bbc.co.uk Navigation

Jonathan Agnew

England pair need more work

England’s openers, Michael Vaughan and Alistair Cook, went some way to make up for a disappointing performance by the bowlers, but with two wickets down by the close there is still a great deal of batting to do in order to make the game safe.

Too often, it seems, we have queried the amount of preparation that goes into England's Test tours these days, especially last year's disastrous Ashes series, and we find ourselves doing so again now. Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard are so clearly performing below their best that they should be worried themselves.

Frankly, what they produced was not Test standard and nothing illustrated this more graphically than a despairing Vaughan opting for Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood to bowl in tandem for six overs after England had finally taken their first wicket of the day rather than recall one of his pacemen to finish off the innings.

Continue reading "England pair need more work"


Adam Mountford

Sidebottom delights proud dad

We've already had a pretty good cast list on Test Match Special during the game at Hamilton, so if you haven't been staying awake to listen through the night here's what you've been missing.

One of the nicest moments so far was when Arnie Sidebottom joined us in the TMS box just moments after his son Ryan had taken his fourth wicket to end the New Zealand first innings - and he made quite a revelation.

"This is the first time I've seen him bowl live," he told Aggers. "It was difficult when he was at Yorkshire. Some would mumble he's only in the team because of his Dad, so I kept out of his way."

Continue reading "Sidebottom delights proud dad"


The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites