England Ist Test vs New Zealand

Well I thought I'd start one as there is no Surrey cricket at present.

I always expect England to be 30/3. When I just looked they were 25/2. Indeed. And after 5 recent ducks I'm afraid I don't think that Sibley is the answer to the enduring top order problems. The Aussies will blow him away. Because of the strange resting policy we've gone from about 4 all rounders to none, bat/bowl that is. No spinner? What is Silverwood on? Root bowled 12 overs yesterday but he ain't gonna take 5 for 8 again. I know these two tests were slotted in late, I refrain from calling them a series, but this is almost the top test side and we've got half our squad with there feet up, with the Ashes six tests away.

I'm not going to get in the the Robinson thing just now, I'll leave that for someone else. All I'll speculate is that he won't play against India.

As for the positives....mmm, I can't think of any right now, but it's only Day 2.
Oh the pitch looks ok to me.

I like the following from th BBC live text page

"I was just looking up some of Burns' stats while listening to the soothing voice of Kumar Sangakkara at tea. He has seven 50+ scores for Surrey this season. Decent nick."

I presume it will be edited at some stage, though probably not as quickly as the football report which was trying to describe a shot from long range...

Can’t see that Bracey is a Test wicket keeper on this performance,very untidy with the gloves. Must have been picked for his batting!

Think his keeping has shown the value of having a proper wicketkeeper that has done it for a long time.

It's been two days of entertaining cricket so far, you'd probably so it's about even at the moment. Just pleased to see Rory carry on from the domestic season, although I'd have put my finger up at that LBW appeal very early on; couldn't believe it was missing! As always, Root's a class bat, those late cuts are wonderful to watch.

Kudos to Conway as well, amazing for a debut, although I was wishing he'd have carried his bat

Play can go on until 7.30pm should they start by 6.00pm but it's still raining.

Bracy...tipped to be England's new no. 3. Jesus, this lot are poor.

Get in Rory, brilliant knock

Well this does nothing to attract people to cricket does it. A generous declaration by NZ and pants England is on a funeral march. I know they lost a day but this has the potential to be a thriller. Trouble is we've got a makeshift side with no big hitters aka Stokes, Butler, Curran, Woakes (who?), and what actually what is the point of Don Sibley anyone please? He can't even rotate the strike.

Well thank God that drivel is over. Just think people paid around £100 to watch that. They should demand a refund.

I am still trying to work out why, when set a challenging target, England at least didnt have a go at it

I realise that the pitch was a tad uneven, but surely rather than score 170 odd in 70 overs, they could have given it a go. What else was there to play for, ie no TC points etc