Ed Hawkins is on hand with betting angles and all the action from the second Test 18.54 England 152-4 CLOSE A late flurry of wickets for the Kiwis - nightwatchman Sidebottom was last out - enlivened a rather quiet day. It was pretty dull stuff from England and all we would have needed to drift into a fully comatose state was for Paul Collingwood to sleepwalk out to the middle. He may be a decent one-day cricketer but recently Colly hasn't been able to muster a shot in anger. I don't know whether he has kids, but if he does he won't have trouble getting them off to sleep. All he would have to do is get padded up in his whites and go into his stance. They'd zonk out in no time. I'm off for a lie down now with images of Colly batting in my head.  read more »

Injury hit New Zealand should satisfy a resurgent England even on a predicted flat pitch.

Few hours before commencement of Day One of the Third Test: England vs New Zealand 2008.

Kylie Mills and Jacob Oram are contrasting, yet both have been useful for the Kiwis. Mills had a large role to play in their initial victory in this series. Oram, while still far inferior to his reputation in this series, was instrumental in limiting England in the second test when they were looking good for at least 500 or more. He triggered the characteristic England collapse by picking up two wickets soon after lunch.  read more »

As the IPL league winds down, with franchises getting eliminated and the attention shifting from players to owners, the Test match season has begun in right earnest. Earlier in May, New Zealand began their tour of England and forced a stalemate at Lord's. The second Test is being played at Old Trafford. In the Caribbean, Ricky Ponting's Australians have begun their defense of the Sir Frank Worrell Trophy at Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica.

The Lord's Test began with both teams fielding unheralded line ups - the New Zealand batting and the England bowling, both without their experienced stars. New Zealand batted first, and reached 277 thanks in large part to Brendon McCullum's T20 hangover. England eked out a lead of 42 thanks to Michael Vaughan fighting century, and then had New Zealand reduced to a 120/5 (effectively, with McCullum retired hurt), when Jacob Oram came to New Zealand's rescue producing a strokeful hundred to force a draw.  read more »

Andrew Hughes puts a a fair few of England's recent problems down to the absence through injury of Andrew Flintoff but just how fit is he and what role will he play for England should he return?

Two issues will define this English summer. There is of course, the long shadow cast by the IPL and its implications. But just now, something even more significant is exercising the minds of everyone in English cricket: when's Freddie coming back?

The man whose warrior-like performances defined the summer of 2005 has been missing for months and England are a different team without him. His was the pivotal role; an aggressive and accurate strike bowler and a punishing lower order batsman whose personality was central to the ethos of the team. So often his big-hearted performances determined the tempo of the game and hauled England to victory. In his absence, they have lacked punch (and I don't just mean of the rum variety). His return would bring instant balance to a misfiring outfit.  read more »

Author: Jacob Oram Fan
Subject: South Africa in England
Posted: 08 August 2008 at 5:43pm

This will be an interesting encounter lads... But I just think England have made a mess of the test, they are not out by far or rather I shouyld say SA is not out by far now. England could have been in a much better position than 270/8. Having said that, South Africa will have to re-produce the heroics they displayed at Lords, otherwise it will allbe but England.

We said after the last Test that you need spectacular performances to win Tests and you also need them to give you some breathing room in case of a bad day. England got away with one day of buttery fingers thanks to Tim Ambrose’s hundred and James Anderson’s five wickets.
Ryan Sidebottom got England across the [...]

I was fortunate enough to get a glimpse of the England Lions in action yesterday afternoon against New Zealand at The Rose Bowl. When I turned up England were in trouble at 132-5, but the 34 runs put on since the last wicket represented what was a good partnership so far in the match. Luke Wright was batting with Adil Rashid and I doubt that it will be the last time that these two bat together in England colours. Both are exceedingly promising allrounders, Rashid perhaps more with his leg spin bowling and Wright perhaps more with his explosive batting.  read more »

Author: Ives16
Subject: South Africa in England
Posted: 05 August 2008 at 3:07pm

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Author: Jacob Oram Fan
Subject: South Africa in England
Posted: 05 August 2008 at 2:18pm

Anyway Congrads to the boys, they really have played well I must say in this series. My predictions are 3-0 to South Africa given that Kallis and Boucher finnaly came good in the last test match. FLintoff was hostile at the best of times and his ball to desmiss Kallis in the Second innings does not fall within the spirit of the game one gets the feeling.