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We’ve had our first look at the Test match pitch, and it is greener than a jealous, queasy tree frog.
So the debutants can chill out for a while: Jacob Bethell is unlikely to be batting this morning, and Nathan Smith is unlikely to bowl. Meanwhile, an email!
“I loved the idea of Moneyball and using recognised but under appreciated metrics of genuine impact, but also love the adrenaline-fuelled gut-feeling selection policy of Bazball,” says Tom van de Gucht. “But rather than, as Harry Hill would say, ‘Which one is better, there’s only one way to find out, Fiiiiigghghhhht!’ I’d genuinely love to know how much the data crunching has progressed and is still going on behind the scenes.
“There must be so much more intel on all biomechanical data, yet Stokes and McCullum seem to be going back to the style of the talent scouts Billy Beane fought against, who used selection criteria such as how symmetrical the player’s face was and if they looked good when running. Unless it’s all a smokescreen and their selections are massively data driven, but they’d prefer to sell their laid back image to pull opponents onto a false sense of security.”
In short, and to summarise, you don’t have a clue what’s going on.
England win the toss!
Ben Stokes has won the toss for England and has chosen to have a bowl.
Right then, the British TV coverage has started and a coin toss should be incoming.
Ali’s been a busy little bee, there not being much else to do in New Zealand except write about cricket, and here’s his bit on a reenergised and refocused Ben Stokes:
Come rain or shine, New Zealand cricketers tend to wear a smile on their faces. But this week there is a palpable glow around the place, that remarkable clean sweep in India, coupled with victory for the women’s team in the T20 World Cup, still fresh in the memory. Hagley Oval is sold out for the first Test against England, folks drawn to its inviting grass banks.
English cricket has felt a little less cheery by contrast, be it their women’s team flunking that latest shot at a global title, the continuing culture war as the sale of the Hundred teams gathers pace, or the men’s Test side having lost in Pakistan to reopen the debate about the merits of so-called Bazball. Ben Stokes seemed to embody the mood in Pakistan, his return from a hamstring injury resulting in what he calls one of his toughest trips. A burglary back at home added to the stress levels and nearly forced an early flight back, only for his wife, Clare, to persuade him otherwise.
But before the first Test that gets under way on Thursday (10pm on Wednesday in the UK), Stokes appeared refreshed and re-energised.
Much more here:
Here’s a memorable quote from Warwickshire’s Olly Hannon-Dalby about Jacob Bethell:
He’s just one of those guys. A cool cat, quietly confident, funny but also seriously hungry and hard-working. He’s made two international debuts already, just bagged an IPL deal and he is about to play Test cricket. He’ll probably end up marrying a Bond girl.
And here’s Ali Martin’s profile of Bethell, which handily is the article the quote came from:
Hello world!
If you’re only as good as your last game, New Zealand are phenomenal and England concerning. But Christchurch is not Rawalpindi and nor is it Mumbai, and at the risk of stating the obvious these will be different teams in a different situation. Since they wrapped up a 3-0 series win at the Wankhede at the start of the month New Zealand have left out Will Young, who scored 244 at 48.80 in India and was named player of the series, and Ajaz Patel, who took 15 wickets in those three games, bringing back old-timers Tim Southee and Kane Williamson as well as a debutant seamer in Nathan Smith. Meanwhile since the loss that condemned them to a 2-1 series defeat in Pakistan last month England have gone from three spinners to one, given Ollie Pope the gloves and brought in a debutant of their own in No3 Jacob Bethell, veteran of 20 first-class games. If this isn’t quite a clean slate it is at least a slate that requires only minor washing up.
There seems to have been a lot of interesting Test cricket happening over the last couple of months, and I’m looking forward to a bit more. Welcome!
Since we already know the teams, this might be a good place to put them:
New Zealand XI: Tom Latham (capt), Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell (wk), Glenn Phillips, Nathan Smith, Tim Southee, Matt Henry, Will O’Rourke.
England XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jacob Bethell, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ollie Pope (wk), Ben Stokes (c), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Shoaib Bashir.
Umpires: Ahsan Raza (Pak) and Rod Tucker (Aus).
TV umpire: Adrian Holdstock (SA).
