Story England Vs Australia - Ashes Tour - Australia

[S_Harmison]

England Vs Southern Australia - 4 Dayer.

Sky Sports 1 and Channel 4 are covering this game, we will be watching Sky Sports for a change, Englands's Micheal Vaughan and the opposing captain are in he middle for the toss, Vaughan captaining basicaly the same England side as last time except for 2 changes, McGrath takes the place of Rob Key and Jimmy Anderson replaces Andy Caddick:

England:

1) M Vaughan (c)
2) M Trecothick
3) G Thorpe
4) A Flintoff
5) A Strauss
6) A McGrath
7) G Jones (wk)
8) A Giles
9) J Anderson
10) M Hoggard
11) S Harmison

Southern Australia:

1) B Johnson
2) D Fitzgerald
3) C Blewitt
4) M Miller
5) C Davies
6) M Higgs
7) D Daitz
8) S Tait
9) R Harris
10) J Davison
11) P Rofe

Vaughan wins the toss and chooses to bat on a lovely Cricket wicket, a nice hard pitch, a bit dry with a nice carry through bounce, the weather is hot and sunny with no chance of rain and the wrist spinners will be at an advantage on this pitch.


England 1st Innings:

Things look good for the lads form the off at the first ball goes for 4 byes.

After looking comfortable once again and making a four and a few singles Trescothick is clean bowled for 6, a yorker is inside edged onto the stumps, Harris the bowler.

England: 16/1

Vaughan hits the spinner with a perfect sweep for 6, fantastic shot yet the next ball he calls, then says no, then calls again and is run out on 14, another poor Innings worth by the two openers....

England: 32/2

Thorpe is ru out on 0 two balls later, well, at leats we know what we need to practise now.

England: 32/3

Flintoff is the next to go, he is clean bowled next ball by Rofe.

England: 32/4

Strauss is run out on 0.

England: 32/5

Finally England get past the 32 as McGrath smashes a drive past the covers for 4, that should help his selection chances.

Jones also gets off the mark on a boundary.

McGrath is "run out" on 8, Th umpire called for the 3rd Umpire and after the replay clearly showed him reaching past the stumps he was called out, robberey.

England: 46/6

Giles gets a boundary which brings up Englands 50

England: 50/6

Jones goes for 8 after being stumped, he raced down the pitch and completely missed the straight ball from the spinner, good bowling.

England: 56/7

Anderson gets caught on a first ball duck, England look in bad shape.

England: 56/8

Giles is run out on 16, more poor running by the England sqaud, looks like they will be running drills for the next few days.

England: 66/9

Harmison hits a boundary before Hoggard is ran our for 0, England end their first innnings on 70.

England: 70 All out
Harmison still on on 4


Very, very poor England Performance, they will struggle to win this one.

 

[S_Harmison]

England are still yet to get into the swing of things with the bat, they havent made over 100 yet and that including 4 dayers, they really need to sort their acts out.


Southern Australia 1st Innings:

Micheal Vaughan gives James Anderson the new ball and young Jimmy pulls one out of the bag first ball, nice full delivery angling across the left hander, some seam movement and a thick edge to Graham Thorpe at 3rd slip. Johnson goes for 0.

Southern Australia: 0/1

Two balls, two runs later and Anderson bags another corker, nearly and identical ball, this time its a thinner edge and Geraint Jones leaps in front of Freddie Flintoff to claim it. Blewitt really Blewitt by getting out on 2 and giving England a chance to salvage something from the match.

Southern Australia: 2/2

Harmison takes a lovely wicket, medium length is left by the batsman, cuts in and takes off thump out of the ground, too bad it was a no ball.

He pays for it next ball though as he is stroked through the covers for 4.

A misfield leads to a four as Harmison gets squatted away again.

None other than Ashley Giles makes the breakthough as he gets Fitzgerald for 18, a missed ball spins in to hit the stumps.

Southern Australia: 25/3

The new batsman smashes Jimmy away for a square leg boundary.

Harmison gets the edge on the 5th ball of a probing over but the slips let him down and it goes for 4.

Tries the same ball again and the batsman strokes him away.

The captain gets the next wicket with some brilliant persistant bowling, same spot everytime, into the rough, Davies edges to the slips and he is gone for 0.

