Story Englands Tour of South Africa - 2004/2005

[tjh1989]

For this tour i will be using:
Tutsi's AI (undecicded)
Castle lager/MTN Pitch ads + Stumps
Channel 9 Tv Graphics
Updated Kits + Roster
Fixtures:
Castle Lager/MTN Test Series:
1st Test Dec17- 21
South Africa v England at Port Elizabeth
2nd Test Dec 26- 30
South Africa v England at East London
3rd Test Jan2- 6
South Africa v England at Cape Town
4th Test Jan13- 17
South Africa v England at Johannesburg
5th Test Jan21- 25
South Africa v England at Centurion
Standard Bank ODI Series:
1st ODI Jan 30th
South Africa v England at Johannesburg
2nd ODI Feb 2nd
South Africa v England at Centurion D/N
3rd ODI Feb 4th
South Africa v England at Port Elizabeth D/N
4th ODI Feb 6th
South Africa v England at Cape Town
5th ODI Feb 9th
South Africa v England at East London D/N
6th ODI Feb 11th
South Africa v England at Johannesburg D/N
7th ODi Feb 13th
South Africa v England at Centurion

 

[tjh1989]

Touring Squad for England:
M.Trescothic (Test/ODI)
A.Strauss (Test/ODI)
M.Vaughan Capt. (Test/ODI)
R.Key (Test)
M.Butcher (Test)
G.Thorpe (Test)
G.Jones Wkt. (Test/ODI)
C.Read Wkt. (Test/ODI)
A.Giles (Test/ODI)
M.Hoggard (Test/ODI)
S.Jones (Test)
S.Harmison (Test/ODI)
K.Pieterson (ODI)
K.Ali (ODI)
P.Collingwood (ODI)
D.Gough (ODI)
G.Batty (ODI)
J.Anderson (Test/ODI)

 

[tjh1989]

Castle Lager/MTN Test Series:
1st Test at Port Elizabeth
South Africa v England

Team Line Ups

Conditions:

England won the toss and chose to bat.

Normal Pitch
Mild
Sunny
No Chance of rain

 

[Fred_Flintoff]

good luck mate

 

[barmyarmy]

Bit late on this one aren't you? Good luck anyway,

 

[tjh1989]

Lunch Day 1
England v South Africa at Port Elizabeth

England 120-4 (27 overs)
G.Thorpe 42*
A.Flintoff 26*
Bowling Figs.
M.Ntini 8/1
J.Kallis 19/1
Highlights:

Butcher Smashes it to the boundary

G.Thorpe looks in top form

M.Vaughan departs for 1.

 

[tjh1989]

End of Innings 3:21pm Day 1

_

_

Englands hope of a good start to this tour is all but over. At Lunch england were poised for a good score with 4 wickets down for 120, however they did have Thorpe and Flintoff at the middle with both good starts. However, it didn't take long for South Africa to get their first breakthrough after lunch. After thorpe getting his half-century, Flintoff was poised on 41, but he couldn't get a run anywhere, then J.Kallis bowled a slower ball which flintoff launched in the air and straight down Ntinis throat.
G.Jones came out to the middle to try and push this england score along and thats exactly what he did. Two balls into his innings he smashed a four followed shortly by 2 more, then a terrible slower ball from Pollock was launched for six followed imediately by another slower ball, and yes, another six. Jones was now scoirng at over 2 a ball and this was boosted when he hit another six. Shortly after G.Jones slow down and seemed to be playing for lunch, how ever he was soon undone by a good delivery from Steyn which was edged to slip.

G.Thopre was in form smashing several bounadries, but then the arrival of G.Smith to the crease would unsettle him. Thorpe seemed to be struggling with his fast pace and a small error saw him lose his wicket. Thorpe, after constanly bat-pading it just over the in fileders played back to one and missed it getting trapped in front LBW, howver on further recolection it looks to high.

