Story England's International Season (Sep 2004 Onwards) [C2005]

[m_vaughan]

and thanks for the support mate. would have given u rep, but it seems i need spread it around before giving to you again.

 

[jazz]

from the natwest series last year england are a much improved side and this time round ill say they will win it

 

[m_vaughan]

The Natwest Series 2005 Special Programme - continues

David Gower: Welcome back. Lets now continue in our lookback at last year's NatWest Series. We are now into the second round of group matches.

June 29: England vs New Zealand at Chester-le-Street

New Zealand claimed a seven-wicket victory at the Riverside after bowling England out for their sixth-lowest one-day international total.

James Franklin took a career-best 5-42 and Jacob Oram 3-23 to bowl England's cavalier batsmen out for 101.

In reply, pace bowler Steve Harmison claimed three wickets in the space of two overs on his home ground. But the Kiwis cruised home with 32 overs left, Scott Styris (23) and Craig McMillan (15) finishing the job.

England 101 (32.5 Overs), New Zealand 103-3 (17.2 Overs)

Result: New Zealand won by seven wickets​

Points: England 0(3), New Zealand 6(12)​

​

​

July 1: England vs West Indies at Headingley​

England forced their way back into the NatWest Series picture with a resounding seven-wicket win over West Indies at Headingley.​

​

The hosts set up victory with an excellent bowling display to dismiss the Windies for 159 in the 41st over after winning the toss.​

James Anderson and Steve Harmison starred with three wickets each.

Marcus Trescothick led the way with a brutal 48-ball 55 as England coasted home with 28 overs to spare.

Trescothick put on 56 quickfire runs with Andrew Strauss, who struck an unbeaten 44 off 37 balls.

West Indies 159 (40.1 Overs), England 160-3 (22 Overs)

Result: England won by seven wickets
Points: England 6(9), West Indies 0(9)


July 3: West Indies vs New Zealand at Cardiff

New Zealand collected their second win of the NatWest Series, easily chasing a target of 217 to beat West Indies.

West Indies batted first, Chris Cairns collecting excellent figures of 3-29 as Brian Lara made a score of 58.

And after a collapse by Lara's men saw them dismissed in the 47th over, Hamish Marshall hit a composed unbeaten 75 to guide the Kiwis home.

West Indies 216 (46.2 Overs), New Zealand 220-5 (46 Overs)

Result: New Zealand won by five wickets​

Points: West Indies 1(10), New Zealand 5(17)​

​

​

So two wins out of two for the Kiwiz in the second round of matches sees them top the table with 17 points, and another win for them will guarantee a place in the final. West Indies are second with 10 points, a point ahead of bottom placed England.​

 

[m_vaughan]

David Gower: Lets now have a look at the final round of group games and find out which two teams make it to the final at Lords.


July 4: England v New Zealand at Bristol

New Zealand went forward to the final of the NatWest Series on 10 July after hammering England by six wickets.



Andrew Flintoff hit his first one-day century for England but they had to bat first in tough, damp conditions early on and made only 237-7.

And an excellent innings of 99 by Stephen Fleming saw his side canter to victory in the 48th over. England must beat West Indies on Tuesday by a big enough margin to claim a bonus point to reach the final.

England 237-7 (50 Overs), New Zealand 241-4 (47.2 Overs)

Result: New Zealand won by six wickets​

Points: England 1(10), New Zealand 5(22)​

July 6: England vs West Indies at Lord's​

West Indies eliminated England from the NatWest Series after a high-scoring seven-wicket win at Lord's.

Andrew Flintoff (123) and Andrew Strauss (100) shared an England record stand of 226 to lift their side from a troubled 77-3 at half-way to 285-7.

But Chris Gayle beat that with 132 of his own, and Ramnaresh Sarwan (89) joined him in a record stand of 187. Ricardo Powell contributed an unbeaten 33 as the Caribbean side completed victory with five balls to spare.

England 285-7 (50 Overs), West Indies 286-3 (49.1 Overs)

Result: West Indies won by seven wickets​

Points: England 1(11), West Indies 5(15)​

July 8: New Zealand vs West Indies at the Rose Bowl​

Rain ruined the NatWest Series contest between New Zealand and West Indies with no play at all possible.​

Result: Match abandoned​

Points: New Zealand 3(25), West Indies 3(18)​

So New Zealand and West Indies made it to the final of the NatWest Series, with the home side England eliminated. It was a disappointing blow for the England team, and its captain Michael Vaughan, especially after having won the NatWest Series in 2003.​

​

FINAL QUALIFYING TABLE P W L NRBPtsR/R PtsNew Zealand 6 3 0 3 1 1.40 25West Indies 6 2 2 2 1 -0.38 18England 6 1 4 1 1 -0.59 11

 

[jazz]

yes i rember the final game of the group stages was windies v nz and their where going to have a 20:20 game because of the rain but when they were about to start the 1st ball rain came again the game got rained off

 

[m_vaughan]

The Final

David Gower: Well New Zealand and West Indies met for the fourth time in this series, and this time it was the all important final at Lord's.

