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

[m_vaughan]

JONES AND ANDERSON TO FIGHT FOR THE PLACE OF THIRD SEAMER
England's Simon Jones and James Anderson are both in contention to take the spot of third seamer in the England side for the first test against South Africa at Port Elizabeth. While Jones has been preferred to Anderson in previous matches, the performance of the latter in a recent warm up game against South Africa A, could well be good enough for a place in the England team.

 

[S_Harmison]

I say go with Anderson, im a big anderson fan and Jones just doesn't do it for me at all but thats just personal preference.

 

[m_vaughan]

I say go with Anderson, im a big anderson fan and Jones just doesn't do it for me at all but thats just personal preference.

Personally I am a Jones fan, but I might pick Anderson as he was very effective in the warm up match against South Africa A picking up five wickets in the 1st innings.

 

[m_vaughan]

THE MTN CASTLE LAGER TEST SERIES
South Africa vs England
1st Test
Port Elizabeth

Hello and welcome to this first test match between South Africa and England, here at Port
Elizabeth. Both teams are geared up for this 5 match test series, and have full strength
sides. England obviously arrived in South Africa after a 4-0 thrashing of Zimbabwe in the
ODIs, and then drew their warm up match against South Africa A.
South Africa on the other hand, suffered a 1-0 defeat at the hands of India in India.

England are currently 2nd in the ICC Test Ratings, and a good show here would enable them
to close the gap on leaders Australia.

Without furthur delay lets get on with the match.

Conditions: Sunny, Mild and no chance of rain. (Chance of Rain on Days 4 and 5)
Pitch: Perfect wicket for test match cricket, with good bounce as well as good for
batting. The ball will move around a lot early and in the evening after around 4 o'clock.

 

[m_vaughan]

Now let us have a look at the team lineups for this match, starting with the hosts South Africa.

 

[m_vaughan]

At Stumps on Day 1
South Africa (1st Innings) 317-8
H. Gibbs 141 A. Flintoff 3-97
M. Boucher 61 J. Anderson 2-64
J. Kallis 57 M. Hoggard 2-77

Highlights from Day 1

 

[m_vaughan]

We will now have a look at the scorecard and other stats. Basically the Proteas batting card
is dominated by Herschelle Gibbs' fantastic innings of 141. A very crucial innings, and he
was well supported by Jacques Kallis who scored 57 himself, and Mark Boucher who scored 61.
Apart from that, it was a pretty ordinary batting display.

England got off to a dream start, picking up two early wickets, that of captain Graeme Smith
and Jacques Rudolph. Flintoff bagged three wickets, but went for quite a few runs in the process.
Hoggard and Anderson picked up two wickets each, while the underused Steve Harmison got the wicket
of Jacques Rudolph early on. Ashley Giles bowled just three overs.

 

[m_vaughan]

At Stumps on Day 2
England (1st Innings) 292-4
M. Vaughan 92*(138) C. Langeveldt 2-17
G. Thorpe 62(129) M. Ntini 2-21
M. Trescothick 55(103)

South Africa (1st Innings) 372 all out
H. Gibbs 141(222) M. Hoggard 3-90
M. Boucher 61(101) A. Flintoff 3-97
J. Kallis 57(91) J. Anderson 2-85

England trail by 80 runs, 6 wickets in hand

Highlights

 

[m_vaughan]

So a really good batting display from the England batsman. Michael Vaughan should be thinking
about three figures now, with just 8 runs short of it. He was well supported by Thorpe who made 61.
Marcus Trescothick and Mark Butcher had a good 1st wicket partnership of 60, individually scoring 55 and 40
respectively.
As far as the South African bowlers are concerned, Langeveldt and Ntini, both picked up two wickets. South Africa
still have a lead of 80 runs, and tomorrow's morning session could be a very crucial one for both teams.

 

[espnstar]

very good presentation mate vaghan.It was brilliant i loved.One more thing can we have ranking system not for real life but for stories and extra.For example england wins the test matches againts south africa then england ranks higher then south africa just like in rea life icc ranking.Would it happen or not vaughan if you think it is a stupid idea then it is all right mate.

 

[m_vaughan]

very good presentation mate vaghan.It was brilliant i loved.One more thing can we have ranking system not for real life but for stories and extra.For example england wins the test matches againts south africa then england ranks higher then south africa just like in rea life icc ranking.Would it happen or not vaughan if you think it is a stupid idea then it is all right mate.

Some other forum member had made a similar proposal not so long ago, and I was very much for it. I still think its a good idea.

 

[m_vaughan]

England have been bowled out for 439. They have an overall lead of 67 runs.



P.S. My 2000th post.

 

[Will p]

what did vaughn score?

 

[S_Harmison]

I hope gets a well deserved century.

 

[m_vaughan]

what did vaughn score?

Vaughan was left stranded on 153 not out.