Southern Australia: 45/4

Miller looks to have his eye in on 28.

Spoken too soon as Harmison temps him into a rash shot, has been pitching yorkers and catches him out with the bouncer, the batsman lifts up his bat instead of getting out the way and it flicks of to Jimmy Anderson who takes the catch to dismiss him for 28.

Southern Australia: 51/5

Higgs is dropped on 0 by Strauss by the bowling of Harmison.

Harmison who is bowling superbly gets another edge but if flies past last slip and goes for four.

Giles makes another breakthrough, he takes the wicket of Dietz on 8, Strauss takes the edge.

Southern Australia: 59/6

McGrath makes up for his earlier batting perfromance by taking a wicket, a lovely yorker creeps under the bat to uproot the middle stump, fantastic bowling.

Southern Australia: 59/7

Giles is dominated for an over and gets hit for 10 runs.

South Australia beat Englands posted 1st Innings total as they reach 72/7

Giles take 3rd wicketm bowls a flipper and gets the reward as Harris gets caught LBW for 3.

Southern Australia: 75/8

The spinners are brought into the attack to slow down the run rate and take some wickets as Vuaghna and Giles go at it.

Giles gets another wicket, a fntastic catch by Strauss sends Davison back for 0.

Southern Australia: 75/9

Vaughan gets his second wicket and proves he can still do it by taking the wicket of Harris for 14, another stunning catch, this time by McGrath.

Southern Australia: 77 All Out

Rofe not out on 1

Southern Australia lead by 7 runs going into the 2nd Innings.


Poor totals by both teams although England's poor total was downt o bad batting this one was down to fantastic bowling.

 

[S_Harmison]

England go into their 2nd Innings loking to post a high score to salvage the match.

England 2nd Innings:

Vaughan goes out on 1, yet another stupid run out.

England: 1/1

Trescothick goes after a wondefull take after a legside flick by the Wicket keeper, he dived a long way and collected it fantastically, he goes for 9.

England: 17/2

Thorpe really goes for it and hits two fantastic sixes in succesion which sail over the rope and into the crowd.

He then tries the same flick as Trescothick and this time is taken by a les spectacular catch, he goes for a barely respectable 27.

England: 37/3

Strauss really coems out swinging and smashes his first ball away for 6.

He mi****s the next ball but is dropped and makes the single.

Flintoff in another dissapointing Innings gets not surpsisingly run out on 1.

England: 45/4

England reach 51/4

Strauss is clean bowled for 7 by Harris, an inswinging delivery beat the batsman who played a loose defensive shot which the ball sneaked through.

England: 51/5

Jones is agin run out, this time for a duck

England: 51/6

An LBW is ironically turnes town agaisnt Giles.

after this Giles dances down the pitch with quick feet and smashes a 6, fantastic shot.

McGrath goes for a good 20, the downside was that he got run out.

England: 83/7

Anderson gets called out LBW for 1, He was unlucky though as the ball looked to be missing Leg Stump.

England: 84/8

Hoggard is bowled out first ball for 0 and England collapse again.

England: 84/9

The Southern Aussies call for LBW against Giles again, this time its called out and quite rightly so, he goes for 8 and Englands innings are wrapped up.

England: 85 All out
Harmison not out on 1.


After another dismall innings England fail to reach 100 yet again and leave the Southern Aussies to chase 79 .

 

[S_Harmison]

The Southern Aussies chace a subdued 79 but the way England have been bowling this might prove to be harder than it looks.

Southern Australia 2nd Innings:

Anderson is again given the new ball and he gets the nick he was looking for but yet again the slips arent up for it and it goes for 4.

Hoggard this time with the ealry wicket as he gets Johnson to edge it and the everpresent Thorpe takes a safe catch at 3rd slip, he goes for 1.

Southern Australia: 5/1

Giles yet again gets a wicket, he sends Fitzgerald back to the dressingroom for 8, caught by Strauss, a safe pair of hands.

Southern Australia: 13/2

Giles gets another wicket soon after, this tim its Miller whos on the reciving end and he finds himself trapped LBW for a duck.

Southern Australia: 14/3

Giles gets some great flight and the turn is immense but Flintoff drops the batsman.