July 10: West Indies vs New Zealand at Lord's

New Zealand ended their tour of England on a high after a 107-run win at Lord's clinched the NatWest Series.

Spinner Daniel Vettori claimed a career-best 5-30 and was responsible for two run-outs as West Indies were dismissed for 159 in a rain-hit match.

Chris Harris also took his 200th one-day wicket with victory in sight. New Zealand posted 266 despite losing their last seven wickets for 49 runs after openers Stephen Fleming (67) and Nathan Astle (50) put on 120 together.
But their total seemed in danger until the Kiwi bowlers applied a stranglehold.

Wickets fell at key times to thwart the West Indies' plan of forming a platform to build on later.

New Zealand 266 (49.2 Overs), West Indies 159 (41.2 overs)

Result: New Zealand won by 107 runs​

New Zealand winners of the NatWest Series 2004​

​

​

So New Zealand comfortably winning the final at Lord's and quite deservedly being crowned the 2004 winners of the NatWest Trophy. The Kiwiz were praised for their performances in the 50 over version of the game and were being compared with Ricky Ponting's Australian team.​

We will take another short break now after which we will have a look at this year's NatWest Series and the three teams participating this time around.​

 

[m_vaughan]

David Gower: Welcome back, lets now have a quick look at this year's competition featuring England, Bangladesh and Australia.

As always, each team will play each other three times in the group stages, with the top two teams after nine matches, playing the final at Lord's.

The fixtures are as follows:
16th June - England vs Bangladesh - The Oval
18th June - Australia vs Bangladesh - Cardiff
19th June - England vs Australia - Bristol
21st June - England vs Bangladesh - Trentbridge (D/N)
23rd June - England vs Australia - Chester-le-Street (D/N)
25th June - Bangladesh vs Australia - Old Trafford (Manchester)
26th June - England vs Bangladesh - Headingley
28th June - England vs Australia - Edgbaston (D/N)
30th June - Australia vs Bangladesh - Canterbury

2nd July - Final - Lords

The teams will receive points after winning a group match, and apart from that there are bonus points on offer as well.

Winning with the bonus point - 6 points
Winning without bonus point - 5 points
Draw/No Result - 3 points
Losing without conceding bonus point - 1 point
Losing and conceding bonus point - 0 points


The team that achieves a run rate of 1.25 times that of the opposition shall be awarded one bonus point. A team's run rate will be calculated by reference to the runs scored in an innings divided by the number of overs faced.

In the event of teams finishing on equal points, the right to play in the final will be determined as follows:

-the team with the most number of wins

-the team with the most number of wins over the other team(s).

-the team with the highest number of bonus points

-the team with the highest net run rate*


*in a match declared as no result, run rate is not applicable

 

[m_vaughan]

David Gower: Lets now have a look at the three teams, starting with Australia.

The World Champions are expected to do well and steam roll their opponents every time they get on the cricket field. And to be honest, this is exactly what they have been doing for the past few years now. The gap between Australia and the rest of the cricketing nations is considered to be really huge and one that continues to increase day by day.

Australia havent played international cricket since February 2005, their last outing being the VB Series triangular tournament which they won pretty comfortably.

But this is the all important Ashes tour, and has a lot of pride at stake. And although the Aussies are overwhelming favourates to win their ninth consecutive Ashes, people have predicted this series to be the closest one for years.

Australia won the NatWest Series in 2001. Ricky Ponting who was a part of that Australian team, will now want to win the trophy as captain. And as always, the Aussies look as strong and invincible as ever as they begin their 2005 Ashes tour. With a lot of experience as well as youth and talent, the Aussies are clearly the team to beat.

However the World Champions havent had a very promising start to the tour, losing to England in a Twenty20 match and to Somerset in a 50 over tour match. Apart of these two, they have also played Leicestershire and PCA Masters in 50 over and Twenty 20 matches respectively, and have won both.

