Watch England vs New Zealand Live 1st Test Stream Free Online at Dunedin, Mar 6-10, 2013
England vs New Zealand
at Dunedin, Mar 6-10, 2013
Hours of play (local time): 10.00am start, Lunch 12.30-13.10, Tea 15.10-15.30, Close 17.30
Toss New Zealand, who chose to field
Test debuts BP Martin and HD Rutherford (New Zealand)
Player of the match tba
Umpires Asad Rauf (Pakistan) and PR Reiffel (Australia)
TV umpire RJ Tucker (Australia)
Match referee RS Mahanama (Sri Lanka)
Reserve umpire CB Gaffaney
New Zealand won the toss and elected to field
New Zealand team
PG Fulton, HD Rutherford, KS Williamson, LRPL Taylor, DG Brownlie, BB McCullum*, BJ Watling†, TG Southee, BP Martin, N Wagner, TA Boult
England team
AN Cook*, NRD Compton, IJL Trott, KP Pietersen, IR Bell, JE Root, MJ Prior†, SCJ Broad, ST Finn, JM Anderson, MS Panesar
Aha, finally the umpires have decided there is no chance of play today. So this series will have to wait until tomorrow to get underway. Thanks for sticking it out today, we were at least able to follow that remarkable innings from Jamie How in the Ford Trophy. Other news from today is that Graeme Swann has been ruled out of the tour and will fly to America to have surgery on his right elbow and begin his recovery to be fit for the Ashes this summer. And before the rain arrived in Dunedin, New Zealand won the toss and decided to bowl. They will hopefully do so tomorrow, starting at the earlier time of 10am NZDT - weather permitting of course - see you then, bye for now.
4pm NZDT The bizarre nature of cricket never fails to amaze, the umpires are going to check in another 15 minutes. No idea what that is going to achieve. Meanwhile a remarkable afternoon of domestic action continues, it's only in Dunedin where they're not playing today.
3.30pm NZDT Still drizzling in Dunedin so in all likelihood play will be abandoned for the day and we'll be back half an hour earlier tomorrow - and for the rest of the match. But these things have to be done properly, and as such, we have a 4pm inspection - I wonder what that's going to find. I'll be back with the predictable result of that inspection, with a footnote that funny things do happen.
Time for tea at Cricinfo towers. Here's Steve: "I see play has begun in Invercargill, which is only 2.5 hours down the road. Should, therefore, be clearing in Dunedin in about an hour, but maybe too late to get play in today with such a wet outfield. Good to see Jesse Ryder off to a good start in that game." It was a good start, but Ryder is now gone for 66 from 39 balls. You can follow it here.
2.45pm NZDT Tea time at Seddon Park and we have a new record New Zealand domestic List A score, Centrals finishing on 417 for 6, not a bad effort in 50 overs. Justin also claims that "The How/Raval partnership missed the List A record by five runs." Chase that Northerns. Down in Dunedin, it is still raining and the umpires are set to make a decision on the day at tea, which is coming up in 25 minutes. Given the weather, the draw is now odds on 10/11 favourite. I've also got a price on Los Andes v Chacarita Juniors if you like...
In the air...got him! How goes for 222, equaling the second-best List A score. What an innings. And a few of you have pointed out that I missed Canterbury's 410 for 5 against Otago in 2007. It's late here! I'm allowed to miss things!
2pm NZDT Kim inquires: "In terms of How, what is the highest domestic one day score?" Well this is now Jamie How's best score in any form of cricket. The highest individual score in a List A match is Ali Brown's 268 for Surrey against Glamorgan in 2002. Second-highest is Graeme Pollock's 222 in 1974 - so How could certainly eclipse that. As far as team scores go, this needs to be checked, but the highest score in a List A match in New Zealand domestic cricket was Centrals 376 for 3 against Otago in 1997. The record List A score is Surrey's 496 for 4 against Gloucestershire in 2007 - they might not quite beat that today!
Central Districts could threaten records if they keep that hitting up. Here's the live scorecard, courtesy of Harrison, many thanks. Meanwhile, Mike Selvey, of the Guardian, tweets: @selvecricket "The good news is it is brighter. The bad news is that it is raining harder." Hmmm...
Jamie How, remember him...Dylan: "How is playing for central districts vs northern districts in a 50 over game he is currently 188 not out of 112 balls in the 32 over". How's finest hour was on England's last tour.
1.15pm NZDT Back on a cricketing front, the good old Zimbabwe domestic game is always providing us with a giggle or two. Reports of the weather lifting in Dunedin.
