Story Englands attempts to become the best (ICC2006 Ashes Edition)

[rabeta]

I can assure you that there was no blowing from anyone...

Really? Surprising.

Another great knock from Vaughan, who must be in great form, in an impressive partnership with Collingwood. Shame that the score was as low as it was with only four wickets down, though I suppose you must have started of slowly, looking at how well Collingwood and Vaughan did together. Disappointing that England didn't make the work harder for the runs, but the next ODI made up for it. Similar score to the last time, Collingwood impressive again, but perhaps the most satisfying thing was seeing how ruthless England were while bowling. Flintoff and Panesar looking impressive.

Good stuff SS

 

[Sureshot]

I was very tentative as the pitch said it's be good for seamers..My seamers did nowt though so I suspect foul play.

 

[surendar]

Inconsistency for Windies costing them more.. They won the second ODI magnificently but lost the third ODI terribly. Lara and Gayle, who were not needed in 2nd ODI, should have stayed in 3rd ODI as the target was chasable.

Good story mate

 

[Sureshot]

4th ODI, Unchanged and they chose to bat first after winning the toss.

They started very slowly as Jones and Harmison bowled tightly. Harmison got the wicket of Gayle for just 8, having only put on 15 for the opening stand with W Hinds. I brought Davies on as first change at the start of the 11th over. He bowled beautifully with his first 4 overs going for 8 runs and taking 4 wickets, including Lara (11), Chanderpaul and Sarwan for ducks! Bravo faught back with a decent 18 but he fell to Davies as the Essex man picked up his first 5 for in an England shirt. Colly picked up 2 wickets in his first over as Mahon (14) and Taylor fell cheaply to the RM man from Durham. Baugh batted well though getting the WIndies from 57-7 to a respectable 125, finishing 44*. He put on 30 for the 8th wicket with Mohammed and 38 for the 10th wicket with Juggernauth, who was last man out, run out. Davies 5-33, Collingwood 2-25 were the pick of the bowlers. Jones 1-20 and Harmison 1-24 also picked up wickets, with both bowling their full quota.

We got a good start in our chase as Tres and Vaughan put on 66 before Vaughan fell to Hinds for 29 and then Tres fell to Mohammed next over for 35, both wickets falling on 66. KP and Collingwood - moved up the order to 4th due to great form - put on an unbeaten 60 as we won the game. KP 30* and Collingwood 26*. Hinds 1-21 and Mohammed 1-25 picking up the wickets.

5th ODi, Unchanged, won the toss and chose to bowl first.

Wavell Hinds fell early as Harmison got an early breakthrough. Lara and Gayle put on 37 for the 2nd wicket as Gayle fell to Davies for 20. Lawrence - who seems to be batting anywhere at the moment - fell to Flintoff in the big mans 2nd over, gone for just 9. Lara and Chanderpaul put on an excellent 67 for the 4th wicket, but Lara fell for 39 to the spin of Panesar, a great catch behind by Prior. Sarwan and Chanderpaul carried on the good work with 43 for the 5th wicket. but Chanderpaul fell to Flintoff for 33. Davies came back and took 3 quick wickets, including Sarwan for 47 along with Bravo and Baugh. They put on 25 for the last 2 wickets to get to 208, Collymore was last man out, run out. Davies 4-44, Flintoff 2-38 (6) and Harmison 2-43 (10) bowled really well. Monty (1-38, 10 overs) and Collingwood (0-19 from 7) bowled well in tandem.

Trescothick fell early to Taylor in our run chase, scoring just 3. Vaughan and KP put on 50 for the 2nd wicket to consolidate the early loss. But Vaughan fell to Bravo for 15. KP and the in form Collingwood batted beautifully and were circumspect against the spinners. They played really well and almost saw us home, putting on 122 for the 3rd wicket, but Bravo got Colly for 55. Compton and KP saw us home with an unbeaten 35 for the 4th wicket. Compton hitting 2 boundaries off of Taylor to help win the game, he was 18* from 20 balls and Kp was 114*, his 6th ODI hundred. Bravo 2-45 and Taylor 1-53 the pick of the West Indian bowlers.

So 4-1 up with 2 to play, series over. But 2 important games to game. As it's not long until our season starts again, some players could be rested. I think Vaughan, Panesar, Flintoff and Jones could be rested. Wait and see.

 

[Sureshot]

6th ODI. Four changes, Cook, Bell, Plunkett and Batty in. Vaughan, Flintoff, Jones and Panesar out. Trescothick is captain. We won the toss and chose to bowl on a good looking pitch.

