Story Auckland Aces World Tour - Bangladeshi Tour Complete!!!

[CG123]

Fixtures - 2009/10 Season

1. Tour of Sri Lanka
2. Tour of Pakistan
3. Tour of Bangladesh
4. Tour of Australia

All four tours will feature one five day game, and three fifty over games.

My goal is to win at least three out of the sixteen games. Hopefully I'll be able to pull off one fifty over upset against one of the major three teams, as well as pick up a couple of wins against Bangladesh.

Eligible Players - 2009/10 Season

Basic Role - Player - Age - Specific Role in Real Life - Specific Role in ICC

Andrew de Boorder (Age 20) - Middle-order Batsman (Middle-order Batsman)

Martin Guptill (Age 22) - Top-order Batsman (Opening Batsman)

Richard Jones (Age 35) - Top-order Batsman (Middle-order Batsman)

Anaru Kitchen (Age 25) - Middle-order Batsman (Opening Batsman)

Tim McIntosh (Age 29) - Opening Batsman (Opening Batsman/Part-time Wicket-keeper)

Jeet Raval (Age 20) - Opening Batsman (Middle-order Batsman)

Lou Vincent (Age 30) - Top-order Batsman/Part-time Wicket-keeper (Middle-order Batsman)

Luke Vivian (Age 27) - Middle-order Batsman (Middle-order Batsman)

Gareth Hopkins (Age 32) - Wicket-keeper (Wicket-keeper)

Reece Young (Age 29) - Wicket-keeper (Wicket-keeper)

Paul Hitchcock (Age 34) - Pace All-rounder (Pace All-rounder)

Rob Nicol (Age 25) - Spin All-rounder (Spin All-rounder)

Scott Styris (Age 33) - Pace All-rounder (Pace All-rounder)

Michael Bates (Age 25) - Pace Bowler (Pace Bowler)

Roneel Hira (Age 22) - Spin Bowler (Spin Bowler)

Chris Martin (Age 34) - Pace Bowler (Pace Bowler)

Andy McKay (Age 28) - Pace Bowler (Pace Bowler)

Kyle Mills (Age 30) - Pace Bowler (Pace All-rounder)

Greg Morgan (Age 20) - Pace Bowler (Pace Bowler)

Tarun Nethula (Age 25) - Spin Bowler (Spin Bowler)

Lance Shaw (Age 25) - Pace Bowler (Pace Bowler)

Daryl Tuffey (Age 30) - Pace Bowler (Pace Bowler)

The reason I have posted both their specific role in real life as well as there specific role in ICC is because ICC have got some of their roles wrong.
For example in real life Anaru Kitchen is a middle-order batsman normally coming in at around six, but in ICC he's classed as an opening batsman. In these cases I'll probably be using the players based on what their ICC roles are.

Overall it's a very balanced group of players, with neither the batting or bowling really standing out.
If you combine the likes of Guptill, McIntosh, Vincent, Hopkins, and Styris together with the bat, plus Martin, Mills, and Tuffey with ball, we should be able to field an alright eleven.

 

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

Srilanka Pakistan Bangladesh and Aussie's some great tours mate...

 

[Chewie]

I should have changed the roster a bit so you could play Colin de Grandhomme... And oops about the stuff I didn't fix, like Kitchen.

 

[CG123]

I should have changed the roster a bit so you could play Colin de Grandhomme... And oops about the stuff I didn't fix, like Kitchen.

It doesn't really matter.
As the games almost a year old, Hitchcock, Nicol, Martin, and McKay are all still eligible to play for Auckland.

 

[Gorro_124]

A good looking squad!!!Good luck to the aces!!!

 

[TheGreemSim]

Hopefully you get enough regens for Auckland Aces as your players retire.

 

[just_cricket]

Bowling attack in particular looks to have potential. Guptill and Vincent will be key with the bat in the shorter forms, and in the longer form Tim McIntosh will be an asset too.
Good luck!

 

[Prithvi]

A good future plan and good luck dude, hope you reach your target.

 

[AkshayS]

Lou Vincent will be the key in batting, Bowling attack looks pretty solid.

 

[CG123]

Sri Lanka vs Auckland Aces
Only five day match

Teams

Sri Lanka

1. Kumar Sangakkara*?
2. Chamara Kapugedera
3. Mahela Jayawardene
4. Tillakaratne Dilshan
5. Thilan Samaraweera
6. Angelo Mathews
7. Malinda Warnapura
8. Chaminda Vaas
9. Nuwan Kulasekara
10. Muttiah Muralitharan
11. Dilhara Fernando

Auckland Aces

1. Martin Guptill
2. Tim McIntosh
3. Lou Vincent
4. Rob Nicol
5. Scott Styris
6. Reece Young?
7. Gareth Hopkins*
8. Kyle Mills
9. Daryl Tuffey
10. Lance Shaw
11. Chris Martin

Toss

Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bat first.

