Story Cricket World Series - ODI

[crick4life]

Now the action moves to Sharjah for the first of the ODI between England and Namibia. Namibia have signed some very experience international players along with some budding cricketers to make a claim for the World champion crown.

Namibia has the following 20 for this 2 match ODI series against England :

Carl Hooper - WI
Naseer Hussain (V-Capt) - ENG
W.Jaffer - IND
U.Afzaal - ENG
W.Younis - PAK
S.Udal - ENG
R.Sodhi - IND
R.Smith - ENG
R.King - WI
O.Shah - ENG
M.Slater - AUS
M.Ramprakash - ENG
M.Ealham - ENG
H.Raza - PAK
G.Hamilton - ENG
D.Ramnarine - WI
D.Dasgupta - IND
C.Nevin WK - NZ
F.Rose - WI
M.Bicknell - ENG

It was reported N.Hussain was very instrumental with Namibia signing up with so many Ex England players. Although there are a lot of players who didnt do so well when they had opportunities they still are a good bunch of cricketers. Can N.Hussain inspire these guys to beat his own country? Stay tuned.


England's line up for the game :

Trescothick, Strauss, Key, Vaughan, Flintoff, Collingwood, Jones, Blackwell, Gough, Harmison and Anderson.

Namibia's lineup for the game :

C.Nevin, Slater, Jaffer, Hussain, Hooper, H.Raza, Sodhi, Eaalham, S.Udal, F.Rose and W.Younis.

Come on guys throw some predictions.

 

[m_vaughan]

I aint sure if the ICC will allow this!

 

[crick4life]

ICC has cleared this move and are quite happy some of the better players can probably influence the younger generation by winning a few. Namibia has won the toss and decided to bat quite rightly. The following are the pitch conditions for the day nighter at Sharjah :

1st 50 overs : Hard pitch, Sunny and Humid conditions.
2nd 50 overs : Dry pitch, Night and Hot conditions.

 

[crick4life]

Namibia in trouble after 15 overs

It has been an eventfull 15 overs the first ODI between England and Namibia lead by N.Hussain. Gough and Harmison both struck in their first overs to reduce Namibia to 9/1 after 2 overs. Slater who was a terrific Test cricket opener for Australia started with his world series with a duck off the second ball he faced from Gough. He edged one straight to Trescothick at point who took a bilinder diving forward. India's test discard W.Jaffer was the next to go tyring an ambitious drive on the rise only to edge straight to Strauss who brought up another good catch diving forward at covers. NZ odi discard C.Nevin scratched around a bit and finally was out to a beauty from Gough. Gough swung the ball late and beat the defensive Nevin's bat to disturb the wickets. This was one terrific yorker from Gough his fans will love to watch. N.Hussain looked in an aggressive mood right from the start while Hooper looked calmer. This was the test for the yesteryears stars, will they buckle under pressure or can they still absorb such pressure and perform as they used. The later came true when Hussain looked like he was just carrying on batting from his last inning at Lords. England were on the back foot and there was plenty of support for Namibia from the crowd sensing there was more to this game than a mediocre team taking on England. At the end of 10th over England were on 45/3 but the 11th, 12th and 13th over saw mayhem in Namibia's batting while England were pushed to the back foot. Hussain and Hooper realised 11, 15 and 18 runs of 11th, 12th and 13th over respectively. Anderson who came into replace Gough went for 18 runs in one over with both Hussain and Hooper each finding ropes twice. It didnt help the fact England dropped a sitter at covers in the 8th over off Hussain. Vaughan replaced Harmison with his trump card Flintoff and Flintoff duly got Hussain bowled with a ball that piched on middle and seamed a little to take the off stump of Hussain. If this is a sign of what to come from the minnow teams now having few yester years stars then there are lot of actions and upsets to follow. At the end of 15 overs Namibia are on 96/4. Hooper 25*(30) and H.Raza 11*(7) are at the crease. Hussain 33(30), Nevin 9(15), Slater 0(2) and Jaffer 7(9) are the batmen out.
Bowling figures for England are :

Gough - 6-2-25-2
Harmison - 6-0-36-1-
Anderson - 1-0-18-0
Flintoff - 1-0-2-1
Blackwell - 1-0-11-0

 

[crick4life]

Namibia reaches a reasonable total

Thanks to Hasan Raza, Pakistani test discrard's terrific hundred Namibia has reached a healthy score of 272 All out in 46.4 overs.