Plunkett got a great start as he got W Hinds in his first over. From here on in, the tone was set and the Durham pace men bowled wonderfully. I'd love to be able to write a big paragraph on the West Indies innings, but I don't think it's possible, it was that one sided! Sarwan was highest scorer with 16, as Plunkett and Harmison ripped through their batting line up. Gayle got 14 at the top, the highest partnershiip was 19, that was for the 8th wicket and was between Baugh (9) and Jeremy (11). They were all out for 86 as Collymore was out last, bowled by Davies. 86 all out, Plunkett 4-22 and Harmison 3-26 were excellent. Davies 2-20 and Collingwood 1-18 all took wickets, Batty didn't get to bowl.

In reply Tres was on fire. He and Cook scored 81 of the runs. Cook was bowled by Jeremy for 17. Tres 60* from 59 balls saw us home. Jeremy 1-13.

7th ODI, one change, Horton in for Pietersen. We lost the toss this time, but still batted first.

Tres and Cook started off a little slowly, only going at 2.8-3 an over. But at 20 overs I took a gamble (64-0 at 20 overs) and put them both on 7. It worked, we rocketed along. They both scored quickly, they put on 193 when Cook fell for 90 (his best ODI score but short of a maiden hundred!). Jeremy getting him caught behind. Jeremy got Horton 2 balls later for a duck! He's not shown his ability in the ODI arena yet. Tres was joined by Colly and they put on 34 for the 3rd wicket when Colly fell to Collymore for 20 from 15 balls. Bell joined Trescothick and they put on 58 in quick time, but Tres was bowled by Jeremy for an excellent 141 from 152 balls. Compton blasted 14 from 7 balls to get us to 303-4. Bell 26* from 21 balls. Jeremy 3-58 was the pick of the bowlers. Taylor bowled well, with his 10 overs going for just 30. Collymore and Bravo both conceded 78 runs from 10 overs though, and that proved very expensive.

Could we win the series 6-1?

Plunkett got another great start, as did Harmison almost a carbon copy of the last game. Harmison took 3-11 in his opening and only spell and Plunkett grabbed 4-29 from his 8 overs. Baugh batted well again and put on 22 for the 7th with Sarwan before Sarwan fell for 18 to the bowling of Plunkett. He also put on 28 for the 9th wicket with Taylor, but Baugh fell to Davies for 35, as did Jeremy. Taylor was last man out, run out for 7. Another huge win, by 233 runs! Plunkett 4-29, Harmison 3-11 and Davies 2-4 (4) were excellent again, I bowled Batty for 2 overs and he conceded 17 runs (during the Baugh and Taylor partnership)

So an excellent 6-1 series win. Davies and Plunkett bowling really well and 2 hundreds from Vaughan. 2009 Home Summer is up next, that's New Zealand and Australia iirc.

A massive summer, stay tuned!

 

[rabeta]

A great series win from England, an annihilation in the ODI format, *eek*. Great knocks from Pietersen and Trescothick, not that great knocks were needed. The bowling really stands out, Harmison and Davies amongst the wickets. You must take real heart from the performances of Plunkett though, showing his wicket-taking ability, and adding control to it. Really is one for the future, but bring back Saj! Great work SS, looking forward to the big summer ahead, need a win in the Test series against NZ, to set up a huge series against Australia in the Ashes. Keep the great work up

 

[Sureshot]

Of course Plunkett also picked up a 5 for in the last test match too so is in good form. 100 FC wickets this season (well it's finished now) at about 25.

 

[rabeta]

Of course Plunkett also picked up a 5 for in the last test match too so is in good form. 100 FC wickets this season (well it's finished now) at about 25.

hmm yeah does look in very good form. Do you think he will start the first Test match against New Zealand if he is available?

 

[Sureshot]

Not sure, Davies was iffy in the tests (averages 44) but was amazing in the ODIs.

Of course injuries or retirements (like the undue one of Anderson could make Plunkett a certainty.

 

[plympilgrim]

wow what a win, i can never seem to win One Day games

i was surprised about the margin of victory due to the number of changes you made in the last game, great work Sureshot

 

[Sureshot]

I gambled and I won the jackpot, new opening partnerships with bat and ball both fired. Oh yeh, I dropped 3 catches in the last ODI.

 

[Sureshot]

First test vs New Zealand, no retirements or players going AWOL.

1st Test Squad: KP, Bell, Vaughan, Cook, Prior, Flintoff, Collingwood, Plunkett, Jones, Harmison, Panesar and Hoggard.

Plunkett gets the nod ahead of Hoggard due to taking 5-51 in a tour match vs the Kiwis, also due to Hoggards below par form in both FC and Test cricket, he also adds depth to the batting. They won the toss and chose to bat first.

