Kiwi -2019.

[IlfordEagle]

Absolutely pathetic 'defiance' from Eng today, poor shot selections (Root & Pope) playing too far away from the body (as did Sibley yesterday), as for Buttler...well the worst of the lot, no stroke to a straight ball, he is at best a no 7 batsman, really hw should only play for Eng in white ball cricket, his technique is far too risky for Tests. Only Burns in part, Stokes, Denly& Curran in 2nd innings showed much & lots of work etc needed prior to Thurs against a solid, accurate attack with Wagner bowling superbly backed up by some fine fielding.
Silverwood has much to sort out, initially he needs Root to set an example ie bat responsibly to start with!!

[Bath Hammer]

South Africa are a poor team these days

They need to be. The way we are playing we could soon be bottom of the heap. I was amazed to hear Alec Stewart suggest on The Debate that only Williamson would get into a combined NZ / England side. That seems ludicrous to me!

[IlfordEagle]

Williamson along with Taylor, Watling, possibly Boult & Southee, certainly a combined team would need NZ's durability & grit as Eng certainly don't possess it!

[Slogger]

If you turned it round, what England players would NZ pick ahead of their own? Not too many I would suggest.

[Valentines Park]

I thought Wagner was deemed not even good enough to play for us. 

[JasonP]

I thought Wagner was deemed not even good enough to play for us. 

He's a flat wicket bowler.  If the ball does something like it does most times in county cricket then the likes of Porter, Cook, Siddle etc are much more effective than him.  If you are playing in conditions like those in NZ this week then he's much more effective than them.  For 90% of county matches, especially when we have Harmer aswell, a bowler like Wagner is not the type of bowler Essex need.

[Valentines Park]

For 90% of county matches, especially when we have Harmer aswell, a bowler like Wagner is not the type of bowler Essex need.

No argument there but some on here genuinely think Wagner wasn't good enough to play for us at all.

[nat]

For 90% of county matches, especially when we have Harmer aswell, a bowler like Wagner is not the type of bowler Essex need.

No argument there but some on here genuinely think Wagner wasn't good enough to play for us at all.

He isn't. Which tells you all you need to know about England's batting.

[IlfordEagle]

To be fair to Wagner, he's a great trier bowling with hostility all day long, but c**p at 1 day cricket as we  have all seen.

[Andy]

Following this short NZ tour reminds me of TISWAS - Today is Saturday, What a Shambles.

[Bath Hammer]

We do have another test on the go folks. We have at last had a partnership comparable with NZ though I fear with the loss of Stokes we won’t reach their first innings total. Still no-one to compete with BJ Watling. How we could do with a player with that level of concentration. Our newbies have it all to do to convince me.

[Andy]

Rory Burns' haircuts and 'tache do remind me of the 1930s, but not in a good way. 

[nat]

Rory Burns' haircuts and 'tache do remind me of the 1930s, but not in a good way.

Yep thought the same. Wonder what would have happened if we had played them at cricket?

[Andy]

Rory Burns' haircuts and 'tache do remind me of the 1930s, but not in a good way.

Yep thought the same. Wonder what would have happened if we had played them at cricket?

We’d have hung on until a few Yanks became qualified to play for us 2 years later?

TBH I was actually thinking of George Orwell/Winston Smith rather than that little Austrian painter...

[Bath Hammer]

At last a decent innings from Root. It’s been a very long time. This is what he needs to do again & again to instil some ballast  into our flimsy batting line up. Whether our uninspiring bowling attack can break through NZ is another matter.