Phillip Pouwels with knowledge: "Blown call in MLB playoffs last year was between Orioles and Yankees. Mark Tiexeria was called out at first when he was easily safe. As a Baltimore fan I had zero complaints with the system." I bet Phillip. But it was this call that I was thinking of. Tigers-Yankees. Infante called safe when clearly out - which would have ended the inning - went on to extend the Tigers' lead as they won 3-0.
Here's Brendan, presumably not the New Zealand captain: "I'm working down the road from the ground and just went out to grab some lunch. The rain is only light but still steady. It is forecast to clear at some point later on." Weather update from the source. Betting update...England drifted to odds against for a while but have been clipped back into levels-you-devils even money. The draw is tightening with every drop of rain, 6/5 in some places.
12.45pm NZDT A different Chris says: "WBC - In short, no. I'm a Reds fan, and even in Cincinnati there's been almost no talk about Joey Votto's involvement in the WBC. It gets some coverage, but it's hardly considered important." There we are. Although it is interesting that MLB are using it to explore expanding the use of instant replay. Definitely needs to be introduced for calls at the bases. I forget which playoff game last season, possibly Tigers-Athletics, where a horrendous blown call was a big game-changer.
"Alex, the World Baseball Classic is on currently, but the Aussies have just crashed out. They went 0-3 in their 3 games. But the Netherlands is still in." Matt reports of further poor news for Australia! I'm intrigued by the World Classic, does it get a high profile in the States? I saw that Joey Votto, of my Cincinnati Reds, is playing for Canada having deemed his knee fit.
Report of glorious weather in other parts of New Zealand are not helping the mood here!
Well news from the groundstaff at University Oval is that it will take around two hours to mop up the ground from when it stops raining, so it's going to be a while until we have some cricket. In the meantime you can get your debit cards out and put a lump of cash on England to win the Test, they're now even money.
12pm NZDT Chris asks: "Any idea what is wrong with the elbow? As a baseball fan there are often a lot of Tommy John surgeries on pitchers elbows if he were to have that then recovery is typically 12 months." Well we think Swann needs bone fragments removed. Some were left in from the previous surgery with the hope he could get away with the treatment because they were close to the nerve but obviously that's not been the case, so not as serious as Tommy John thankfully. Who's your team Chris?
For Tim Bresnan, six to eight weeks was the time period for rehabilitation. He needed surgery to remove extra bone and scar tissue, which sounds similar to what Swann requires, so he's probably looking at late May to make a comeback, which could be the home series against New Zealand.
Hello Ross: "I once banged my funny-bone. Took about 20 minutes to recover from it. It wasn't funny at all." I would say Ross, it would have been about as funny as a Bill and Ted film...
Bit of news, Graeme Swann, left out of this game due to injury, has been ruled out of the entire series and will fly to America to have surgery on his troublesome right elbow. James Tredwell will replace him in the squad.
Decisive action by the England management. Swann is off to the same specialist that Tim Bresnan visited. A race now for Swann to be fit for the Champions Trophy perhaps in June? Any surgeons in the house? Recovery time from a tweak to the elbow?
Local resident Ryan has a prediction: ""I live right by the University Oval and I can comfortably say there won't be any play for at least 2-3 hours."
"My understanding is that work has been done on the drainage since the WI test." Heartening news thanks Paul. About the ground, it has staged five Tests, first in January 2008, New Zealand have never lost here with two wins against Bangladesh and Pakistan and two draws. Two days were washed out against West Indies in December 2008 and the final day was lost against South Africa this time last year.
"$100 for a 5 day pass? You'd be lucky to get a day ticket for the Ashes at The Oval for that!" Colin and others have rightly pointed out that ticket prices abroad are often a steal compared to the sums British fans are asked to fork out...but it must be said that they pretty much fill the grounds without fail.
Here's an uplifting note from Ben: "The drainage at the ground was criticised five years ago. The outfield was very slow to dry after rain." No wonder the odds on a draw have crashed into 13/8 with some firms...
Ah ticket prices, Troy has been in touch: "Last year a five-day pass to the SA Test in Dunedin was around $35 for a student and $50 for the general public. This year, it's $90/$100. That is disappointing from NZC. Test match attendance in this country is already dwindling based on the dreadful performances the team displays and jacking the prices that high is not going to help. The Baaa Sports Bar is going to appreciate my $100 a lot more I feel." Unfortunately the cost of everything tends to escalate when the Barmy Army are in town, obviously to the detriment of the locals. But surely $90 is worth it to watch Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott bat all day...
