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New Zealand v England, 3rd Test, Napier
By Will 2 months ago, 2 Comments »
The third and final Test of this series is intriguingly poised. Out go Jacob Oram and Kyle Mills for New Zealand, in come Tim Southee - a promising nineteen-year-old swing bowler - and Grant Elliott, a South African-born allrounder. On paper, England are favourites, but the pitch at McLean Park is as flat as an ironing board (so say the experts) and, although five days is a long time (cliché alert), all indications point to a run-feast of a draw.
There is plenty to play for - not only for this series, but the return series in May. As one of New Zealand’s lot said, they’re treating this match as the third of six, which is an interesting way of looking at it. Here’s the scorecard for when play gets underway in a couple of hours.
It’s Stephen Fleming’s 111th and final Test, and he still needs another 113 runs to achieve his ambition of averaging 40 in Test cricket. He couldn’t have a better pitch on which to give it a fair crack. It’s also Christopher Martin-Jenkins’ last Test as The Times’ cricket correspondent. He’ll still be commentating, and occasionally writing the odd feature (for Cricinfo, hopefully), but it brings to an end a fine and distinguished reporting career by one of the most respected writers in the industry. Cheers to CMJ.
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