Story Brendon vs Callum vs Jono - A Worcestershire Battle

[Chewie]

20th August 2011
Worcestershire vs Middlesex
Challenge Trophy - Group Match​

Playing XI?s

Worcestershire

1. Daryl Mitchell
2. Vic Kelly
3. Vic Rush
4. Vikram Solanki
5. Moeen Ali
6. Niall O'Brien +
7. Alex Kervezee
8. Chanaka Komasaru
9. Steven Finn
10. Anthony Ireland
11. Boyd Rankin


Middlesex

1. Andrew Strauss
2. Sam Robson
3. Neil Dexter
4. Luke Wright
5. Owais Shah
6. Scott Newman
7. John Coop
8. Richard Hitchens
9. Timothy Murtagh
10. Iain O'Brien
11. Pedro Collins

Middlesex win by 55 runs
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I didn't really expect to win against Middlesex, who are unbeaten so far in this competition. Initially Ireland and Finn did a good job of containing the openers, but Dexter and Wright took to Rankin and Komasaru, forcing to bring my part timers on early. Luckily Mitchell was extremely economical, while Solanki confused the batsmen to get 4 lbw wickets. 229 wouldn't be a difficult total to chase down, but obviously it was too much for us. Kelly couldn't pull off one his quick starts, and while Rush and Mitchell looked in good form, they couldn't cope with Collins, and the rest of the batting order couldn't keep up with the required rate.




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[CG123]

Wow, they have Luke Wright batting at four, he must be significantly better batting wise in your game, as in both OD and T20 cricket this season for me he's been averaging under 20. In OD cricket I very much play him as a bowling AR.

 

[hedger_14]

29th August 2011
Worcestershire vs Sussex
Challenge Trophy - Group Match​

Teams:

Worcestershire

1. Stephen Moore
2. Daryl Mitchell*
3. Julian Stafford
4. Shaaiq Choudhry
5. Moeen Ali
6. Stuart Adler?
7. David Wheeldon
8. Calvin Flowers
9. Christopher Pears
10. Jack Shantry
11. Boyd Rankin


Sussex

1. Steve Hume
2. Christopher Nash
3. Ed Joyce
4. Luke Wright
5. Dan Wilkinson
6. Matt Prior?
7. Michael Yardy
8. Ragheb Aga
9. James Kirtley
10. Monty Panesar
11. Billy Taylor


Toss:

Sussex won the toss and elected to bowl first


Worcestershire - 248/6

Julian Stafford 75 (79)
Shaaiq Choudhry 52 (52)
Moeen Ali 31 (30)
David Wheeldon 30* (24)
Stuart Adler 29 (28)

Ragheb Aga 3/48 (8)
Monty Panesar 2/46 (8)


Sussex - 157 all out

Christopher Nash 71* (69)
Luke Wright 46 (31)

Calvin Flowers 6/21 (6.1)


Worcestershire won by 91 runs


MOTM:

Calvin Flowers (6/21 off 6.1 and 7* off 4)


Points:

Worcestershire 2
Sussex 0


Comments:

Well comfortable win there. Moore and Mitchell both failed at the top of the order but Staford and Choudhry got us back into it, both scoring 50's before Ali, Adler and Wheeldon all scored at better than a run a ball to finish the innings. Pears then struck in the first over of the innings before I let Wheeldon take the new ball at the other end. He also took a wicket in his first over although got hit a bit after that. Rankin got the big wicket of Wright and Wilkinson was run out before Flowers went on to rip through the Sussex batting lineup to finish with 6 wickets. Nash was left stranded on 71*, after noone could stick around with him.

 

[CG123]

Lol, they have Luke Wright batting at four as well.
Wtf is wrong with my Luke Wright?

 

[Chewie]

It's not him, it's you

 

[CG123]

I know, I'm sure some of my players are rated worse compared with Brendon's.

Cough cough, Choudhry, Ali, Wheeldon and Shantry, cough cough.

 

[hedger_14]

lol, well Wheeldon has not passed 30 in his last 8 innings in all formats (probably more since I can't see past his last 12 innings and some of those are 2nd XI. And he's averaging 40 in FC and 31 in One Day cricket. Shantry hasn't been that good, averaging 43 in FC, 35 in OD and 57 in T20.

I don't know why Choudhry and Ali are playing so well though. I have both on batting technique training if that makes any difference but idk. May be just the way I play them.

 

[CG123]

I don't think Shantry's ever playing in my first XI. I've played him in both of the university matches (this season and last season), and he got hammered in both of them, so despite having a technique training on him for both seasons, he's still very average.

I got rid of Choudhry because he was so rubbish last season.

Wheeldon and Ali are a real mixed bag for me, every maybe five matches they'll do something worthwhile.

 

[hedger_14]

Wheeldon is a mixed bag to me. He's scored a FC century, a couple of fifties and a whole lot of fails with the bat in FC, a 5wi and a 4wi but other than that, normally between 0 and 2 wickets in the innings, a couple of good scores in OD and a couple of NO's and a 4fa but not much apart from that. Normally takes a wicket a match at an ER around 6. His 4fer helped his average up to 31.

