Story A Journey with England (Summer of Cricket) >> Cricket Coach 2007

[rabeta]

Another story for me, going to try my best to stick with this one. It is using Cricket Coach and hopefully the updates will be fairly regular because of this. I will not use too many graphics in this story, but center it around the text and the scorecards. Hope you enjoy it, please post your comments.

Central Contracts for 2007/08

Alistair Cook
Owais Shah
Micheal Vaughan
Ian Bell
Kevin Pietersen
Paul Collingwood
Matt Prior
Andrew Flintoff
James Anderson
Steve Harmison
Monty Panesar
Matthew Hoggard

Summer of Cricket

West Indies (3 Tests)
May - June 2007

1st Test - England win by 9 Wickets (Scorecard)
2nd Test - West Indies win by 7 wickets(Scorecard)
3rd Test - England win by an innings and 87 runs (Scorecard)

West Indies (1 T20)
June 2007

T20 - West Indies win by 7 wickets (Scorecard)

West Indies (5 ODIs)
June - July 2007

1st ODI - England win by 4 wickets (Scorecard)
2nd ODI - West Indies win by 66 runs (Scorecard)

India (4 Tests)
July - September 2007

India (5 ODIs)
September 2007

Next Fixture

West Indies (3rd ODI)
1st July 2007

 

[kookaburra69]

Great start mate,keep it going

 

[freddiw]

lets see a ton of good updates

 

[Gilly Fan]

Good luck Rabeta, mate.

 

[Roofrom50]

Good luck big fella

 

[mattfb]

Looks good mate, keep it up.

 

[rabeta]

Bad news before the first Test Match for England, Pietersen fell injured with a broken leg after a training ground incident which involved him falling awkwardly on it playing football, we all know these South African's aren't made for it

The West Indies played their first tour match on the 5th May. it was not challenge to be taken light-heartedly, they were facing tough opponents in Lancashire, and they were sure to give them a right taste of English conditions. The West Indies won the toss, and not surprisingly, decided to bowl first, on what looked like an early-season, bowler friendly wicket. Wickets fell early on and there were four scores of less than ten in the top four. Tino Best, Fidel Edwards and Dave Mohammad all showing what they can do if the conditions are right for them. This attack had real pace in it in Edwards and Best and then the accuracy in Mohammad and Collymore, promising signs. They bowled well and only really Hodge stood in their way with a defiant knock of 97, unlucky to miss out on the hundred. They ended up 271 all out, now it was the Windies turn to battle it out on this pitch, this would be their real test, examining their techniques against pace bowlers moving it both in the air and off the pitch.

However, it was a good sight to see for all West Indian supporters that nearly all the batsmen got in against the seamers, and their only downfall was against the rippers from Murali. The fact that they would not have to face a world-class spinner, albeit Panesar will cause them a lot of problems, was at least something they could take from these dismissals. All the batsmen got themselves in except for Gayle and Hinds, but they will not be too worried, especially as they got a bit of time out in the middle.

Again, starts came or the batsmen, but they again got themselves out in Lancashire's case this time round. The West Indies attack shared the wickets between them, but Collymore came out with the best figures in this innings, and it is a pleasing sign that the bowler with perhaps the best style for English conditions was producing this early on. The West Indies only lost the one wicket batting once more, and the end of the day came.

Overall, a very satisfying performance from them, they will take a lot of heart from the face that the batsmen got time out in the middle, and the bowlers found some rhythm and made the most of the conditions.

