3rd Test

England now dominating. After a first innings opening clapse rescued by KP England reached 253. NZ lost early wickets, and the wickets came at regular intervals. Sidebottom was once again Englands stand out bowler taking 7 wickets for 47 runs. In the second innings England are 91 for 2 wickets, Strauss and Pietersen are at the crease.

hopefully we can build a big lead like we did in the last test.

General : 172-3
Lead of 257

Taylor amazing catch to get rid of Pietersen, off the bowling of Vettori.
Low to his right , full stretch at slip

Strauss looks on his way to 100

England are well on top at the moment. When do people think the right time to retire is?

Halfway through the evening session would be my choice as by then we should have a 450-ish lead and hopefully nip out one or two before the close

Bat till tea.... come out and swing the willow... forget the averages get runs quickly n stick NZ in before the close

yep i agree, have abit of a slog if we have a 450+ lead after tea. then get nz in

marcussjd9 wrote:Bat till tea.... come out and swing the willow... forget the averages get runs quickly n stick NZ in before the close

Haha, if only we could make it that simple for ourselves. Knowing England, there will be a big collapse before tea followed by the tail hanging around for a wasted session to drag our lead up. However, both the guys are looking positive at the moment so it could work out well for once tonight

Lets hope.....
If we could have a lead of 400 at tea... with any 2 of strauss, bell, collingwood,ambrose and possibly broad .. I'd swing the wood... aim for the fences and another 50 in half an hour or so .... longer if possible we could be looking at 500 plus with a fair chunk of the evening session still.....

Second thoughts... Why rush?
near enough 8 sessions left.
If we could bat until tomorrow leave NZ 5 sessions chasing 600
We'd be laughing

marcussjd9 wrote:Lets hope.....
If we could have a lead of 400 at tea... with any 2 of strauss, bell, collingwood,ambrose and possibly broad .. I'd swing the wood... aim for the fences and another 50 in half an hour or so .... longer if possible we could be looking at 500 plus with a fair chunk of the evening session still.....

Second thoughts... Why rush?
near enough 8 sessions left.
If we could bat until tomorrow leave NZ 5 sessions chasing 600
We'd be laughing

The only thing that worries me about that theory is how poorly Anderson bowled in the 1st Innings. If Monty struggles with his hand and Anderson bowls dismally again, 5 sessions may begin to seem a lot less daunting! Collingwood could be key with his bowling

At the end of the day (it gets dark) Vaughan is captain for a reason and Hopefully he will know when it is right.
However he may not have a decision to make our innings could be over in the next 7 balls.
Who Knows?

But If you look at a captain of Pontings Ilk. their declarations are a lot more aggressive.
I think Vaughan will bat NZ out of the game first.... I mean a drawn series against NZ is bad.... but imagine losing!!!

Bell & Strauss are batting elegantly and aggressively now and it's a pleasure to watch! This session they've scored at almost 5 an over

Glad for Strauss to get a hundred I think this will be the knock that saves his caree.

im really happy for bell to get his 100 and for strauss should of helped his form