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

[puddleduck]

Lol, Pietersen just pwns everyone.

How the hell did you manage to take 6 wickets with him? He always gets taken to the cleaners for me.

I nearly always try to fit in an over or two from a part-timer in Odis. If that over gets the treatment than get them out, but more often than not one of them will either put in 3-5 overs of really tight stuff, or even grab 2-3 wickets.

6 on this occasion is a great effort though Sureshot

 

[evertonfan]

Bell is the greatest part-timer in cricket management history. Nearing 250 wickets in ODI's and is well into the 100s in Tests as well.

 

[surendar]

The Aussies are clearly a one man team in Jaques

yes, right from the tests, England struggle to take Jacques :cool:

And also England are shaping up very well in this ODI series. KP becoming an all rounder..lol Then its added advantage for England Also some good for Prior to get some handy runs after being promoted.

 

[plympilgrim]

KP played very well in the first game, shame about the 2nd game loss

 

[Sureshot]

With the pitch looking good for spinners and due to Plunketts poor form I give the inexperienced Adil Rashid a game. We won the toss and decided to bat first.

Tres' poor run of form (only a few games mind) continues as he falls for just 7. KP comes out but also fails making only 9. Cook was joined by Strauss as they both continue good form and put on a big partnership of 74 before Cook fell for 49. Strauss was joined by Shah and they both batted really well, Shah fell for 70 from just 63 balls by the penultimate ball of the innings. Strauss made a brilliant 93*. Franklin, Bond, Oram and Vettori all got a wicket each as we finished on 245-4.

With New Zealand batting under heavy dark clouds it was always going to be tough and when Harmison and Anderson took the early wickets of Fleming and Fulton respectively things looked tough, Harmison bagged another wicket, to leave them 3 down for about 20 runs. Then Vincent and Astle put on a good partnership of 65 before Vincent fell for 35 to Rashids first ball in ODI cricket. Astle soon fell to the same bowler for 35. I bring Monty into the attack and the two spinners take a massive 7 wickets between them, obliterating New Zealands frail middle order and bowling them out for 142. Rashid 4-31, Panesar 3-25 (10), Harmison 2-27 and Anderson 1-19.

As New Zealand beat Australia (and knocked the Aussies out) I decided to rest some players and give the likes of Key a chance. Hoggard, Key and Bell in for Harmison, Trescothick and Cook. We lost the toss this time and Fleming decided to bat first.

On another cloudy day batting would be tough and it would prove so as Hoggard and Anderson take 4 wickets between them in the first 14 overs. It never got any better for the Kiwis as Collingwood, Rashid and Panesar all took wickets to finish the innings at 158. I also bowled Bell for 7 overs as I thought the conditions suited his bowling type well, he wasn't expensive going at only 4.2. Anderson 2-38, Hoggard 2-19, Collingwood 2-34, Panesar 2-9 and Rashid 2-33, every bowler chipping in to get the job half done. 3 Kiwi batsman made 21, but everyone struggled.

Key fell for only 5 on his ODI return, which was deeply dissapointing for him and the team. but, Strauss and KP knocked off the rest of the runs in 28 overs with Strauss finishing on 84* and KP 63* a very easy win.

With the first of the very important finals ahead of us I revert back to my strongest possible team. Tres, Cook and Harmison back in for Key, Bell and Hoggard. We won the toss on a belter and decided to bat first.

Cook and Tres got off to a slow start, but Tres again falls for just a few runs this time only 6. KP out and was his normal aggressive self and Cook soon followed suit as the two batsman put on a mammoth 140 run partnership before KP fell for 81. Cook followed soon after for 79, adding just 21 runs for the 3rd wicket partnership. Then Shah came out and played another brilliant innings, Strauss also carried on his brilliant form as the two put on 125 runs for the 4th wicket partnership before Shah fell for 58, Colly came out and made 11 off the last 2 overs, Strauss finished on 63* as we reach and pass the 300 mark to finish on 311-4. Vettori 2-64, Franklin and Bond with the other wickets.

Chasing a horrible target the Kiwis faltered under the sunshine of Adelaide as Anderson and Harmison get 3 early breakthroughs. I bring on Colly and he grabs a wicket in his 4 overs, Monty bowls really well and destroys their middle order finsihing with figures of 10-0-68-3. Rashid get's McMillan for 33 as he puts up some fight in their middle order. Anderson get's another wicket as I look to kill the innings off. I struggle getting the last wicket as Vettori and Bond fight and put on over 50 for the last partnership before Harmison gets Bond for 16, leaving Vettori on 47* from just 33 balls. Anderson 3-52, Harmison 2-36, Colly 1-24 and Rashid 1-13. All bowlers went at between 5 and 6 1/2 as New Zealand give it a good go, but just lose too many wickets.

