Agree on Root. He should just bat how he does for the ODI team!
Doubt they'll move Brook. Bairstow will come in for Foakes and they may even bring Buttler in at the top for a punt.
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Doubt they'll move Brook. Bairstow will come in for Foakes and they may even bring Buttler in at the top for a punt.
Could you imagine if they put Buttler in to open, or some other big hitter. It's obviously a gamble but they have the safety net of Brookes and Root afterwards. If it came off the bowlers would be demoralised before lunch on the first day if they had been twatted all over the ground.
NZ to follow on
No breakthrough for England at lunch
Dreadful decision to enforce follow on,fecking hell we could have batted them out of the game with that lead of 226
Always looks better with hindsight but I was surprised they didn’t bat again. The pitch seems to have flattened out but this will be a tough chase.
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This is Bazball - 50 overs is all what they need to chase this down. What will be interesting is if England will keep going for the target if they lose a few wickets or do they get more pragmatic and try to draw.
This match is interestingly poised to say the least.
Harry Brook turned things
Would say this was the first misstep of the Stokes-Mccullum regime.
To pick two opening bowlers with a combined age of 76, ignore the need for pace and then enforce the follow-on seems very complacent.
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Yeah I would agree. Given Stokes' knee isn't quite right either, it really was a bad decision to follow on.
I know they want to win every Test but it could end up costing them a series win.
Yep. That should have been 76 btw, not 36!!
Wonder if they're been listening to the rumours that this pitch always improves for batsmen as it gets older.
There’s no chance this England don’t go after 200 unless there’s under a session to go…and even then.
Even a team that sets out to play defensively on this pitch is likely to score 200 in a full days play. A draw is never going to happen unless we get a washout.
Well the Bazball honeymoon's over then!!
WTF are England playing it brain dead batting and running
Well I figured there was a chance I’d see the end of the match before going to sleep tonight, but not in this way.
Gower blaming Root but surely that’s Brook’s call to refuse the run?
Gower blaming Root but surely that’s Brook’s call to refuse the run?
Shambolic stuff here from England. Why do a dicey run like that straight from the first ball?
Will be a really harsh lesson but one England need to learn under the Bazball era. The follow on was such a bad decision now with hindsight and everything else today has compounded it.
Here comes the negativity 
They only need 124 to win. Wee buns
Root will see them through.
Well done Stokes, been smart making sure he was there at lunch, hopefully he will help to see it home.
Lunch came at a bad time for England. 30 more minutes and they could have been inside 60
England living very dangerously here.
9/1 for NZ with England needing 70 and NZ needing 5 wickets seems incredibly good value
Stokes is a warrior. can barely walk
so nerve wracking.
looked like a great bet when root got out! Honestly thought we were done at that moment.
What a match
Incredible match. Not sure how Wagner didn't bowl a wide the ball before however.
We lost 
Bloody hell what a finish!!!
I had new Zealand at evens yesterday, I honestly thought it was all over.
He did but umpire bottled decision
Know how Aussies felt at Edgbaston in 05
What a result 
England got too cocky and complacent with the follow on.
England got too cocky and complacent with the follow on.
Nah, it was probably the right call given the history of the wicket there. NZ just climbed into the game magnificently, and Eng threw some wickets away.What a result
England got too cocky and complacent with the follow on.
Madness Eng-NZ don't play longer test series. Arguably the two best test sides in the world and their conditions are really comparable.
Great finish, well done to NZ.
I wouldn't have enforced the follow-on more down to having 2 35+ seamers and another with fitness issues but can't really criticise Stokes. It's always been the case that playing in this style would at times leave England looking a little stupid, on this occasion that happened but on another day Anderson would have scored the winning runs and he'd have everyone calling him a genius again.
I wouldn't have enforced the follow-on more down to having 2 35+ seamers and another with fitness issues but can't really criticise Stokes. It's always been the case that playing in this style would at times leave England looking a little stupid, on this occasion that happened but on another day Anderson would have scored the winning runs and he'd have everyone calling him a genius again.
Good Post