My Thoughts

Day One

A very good day for us, rolling Sri Lanka for 235. Mills was outstanding picking up a five wicket haul, and was well backed up by Tuffey and Shaw. A disappointing end to the day losing Guptill for five, but 216 behind still with nine wickets in hand put us in a good position.

Day Two

This was going to be a crucial day for us, to see if we could back up our great day one effort. A shaky start saw us lose McIntosh for 24, Nicol for a duck, and Styris for nine, but a fifty each from Vincent and Young got us right back in the match. Tuffey fought hard late in the day, and when he went for 16 we finished the day trailing Sri Lanka by 13 runs with two wickets in hand.

Day Three

Shaw played a great knock all the way down at ten, scoring 24 not out and giving us a six run first innings lead. Not the greatest job by the batsmen, but it could of been a lot worse. Sri Lanka made a solid start to their second innings as their top four all made it past 20, but a middle order collapse saw their numbers five to eight all get dismissed for single figures. It was a clinical bowling performance from our four front line seamers, as they all took at least one wicket. Sri Lankan number nine Kulasekara was the last man standing for 43, and we set out at chasing just 181 runs to win. It was a poor end to the day as we lost McIntosh without scoring, and we would enter day four needing 168 runs to win with nine wickets in hand.

Day Four

Vincent went early in the day for nine, but twin fifties from Guptill and Nicol took us well in truly on our way to the win. Styris came out and played well for 44, as he and Young were there at the end completing a magnificent six wicket win.

This was a great way for us to start off our world tour, knocking over one of the top test playing nations Sri Lanka. This was what man of the match Kyle Mills said at the post match presentation; "I think the pitch that we were playing on was the key. It was a very New Zealand like wicket as it had a bit of grass cover on top, and it suited our four pace bowlers brilliantly. We got what we wanting when we lost the toss and were asked to field, and from that first session onwards it always felt like we were just slightly ahead of the game."

Short Scoreboard

Sri Lanka - 235 all out

Kumar Sangakkara 82
Angelo Mathews 78*

Kyle Mills 5-64
Daryl Tuffey 3-61
Lance Shaw 2-34

Auckland Aces - 241 all out

Reece Young 67
Lou Vincent 58

Chaminda Vaas 4-59
Dilhara Fernando 3-65
Muttiah Muralitharan 2-67

Sri Lanka - 186 all out

Nuwan Kulasekara 43*
Mahela Jayawardene 43

Chris Martin 4-55
Kyle Mills 3-63
Daryl Tuffey 2-37

Auckland Aces - 181 for 4

Martin Guptill 54
Rob Nicol 51
Scott Styris 44*

Chaminda Vaas 2-51

Result

Auckland Aces win by 6 wickets

Man of the Match: Kyle Mills

MVP Points

Player | Batting | Bowling | Fielding | Wins | Played | Points | Average
Kyle Mills | 0 | 50 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 52 | 52
Daryl Tuffey | 3 | 25 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 30 | 30
Reece Young | 22 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 28 | 28
Martin Guptill | 16 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 27 | 27
Lance Shaw | 6 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 23 | 23
Chris Martin | 0 | 20 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 22 | 22
Lou Vincent | 17 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 19 | 19
Scott Styris | 11 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 19 | 19
Rob Nicol | 10 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 12
Gareth Hopkins | 4 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 12
Tim McIntosh | -1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1

 

[Chewie]

Hmmm I think I made them too overpowered... meh Good victory for the aces!

 

[just_cricket]

Really nice write up that. Good to see the Aces winning a good game, with most of their players contributing at some stage. Mills was exceptional and good to see four half centuries from the batsmen too.
Kiu!

 

[CG123]

@ JC - Any ideas on how to improve my presentation?

 

[just_cricket]

It depends how much effort you want to put in.
Font settings etc. are fine. Easy to read and laid out so that it doesn't look too daunting (I actually did read the whole thing, something I don't often do).

Although graphics aren't essential, a photo of Kyle Mills (main man in the match) could have been good. And if you have the time, you could request someone in the graphics forum makes you an "Auckland Aces Takes on the World" Banner, or something of the sort.

But I think this has been a really good start.

 

[-D-S-B-]

Awesome, you got the MVP table going!
Great win by the Aces over a quality SL team. I hope they stay consistant because they were clinical in all departments there. KIU!

-D-S-B- added 1 Minutes and 32 Seconds later...

Would you consider doing full scorecards?