Harmison had a great start getting Fleming and Oram in his 2nd and 3rd overs respectively, the pitch looked good for batting with something in it for the bowlers. Plunkett got Vincent, he bowled him, can he show the form of the West Indies tour, this summer? The opener Peter Fulton stayed out the early dismissals and was joined by talented all rounder Jessie Ryder, he and Fulton batted really well as Jones, Flintoff and Panesar all failed to penetrate their defences, they put on 114 for the 4th wicket when Fulton fell for 69 to Panesar, caught at short leg by Bell. Ryder was joined by McCullum as they continued to put more runs on the board, they had added 45 together when McCullum fell for 17 to Jones. The experienced Craig McMillan joined Ryder and they pt on 103 for the 6th wicket when, upon returning, Steve Harmison got McMillan for 46. Flintoff got the wicket of Marshall for just 7. Franklin joined the excellent Ryder who had scored his first test hundred and looked set for more, indeed he did as he and Franklin put on 82 for the 8th wicket, but Panesar got Franklin for 40. Shaw and Tuffey couldn't see Ryder through to his double hundred as they both succumbed to Harmison, who finished with 5-63. Ryder was 192* as New Zealand posted 407. Monty 2-72 and Jones 1-40 bowled quite well. Plunkett and Flintoff got a wicket each too.

We made a decentish start as Cook and Vaughan put on 45 for the opening stand before the captain fell for 17. KP joined Cook as the two batsman put on a wonderful 157 for the 2nd wicket, when Kp fell for 82 to the bowling of Tuffey, who had also got Vaughan. Bell joined Cook - who looked set for a big innings - and they put on a wonderful partnership again, adding 130 for the 3rd wicket when Bell fell for 74, Cook had long ago passed a well deserved hundred, he and Colly had a little partnership of 41 put the Durham man fell to Oram for 15. Cook was steaming along and he and Flintoff had another century stand as they put on 111 for the 5th wicket, but Cook finally fell to Oram, but not before passing his maiden double ton in Test cricket, going for a magnificent 235, a S/R of about 45 too which is quite good for him!. Unfortunstely Prior couldn't capitalise as Shaw got him for just 6, but big Fred helped the tail put on some decent runs, he added 20 with Plunkett (9) and 23 with Jones, but he finally fell to Franklin for a good 66. Jones helped score some runs as we got a lead of 170, he fell for 30. Tuffey 4-109, Oram 3-147 and Shaw 2-183 were the wicket takers. Cook had passed 3,500 runs, infact he only needed 2 runs at the start of the innings!

Fleming and Fulton made a positive start to their innings putting on 46 in the first 10 overs, but Harmison struck again, this time with the wicket of Fulton for 30, infact of the top 5 he got the highest score as our bowlers bowled excellently, most notably Harmison and Panesar. Oram made a good 28 whilst Fleming fell for 18 to Harmison - Panesar having bowled Oram. Vincent fell to Plunkett who got his 50th Test match wicket. McMillan and McCullum played wonderfully to give the kiwis a chance of saving the match, they put on 108 for the 6th wicket, when McCullum fell to Panesar for 52, McMillan made a good 70 but he fell to Harmison, who was on fire. We bowled out the Kiwis for 244, Harmison finishing with 5-49, match figures of 10-112. Monty 4-63 and Plunkett was the only other bowler to get a wicket.

We nedded only 75 for victory, Cook fell early, but Vaughan and KP put on 52 for the 2nd stand, Kp fell to Shaw for 21 though, so it was Bell who scored the winning runs with a boundary through the off side. Vaughan 43* playing well to see us home by 8 wickets, Shaw put in a decent spell of 2-32, morale boosting after his 2-183 in the first innings. Cook was man of the match, and deservedly so, but lots of praise for Harmison too.

 

[plympilgrim]

wow great batting by Cooky and some nice backing up by KP. Harmy and Monty also bowled well

nice work

 

[rabeta]

Great win to start off the series for England. They bowled well in the first innings only for Ryder to get in their way. Cook then played brilliantly to get his double-century and England then finished the Kiwis off. Interesting that the scores make the pitch look as if it may have been very flat, though if you look at the individual scores, the reason such high scores were achieved is because of one player for the most part. Harmsion bowled brilliantly some that must be a real plus point, nothing more important than Hamy firing early on in a series.

Great stuff SS, keep it up. Oh and England better win the next game...

 

[Sureshot]

It is only a 2 test series what with the small matter of an Ashes series. Panesar is now top of the bowlers rankings! All top 4 batsman are mine too! Cook, KP, Bell and Vaughan.