Sporting frustrations, Jeremy has offered too much wind for sailing. Hmm...I suppose that would be baffling that it is windy but you can't sail in it. Hammering down now, as the webcam from St Clair beach shows...
Dunedin City Council have some webcams up and running to give us some live pictures. Here's the botanical gardens, looks OK for a Test match there, wicket's a bit green though...
And now it's starting to rain! Money coming in for the draw, price clipped in to 7/4 from 5/2...
So the most frustrating time in all of sport at the moment as we wait for the light to improve. I'm trying to think of something to equal the hair-pulling feeling that bad light brings? Lack of wind stopping a sailing regatta on a glorious sunny day perhaps? I've flicked on the Americas Cup before when that's been the scenario, thankfully I had something else to do that day.
"What do you mean Monty bowled himself back into form in India?! He bowled well in the UAE as well. Monty would get into almost any other test team in the world," good point Nick, Panesar did bowl well in the UAE. Interesting to see how he goes on less-than-helpful conditions like these. Saying that, this is no green seamer...
Just under 10 minutes until the off and the umpires are checking the light, very gloomy. And indeed we're not starting on time because of the light, gives me time to eat this pasty...
So England leaving out Graeme Swann. He's been troubled by an elbow injury for a while but the hope was he would be able to be managed through the rest of his career. Not to be it would seem. He wasn't 100% in the warm up match and hasn't made it today. Possibly precautionary with back-to-back Ashes coming up. It would be interesting to see what England would have done if this was the first morning against the Aussies. Good job Panesar played himself back into form in the India series.
There is grass on this wicket, most of it dead but some live stuff in there too and bowling first is likely to be the best option for the bowlers. But England apparently wanted to bat anyway.
New Zealand Peter Fulton, Hamish Rutherford, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Dean Brownlie, Brendon McCullum*, BJ Watling†, Tim Southee, Bruce Martin, Neil Wagner, Trent Boult
England Alistair Cook*, Nick Compton, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Joe Root, Matt Prior†, Stuart Broad, Steve Finn, James Anderson, Monty Panesar
Time for the toss, Alistair Cook calls heads, it lands a tail and New Zealand have won the toss and elected to bowl, no surprises there. New Zealand have gone with three seamers and Bruce Martin to make his debut. Alastair Cook thinks it looks a good wicket so just the overhead conditions to deal with. Graeme Swann doesn't play for England, he's out with an elbow injury so Monty Panesar retains his place. And Stuart Broad plays.
Ollie has mentioned New Zealand's trump card - the weather! That's certainly how they managed to run South Africa close last year! Cloudy in Dunedin today, here's the forecast.
Right to the cricket, the toss coming in 10 minutes and a few cautious England fans out there after the warm up defeat to the New Zealand XI in Queenstown. "My fear is that the Black Caps will prove a lot tougher to defeat than people expect and could nick a Test," says Mark. Well New Zealand have come up with some memorable Test victories in recent times, Colombo and Hobart, and are certainly capable. But will they get enough runs to be competitive?
"If we can be disappointed that Francis Barton isn't Francis Bacon, can we also be disappointed that you are not the Alex Winter of Bill and Ted fame?" No you cannot Chris! That was a terrible film and he was a terrible actor. #There's only one Alex Winter...#
As Jamie has pointed out, there is an association football match going on at the moment, so as a little warm up before the cricket I'll forgive you if you fancy popping over to our sister site ESPN FC to follow the second half of Manchester United against Real Madrid (they might have news of Cheltenham Town on there too!)
And the prize for opening comment goes to Francis Barton, who at first glance I thought was the famous British philosopher Francis Bacon - which probably would have been more exciting, seeing as Francis Bacon managed to kill himself with his own experiment freezing meat. Anyway, I'm sure Francis Barton has something equally as groundbreaking to offer as Sir Bacon once did: "Evening/morning Alex! Settling in for what should be an interesting series. Can't see any result but an England win really, though." Not quite living up to your namesake their Francis but prediction appreciated nonetheless! You should be spot on, England would have to make a right old horlicks of things to lose this series.
Hello everyone, Alex Winter signing in for the main event of England's tour of New Zealand with the first of three Tests starting today in Dunedin. England have won both the T20 and ODI series 2-1 and are firm favourites to take this Test series too, a best-priced 2/7 if you fancy getting a gamble on before the action begins in just over an hour's time. New Zealand 10/1 to spring a real surprise. And I think those odds tell you everything you need to know about these two teams. Nevertheless, Andrew McGlashan, our man out in New Zealand for this series, is insisting that England need to take this series seriously and not just as a warm up for the Ashes later this year.
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