3 players to watch:

Matthew Hayden

Strength is Matthew Hayden's strength - both mental and physical. It enabled him to shrug off years of carping that he was technically too limited for Test cricket because of the way he plays around his front pad, and it enabled him to touch rarefied heights of batsmanship. Before his maiden first-class innings, he asked if anyone had made 200 on debut, then went out and hit 149. The runs have not abated since. Tall, powerful and equipped with concentration befitting the triathlete, fisherman and surfer that he is, he batters the ball at and through the off side for days at a time. He has made himself reliable in the slips and gully, and is good for a relieving spell of medium-pace. His earliest Test matches were exclusively against South Africa and West Indies, a trial for any opener. They were not auspicious, but patience and willpower have since won the day, especially since the tour of India in 2000-01, where he slog-swept his way to 549 runs, an Australian record for a three-Test series. By the end of 2001 he had broken Bob Simpson's Australian record for most Test runs in a calendar year and formed a prodigiously prolific opening partnership with Justin Langer. Belatedly he came good in the one-day arena too, and by the time the 2003 World Cup rolled around he was ranked among the top three batsmen in both forms of the game. Later that year he hammered 380 against Zimbabwe at Perth, briefly borrowing the Test-record score from Brian Lara, and in mid-2004 he was at it again, battering Sri Lanka for twin centuries that took his tally to 20 in only 55 Tests. Weary through years of plunder and a difficult India tour, Hayden experienced a rare, extended slump during 2004-05 and was replaced as one-day opener by Michael Clarke.

Michael Clarke

Michael Clarke already boasts a possibly unique claim to fame in Australian cricketing folklore: he was anointed as his country's next captain before he'd played a single Test. When he made his debut and a thrilling 151 against India at Bangalore his future looked even brighter than the yellow motorbike he received as Man of the Match. The amazing ride continued with another stunning century on his home welcome at the Gabba, and his first Test season ended with the Allan Border Medal. A ravishing shotmaker with an unshakeable temperament, Clarke does not so much take guard as take off. His arrival is typically the cue for a string of wristy, audacious flashes through the offside. Crowds warm to his innocent exuberance, to the buzz and energy and daredevil edge he brings to the crease. All the while he radiates a pointy-elbowed elegance reminiscent of a young Greg Chappell or Mark Waugh, who, like Clarke, waited long and uncomplainingly for a Test opening and then marked the occasion with a century. Unlike Chappell and Waugh, who learned the ropes in domestic and county cricket, Clarke has cut his teeth in Australia's one-day side. His impact in pyjamas was startling: he racked up 208 runs in four games before he was finally dismissed, and now averages in the mid-forties at a strike rate hovering around 90. His bouncy fielding adds to his run-value, while his left-arm tweakers cajole nearly a wicket a game, and dropped six surprised Indians in the second innings at Mumbai. A cricket nut since he was in nappies, Clarke honed his technique against the bowling machine at his dad's indoor centre. Affably down-to-earth, he is meticulous about his hair - which is blond and always looks freshly showered - and adores fast cars. Meeting David Beckham counts among his life's wishes. He is proudly patriotic too, wearing an Australian flag on the back of his bat, and last year signed a record-breaking A$1.25million deal with Dunlop-Slazenger. "On captaining Australia, I'd love to," he commented early in 2004. "It's another goal and something I'll have to work hard for." He worked hard for his first Test hundred, but made it look stunningly easy, and a future star became a current one

Glen McGrath

The young Glenn McGrath was described by Mike Whitney as "thin - but Ambrose-thin, not Bruce Reid-thin". Much later, Mike Atherton compared McGrath to Ambrose on a vaster scale. Catapulted from the outback of New South Wales into Test cricket to replace Merv Hughes in 1993, McGrath became, after a faltering start, the great Australian paceman of his time. He bowls an unremitting off-stump line and an immaculate length, gains offcut and bounce, specialises in the opposition's biggest wickets - especially Atherton's and Brian Lara's - is unafraid to back himself publicly in these key duels, and has shown himself to be unusually durable. He is a batting rabbit who applied himself so intently that while playing for Worcestershire he won a bet with an Australian teammate by scoring a fifty. The work eventually paid off in Tests when he made 61, the third-highest score by a No. 11, against New Zealand in 2004-05. Only in his occasional fits of ill-temper does he fail himself. He rewrote the World Cup record-books in 2003 with 7 for 15 against the outclassed Namibians, on his way to adding another winner's medal to a bulging collection. An ankle injury threatened to derail his quest for 500 Test wickets, but after briefly contemplating retirement he bounced back with yet another five-wicket haul against Sri Lanka at Darwin in July 2004. Three months later, at Nagpur, he became the first fast bowler to play 100 matches in the baggy green, and his greatness was further confirmed at Perth in December when knocking down the brittle Pakistanis with 8 for 24, the second-best figures by an Australian.