Vaughan makes the breakthrough on 34 as Blewitt goes for 13, clean bowled through the gap by Vaughan.

Southern Australia: 34/4

Giles takes his 3rd wicket and Englands 5th, he clean bowls Davies for 9.

Southern Australia: 34/5

The spinners show their dominance as Vaughan gets another wicket on the next ball, Higgs goes for 0, caught by McGrath whos showing his worth here.

Southern Australia: 34/6

England have taken 3 wickets without any runs here and Vaughan could have had a hatrick had the the next two balls not been dropped, not to worry though, he gets him 3rd time lucky, as Tait goes for 0.

Southern Australia: 34/7

Giles gets his 4th wicket as Flintoff cradles Harris's edge and he goes for 4.

Southern Australia: 43/8

Davison is run our for 0 as the Southern Aussies collapse at:

Southern Australia: 45/9

The 10th wicket partnership needs to make 34 but Giles wraps up the match on the next ball sending Davison back for 0 and sealing a 34 run win for England.

Southern Australia: 45 All out
Rope not out on 0

England put themselves under pressure early here and didnt really respond well to it but a brilliant spell of bowling by Giles and Vaughan saved them in the end and they are still going strong.

England move on to a 3 out of 3 7.5% success rate.

 

[m_vaughan]

now thats three very very low scoring games on the bounce

 

[S_Harmison]

Im batting very rashly for a four dayer and most games are over in two days, the bowling is really easy on PS2 and its very easy to take wickets and keep them to a low score even on hard mode.

 

[S_Harmison]

Found out how to get a BBC report up but you'll have to downoad it.

 

[S_Harmison]

BBC Match report and News: (ignore file name)

 

[m_vaughan]

good work

 

[S_Harmison]

thanks, Queensland just posted a first inings total of 105, match report up later.

 

[tjh1989]

do you take alot of wickets with giles or any other spinner by catching the batsmen at silly point and silly mid off, when the ball seems to pop up, if you do i think this is a bug as i watched a slow replay once on the ps2 when it happened to me and the ball hit the ground so i make sure i dont' put a silly mid off or silly point in place as it stops this bug happening, its a bit annoying but stops the mistakes.

 

[S_Harmison]

most are caught in the slips or at silly point but its just the graphics, its definately not a bug, sometimes that happens in the slips or with the keeper but its just the graphics. match report fro Queensland up later and what a great match it was for the England boys, two of them in particular.

 

[tjh1989]

I just thought it was i didn't think about how it could be the graphics i still don't put my silly point in because it seems as if all the wickets get taken there and i just asumed it was a bug, did you beat queensland. When i played the australians in a 3 test series they beat me 3-0 but i wasn't vary good then, godd luck with the tour.

 

[S_Harmison]

The Cricket Show music starts and the intoduction played as we ready for another day of exciting cricket, this week we'll be chatting to Vikram Solanki, the man who will be given his chance today, himself or either Rob Key or McGrath will be chosen in the final squad to face the Aussies in the first test, its a big day for him to show what hes made of:

TCS: So, Vikram, youre a dab hand with the bat and you can bowl as well, its beneficial for modern day cricketers to be all rounders but does it rules you out of most selections because you dont have a strong side?

Vikram: I dont see it that way, i see it as the selectors have three choices, they can put me as a high order batsman and give me a few overs, they can focus on me as a bowler and i can bat in the lower order and rack up some runs or they can put me middle order and give me some overs, i feel that i play better in more of a Freddie Flintoff type role, middle to top order with a few overs if need be.

TCS: A very valid point, how have you been preparing for youre big shot?

Vikram: Ive been putting in a bit of extra batting practise as im comming in at number 6, most probrably partnering Freddie or Vaughnie so i'll need to be on form to give them some support and ive also been working hard in the nets, getting to know where to pitch the ball on these surfaces so ive basically been training harder and longer.

TCS: How good a chance do you think you have at getting in that first Test Squad?

Vikram: It really all depends on how i perform in the match, Keysey didnt do too well and neither did McGrath so i think i stand a pretty good chance of getting in the team to face the Aussies, i'll need to wrack up a few runs and hopefully take a few wickets.

