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

[kersnort]

A great second game by the Windies to level the series, Sarwan played really well, and England's bowlers were expensive. A great series so far!

 

[Hooper]

Well played Windies. England never got close ~ Well batted Sarwan.

Use some of your graphic skills though rabeta

 

[rabeta]

Thanks for all your comments so far, keep them coming.

3rd ODI

Welcome to The Oval cricket ground, for the 3rd of 5 one-day games between the West Indies and England. This is a very important match for both sides, as the winner will have a real advantage going into the last two. No changes to the line-ups, both sides very confident with no injuries as of yet.

The two captains were out in the middle, and again Sarwan one the toss and elected to bat. He hoped his side could recreate their great batting performance from the last game. It was another flat pitch at the Oval, that's all you expect though. The Windies need to pile on the runs.

This didn't look like happening though when after just over 5 overs, they were 27-3. Flintoff and Kirtley opened the bowling and bowled very well, Flintoff picked up all three wickets though. Freddy was bowling with some real venom and extracting bounce from this pitch. Deonarine was gone, that was important, he had been in great touch. Chnaderpaul pushed the score on a little, along with Gayle. Gayle was looking uncomfortable though, and got out for just 13.

Chanderpaul was playing some attacking cricket and hit some glorious strokes. Sadly for the West Indies, he went when the score was on 96, to Kirtley, that was his second. Chanderpaul scored 58 off just 44 balls. Ramdin was batting very well, wickets fell around him though, and he was left to bat in the tail. The tail hung around with Ramdin, and he pushed the score on steadily. He had partnerships with all the bowlers, until he eventually went, as the last man, to Freddy. West Indies all out 209, could have been much worse than that if it wasn't for Ramdin, who finished on 73.

Freddy picked up 5 wickets, and deserved them totally. Panesar and Kirtley also picked up a couple. Suppiah bowled very economically, and picked up the one wicket as well. All in all a very impressive bowling performance from England, on what looked to be a good batting track. It was a shame they weren't more ruthless though, as they could have been chasing an easy total, as it is, they are chasing a very get able one.

They got off to a brilliant start, Maddy and Benning doing exactly what they are in the side for. They were hurting the West Indies, as the Windies had to make use of the new ball. They didn't, but when the score was on 74 off just 11.3 overs, Benning went to Edwards. He got 36 off just 40 balls, and England were looking very good for the win. England got partnerships all the way down the order, and they never looked like giving it away. They gave away to many wickets for their liking, but in the end won it comfortably, Maddy hitting a brilliant mature innings of 87 off 100 balls. Contributions from Bell, Flintoff and Prior made sure they reached the target. Arul Suppiah hitting the winning runs. Eswards bowled well though, and put slight pressure on England with his raw pace, picking up 3 wickets. It was not enough in the end though.

A great win for England, the pressure was all back on the West Indies for the next game.

England win by 4 wickets

Scorecard

 

[rabeta]

Looks like I'll have to end this after the latest patch update has meant that I have lost the save file. Thanks for all the comments

 

[Hooper]

Oh damn, true. Thats a downer with the Cricket Coach patches

 

[rabeta]

Hang on, I think I can carry this on if I just make up the series rather than playing a career game. It will just mean that I finish at the end of the summer, like the title says. It would have carried on but ah well.

It will start again once Glenn fixes the saving and alt-tabing problems.

 

[kookaburra69]

Nice to hear that you might continue mate,I love this story