2 more finals with New Zealand to come before we head of to Bangladesh!

Also in the ODI rankings we leapfrog India as we gain 4 points from 2 overseas wins against New Zealand 4-0 and Australia 2-1.

 

[PhilD123]

Who said Hoggy couldn't bowl in ODI's! Pietersen in astonishing form and Strauss is going well with 2 unbeaten half centuries. Going by the games so far, Monty's definitely the man to take wickets for England in the middle overs.

By the way SS, I meant to say it earlier on but I really like this style of presentation, so well done for that.

 

[Sureshot]

Thanks, Phil. I never realised quite how active this forum (this section) is. Of Rashids wickets, most of them were against the Kiwis lefties, Montys wickets tend to be lbws going around the wicket to right handers.

 

[Ponting22]

great work ss

 

[Sureshot]

We remained unchange for the next game. We lost the toss and Fleming decided to bat first.

Anderson destroyed the top of their innings with 2 quick wickets, Harmison took another. I then brought on Collingwood who got another wicket leaving them 35-4. Oram and Astle (27) made a partnership of 50 before Astle fell to Rashid. Then McMillan made 43 in another big partnership with Oram, before Oram fell on 65 to Panesar. Anderson came in to bowl at the death and bowled well grabbing another wicket, with Rashid geting another 2 wickets. In the end the Kiwis didn't make enough of a good batting track, succumbing to some good bowling. Anderson finished with figures of 3-31, Rashis 3-51, Monty 1-31, Collingwood 1-37 and Harmison 1-35.

Tres fell for only 7, yet another failure. Cook went for fifteen leaving the score 33-2. Strauss and KP put on a good partnership of 106 before KP fell for 55. Strauss was joined by Shah who made 18 before a great piece of fielding managed to ran him out. Collingwood came out to join Strauss who had passed 50 a long time ago and was on 72. Collingwood finished the innings off with 15* leaving Strauss on 78* at the other end, as we win on 194-4. Bond 2-37 and Frankling 1-44 were the pick of the Kiwi bowlers.

As we had already won the series I wanted to give some players a game and rest others. Key, Plunkett, Bell and Mahmood cam in for Tres, Harmison, Rashid and Collingwood. We won the toss and decided to bowl first.

New Zealand made a better fist of it this time, helped by some poor bowling by Plunkett 6-0-50-0. Anderson and Mahmood did strike early, but we were on course for a high score to chase down. Panesar bowled well taking 2-30, due to the poor bowling Shah bowled 3 overs and did take a wicket for 19 runs. But Oram and Vincent put on 124 for the 3rd wicket before Vincent fell for 65. Astle joined Oram but put on only 2 more before Oram fell for 82. Astle and McCullum put on 59 for the last wicket as New Zealand finish on 259-5. Anderson 1-45 and Mahmood 1-53.

Key and Cook got us off to a good start before Key was run out for 35 when the score was 69-1. Cook followed just one run later for 33. KP and Strauss had a big partnership of 101 before Strauss fell on 48. Shah and KP added 48 before Shah fell on 24. Due to time running low I brought Prior in ahead of bell. Prior made 20* to help KP (91*) finish off the innings as we finished on 260-4. Mills took 2-52 as he was the pick of the bowlers. Gillespie took 1-53, Oram was expensive going at over 7 an over.

So we won the series and competition relatively easily, now time for some stats.

Pietersen, 525 runs at 87.5, Cook 424 runs @ 53, Strauss 548 runs @137, Trescothick 114 runs @ 16., Prior 70 (4 innings) @ 35, Shah 242 @ 34.6 and Collingwood 119 runs @ 119. The Bowlers: Rashid 10 wickets @ 12.80, Panesar 14 wickets @ 20.93, Anderson 19 wickets @ 17.8 and Harmison 7 wickets @ 34. Plunkett took 2 wickets for over 240 runs, going at over 6 an over for that time.

Up next is my tour of Bangladesh, who will play? Will it be an inexperienced team? and will any old timers get a chance?

 

[evertonfan]

How are you using Trescothick mate? By that I mean how many aggression bars do you start with him on?

 

[Sureshot]

It's normally 5 for ODIs. Though it was 3 when we were chasing the small targets.

