Story A Journey with the Blackcaps **New Zealand vs Australia: 1st Test**

[Highlander999]

Can people please confirm, who their batsmen, bowlers and all-rounders are, so as to avoid confusion. Thanks

 

[Ollie_H]

Is that some sort of sick joke?

 

[CoolzEng45]

This is excited story and Good Job Tom. I Post this team

1.M.Guptill (NZ) Opener Batman
2.P.Hughes (Aus) Opener Batman *
3.R.Pointing (Aus) (C) Batman
4.D.Hussey (Aus) Batman
5.R.Taylor(NZ) Batman
6.S.Watson (Aus) All Rounder *
7.B.McCullum (NZ) Wicketkeeper *
8.K.Mills (NZ) Bowler
9.J.Patel (NZ) Spinner
10.B.Lee (Aus) Bowler *
11.M.Johnson (Aus) Bowler


* Bonus Player

 

[Highlander999]

You've actually picked 12 players, Chris You need to get rid of a bowler

 

[CoolzEng45]

OMG, Damn i am count wrong and confused. I am sorted it now

Done sort now ! thanks to tom for check.

 

[saladguy]

BATSMEN

M. Clarke (AUS) BONUS PLAYER
R. Ponting (AUS) CAPTAIN
R. Taylor (NZ)
S. Katich (AUS)
M. Hussey (AUS) BONUS PLAYER

WICKET KEEPER

B. McCullum (NZ) BONUS PLAYER

ALL ROUNDER

D. Vettori (NZ)

BOWLERS

B. Lee (AUS)
K. Mills (NZ) BONUS PLAYER
M. Johnson (AUS)
B. Hilfenhaus (AUS)

 

[surendar]

P. Hughes (Aus) Bonus
R. Ponting (AUS) Bonus
R. Taylor (NZ) captain
M. Guptill (NZ)
M. Clarke (Aus) Bonus

WK

B. Haddin (Aus)

AR

D. Vettori (NZ) Bonus

BWL

B. Lee (AUS)
I. O'Brien (NZ)
M. Johnson (AUS)
T. Southee (NZ)

Tom, make me win

 

[shantanu_rooney]

My team here...

R.Ponting (Aus)- Bat*
M.Clarke (Aus)- Bat*
R.Taylor (NZ)- Bat(C)
M.Hussey (Aus)- Bat
P.Hughes (Aus)- Bat
S.Watson (Aus)- All Rounder*
B.McCullum (NZ)- WK
B.Lee (Aus)- Bowl*
I.O'Brien (NZ)- Bowl
M.Johnson (Aus)- Bowl
C.Martin (NZ)- Bowl

* = Bonus player

 

[just_cricket]

5 Batsmen

J. How (NZ)
R. Taylor (NZ) BP
R. Ponting (Aus) BP
P. Hughes (Aus)
M. Clarke (Aus)

All rounder

J. Ryder (NZ) BP

Keeper

B. McCullum (NZ) Captain

4 Bowlers

M. Johnson (Aus) BP
B. Lee (Aus)
T. Southee (NZ)
P. Siddle (Aus)

Nice work KUTGW

 

[Highlander999]

Thanks everyone for being such good sports with the Fantasy Cricket. Makes it more exciting for everyone involved. Keep them coming, plan on updating this evening

 

[Pak_cricketer]

R. Taylor (NZ)
R. Ponting (Aus) Bonus
M. Clarke (Aus)
D. Hussey (Aus)
M. Hussey (Aus) Bonus
B. McCullum (NZ) Bonus
D. Vettori (NZ) Captain
T. Southee (NZ)
K. Mills (NZ)
S. Clark (Aus)
B. Lee (Aus) Bonus

 

[Karachi Xpress]

My fantasy team...Bonus players in bold

Batsmen:
M. Clarke (Captain)
R. Ponting
R. Taylor
P. Fulton
M. Hussey

Keeper:
B. McCullum

All-roudner:
A. Symonds

Bowlers:
B. Lee
T. Southee
S. Clark
M. Gillespie

 

[bladescape]

Batters:
R. Taylor (NZ)*
P. Hughes (Aus)*
P. Fulton (NZ)
M. Clarke (Aus)
Keeper:
B. McCullum (NZ)
Allrounders:
D. Vettori (NZ)CAPTAIN
J. Franklin (NZ)
Bowlers:
B. Lee (Aus)
M. Johnson (Aus)*
C. Martin (NZ)*
J. Patel (NZ)

*=Bonus.

