England v New Zealand - Tests

Well that was a very good Test Match that swung in a number of directions.  I felt that New Zealand failed to apply the boot to the throat when they had the chance.  Their 1st innings could easily have been 50-100 runs bigger and their attack looked tired in the 2nd innings.  England fought back well.  This is clearly the coming of age of Ben Stokes.  Thought Wood looked quite good as well.  Still have an issue with the spin attack but in the absence of an obvious candidate muddling through with Moeen strengthening the batting depth at 8 is not the worst idea in the world.

The weather has spoilt it because we were well on our way to a classic day five; however it'll now be all about attrition and trying not to get out. NZ don't really deserve to lose the series, but I back England to hold out.

Did I actually say "I expect England to hold out"?!

I think what will worry England most of all is that they lost to spin.  It would have been one thing to lose out to a good New Zealand seam bowling attack in favour conditions.  It's another thing to fold against a couple of pretty average international spinners on a pitch, which while offering help, wasn't exactly turning square.  There may well be issues about the number of left handers in this lineup.  There are certainly ongoing problems with England's tendency to fall apart when facing spin under any kind of pressure.  The English cricket establishment (players, coaches, key people in the media etc) have this incredibly annoying habit of underestimating opponents.  Craig was apparently a poor bowler, it's unbelievable that he is compared to Paul Harris of South Africa who is often held up as a kind of joke bowler.  Harris was capable of running through an England side.  I don't think spin is very well understood in England - if they're not Shane Warne there's this assumption that they're not very good. That's partly why I think we lost - we didn't take Craig as seriously as a threat as we took their seamers.  Nathan Lyon (another massively underrated bowler in England) will be licking his lips.

On the team I'm not particularly worried about the middle order apart from Ballance; at this stage we have to back them to come good again.  Bell once again showed his very frustrating tendency to hit the ball straight to fielder that the opposition have placed specifically for the shot.  He does this far too often and it is brainless.  The main issue I think is the lack of balance in the lineup.  I think that lower middle order is far too attacking.  I don't think I'd want Stokes, Buttler and Ali coming in at 100-4 against the Aussies - you need some glue in there.  I would move Ballance down the order.  I think he has been somewhat found out against the moving ball and I worry what the Aussies would do to him at 3.  I also think Moeen will be dropped.  If he's not considered good enough to bat in the top 6 there's little point in picking him to bat 8 as he really is a back up spinner.  We should just select whichever of the spin candidates in best form when the Aussie come and if all else fails send for Monty because if we don't have a match winning spinner we might as well have one who is capable of stocking up an end and he does that better than anyone else. 

I'd go with a lineup like this; Cook, Lyth, Root (back your best batsman at 3), Bell, Stokes, Ballance, Butter, Broad, Wood/Jordan, Anderson, AN Other (Spinner).  I still think we'd lose but it would be a lineup that could have more fight in it.

I fear that Mark Wood is going to be one of these guys that flames out quite quickly.  That action puts a huge strain on knees, ankles and back.  A bit like Simon Jones.

Absolutely.
Also, I think NZ deserve a five test series here in the UK.  Certainly more than India who look like they couldn`t care less when it comes to test cricket.

I'm not completely convinced by that argument.  It's ultimately about how you balance the lineup to get the maximum amount of runs.  My view is that we are far too hung up in this country on where someone bats in the order to the extent that it becomes a mental block to players.  Other countries seem far more open to moving batsmen around in the order.  Opening is a specialist position that has a specific set of skills, psychological approach and aims.  Beyond that it really shouldn't matter whether you are batting 3-6 because you will bat in a wide variety of different scenarios and conditions over a course of time.  I've met 13 year olds who have told me 'My coach told me I'm a number 4' - that is just absurd and it doesn't really mean anything.  It's as if we come out of the womb with a number on our chest.  Traditionally the best and most experience/in form batsmen goes in at 3 on the basis that they could be in at ball 2 or the 70th Over.  I think there's some logic in that.  For me though it's more about making sure there's balance through the order in terms of tempo and I really don't like the idea of 6/7/8 all being hitters.  There must be some grit in there.

England cocked up with Root because they shifted him up to open when he was still finding his feet in Test Cricket to go up against one of the top attacks in World Cricket which was a terrible decision. But for more of his county and youth career he was an opener and that was where most people saw his future when he was originally picked so it wasn't completely outrageous that the selectors saw his future as further up the order.  There was no particular reason to assume he'd struggle there technique wise.  I'd rather take my chances with trusting Root at 3 than putting in someone young or out of form just to become a walking wicket for Mitchell Johnson.  This is why England were desperate for Trott to come back; it's potentially a big problem.  There's a decision to make about whether Ballance is a very good Test player who's gone through a bad run or a Test player who came into the side and did very well against a pretty weak set of seamers and is now being found out against higher quality attacks.  Either way it is too many questions ahead of the Ashes.  We're going into that series with serious question marks over 2 of our top 3 batting positions.  Not good.

She reminds me of a customs official I ran into, at Shanghai airport.  And no, she didn`t find anything.