds, 20-24 you play the other 5 teams in your group again meaning you would have played everyone in that group twice and the other 12 teams once (22 games). The teams that were 1-6 after round 18 are locked into the top 6, over the last 5 rounds they are simply playing for top 4 spots and so on. The teams that were 7-12 are playing for the final two remaining spots in the finals. Obviously cancelling out any tanking there. The teams 13-18 play for draft picks. Whoever ends up topping the group gets pick 1 and so on. Again this gets rid of tanking and over the last 5 roudns you'll actually be rewarded for winning. Will mean that all games will actually count for something. The following year the teams that only got 8 home games in rounds 1-18 the following year get 9 and the tems who had 9 get 8 to keep the draw fair.

Once Rouge has presented his XI I guess.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/srilanka/content/current/story/623605.html Does this mean you have to pick again Macca?

Good posts above Titan and well thought out. As far as our obsession with an all rounder goes, I can understand where the selectors are coming from. The days of Warne & McGrath are gone and they're concerned about our ability to take 20 wickets and there for want a 5th bowler who can also bat in the top 6 preferably. However genuine all rounders are hard to find, I'm talking about someone with a batting average of over 35 and bowling average under 30. Watson & McDonald are the only two in the country that fit into this category, none of Henriques, Maxwell, Smith, Faulkner or Mitch Marsh are there yet so in that regard with McDonald injured and Watson unable to bowl it was probably a mistake to play an all rounder and they would have been better off playing a genuine bowler who can bat a bit at 7 like Steve O'Keefe which gives them their 2nd spinneror Micth Johnson allowing them to play 2 spinners in the bottom 4. As far as finding a suitable top 4 goes it's a hard one. I think Warner is good enough, he's just hit and miss and unfortunatly that's how he'll always be. He may struggle in the sub continent his whole career but at home and in other countries I think he'll do much better, there's always been players who struggle in certain conditions. Cowan, one of the few to show any fight in the 2nd innings, yet after only 1 century in 15 tests I think it is now the evidence is mounting that he just might not be good enough at this level. Phil Hughes likewise, he(even more so then Warner) has no idea against quality spin, whether it's ona turning track or not and the good fast bowlers have worked him out, evidence by the selectors not picking him against South Africa. I think he could be the batting equivelent of Nathan Bracken, could be a very good limited overs player but just not test standard which is a shame given his talent. Then we get to some of our other options that you mentioned Titan. Khawaja, Bailey, Doolan, White, Hussey. Usman Khawaja certainly hasn't done anything at test level yet to overly impress, although his echnique does look sound, and although he has made some runs for Queensland, he hasn't exactly been banging the door down. I think he does deserve an extended run in the team without fear of being dropped to see if he can settle in. I'd like to see the selectors put him in for the next test and give him until the end of the Ashes in Australia to cement a spot in the team, that way he certainly can't complain about not being given a chance to cement himself. George Bailey is one who I'd love to see given a shot. He has good leadership credentials and I reckon he'd kill for a chance and would really value his wicket. His form in the ODI's suggests to me that he's the type of guy who thrives at the top level as his form in the short form suggests. Alex Doolan I can see where you're coming from. I have concerns about any specialist batsman being given a run for Australia with a first class average under 40, and although he's been in good form, is it just a purple patch? I wouldn't be against him getting into a squad, but would have my concerns if he ever made our best XI. Cameron White I think just isn't good enough, end of story, his foot work leaves a lot to be desired and David Hussey picked the wrong summer to have a form slump. With his age also he may have now missed the boat which is a shame, his ability to play spin bowling would have been very handy over in India. Chris Rogers is someone who has to come into calculations for The Ashes. He's continually been racking up big runs in Shield cricket adn over in England in the county scene for years. Although he's 35 (I think) he's still making runs, is a good fielder and simply must be given a go. The lack of the development of our batsmen eg Callum Ferguson is really starting to hurt us. As I've mentioned befoer we've got to make sure that we look after and properly develop our young up and coming promising batsmen like Handscomb, Burns and Maddinson for the future.

Big changes needed on and off the field for the Ashes, might be to late to salavage anything in India. 16 man squad that I'd be looking for to send for the Ashes would be: Chris Rogers David Warner Usman Khawaja Shane Watson (All rounder, you need to bowl Shane) Michael Clarke George Bailey Matthew Wade Peter Siddle James Pattinson Mitchell Strac Fawad Ahmed Jackson Bird (reserve fast bowler) Alex Doolan (reserve batsman) Brad Haddin (reserve keeper and batsman) Moises Henriques (reserve all rounder) Nathan Lyon (reserve spin bowler) This testagainst India is turning into a nightmare. We've turned into New Zealand of the late 80's when the only two players they had were Martin Crowe and Richard Hadlee (Michael Clarke & James Pattinson). Big help is needed!

Haven't brewed myself but have a mate who does is along with wine up just outside Wangaratta, he's pretty new at it though so he's still ironing out some kinks in his own stuff. I'm a big fan of Matilda Bay beers and Stone & Wood. Love the Stone & Wood Pacific ale, really crisp thirst quenching tste which goes down a treat on a hot summer evening. And nearly all the Matilda Bay bres are top notch. Can't go past a Fat Yak!

