Story England; World Beaters?

[Simbazz]

England have had a lot of ups and downs in the last three years. From the Ashes win under Duncan Fletcher, to an Ashes lost under the same coach. A departing Fletcher made way for a good coach in the optimist of Peter Moores, his rein was both good and bad.

He has now stepped down to make way for Simon Barrow. Barrow had a good career as an all-round spin bowler, and has made many batsmen wonder how balls can spin round thier bat so easily.

Barrow finished his career with 276 wickets at an average of 28.32. He wasn't the best, but it was his coaching which got him recognised. He went straight from retiring at Lancashire (His home county team after 10 years of service to Hampshire) to returning back to Hants to teach both offspin and legspin to players and youngsters.

He has found 3 or 4 players worthy of the England set-up and has worked particularly hard with all the spinners!

Barrow now has the chance to make a differnce within the whole England squad, bringing both knowledge and graft to make the side work!

Can I take this time to say that it is the summer holidays, and i will be shipping off to Uni in september so i plan to enjoy myself, i will update when i can! Worldchampions will also be helping ​

 

[Pakistani Army]

Yepee! Looking forward to another cracking story from you Simon :happy

 

[Simbazz]

The ECB have today announced the fixtures of the forthcoming international matches between England and New Zealand. The squads are to be announced shortly, but first here are the 3 Test Match fixture confirmation,

1st Test Match @ Lord's - May 15-19
2nd Test Match @ Old Trafford - May 23-26
3rd Test Match @ The Oval - June 5-8

Then there is a single Twenty20 game at Old Trafford,

Twenty20 @ Old Trafford - June 13

Lastly, is the 5 ODI's.

1st ODI @ Chester - le - Street - June 15
2nd ODI @ Birmingham - June 18
3rd ODI @ Bristol - June 21
4th ODI @ The Oval - June 25
5th ODI @ Lords - June 28

England will surely be hoping for another Test victory over NZ, and the wins in the ODI's would also give them a big boost, the captain of the test side is surely to be Michael Vaughan. The ODI side is yet unknown.​

 

[Pakistani Army]

Nice presentation Simon. Looking forward to the first match already.

 

[Simbazz]

12 Men have been selected for the 1st nPower test at Lords, they are as follows, (with averages, both Bat and Ball)

Alistair Cook 27 Matches @ 43
Kevin Pietersen 36 @ 49
Ian Bell 36 @ 43
Owais Shah 3 @ 34
Michael Vaughan 76 @ 42
Matt Prior 10 @ 40
Andrew Flintoff 67 @ 42 and 32 (Bat/Ball)
Paul Collingwood 33 @ 42 and 43
Stuart Broad 3 @ 23 and 38
Ryan Sidebottom 13 @ 26
James Anderson 22 @ 38
Monty Panesar 25 @ 32

The side is pretty much accepted to be the best they have, with the addition of fit again Andrew Flintoff, this England side is probably the strongest they've had since 2005.

Owais Shah is likely to start ahead of Paul Collingwood, this is due to Lord's looking as it will spin, and Owais Shah offers some part time effort. Collingwood is likely to be involved in further tests if he isn't selected for the first.​

 

[Pakistani Army]

Nice 12-man squad there however I wished Prior would have been swapped for Foster.

Anyways, great presentation Simon. Keep up the good works!

 

[Simbazz]

He'd have been swapped for Ambrose but he was injured and Prior was next best. I'll keep my eye out for Foster!

Guys, who would your 11 be?

 

[Pakistani Army]

Well my starting XI would be:

A.Cook
*M.Vaughan
I.Bell
K.Pietersen
P.Collingwood
+M.Prior
A.Flintoff
S.Broad
R.Sidebottom
M.Panesar
J.Anderson​

Looking forward to the start of this match Simon!

 

[kookaburra69]

Great start Simon,keep it up!

 

[Left_Hander]

Good pre-match build up here Simon.

 

[Jaztheman]

Alistair Cook
Michael Vaughan *
Ian Bell
Kevin Pietersen
Owais Shah
Andrew Flintoff
Matt Prior +
Stuart Broad
Ryan Sidebottom
James Anderson
Monty Panesar

On a spinners pitch that would be my team. Great pres so far Simon.

 

[w3lshrugby]

Quality start so far - should be an enjoyable read.

How is WC helping you?

 

[Simbazz]

Hello and welcome to Lords Cricket Ground. Its a lovely summers morning on the 15th May 2008, and the pitch is looking like an Asian pitch rather than an early season English pitch! Monty Panesar should have that ear to ear smile on the pitch today.

Vettori is also another threat for England, he's more experienced than most of the English batsmen and has the ability to either get the ball to spit, or slip through any defensive shot the English players have to offer. It really is the battle of the slow left arm'ers this game!

The teams are as follows,

England

A Cook
I Bell
M Vaughan *
K Pietersen
O Shah
A Flintoff
M Prior (+)
S Broad
J Anderson
R Sidebottom
M Panesar

New Zealand

P Fulton
J How
R Taylor
B McCullum (+)
J Ryder
J Oram
D Vettori *
A Redmond
M Gillespie
I O'brien
C Martin

The batsmen all have attributes in the England side which can account for thier success, but also, they also have the ability to gift thier wicket away at times. Shah will be a big player on this pitch, he's a very wrist dependant cricketer, and on spinning pitches he should thrive. Its important Cook and Bell make a big start when they get on the field.

The toss was won by Vettori, who put his team into bat. This means that Sidebottom and Broad have to keep the runs down, and make sure they put pressure on Fulton and How, this will then mean McCullum can't play his natural game.

Ok, the two openers are on thier way out, and the England team are getting into position.
​

Simbazz added 2 Minutes and 3 Seconds later...

Quality start so far - should be an enjoyable read.

How is WC helping you?

He is going to be doing the ODI's But again, he is busier than me it seems! We'll try to get through it with this kind of effort

 

[Pakistani Army]

England have a good squad. Shah will have to prove that he is good enough in Tests by playing well here.

Great presentation Simon.

 

[saladguy]

Great start to the story and lets hope England will win!