Story England: The New Breed! Kev Mead Called Up and Deputises as Skipper (ICC 06)

[pinchinator]

no no let the injured guy bowl

 

[treva]

how about let the bowlers bowl and not posting spam!

good stuff Evo mate can't wait for the next few updates

 

[treva]

Teague over the moon​

Teague was over the moon to find out he was wanted by his favourite club Somerset.He said he would love to represent his most loyal club and couldn't wait to have a few net sessions with some of his favourite cricketers! "I am over the moon with joy at being picked to play for Somerset this season.It is almost as good as getting picked for England as I have been supporting Somerset all my life!" Teague turned to the job in hand against the Sri Lankan's. "I am very pleased with my bowling performance considering I consider myself a better batsman but I will take those wickets and will hope to put sri Lanka under pressure with the bat!"​

 

[evertonfan]

Ahmed Gets His Revenge​

Geraint Jones: Well Kapugedera's brief counter-attack has ended, as he takes a big swing at an Ahmed out-swinger, but edges a straight forward chance to Fred Fan in the slips.

Dean Jones: It was a poor shot from Kapugedera which is a shame really. He had to stay out there if Sri Lanka were to have any chance of getting a good total.

Kapugedera gives Fan his second catch.

C Kapugedera: c Fan b Ahmed 20

Sri Lanka: 269/8​

 

[evertonfan]

Lee Strikes a Payneful Blow​

Geraint Jones: Sheer pace has done the trick for England as Kulasekera's brief counter-attack is over. Lee Payne was brought back into the attack and he finally got the wicket he deserves.

Dean Jones: Well i'm looking at the speed meter Geraint, and apparantly, that ball from Payne was registered at 95.6mph. Believe me, if that comes hurling in at you, it's best to get out!

Kulasekera's stumps are shattered.

N Kulasekera: b Payne 4

Sri Lanka: 277/9​

 

[Skater]

Bloody hell, I've never bowled a ball at 70mph before!!

 

[evertonfan]

Payne Wraps It Up​

Mike Haysman: Sri Lanka's innings has ended after Muttiah Muralitharan gave a simple return catch to Lee Payne, and the spin magician was dismissed for a duck.

Geoffrey Boycott: Well we saw a really quick delivery by Payne to dismiss Kulasekera earlier, and now the slower ball has worked superbly, and Murali played way to early on the shot, and it was a dolly catch for Payne.

Murali comes and goes as Payne ends the innings.​

M Muralitharan: c&b Payne 0

Sri Lanka: 278 all out​

 

[evertonfan]

Sri Lanka Out But So Are the Covers​

Mark Nicholas: Just as England's openers made their way to the middle, the rain decided to come down so we have taken an early lunch here at Lords.

So lets take a look at Sri Lanka's innings then:

Mark Nicholas: As you can see, a lot of Sri Lankan batsmen got starts to their innings, but none of them really kicked on, and the lack of a century maker restricted their score.

Mark Nicholas: Well, the captain took the most wickets out there, but I think the best bowler was Lee Payne. He constantly bowled at 90+mph, and was really unsettling the Sri Lankan batsmen. The only thing he lacked was luck.

Join us after the break were former England spinner Simon Barrow will join us for Cricknews.​

 

[treva]

great stuff guys to bowl them out for less than 300 but it's a shame about the rain

Great bowling payne and it looks like getting into the England squad made you bowl 95 MPH lol

and Evo mate i thought you were putting in C4 screens but great presentation

 

[Simbazz]

Welcome to the end of innings from Lords were Sri Lanka are finally out for a sub-standard total of 278, no one really produced any flair, even in the middle order which produced two high two figure scores. Sri Lanka could have done with one of these guys to turn two figures into three to at least post 300 on the board. Sri Lankan staff will surely have a talk to the top order later today about kicking on and converting 50 to 100. Will Sri Lanka lose out when not having there influential player Saneth Jayasuriya.

England have shown what they can do, which the press had been waiting for all week, and its now time for the top order to show what they can do to get past this total. Matt Roberts will be looking for his two openers to build platforms on which his middle order can fire all guns blazing.

I chatted with the coach just as he made his way into the dressing rooms and this is what he had to say,
?yeah I?m really happy with that,? Roberts said in his Northern/Scouse accent which is quite a settling voice which the guys in the dressing room will like to hear when having a well earned rest, ?I?m going to have a quick word with our openers to really get them going and really this should be a pitch which has 500 runs in it, ambitious maybe but I really believe we have the talent.?
When asked about the ODI series Roberts was surprisingly quite and all he said was that decisions still had to be made by him and then put to myself (ODI captain).

Lets take a look at this morning.

Well Kapugedera and Vaas walked out this morning and walked in soon after, neither of them really took on the score and it was soon seven down. Kapugedera was looking eager to score and made a useful 20 off 48 balls before being caught by Freddie Fan, bowled by Ahmed. Vaas was ready for a long innings with his 28* of 81 balls but neither Kulasekara or Muralitheran stayed with him after Kapugedera fell.

Well lets get over to the commentary box were we will find Michael Slater and Mark Nicholas. Will England find a winning side? Will the press be hateful or glorified in tomorrows papers? Well only one way to see, lets get down the pitch side were we have Geraint Jones checking how this pitch is holding up. Here at Channel 4 we have a new interactive camera called PitchCheck were viewers will be able to see the pitch at a birds eye view of the pitch, and you will clearly see any cracks and rough starting to appear, please email in and tell us your opinions of the new camara.

Thanks for watching and join us at 9.30 for the end of days summary with me Simon Barrow and hopefully Matt Roberts the new England coach. We will have a look at his playing days and also have a chat about how he is enjoying his new chapter in life.​

 

[evertonfan]

Debutant Briggs Has a Blitz​

Micheal Slater: You wouldn't think that this lad was making his debut would you? Briggs really is taking the game to Sri Lanka here and he already has 3 boundaries to his name.

Mark Nicholas: From what i've seen of him at Yorkshire he looks to be very aggressive. People said it was going to be hard to replace Trescothick, but in Briggs, England may just have an opener who is capable of destroying the new ball.​

​

 

[treva]

nice start briggsey and nice start England

lets build a few partnerships

 

[FreddieFan]

Good performance from all the bowlers, and a good start by Briggsey. We need to get a big a first innings lead as we can.

 

[Briggsey]

Yes thats the stuff, give it a bit of hammer early on

Hopefully we can put on our first 50 partnership stand in England colours!

 

[evertonfan]

Openers Take England to 50​

Geraint Jones: England are off to a flying start here at Lords, as debutant openers Will Baines and Scott Briggs have reached their 50 partnership.

Dean Jones: There has been a lot of crunching strokes played, but Will Baines has only scored one boundary in his patient innings.

Baines' first boundary brings up the fifty.​

Briggs plays another beauty​