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

[m_vaughan]

Great presentation, no Yousuf Youhana?

Very tough to include everyone. But I went for Razzak in place of Youhana since the former can bat and bowl, and since there are no other genuine medium pacers in the side, I thought it would be better to play Razzak.

But I guess the question to ask is, where the hell are Jacques Kallis and Chris Cairns? Well I dont really have a reason for that, but I went for Shaun Pollock and Andrew Flintoff. Maybe if they dont perform in this match, I will replace them with Kallis and/or Cairns for the 2nd leg.

 

[S_Harmison]

Well doen to the boys against South Africa A, a good win there, both the World XI and Asia teams look very strong, whe your picking a team like that its very hard to select because of the talent around so bear that in mind guys!!

 

[m_vaughan]

Well doen to the boys against South Africa A, a good win there, both the World XI and Asia teams look very strong, whe your picking a team like that its very hard to select because of the talent around so bear that in mind guys!!

The match against South Africa A ended in a draw. Remember it was a 3 day match. And I had just about 2 hours to chase the target, and I must say I did very well to score 137 in that time.

 

[m_vaughan]

World XI 289-8 (50 Overs)
A. Flintoff 75*(76) C. Vaas 2-35
B. Lara 74(66)

A good performance from World XI, especially after being reduced to 20-3 early on. Good innings from Ponting, Lara and Flintoff, who ensured that World XI post a good total.

Lets now go through the innings.

World XI 7-1: Chris Gayle is caught by Sanath Jayasuriya at cover point, in the very first over.


World XI 12-2: The third umpire is called for to decide Gibbs Run out case.


World XI 20-3: Stephen Fleming is unable to beat Shoaib Akhtar. World XI in big trouble at this stage.

 

[m_vaughan]

World XI 110-3: A fine fifty from Ponting, especially after that horrid start by his team. A good partnership between himself and Brian Lara.


World XI 123-4: Ricky Ponting is involved in the 2nd run out incident, and this time he is the one walking to the pavillion. A fine 56 nevertheless.


World XI 154-4: Brian Lara smashes Shoaib Malik for six. Shoaib Malik ended with figures of 0-85!.

 

[m_vaughan]

World XI 164-5: Muttiah Muralitharan strikes for Asia XI, as he has the dangerman Brian Lara out bowled for a superb 74 of 66 balls.


World XI 223-5: Freddie scores a quickfire 50.


World XI 227-6: Gilchrist is out bowled for 29. Did well and got out in an attempt to increase the run rate.

 

[m_vaughan]

World XI 249-7: Shaun Pollock is caught by Jayasuriya off Shoaib Akhtar, again in an attempt to increase the run rate.


World XI 265-8: Brad Hogg is also dismissed in similar fashion. Razzak picks up his first wicket.




PLEASE CLICK ON THE THUMBNAILS FOR FULL SIZE PICTURES
Thanks to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting

 

[S_Harmison]

i use imageshack but if you right click the picture and go to properties, copy the link on there into the

 

[m_vaughan]

Stats from the innings.

As you can see, a good batting performance from World XI, especially from Ponting, Lara and Freddie. Asia XI started off well, reducing World XI for 20-3, before Ponting, Lara and Flintoff tookover. Useful contributions at the end from Gilchrist, Pollock, Hogg and Harmison to increase the run rate and enable World XI to post a good total.
As far as the bowling is concerned, I thought, Chaminda Vaas and Sanath Jayasuriya did a good job. Others all went for runs, including Muralitharan, who however picked up the prized wicket of Brian Lara.

It will be interesting to see how Asia XI pace their run chase. We have a great match in prospect now as Asia XI require a run rate of 5.8 rpo. Can they do it? Well stay tuned for the result!

 

[m_vaughan]

i use imageshack but if you right click the picture and go to properties, copy the link on there into the tag then it works like a normal picture, just a point, good score there by World XI, and englishman doing the best job, well done![/QUOTE]

Well thanks for that mate, but I prefer putting the thumbnails as they load much faster, and do not eat up the bandwidth of imageshack.

 

[m_vaughan]

Okay guys the Tsunami Benefit Match has been completed, with the World XI winning
comfortably by a 131 runs.

World XI 289-8 (50 Overs)
A. Flintoff 75*(76) C. Vaas 2-35
B. Lara 74(66)

Asia XI 158 all out (35 Overs)
S. Jayasuriya 67(92) S. Harmison 2-17
A. Razzak 27(29) C. Gayle 2-10

Man of the Match: A. Flintoff

Now let us go through the Asia XI innings.

Asia XI 7-1: Not off to the best of starts is Asia XI, as Steve Harmison has
Sachin Tendulkar out LBW.


Asia XI 32-2: Harmison then sends the Asia XI and Indian captain, Saurav Ganguly back to the pavillion.


Asia XI 53-3: Harmison is in the act again, as he has Inzamam-ul-Haq short of his crease.

 

[m_vaughan]

Asia XI 62-4: Another run out, this time the victim is Rahul Dravid of India.


Asia XI 78-5: Brad Hogg strikes for World XI, as he has Sangakkara caught by Gillespie for just 5.


Asia XI 92-5: Sanath Jayasuriya's 50 was the only good thing in an otherwise terrible batting display by the ACC Asia XI.

 

[m_vaughan]

Asia XI 102-6: A superb caught and bowled effort by Hogg to get rid of Shoaib Malik.


Asia XI 145-7: Chris Gayle may have failed with the bat, but he does his job with the ball, dismissing the dangerous Abdul Razzak.


Asia XI 155-8: Chaminda Vaas becomes Gayle's second victim.


Asia XI 156-9: Man of the Match Andrew Flintoff picks up the last two wickets, dismissing Shoaib Akhtar and Jayasuriya.

 

[m_vaughan]

So a fine victory for Ricky Ponting's World XI team. Andrew Flintoff was the star of the match, scoring 75 and picking up 2 wickets, including that of Sanath Jayasuriya. Captain Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara, Brad Hogg, Steve Harmison and Chris Gayle also made important contributions.

As you know this match was aimed for a good cause of helping the victims of the Tsunami disaster in South Asia. A second match between the two sides is also planned, which will be played in one of the Asian countries.


Now we go back to South Africa to get ready for the 1st test between South Africa and England at Durban.

Thanks to Imageshack for hosting all my images for FREE.

 

[S_Harmison]

The two englishemn did well after a good match, well done Vaughnie!