West Indies vs. Lancashire scorecard

The day this game was drawn also meant the announcement of England's squad for the First Test. With Pietersen (and Flintoff) being injured, it meant that Strauss would open the innings with Cook, and Vaughan would slide down to 3. Sidebottom and Anderson were included along with the other regular Test bowlers. Here is the squad in full:

Andrew Strauss
Micheal Vaughan
Ian Bell
Paul Collingwood
Alistair Cook
Owais Shah
Matt Prior
James Anderson
Matthew Hoggard
Monty Panesar
Steve Harmison
Ryan Sidebottom

The next update will include the toss, the teams, and the first day's play. Hope you are enjoying the story so far

 

[freddiw]

good update stick with this story

 

[rabeta]

The first day of the English summer of cricket had arrived. The weather was perfect, well not for bowling, but for batting at least. The sun was out, hardly a cloud was in the sky and the temperature was right up there. The pitch was a good one, a surprise to a lot of people this early on in the season, but Lords' has got flatter in recent years, with draws being the trend for recent games. The bounce was even and there was not much movement available off the pitch. Due to the pitch it meant that Side bottom was left out, and the extra pace of Anderson might be more useful when the ball was not doing much. Here are the teams in full.

England

1. Andrew Strauss
2. Alistair Cook
3. *Micheal Vaughan
4. Owais Shah
5. Paul Collingwood
6. Ian Bell
7. +Matt Prior
8. Steve Harmison
9. Matthew Hoggard
10. Monty Panesar
11. James Anderson

West Indies

1. Chris Gayle
2. Devon Smith
3. N Deonarine
4. *Ramnaresh Sarwan
5. Shivnarine Chanderpaul
6. +Dinesh Ramdin
7. Wavell Hinds
8. Tino Best
9. Fidel Edwards
10. Corey Collymore
11. Dave Mohammad

The Toss

In his first game as captain, Sarwan called heads and it was. He decided to bat first, not being fazed by the early season swinging conditions and he will have wanted his side to apply themselves to making a total.

1st Day's Play

Hoggard and Harmison opened the bowling, hoping to cause the two openers problems early on. Gayle and Smith didn't let them rest though and they got off to a flyer, they were taking on England and would not let England rest. After only six overs each they were both taken off and Anderson and Collingwood cam on for them respectively. It was not long before Collingwood got his second wicket in Test Cricket, he bowled Devon Smith convincingly, and Smith was annoyed after getting off to a very good start. Gayle was going crazy, and was a man set on a mission, he blazed the England attack to all parts and brought up his hundred off only 108 balls, very well played. Hoggard got in on the act when he got Gayle, caught Harmison, at mid-wicket. Gayle trying to pull unsuccessfully off a back-of-a-length ball. Collingwood then got another one, that of Deonarine, and he was showing himself to be a useful bowler, when the 5-man attack was not there. England had to make the most of these two quick wickets, Sarwan was a rock but wickets were falling at the other end. Panesar picked up a couple with well-flighted deliveries that educed the drive and were caught. Collingwood then came back on and picked up the vital wicket of Sarwan and cleaned up the tail as well. A great performance from himself, showed that he is a capable bowler in Test Match cricket, and when the wicket is right, and the other bowlers are struggling he can pick up wickets as well.

The West Indies had played well to get 314 and would have been very pleased with that, and Gayle deserves special complements for it, a great attacking knock. A very good contribution from the new captain Sarwan, and this batting performance may show the attacking style he wants his side to implement.

England had to only face four overs in their second innings on the first day, but they knew they would be tough with raw pace from both ends. They survived them though, and put the bad balls away.

West Indies vs. England (1st Test) - 1st Day --- Scorecard

A good day of cricket then, a very exiting innings from the Windies but England will believe they did well to contain them, and will now want to build a commanding lead on a flat track. Hope you are looking forward to the second day!

Hope you are enjoying the story so far, I would really appreciate it if some comments were made, so that I can improve on it.

 

[kookaburra69]

Good total from the Windies,Gayle century was great and Collingwood 6 wickets!:o

Great pres mate,keep it up.

 

[freddiw]

cant wait come on england shah and prior chance to shine

 

[Gilly Fan]

Your link isn't working. Great presentation, rabz.

 

[freddiw]

another top update to come soon

another top update to come soon
only just understood the scorecard thing
7 wickets for murali WOW

 

[surendar]

A typical Gayle knock there.. but with just 314, more work still left for the bowlers.. Neatly presented Rabz!

 

[Hooper]

Cool, I havent seen a Cricket Coach story before.