 

[m_vaughan]

Now lets have a look at Bangladesh.

Bangladesh will be playing for the first time in NatWest Series. Infact Bangladesh have been in England only on ICC Events prior to this tour, during the 1999 World Cup and the 2004 Champions Trophy.

And if Habibul Bashar thought that their hammering at the hands of England was a bit too hard to take, then he should probably prepare for something even worse, as his team has now got to face apart from England, the world champions Australia.

This quicky is becoming a tour to forget for Bangladesh. But can they sting a surprise or two in this triangular series?

Players to Watch:

Aftab Ahmed
Aftab Ahmed is looked upon as one of Bangladesh's future stars, and one who has shown a lot of talent and potential. Back in Bangladesh, many feel he has what it takes to succeed at the very top.

Nafees Iqbal
Nafees Iqbal was Bangladesh's most succesful batsmen in the test series vs England, and was the only positive outcome for Bangladesh. He played with a lot of grit and nerve especially since he had to opened the innings.

Habibul Bashar
He was the only other Bangladeshi batsmen apart from Nafees Iqbal who was able to score a decent amount of runs in the test series. He played really well at Lords, scoring a half century in both innings. The Bangladeshi captain has done well in the past also, and with experience in his side, is considered to be one of the more vital members of the team.

Verdict: Well one would be very surprised if Bangladesh even win one match in this year's NatWest Series. So basically we are looking at six defeats for the minnows.

 

[m_vaughan]

The hosts England, have a lot to prove in ODIs, as their form in the shorter version of the game hasnt been anywhere near as convincing as their test match performances. However under Michael Vaughan's captaincy, England did win the NatWest Trophy and Challenge in 2003, the NatWest Challenge in 2004, and also made it to the finals of the ICC Champions Trophy 2004.

England lost the ODIs in South Africa 3-2, but you have to give them credit as they came back into the series from 2-0 down and levelled it 2-2 in dramatic fashion.

England should make it to the finals without much problems, but can they step up a level and beat the World Champions when it matters most?

England have got a good pace attack that includes Darren Gough, Steve Harmison, Simon Jones, Kabir Ali, Andrew Flintoff and Jonathan Lewis. No James Anderson who is ruled out with injury and may miss the entire series. Ashley Giles is also ruled out of the first two matches atleast. Worcestershire's Gareth Batty deputises for him just as he did in the test series.

Players to watch for:

Andrew Flintoff

The world's best one day player is crucial to England, due to his ability to contribute with both bat and ball. One of the most dangerous batsman in the world, Flintoff also has a habit of picking up wickets at crucial moments, and is a match winner. England is very much dependent on this lad.

Steve Harmison

Former world number one bowler, Steve Harmison has troubled batsmen around the world with his pace and bounce. The tall Durham paceman forces the batsmen to go on the backfoot, and has spearheaded the English bowling attack for more than a year now. Like Flintoff, Harmison is a crucial member of this England team, and one who could have an important part to play in this year's competition.

 

[m_vaughan]

Big News

Okay Guys I have BIG news regarding this story thread.

With Cricket 2005 being released on Tuesday, I have decided to continue this story thread using that game.

The first game, i.e, England v Bangladesh at The Oval however might be played on Cricket 2004 as I will want to first get used to playing Cricket 2005.

The ICC Champions Trophy will also start next Sunday and will be played on Cricket 2004.

I will also be doing a third story thread soon, which features the ODI Triangular series between West Indies, Sri Lanka and India, held in Sri Lanka.

http://<img src=/​

​

 

[Johann]

That's interesting news! I think your comments on C2K5 will be very valuable. I don't know when we'll get it in SA, but will play C2K4 until I'm 100% positive it's worth getting the new one.

Anyway, I think England is growing stronger by the day and the other teams have no chance against them now.

 

[Englishandproud]

Excellent story mate so far, im new to this forum and over the past 3 days have loved reading it, cant wait for the natwest matches and also the ashes, also cant wait for c2k5 to come, i will be getting it on PS2 will it make any difference ?

 

[m_vaughan]

Excellent story mate so far, im new to this forum and over the past 3 days have loved reading it, cant wait for the natwest matches and also the ashes, also cant wait for c2k5 to come, i will be getting it on PS2 will it make any difference ?

Well you cant edit the game in terms of AI, kits, bugs, stadium graphics, stumps, pitchads, pitches, ropes, player faces, umpire faces, tv logos, etc...in the PS2 versions.

 

[Englishandproud]

Ok thanx, will still get it and may get it on PC also, anyway keep up the good work in story lines and ive added some to your reputation for it.