All around Christchurch there
England embark on their first Test at the picturesque Hagley Oval on Thursday and
http://www.officialnewjerseydevils.com/Adidas-Pavel-Zacha-Jersey the last on their interminable winter tour. It is a long time since they pitched up optimistically for the first Test of the winter in Brisbane in November and a fair bit has changed since then on the international scene.
In fact, since the last match in Auckland a lot has changed – especially on the other side of the Tasman Sea. While England players piously express their disappointment in public that the game has been stained, there are silver linings. Among them is the fact the Australian ball-tampering saga has deflected attention from England’s horrendous performances overseas.Their barren run without an away victory will stretch to 13 matches unless Joe Root’s team win here, and that would constitute an England record.
“We must have the motivation to come back after a poor week when the rain made our performance look better than it was,” Root said. “Here we have the opportunity of a new game, a new venue and different conditions and we must show that we can be far better than we have been.”
In these tempestuous times there could not be a more serene venue to contest a Test. The Hagley Oval resides in a 500-acre park in which the leaves on the trees are starting to turn. In that sense it is reminiscent of The Parks at Oxford even though it has a bright new pavilion, inevitably
Cincinnati Bengals Youth jersey named
Mark Messier Youth jersey after the Hadlees. The outfield is a level carpet of green and all around the oval there are grassy banks for the spectators, augmented by a couple of temporary stands. Meanwhile, its predecessor as a Test venue at Lancaster Park a couple of miles away, which was also the rugby ground, remains a deserted shell.
All around Christchurch there are reminders of the terrible earthquake of 2011: cranes and scaffolding signal that reconstruction work is under way but the great, grey cathedral in the centre has been untouched for seven years, a grim reminder, especially for those across the water, of what constitutes a real tragedy.
When Root appeared following a long meeting with his bowlers after practice at the Hagley Oval he insisted “the events in South Africa shouldn’t affect how we go about things”, though there is no doubt that Root and his England side have monitored the controversy closely. “Every series is different but we know we are always under scrutiny and we know how to conduct ourselves and keep going about it in the right way. Cricket has
http://authenticsenatorsshop.com/chris-neil-jersey_c-427.html had a lot of air time, and lot of bad press.”
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