Two possible solutions that I can think of. First would be: Watson goes back to openning the batting meaning he would only bolw very rarely as a 6th bowling option, meaning we playa Maxwell, Henriques or Mitch Marsh at 7. Warner and Watson open (I think Warner is safe as he provides our batting with some x factor), Usman Khawaja gets given an extended run at 3, the whole 10 Ashes tests to settle into the spot and George Bailey comes in at 4. His ODI form has been very good and Warner got picked on the back of his short format form, Bailey might just be a guy that plays better at the highest level. Gives us: Warner Watson Khawaja Bailey Clarke Wade Menriques or M. Marsh or Maxwell Or Watson stays at 4 but he has to start bowling and being our all rounder again. Rogers comes back from the wilderness to join Warner at the top of the order. Khawaja gets given the same gig at 3 and Bailey comes in at 6. Rogers Warner Khawaja Watson Clarke Bailey Wade Not sure what people would prefer out of those two. But I see them as our best options.

Sadly I don't even think we got our squad that wrong. I posted awhile back that the only squad selections I would have made differently would have been Haddin (reserve keeper & specialist batsman) and O'Keefe instead of Cowan, Johnson, Smith & Henriques. And thank god we had Henriques in that first test. If things don't drastically improve over the next couple of tests there could be some serious questions to be answered.

Alas no. Just found out yesterday that they're still a block away from finishing the road that goes to my lot. Looks like I'll have to pay also!

Where's Ray Bright and Greg Matthews when you need them!

They need to start picking the right teams. The one thing we've got right at the moment is our pace bowling and Clarke & Warner in the batting line up, the rest need addessing. Spin bowling: Get Fawad Ahmed's citizenship through ASAP so he can be ready for the Ashes, I reckon he can be our spinner for 3-5 years which gives us time. During that period we need to get the likes of Ashton Agar, John Holland, Adam Zampa & James Muirhead into some type of boarding school spinning academy where they only get to come out during the summer to play for their states. In the mean time we get the likes of Shane Warne, Stuart MacGill, Richie Beneaud, Tim May, Ashley Mallet, Greg Matthews and even Alan Border to tutor these kids. Keeper: I think we should stick by Wade. There's not a lot of other options. I think going back to Haddin is a backwards step to a 35 year old who wasn't performing when he last played. Wade may not be our best gloveman, but he is our best keeper/batsman and we can use all the batting help we can get at the moment. I believe he has the right work ethic to improve his glovework to a top standard! Batting: Probably our most urgent area that needs addressing to nail down a solid top 5. Clarke & Warner are our most safe and I believe Watson could fall into that category if he played as an openner where his best form has been. This would mean his bowling should be reduced to happening only occasionally which I think would suit him. I just don't believe that Ed Cowan is up to it. 1 century in 15 tests isn't a great strike rate, Hodge was dropped after a double century in 5 tests! And I'm concerned about Hughes, they needed to shield him against RSA, he looks out of his depth in India. What are England going to do to him in 10 tests? It's probably time to give Usman Khawaja our most technically correct batsman an extended run at 3 and I'd like to see George Bailey given a shot at 4. I know he's only averaged 25 in Shield cricket this summer but he's been in great form in the international one day games and we saw Dave Warner get picked on his shorter format form. Another option if the selectors wanted to keep Watson at 4 would be Chris Rogers as an openner. He's had a great summer and could still offer something in the short term. Going forward I think the likes of Jo Burns, Peter Handscomb, Nic Maddinson etc need to be encouraged and be invested in. Fast bowlers: No issue here, in fact I think we have enough depth in this department that we could comfortably field 3 attacks of 3 quality fast bowlers. Ausralia: Pattinson, Siddle, Cummins. Australia A: Harris, Bird, Starc. Australia 3rd XI: Hazlewood, Hilfenhaus, Johnson All Rounder: Even with Watson giving up bowling (short term) I think we have a bit of depth here. Moises Henriques equiped himself very well in the first test and we've got Glenn Maxwell over there also. Ontop of that there's Andrew McDonald who's very strong in Shield cricket as well as Dan Christian ans Steve Smith if he ever gets back to bowling. Coming through there's also the impressive young Mitch Marsh and although his early forms been poor I know Greg Chappell hasn't given up hope on the young Alex Keath.

Oh and in England cricket related news, was fantastic to see them go down to New Zealand A, or the invitation New Zealand XI or whoever they were.... http://www.espncricinfo.com/england-v-new-zealand-2013/content/story/623165.html Lets hope England can keep that up heading into their next 2 test series.

Thank god for Michael Clarke~ And a very gutsy performance by Matthew Wade with his fractured cheekbone. If it weren't for those to we would have got nowhere near that 237. Bold declaration by Michael Clarke as Pattinson & Doherty could have hanged around for awhile, but I like the move. We'll really need to bowl well. Don;t want to let India score anymore then 300 max. Hopefully Pattinson can bowl well again or Maxwell or Doherty can pull one out of the bag to help keep us in this series!

Well I just purchased a lot out there to build on that's a 5 minute walk from the ground opposite the athletics track so I might just have to park on that...

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/cricket/matthew-wade-set-to-play-in-second-test-against-india-despite-suffering-fracture-to-cheekbone/story-e6frfg8o-1226588841433 And the hits just keep on coming! Looks like he'll still play, but hardly ideal preperation leading into the test. I notice the article also says we're likely to be unchanged. Bad idea I think, but we'll see how well they all respond.

Presenting your XI for Nasher Rouge???