Bangladesh touring party:

Key (Captain), Shah, Bell, Joyce, Loye, Cook, Prior, Trescothick, Davies, Collingwood, Clarke, Plunkett, Mahmood, Panesar, Anderson, Rashid, Harmison and Simon Jones.

We face a 3 day friendly, then 2 tests and then 3 ODIs.

Vs Chittagong (3 day friendly).

We won the toss and decided to bat, the weather looks a bit iffy and we might get some rain delays.

Team to face Chittagong: Cook, Key, Bell, Joyce, Shah, Clarke, Prior, Plunkett, jones, Anderson, Panesar.

Cook and Key got us off to a good start before Cook fell on 38. Bell joined Key and they put on 100 runs together before Key fell for 83. Bell fell for 48, 3 overs later. Joyce (22) and Shah put on 50 runs together before Joyce was dismissed. Clarke came out and did well, Shah fell on 46. Clarke and Prior put on 100 for the next wicket before Clarke fell for 64. Prior and Plunkett put on 80 before Plunkett fell for 44. Prior was eventually dismissed for 97 when we were on 462-8 so I declared.

We struggled to get early breakthroughs, with wickets falling just here and there. Nazimuddin made 76 and Sunny 75*, with many others making 20s and 30s. Plunkett bowled really well in this innings finishing with figures of 4-88. Jones on the contrary bowled 16 overs for 58 without getting a wicket. Anderson finished with 2-85, Panesar 2-83 and Clarke 1-58 as Chittagong got to 391 (Their keeper got injured and had to retire hurt).

With only 1 and half sessions left I wanted to bat a few overs to give us an hour to bowl at them tonight. Cook and Key did so really well getting us to 118 before we declared. Cook 63 not out and Key 51 not out.

With not long left I just wanted to get some more overs under the bowlers belts. Anderson bowled well 8-6-7-2 getting the only 2 wickets to fall as Chittagong finished on 28-2.

A good practice game, with lots of batsman scoring runs and the opening bowlers taking 4 wickets each in the game.

Onto the real thing next...

 

[puddleduck]

Try starting Tres on 4 bars and then moving him up in Odis. Either that or if he's struggling for form just stick on V-Aggressive one bar from the end and hope he actually gets some runs

 

[evertonfan]

Either that or if he's struggling for form just stick on V-Aggressive one bar from the end and hope he actually gets some runs

I do that. Works a treat with him.

 

[Sureshot]

1st Test vs Bangladesh.

Trescothick, Key, Cook, Joyce, Shah, collingwood, Prior, Plunkett, Harmison, Anderson, Panesar.

Bangladesh won the toss and will bat first.

They got off to a good start before Anderson got the break through. Plunkett got a wicket soon after to leave Bangladesh 100-2. Haque and Bashar put on a partnership of 130 before Monty gets Haque who goes for 77. Saleh comes out and puts on 50 before Bashar goes for 48. Saleh batted with the tail but they lost the last 6 wickets for just 50 runs, Saleh finishing on 56. Anderson took 3-54, Collingwood 2-41, Harmison 2-68, monty 2-64 and Plunkett 1-57. Rafique was Harmison's 200th test wicket. They finished just short of 300 on 298.

Key and Tres put on 50 before Tres falls for 23. Then Cook and Key put on 110 (at a slow rate mind) before Cook falls for 54. Joyce gets a 2nd ball duck in the same over. Shah and Key make 43 together before Shah goes for just 18. Collingwood comes out and helps Key past 100 and the two push us near the Bangladesh total, but Key falls for 136. Collingwood and Prior (42) put on 90 for the 7th wicket before Prior falls. Plunkett makes 27 as Collingwood gets to 87 before falling victim to one of Hasans (SLA) 6 wickets. Plunkett soon falls to the same man. Harmy and Jimmy make 148 each before I declare on 439-8. Hasan 6-148.

With a good lead I have an hour at them at the end of the 3rd days play, we don't take any wickets. Come the morning though Harmison and Anderson rip through the top order getting 4 wickets between them. Haque again is top scorer, this time with 72 before getting stumped off of Montys bowling. No one else offered real fight as we dismiss them for just 213 with Harmison the pick of the bowlers with 4-57. Anderson 3-57 and Monty 3-62.

We needed just 72 to win and Tres fell for just 1 before Cook came out. Key makes practically all the runs hitting 2 for the winning runs and also brings up his 50. Cook makes just 10* as we win on 74-1.

 

[surendar]

That was a good win.. Now you can take risks of some experimentations like bringing in Rashid,Jones and Loye. Also pity that Read was left for this series.