Check out the detailed scorecard here

 

[m_vaughan]

Good performance by Namibia's new imports.

 

[crick4life]

A thriller in offer

England need another 80 runs of the last 8 overs with 7 wickets in hand. R.Key 39*(61) and Flintoff 7*(7) are at the crease. Can Flintoff help England win from here or can Hussain marshall his men to beat England and put Namibia on the cricket world map.

 

[m_vaughan]

As long as Flintoff is there in the middle, everything is possible!!

Go Freddie!!

 

[crick4life]

Unfortunately Vaughan, Flintoff got out early and out went the win for England. Namibia won the game by 26 runs read the report and some highlights from the following link. Make sure to check out the Collingwood six, it was the best inside out six I've ever seen in C2K4.

Namibia wins against England by 26 runs

 

[jonah]

Great reporting Ravi; I like the links to the highlights:cool: .

 

[crick4life]

Originally posted by jonah
Great reporting Ravi; I like the links to the highlights:cool: .

Cheers Mike, so what do you think of the inside out six by Collingwood?

 

[m_vaughan]

50% skill, 50% luck.

 

[crick4life]

England opening bowlers wreck Namibia

The pitch is damp, conditions overcast and its a very cold morning at The Oval, South London. If Namibia thought they can play in any conditions then they will have to go back to the drawing board and think again. What happened in the first 12 overs of the match was unthinkable after the first win Namibia posted against England. This time around Gough & Harmison had other ideas. They absolutely wrecked havoc in the Namibian line up which will probably see the game over in less than a couple of overs unless we are in for a miracle. Gough picked up from where he left the last game, bowling fast and will upteem skills. None of the Namibian batters had any answers to the England opening bowlers barring one Mr.H.Raza who looked to be at home even on such bowlers paradise. He didnt stick for too long to make much difference is a different matter altogether.

Gough picked C.Nevin off the second ball of the match with a stunning yorker on off stump. Harmison then bowled a quiet second over. Gough struck twice in the span of 2 balls in Namibia's 3rd over exposing the lack of recent international batting experience of Namibian batsmen. Both balls were absolute beauty and probably could have gotten out the best in the world. The first ball pitched a meter outside the off stump and W.Jaffer let the ball alone only to see the ball hit the off and middle stump. In walked Namibia captain N.Hussain and he seemed to have not watched Jaffer's dismissal in the dressing room. Of the second ball he faced, he let another ball that again pitched a meter outside off but yet again the ball seamed big time and Hussian was walking back with a duck against his name struck right in front of the middle stump. Harmison from the other end in the very next over proved why he isnt going to look faded against the old horse Goughie. Harmison bowled a toe crushing yorker on the middle stump and hit Slater's toe full in front of the middle stump to claim his first wicket of the match.

Hooper was joined by the in form batsman H.Raza and they both played quite comfortably for a couple of overs till when Harmison thought he wanted to produce couple more magic balls. The ball that got Hooper pitched in and around off stump on good length, Hooper trying to play straight edged it to around 2nd slip. G.Jones brought up a stunning catch diving to his right to reduce Namibia 25/5. Gough in the very next over struck again this time removing the Sodhi replacement for the match Hamilton. The ball seemed to have pitched on leg stump seaming in, Hamilton missing the line of the ball while trying to glance the ball away towards leg side was adjudged lbw. H.Raza was standing tall and punishing anything on the leg got another splendid delivery from Harmison this time seaming in after pitching on off stump. The thick edge flew towards 2nd slip and to Raza's dismay Jones over ran the ball only to realize in time dived at it to bring up a blinder. Both the catches have no doubt would have entered into the best catches competetion and will take some unbelivable effort from any fielder to meet the standard set by Jones.

If this was not enough, S.Udal the second highest scorer of Namibian inning ran himself out although it was a direct hit by the fielder at sq leg. At the end of 12 overs Namibia are down in dumps on 42/8 with Ealham and Rose at the crease. The score card reads like a phone number but with international dialing prefixes zero dominating it. What a turn around it has been both for Namibia and England in just a span of day or two.

 

[crick4life]

Originally posted by m_vaughan
50% skill, 50% luck.

Fair enough, it wasnt me executing it otherwise it would have been 100% skill for sure

 

[jonah]

Originally posted by crick4life
Cheers Mike, so what do you think of the inside out six by Collingwood?

Great looking shot:cool: .