Story England's Tour of New Zealand and Zimbabwe

[m_vaughan]

PDATE:
ZIMBABWE 209 all out (38.4 Overs)
B. TAYLOR 67(101)
T. TAIBU 57(91)

J. ANDERSON 3/27
A. FLINTOFF 3/54

ENGLAND 328 all out (49.4 Overs)

ENGLAND WIN BY 119 RUNS
ENGLAND WIN SERIES 2-0, WITH ONE MATCH REMAINING

Continuing from the Previous Update (i.e Zim 66/2 in 15 Overs).
Zimbabwe had done well not to lose too many wickets, but were very much behind the required runrate.
Taibu and Taylor both scored half centuries, and then stepped on the accelerator, losing their wickets
in the process. Taylor was run out, after a fantastic direct hit by Ian Blackwell from cover point. Taibu was caught
at Short Mid On by Paul Collingwood of the bowling of Andrew Flintoff. After this Zimbabwe collapsed to
209 all out.

A much better performance from Zimbabwe, especially from Taylor and Taibu, and also from Panyangara
with the ball, but they just have a bit too many inexperienced players in their side.
England on the other hand have won the series 2-0, and only a brave man can bet against a 3-0 whitewash.
However you would expect England to play a second string team in the final game.

Man of the Match: James Anderson for his 3-27, and 2 catches.

Join us for the third ODI at Harare.

 

[m_vaughan]

 

[m_vaughan]

Zimbabwe Scorecard

Zimbabwe Batting

Zimbabwe Manhattan

England bowling

Taylor Spider

 

[tigerdes]

Another solid performance but can you reproduce this kind of form when you play the big guns? Excellent screen shots as well by the way.

 

[m_vaughan]

you can find out how i perform against the big guns in the Champions Trophy starting after the Zimbabwe Tour.

Also the new England kit will be used in the Champions Trophy.

 

[tutsipoppy2]

m_vaughan - why don't you use my latest 5.2 patch for the upcomming matches or series. 4.1 is quite an old one and u'll like ur cricket much more with 5.2

 

[madmattg]

Yes 5.2 would be a refreshing change and challenge.

 

[m_vaughan]

Like I said, I havent yet tried tutsi v5.2 or 5.1 on any of my tours, as I have to change all the faces and stuff. I have tested v5.1 though in a test match and a one day match of 50 Overs, and I think it is the best patch released so far, especially for a one day match. I am not quite sure it works that well for the test matches, as it is possible to score more than 350 runs in a day. Also, the cpu often gets off to good starts and then just throws it wickets away. You rarely see the computer scoring more than 400.(i tested this ai patch on subcontinental wickets in kandy,SL)

But I will use tutsi v5.2 or later for the ICC Champions Trophy as I will be using the gob file with Colin's kit update and tutsi's patch, as I will have to import new stumps, picthads and faces for that tournament.

 

[madmattg]

OK the changes face is a pain, so I understand why you havent changed.

Good luck with the rest of the tour, keep up the good work

 

[m_vaughan]

NISSAN ONE DAY INTERNATIONALS
3rd ODI
Zimbabwe vs England
Harare Sports Complex, Harare

England lead three match series 2-0

Welcome to Harare for the third and final One Dayer between Zimbabwe and England. England have already won the series, but they will want whitewash Zimbabwe 3-0.

Conditions: Sunny and Warm. A good day to play cricket. No chance of rain at this time of the year in Zimbabwe.

Pitch: A good hard wicket, with something in it for both batting and bowling. However, the pitch is pretty rough at the moment, and hence might be a bit slow in the beginning, allowing the batsman to time their shots properly. So I recommend batting first on this track.

Toss: Taibu won the toss for the third time in succession, and elected to field first.

Teams: Zimbabwe-Two changes, Vermeulen comes in for Maragwede, and Rainsford comes in for Prosper Utseya.
England- 9 changes, in come Pieterson, McGrath, Clarke, Jones, Bresnan, Johnson, Keedy, Silverwood and Kirtley while out go Trescothick,Vaughan, Collingwood, Flintoff, Read, Blackwell, Gough, Harmison and Anderson.

England playing a second string side, in order to give some of the other players some match practice. Andrew Strauss, one of the recent additions into the England team, wins his first one day international cap as captain of England. Ian Bell is the only other player from the England first team playing in this match.

Umpires: Billy Bowden (NZ) and Aleem Dar (PAK) Third Umpire: Mohan Jayaprakash (IND) Match Referee: Roshan Mahanama (SL)

 

[m_vaughan]

UPDATE:
ENGLAND 268 all out (49.3 Overs)
R. Clarke 100(109)
K. Pieterson 33(44)

S. Matsikenyeri 3/48
M. Nkala 2/53

England's second string side dint look very comfortable playing what is effectively the second string team of Zimbabwe (since most of the first team players have pulled out of the squad due to a row with the ZCU).
The Zimbabweans bowlers unlike in the previous match kept it tight, making it very difficult for the England batsman to score runs. England lost wickets at regular intervals, and the Zimbabweans for the first time in this series, fielded very well. The only batsman to click for England was Rikki Clarke scoring 100 of a 109 balls. Stand in captain Strauss was the first to be dismissed, caught by Vermeulen of the bowling of Douglas Hondo. Ian Bell was the next to go, run out by Panyangara. Kevin Pieterson scored 33 of 44 balls before he was caught LBW by Nkala, and McGrath joined him in the pavilion soon after he was caught by Matsikenyeri off Nkala. Geraint Jones was run out for just 1. Yorkshire all rounder Tim Bresnan could not make much impact in this match with his batting, managing to score just 11 runs. Johnson and Keedy gave Clarke good support at the end, and England ended their innings, 268 all out in 49.3 overs.

ZIMBABWE NEED 269 RUNS TO WIN AT 5.39 RPO.

 

[m_vaughan]

England Scorecard

England Batting

England Manhattan

Zimbabwe bowling

Rikki Clarke spider

 

[tigerdes]

Innings hel together there by Clarke, but will England struggle without any bowlers of note? The ball won't swing much it'll be interesting to watch.

 

[m_vaughan]

yeah you are right mate.....i really had problems with the bowlers in this match.....however at the end i have managed to win the match by five runs.

full details coming soon.

 

[m_vaughan]

UPDATE:
Zimbabwe 263 all out
E. Chigumbura 50(51)
B. Taylor 45(39)

R. Johnson 4/49

ENGLAND WIN BY 5 RUNS
ENGLAND WIN NISSAIN ODI SERIES 3-0

Man of the Match: Rikki Clarke
Man of the Series: Andrew Flintoff

Andrew Strauss won his first match as stand-in captain of England. England's second string team struggled throughout the match, putting up an ordinary batting and bowling performance. The narrow five run victory proves my point. However, one must praise the Zimbabweans for putting up a good fight, and even though they lose the series 3-0, they can be proud of their peformance in this match.
The England bowlers, apart from Keedy and Bresnan, were hammered all over the park. Even the experienced Richard Johnson gave 49 runs from 6.4 overs, but did pick up 4 crucial wickets at the end. Brendon Taylor, Elton Chigumbura, Dion Ebrahim and Rainsford played well, but at the end they had to pay the price for lack of experience in the side.
Strauss might have won his first match as England captain, but his personal form in this series has been very poor. He is expected to make his Test debut for England in the upcoming test series against Zimbabwe, as Nasser Hussain pulled out of the Zimbabwe Tour due to moral reasons. Keedy's performance today could win him a place in the test side, to replace Giles who also has pulled out of the tour.
Johnson and Anderson are almost certain to be the replacements for Jones and Hoggard, the other two pullouts.