Ali didn't play that well for me last year but is now starting to go really well. I never really liked playing both Ali and Choudhry in the same team but since both are going so well atm, I'm playing them both.

 

[Chewie]

Ali and Wheeldon both average above 50 this season in FC cricket I think lol

 

[CG123]

Worcestershire vs Northamptonshire
Challenge Trophy - group match
22nd August 2011​

Teams:

Worcestershire

1. Jeet Raval
2. Daryl Mitchell*
3. Jeff Ingram†
4. Eric Matthews
5. Moeen Ali
6. Jeff Friend
7. Luke Wright
8. Imran Arif
9. Mark Davies
10. Dewald Nel
11. Monty Panesar

Northamptonshire

1. Niall O'Brien†
2. Mal Loye
3. David Sales
4. Andrew Hall*
5. Rob White
6. Elton Chigumbura
7. Vishal Tripathi
8. J... Aram
9. David Lucas
10. Lee Daggett
11. Jack Brooks

Toss:

Worcestershire won the toss, and chose to bat first.

Match:

Worcestershire - 162 for 9 (40 overs)

Luke Wright 43 (51)

Lee Daggett 3-27 (8)
David Lucas 3-52 (8)

Northamptonshire - 163 for 4 (28.3 overs)

David Sales 67 (79)

Result:

Northamptonshire win by 6 wickets, with 69 balls remaining

Points:

Northamptonshire 2
Worcestershire 0

MOTM:

David Sales (67 runs off 79 balls and 1 catch)

Reaction:

What a terrible batting display.

When you lose two of your normal top five it's going to show sooner or later, and despite our makeshift batting line-up working last match against the Unicorns, it was all at see today against a team which consisted of two international bowlers.

I think the time if right for Luke Wright to get a promotion, maybe even to number four.

 

[hedger_14]

think the time if right for Luke Wright to get a promotion, maybe even to number four.

About time

 

[CG123]

Worcestershire vs Essex
Challenge Trophy - group match
23rd August 2011​

Teams:

Worcestershire

1. Jeet Raval
2. Daryl Mitchell*
3. Alex Kervezee
4. Luke Wright
5. Eric Matthews
6. Jeff Ingram?
7. Jeff Friend
8. David Wheeldon
9. Mark Davies
10. Dewald Nel
11. Monty Panesar

Essex

1. Billy Godleman
2. John Maunders
3. S... Hurst?
4. Zander de Bruyn
5. R... Ellsion
6. Mark Pettini
7. Graham Napier
8. David Masters
9. Tony Palladino
10. Maurice Chambers
11. Charlie Shreck

Toss:

Essex won the toss, and chose to bowl first.

Match:

Worcestershire - 205 for 6 (40 overs)

Daryl Mitchell 71 (82)
Luke Wright 45 (42)

David Masters 2-39 (8)
Maurice Chambers 2-49 (8)

Essex - 206 for 5 (38.1 overs)

R... Ellsion 64 (66)
Zander de Bruyn 44 (55)

Mark Davies 3-31 (8)

Result:

Essex win by 5 wickets, with 11 balls remaining

Points:

Essex 2
Worcestershire 0

MOTM:

R... Ellsion (52 not out off 64 balls)

Reaction:

Our bowlers were absolutely atrocious, with only Davies and Panesar operating at under five and half runs an over. We should have been able to defend anything over 200, because everything about the conditions was bowler friendly.

That loss effectively kills our chances of making the final four, as we're equal on points with Yorkshire with one game remaining, but they've still got three games remaining.

 

[Chewie]

24th August 2011
Worcestershire vs Middlesex
County Championship -D2​

Playing XI?s

Worcestershire

1. Daryl Mitchell
2. Vic Rush
3. Vikram Solanki
4. Moeen Ali
5. Niall O'Brien
6. Alex Kervezee
7. David Wheeldon
8. Chanaka Komasaru
9. Steven Finn
10. Anthony Ireland
11. Boyd Rankin


Middlesex

1. Andrew Strauss
2. Sam Robson
3. Neil Dexter
4. Luke Wright
5. Dawid Malan
6. Owais Shah
7. Ben Scott
8. Timotyh Murtagh
9. Robbie Williams
10. Iain O'Brien
11. Pedro Collins

Middlesex won by 9 wickets

Vic Rush did not score a century. I believe this is why we lost. In all seriousness, if he had managed to score his once a match century we probably would have been able to draw this match. Instead, our first innings was made up of a lot of starts, but no one going on to a decent score. We then faced problems trying to bowl Middlesex out, with the pace bowlers all getting hammered for plenty of runs. Our second innings wasn't much better, though Wheeldon did score a second half century for the match. They managed to chase the total down with ease.



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[hedger_14]

Unbelievable

Vic Rush didn't score a century