TCS: Well we wish you the best of luck.

Find out how Vikram gets on after the break.

 

[S_Harmison]

Welcome to the final warm up match before the England 11 will be selected for the first test against the Aussies, only one change in the lineup from last time and thats, as we have heard Vikram Solanki replacing McGrath and number 6. There has also been a shuffle round with the batting lineup as we will see soon enough, meanwhile the two captaains are on the pitch ready to do the toss.

England:

1) A Strauss
2) M Trescothick
3) G Thorpe
4) M Vaughan (c)
5) F Flintoff
6) V Solanki
7) G Jones (wk)
8) A Giles
9) J Anderson
10) M Hoggard
11) S Harmison


Queensland:

1) J Maher
2) N Kruger
3) M Love
4) L Arseldin
5) C Perren
6) B Nash
7) W Seccombe
8) A Noffke
9) Kasprowcz
10) J Dawes
11) S Brant

So, Queensland have won the toss and decided to bat first, a very, very silly descision considering the state of the pitch, very green and great for seam bowling, lots of movement for the England frontline with inconsistant bounce, low run totals should eb posted, the weather will be sunny and very warm, no chance of rain in the next few days.


Queensland: 1st Innings:

The choice to bat showed up as an error immediately as Hoggard stuck on his second ball of the match, pitched to the left hander and angling across in front of him, pitched in line with his leg and flew across in front of him, he trew the bat out and it took a tick outside edge to Giles at 4th slip, fantastic piece of bowling by Hoggard! Maher goes for 5.

Queensland: 5/1

Giles makes his start to the match a memorable one as he dismisses Kreuger for 7, the unevn bounce on the pitch and the spin from giles was too much for him as he wildy swung at a dleliver which went high up into the air, an easy take for Jones behind the stumps.

Queensland: 20/2

Giles, with another filghted spinner gets an edge but the slips arent up for it and drop the ball.

Harmison gets his wicket next over though, the speed demon gets Castledine for 0, the seam movement proved too much again and Jones takes a thin outside edge with ease.

Queensland: 21/3

Harmison gets another edge on the next ball and once agin is let down by the slips, poor fielding by England as the ball goes for 4.

Flintoff gives away four silly byes as the ball flys past Jones.

Harmison takes his second wicket, the Durham quickie catches Perren LBW, pitched in line and straighted up, going on to hit middle stump just above halfway, batsman couldnt get down quick his bat there and is deismissed for 4.

Queensland: 32/4

After a dropped catch Love decided to call for a run, Solanki however had recovered and makes about a 20 yard direct hit to dismiss him before he gets halfway down the wicket.

Queensland: 43/5

Queensland bring up the 50 with a run for 2.

Harmison takes his 3rd wicket after a great bowling spell as Seccombe is dismissed for two, Harmison got into the gap and uprooted the middle stump, sent it cartwhelling backwards, lovely bowling.

Queensland: 50/6

Giles gets another nick but its dropped again.

Solanki is given the ball for an over to see what he can do and gets a dismissal first ball, he clean bowls nash for 10, drew him down the pitch and smashes into middle stump, even if he had missed Jones may have stumped, lovely bowling and a fantastic celebration.

Queensland: 57/7

Harmison gets yet another edge and the slips fail again.

Harmison realy is bowling well but the fielding is just not up to par, it should be over by now.

Solanki gets his second wicket in his second over and he is ecstatic, Kasprowcz goes for 10 as he is smartly stumped by Jones, drawn down the pitch and into the shot, narrowly missing the bails but Jones quickly whips them off and he is called out.

Queensland: 78/8

Harmison gives away four wides.

Its just not his day as he finds the edge yet again and smiles as the slips offer nothing.

3 times in 3 balls Harmison has been let down by balls which should have been cought.

Queensland make 101/8

Solanki strikes again, he looks ecstatic as leg stump is uprooted, he bowled a straight ball and was rewarded as the batsman played a shot for the offspin. Noffke goes for 28, a key wicket.

Queensland: 101/9

Dawes is runout a few balls later of Soalnkis bowling for 5.

Queensland: 105 All out
Brant not out on 0.

England left chasing a comfortable 1st Innings target, they should, repeat should make it with ease.