The New Zealanders flew to England to enjoy the English summer, which they couldn’t do in the recently concluded test series. They were beaten 2-0 in what could be seen as the Kiwis’ worst series in this decade. They were just not in the thick of the things. Having lost some big names like Stephen Fleming, Nathan Astle, and Craig McMillan due to retirement, the team had more to miss – the players who were dumped from the squad as they had signed up with ICL, the “Rebel League”, as termed by the BCCI – top order batsman Lou Vincent and pace bowler Shane Bond. The visitors never seemed to have the best of the opening partnerships. Only the likes of McCullum, Oram and Taylor stayed at the crease for reasonable amount of time, with good contributions at times by Kyle Mills and skipper, D.L. Vettori. Bowlers were shuffled and tried, only Martin and Vettori keeping up consistency, along with tight bowling by Oram, the Gladiator. But all this was not enough, as the England found things easy throught the series.
This series saw Strauss (Man-of-the-Series) and captain, Vaughan coming to form. Pietersen was there to help when, the team was in trouble. The ‘keeper, Ambrose, contributed well with the bat. Bell, Collingwood summed up the batting, and lower order vigilance by Broad helped at times. Panesar turned the games to England’s ways. When the three locals came together at Trentbridge, Notts, they fired and the Kiwis were skittled to paltry scores. Jimmy was swinging the ball like a banana and Sidebottom was troubling the batsmen enough with his swing. Broad chipped in with good bounce, line, length and swung the Duke well.
The teams now face each other in the ODI series pretty soon. The Kiwis are to trust their strength and experience as they move into the 2nd phase of their English tour. England look confident after their test victory. It is to be seen if the selectors look at Ravi Bopara who has been been good this domestic season and has a bashing ODD double hundred to his name. Masceranhas and Luke Wright may be seen again.
This series saw Strauss (Man-of-the-Series) and captain, Vaughan coming to form. Pietersen was there to help when, the team was in trouble. The ‘keeper, Ambrose, contributed well with the bat. Bell, Collingwood summed up the batting, and lower order vigilance by Broad helped at times. Panesar turned the games to England’s ways. When the three locals came together at Trentbridge, Notts, they fired and the Kiwis were skittled to paltry scores. Jimmy was swinging the ball like a banana and Sidebottom was troubling the batsmen enough with his swing. Broad chipped in with good bounce, line, length and swung the Duke well.
The teams now face each other in the ODI series pretty soon. The Kiwis are to trust their strength and experience as they move into the 2nd phase of their English tour. England look confident after their test victory. It is to be seen if the selectors look at Ravi Bopara who has been been good this domestic season and has a bashing ODD double hundred to his name. Masceranhas and Luke Wright may be seen again.
kiwis had one positive - ian o brien atleast was one reason for them to have toured. And also it provided 2 good tests though the 3rd turned out 1-sided in the end
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