 

[Highlander999]

1st Test Begins​

Finally the 1st Test is upon us. After all the excitment of the warm-up matches, there is a lot of expectation surrounding this. Australia have been having problems scoring runs and now with Marcus North missing the first test due to injury it meant that someone is going to have to be brought in at 6, at short notice. For New Zealand, a few of their players were involved in the warm up matches against South Africa and Australia and performed well. If we are to look at how the teams have been preparing, the New Zealand players have been walking around with massive smiles, whilst the Australian camp is very quiet and you can tell they are under a lot of pressure.

Ian Botham has been out there this morning looking at the pitch. Let's see what he had to say about it:

Thanks to Shantanu_rooney for giving me the background for this​

Early on this morning Daniel Vettori, Ricky Ponting and third umpire Simon Taufel went out to the middle to conduct the toss, with Nasser Hussain there to commentate

Hussain: Welcome to this first test match between New Zealand and Australia. Both captains are ready and we have the coin

*Coin flicked*

Ponting: Heads!

Taufel: It is tails.

Hussain: So Daniel. You've won the toss, what are you going to do?

Vettori: Well, I think we are going to have a bat on this pitch. It is pretty hard, so should come onto the bat pretty nice. Also there isn't much cloud cover, so the ball shouldn't be swinging around too much in the first 15 overs, so I think our top order should be able to score plenty of runs. If Martin, Tim, Jamie and Ross can get us past 250-300, we should be looking at posting a big total.

Hussain: There were rumours that Chris Martin twisted an ankle this morning. Is that true?

Vettori: Well Chris, slipped over this morning when we were playing football, and there was some swelling. However, he has had a bowl on it and the physio said he should be ok.

Hussain: Well that is good to hear. Good luck Daniel.

Vettori: Thanks Nass.

Hussain: So Ricky. Disappointed to be bowling first?

Ponting: Well I probably would have batted first, if I had the choice, but bowling first is not a disaster for us. We have a very strong pace attack and with Brett back in the side, him and Mitch should be able to get some wickets with the new ball. The conditions might not be brilliant for swing bowling, but with the way the pitch is, I think Mitch and Brett can cause some problems with their pace and bounce.

Hussain: So you have decided to go for Brett Lee?

Ponting: Yeah it was difficult on deciding who to pick out of the bowlers. We have decided to go with Mitch, Brett, Peter and Andy as we think they are the best four bowlers available to us. Brett has a lot of experience and we think that he is crucial for us in this series and the upcoming Ashes series.

Hussain: And who have you brought in to replace Marcus North?

Ponting: We have decided to bring in Symo. Roy only turned up a few days ago, yet he has been working really hard in the nets, looking very sharp and has impressed both myself and the selectors with his work ethic. Him and Katich will also be filling in with the spin bowling so he is going to be playing an important role in the XI.

Hussain: Well good luck Ricky, all the best.

Ponting: Thanks Nass.

Hussain: Well there you go. On a rick hard pitch, Daniel Vettori has won the toss and elected to bat first. Should be a cracking first session. Back to you in the studio.

Well with New Zealand batting first and getting ready to head out, it is time to look at the teams.

Australia as mentioned by Ponting have decided to go with Symonds as their number 6 in replacement of the injured Marcus North. They have also decided to go with Lee, Johnson, Siddle and McDonald in a four pronged seam attack, with no place for McGain and Hilfenhaus and Clark missing out. At the top of the order, there are no surprises about 1-5. On paper this side looks very strong, yet they have been struggling on the pitch, so it remains to be seen how they will cope.

New Zealand have gone for a very strong batting side, with all-rounders all the way down to 9. Franklin and Oram are back in the side, with Kyle Mills and Chris Martin being the specialist bowlers. Ian O'Brien and Tim Southee miss out on an XI dominated by batting. At the top of the order it is very in-experienced. Martin Guptill, Tim McIntosh and Jamie How, only have a handful of matches between them, so if the Australian opening bowlers can get those three quickly, New Zealand could be in trouble.

N.B. Remember, that the Fantasy cricket is still open, so get your XI's in. For those that have submitted their XI's they can edit them, but once the match starts they are finalised and there can be no more entrants or editions to them. Good luck

 

[shantanu_rooney]

Both teams are looking good, will be a very entertaining test match which can go either way. Hoping Kiwis can win against Aussies. nice to see Binga and Roy back in the side. Brilliant writing and presentation as usual.