Story Australia- Beyond the 06/07 Ashes (ICC 06)

[mattfb]

Australias 06 year​

After Micheal Hussey calmly pulled a ball away through midwicket for a boundary the Australian dressing room went wild. Australia had won the Ashes, 2-1. Ricky Ponting (120 NO) and Michael Hussey (134 NO) were jumping all over the place after an amazing 216 run partnership to guide Australia too 2/374 after the first two games were drawn, 3rd to Australia and 4th to England.

It capped off a pretty ordinary year despite nearly all the batsmen averaging 50. The bowling was poor and no one could keep it tight.

Smashing Bangladesh in the 2 test series by 7 wickets and an innings and 167 runs we went into the 3 One day series confident. We won the first one by 68 runs, Ponting starring with 119 not out, but it all went wrong from there. Bangladesh bowled tight, and batted calmly in the second ODI to win by 2 wickets, after reducing Australia to 4/244 from there 50, with Ponting again starring with 85. They batted well, getting there with 2 wickets and 2 overs to spare, McGrath the only decent bowler picking up 4/39.
The last ODI being a must win, was shocking, getting bowled out for 154, with Ponting top scoring with 35. Bangladesh got the runs 6 wickets and 40.5 overs later to win the series, Clark bowling amazing, with figures of 10 overs, 6 maidens, 2 for 8.

We won the Tri series between England and New Zealand that followed the ashes, beating New Zealand 3-0 in the final, but we didn't play to well through that series.

Drawing the test series with West Indies 2-2 wasn't too good but showing some great signs, escpecially Hayden who hit a hundred in each innings in our first innings loss, on a pitch that wasn't favouring the batsmen at all. Michael Clarke got injured but fully recovered for the last test making 90 in the first innings and not being required to bat in the second as we cruised to a 8 wicket victory.


Next; 7 ODI series vs West Indies.

 

[ivanvdm15]

excited to see you do a story

great start

 

[Tarzan]

Excellent start... I want to see how you can go through...

Best of Luck mate.

 

[Left_Hander]

Good luck though as you are Australia I doubt you will need it

 

[Roofrom50]

Good luck mate, keep the aussie spirit going strong

 

[Metallica_ACDC]

Good work mate, looking forward to it

 

[surendar]

Nice to see you coming back to stories again! Looking forward to this.. Good luck!

 

[gamerkid22]

Looking forward to this story. We can see some amazing photoshop work in this story as well. It will be tough for West Indies to beat Australia in this ODI series.Nice start and good luck.

 

[mattfb]

Australia vs West Indies- First ODI

Ricky Ponting- First innings review
There are times in cricket when it gets too much, after a full summer of cricket I felt we rarely clicked on throughout this match. Gayle and Ganga got off to a flier. As captain, when your bowlers are getting whacked around the pressure mounts up like a list of chores. Victorian fast bowler Inness got to open the bowling on debut becuase Lee has been disappointing but and went for 5.5 an over but took a wicket. Innes bowled well but didn?t manage a wicket. McGrath took the first one, bowling Ganga for 28. Pigeon is in sensational form lately. Lees wicket was a vital one, getting the great man Brian Lara for 20. Warne got Gayle for 38 then Symonds gave us some glee of hope, getting Chanderpaul for 65 after Hayden took a screamer of a catch, then got Hinds 2 balls later for a duck, with Hayden taking another catch. Then the next ball Symonds got Baugh for a duck, with Hayden again taking the catch. Bravo and Sarwan finished the innings strong getting West Indies to 6/247

McGrath bowled really tightly and got the first breakthrough

Michael Clarke- Second innings review
We got off to a shocker after a decent bowling performance. The long summer had worn us all down and it showed as we crashed to 6/106 with none of the top 6 getting past 20, except for Gilchrist. Punter who has been in great form got out for 13, Hayden 18 then Hussey, whose one day form hasn?t been to great got ran out for 5. My sore thumb would be an easy way out to explain getting out for a disappointing 16 but I have no excuse, I really should have done better. It was my chance to show I can handle the responsibility. Phil Jaques, who was the lucky chap at number 6 didn?t succeed. Symonds and Warne gave us some hope though with a 95 run partnership, with Symonds making a sensational 83 and Warne 33, but when Warney went and Symonds followed we had no chance. Getting bowled out for 220.

Symonds batted well for 83

Coaches review
We bowled alright, but the main pacemen went for too much and the part timers couldn?t keep it tight, despite Symonds getting 3 wickets in the over he finished going at 7.5 an over. The batting was disappointing, we really need to work on that. The players need a rest most though I think.
I hope next game can be better.

