England V New Zealand 2013

Pitch flat as a fart,should have had a bat.

Close Day 1 New Zealand 250-1 Fulton 124 not out Williamson 83 not out
Rutherford gave his wicket away when he had made 37,getting out just before lunch with a sharp catch in the slips by Cook off the bowling of Finn.

This must be one of the worst test series ever. We've had 11 days of cricket and only 48 wickets have fallen. And now on a ground with very short boundaries and a flat wicket New Zealand manage 250 in a day.

New Zealand 443 all out 152.3 overs Fulton 136 Finn 6-125
England 50-2 25 overs Boult 2-26 Close Day 2

Not a very successful morning for England! A mere 42 runs for the loss of 3 wickets from 29 overs.

That's as bad as I've seen England for a long time 1.45 runs per over ! Diafuckingbolical.

The batsmen have got themselves in a right footwork tangle.
The ball has swung and it always looked to me like bowlers saying to the batsmen "You miss and I hit your pads bang in front of your stumps". 4 lbws and a legside catch behind on a flat wicket in the sunshine.
Oh dear .
England have taken New Zealand too lightly from the start in the preparation stage and in the test matches.
Part of this is media driven and part of the problem for me is the obsession with The Ashes.
Everyone seems to have been blabbering on about the Ashes even before the New Zealand series started.
The team seem to have been sucked in to that imo.
One day, match and series at a time please folks.
It will serve England right if they lose and then both Australia and England will go into an Ashes series on the back of humbling series defeats. For all those that think the Ashes will be a doddle and that England can turn form on and off like a tap - Think again .

England 204 all out Prior 73 Root 45 Boult 6-68
New Zealand 2nd Innings 35-3 Fulton 14 not out Brownlie 13 not out Broad 2-7
New Zealand lead England by 274 runs

Prior & Root managed put England back on track with a century partnership,but Prior went before the 2nd new ball & after Broad slogged a few they lost their last 4 wicks for 4 runs.As many expected McCullum decided against enforcing the follow on.

Lunch - New Zealand 176-4 Fulton 91 McCullum 44 lead England by 415 runs.