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Press Conference with Ponting

Media; Not the ideal start to this long one day series. Will we see many changes in the next game?

Ponting; With the next game soon, and after a long schedule some players need a rest. Brett Lee will be rested and Hussey will probably be moved down the order and Hodge might come in for Jaques.

Media; The bowling in the early parts were awful, Symonds saved you. Will the bowlers be working overtime in practise

Ponting; No, definetly not. Like a said, the schedule has been jammed packed. The bowlers need a rest, and for the record I dont believed they bowled all that bad. We kept most of there batsmen below 30, it was just Chanderpaul and Sarwan that hurt us.

Media; The batting just wasn't strong enough, losing to many wickets. Many times in the test series and previous ODI's this has happened. Is it a concern?

Ponting; Well, I guess it is but we are in full belief that Gilchrist will hit best form and Hayden will go on to get a big one. Clarke has been batting well its just a matter of the newer batsmen in the team and a few of us finding some form.

Media; Bad luck this game Ponting, are you going to give the boys a big team talk.

Ponting; No. I think your all forgetting the margin was only 27 runs in the end.

Media; Thanks for your time Ricky.

Ponting; No problem.

Ricky Ponting was not overly impressed with the questions at the media conference

 

[gamerkid22]

Sad to see Australia losing the match but the margin was 27 runs. Symonds played well but the problem was that the top order didn't score as expected. Australia will surely make a comeback in this series.

Loving the players and the coach's review. Nice unique stuff. Nice story and nice presentation as well. Good work Matt

 

[ivanvdm15]

well done matt loving the lighting effects you put on your pictures , well done keep it up

 

[Left_Hander]

Shame Australia lost by 27 runs. A nice close game I guess.

 

[H0wZ4T!]

Hopefully, the Windies can beat them again!

Nice pres, FB.

 

[mattfb]

Australia vs West Indies- 2nd ODI
Michael Clarke- First innings review.
After the bad batting display last week we started with a bang this week with Hayden and Gilly getting us off to a great start. The boys started to slow down a bit after some great bowling before Gilchrist got dismissed for 21. Out came Punter and he looked in good touch. Hayden continued scoring fast until he got out for 39 off 35 with the score at 2-77. Jaques who had been moved up the order made good use of his promotion adding a 79 run partnership with the skipper before Jaques got bowled for 39. The run rate was dipping, so in I came looking to increase it. I managed to get 11 of 14 before having to walk back to the pavilion. Out came Huss who made more of a slow innings get 11 off 34. The run rate had dropped considerably and we crashed to 5-203. But out came mister reliable Andrew Symonds who added a quick fire 27 with Punter before the skipper got out for 89, off just 75 balls. Symonds continued the quick run scoring with Warne getting a run a ball 8 then Clark 11 off 12. Symonds finished 24 off 29.

Ricky Ponting batted superbly for a better than a run a ball 89

Ricky Ponting- Second Innings review
We posted a really good first innings total of 260 which gave the bowlers something to defend. Stuart Clark made the most of his chance, coming in for Brett Lee taking the first wicket of Gayle. McGrath got Ganga not long later so both openers were gone with the score at 2-53. Chanderpaul and Lara had a really good partnership of 78 getting them right back into the game. Clark got the big wicket of Chanderpaul and 14 runs later Brain Lara was run out for 68. the score 4-145 and we are in a strong position. I brang on Warne and at this point West Indies lost all hope, well at least we though that.
Sarwan went for 12, then Baugh got out next ball leaving then at 6-159. Bravo and Hinds had a great partnership of 57 before Michael Clarke dismissed Hinds when he was on 27. 1 run later ?Pup? had Bravo and after that the total only got 5 more added as Clarke took the last 2 wickets leaving him with Man Of The Match winning figures 4-12.

Michael Clarke bowled well to take the game out of West Indies hands with 4-12

Coaches Review
This game was much better, the middle order batting was strong and the top order got off to a flier. The bowling and fielding was too better with only 3 partnerships exceeding 40 with the next biggest 14

Press Conference with Ponting

Media; You've levelled the series 1-1 after some good batting, but do you think it was up to scratch?

Ponting; The batting was good but we didn't get good enough partnerships and if it wasn't for Symonds and Clark's short digs at the end we would have only been around the 240 mark.

Media; What about the bowling?

Ponting; That was alright but 3 of our bowlers went for about 5.5 an over and without Clarke we would have been in trouble.
Media; What did you think of your batting?

Ponting; I felt in good touch and happy I could make a good innings to help us win.

Media; Well done Ricky and good luck in the next game.

Ponting; Thanks.

 

[Gilly Fan]

Why is Warne playing ODIs?