 

[tjh1989]

End of Innings 2:39pm Day 2
England seemed to have the South Africans in trouble after taking enough wickets leaving them 68 behind with 2 wickets in hand. However, a magnificant partnership between M.Ntini and T.Tsolekile of 50+ allowed them to set England a target in there 2nd innings of 32. A.Giles and M.Hoggard starred with the ball with Giles taking 3 wickets including two Bat-Pad catches to A.Strauss. South Africa were poised for a good score being 90-2 at the end of day 1. Unfortunetly the middle order collapsed with wickets 4-8 scoring just 13 between them. However a 50 from Rudolph and 50 from Tsolekile gave them a sufficent 32 run lead.
Scorcard and stats:

.

.

.

 

[tjh1989]

Highlights:

A.Flintoff charges in for the last ball of the day and bowls a fast, steep bouncer that goes straight up in the air and caught by G.Jones.

A.Flintoff does it again after he roughs up A.Hall with a series of bouncers before unleashing a fast straight yorker that A.Hall plays terribly wrong.

Rudolph plays sensibly and plays how he does smashing the ball through the covers, even though wickets are falling all around him.

T.Tsolokile appreciates the applause from the crowd as he reaches a brilliant 50 which helps lead South Africa past Englands score.

 

[tjh1989]

Highlights continued:

D.Steyn comes to the middle facing A.Giles. He takes on the full toss trying to slog sweep it through the big gap, then...

...he absolutly skies it, it goes miles into the air, the cameras are almost verticle looking into the sky. However, is there anyone beneath it...

...yes there is and its M.Hoggard. He steadies himself and takes a comfortable catch. End of the Innings.

 

[themuel1]

tjh, which of Tutsi's patches did you decide on using?

 

[tjh1989]

Tutsi 7.3 new batting tech.

 

[tjh1989]

End of Innings 12:02pm Day 3
G.Jones makes History, whilst English wickets collapse all around him.
G.Jones smashed a magnificant 50 form only 17 balls after a poor batting performance by England. Jones top scored with his fifty along with a Giles 29(16) and 30(10)from Harmison which made up a great final wicket partnership. M.Vaughan bag a disappointing pair of ducks in the opening MTN/Castle lager series and the entire top order apart from a start from Butcher didn't perform.

Skysports caught up with Vaughan to discuss the disappointing innings...
" We started our 2nd innings only 30 odd behind, we thought a lead of 300 would be plenty with a draw out of the question with so many days remaining. But, the gods were not on our side and overcast conditions made it hard for Strauss and Tres'. A rain break till the 3rd day unsettle us furthermore and the pitch seemed more lively so we lower our target to 200/250. But at 70/5 we knew this was out of the question. Yet Jones showed his worth along with Giles and Harmison and now we have a 138 lead which doesn't put us out of the game."

G.Thorpe and M.Buthcer leave the field along with the South Africans as the rain sets in.
When asked about his batting performance Vaughan said...
" I knew it was going to be difficult and after a duck in the first innings i felt under more pressure especially when we were 2 down for 20. I thought the umpires would consider the light as it was extremelt dark yet i didn't survive untill the rain set in. I will head to the nets and put in more and more practice untill i find my form back, hopefully sooner than later."

M.Vaughans dismissla shows how the arly foot movement left him in a poor performance for the defensive shot.

 

[tjh1989]

Highlights of a disappointing innings:

M.Butcher loses his shape, drives the wrong ball and loses his off-Stump.

A.Flintoff departs for 1 after he chops the ball straight onto the leg stump.

G.Jones reaches a record 50 including 3 6s.

G.Jones smahses the ball which hits the middle of the bat, its going high...

...And far as it sails over the scoreboard and out of the ground for 6.

 

[tjh1989]

Castel Lager/MTN 1st Test Result:
End of Innings 3:34pm Day 3
South Africa win by 7 wickets
South Africa Lead 5 Test Series 1-0
Castle Lager/MTN Man of the Match:
S.Pollock 89/6

England had a tough challenge and they were not up to it. South Africa had a steady start and soon passed lunch, then G.Smith accelerated on and made his way to a cpatains 50.

AB De Villiers had an extremely steady and slow innings taking 35 balls to get of the mark. It wasn't long before he was playing his shots but it was his downfall in the end when he edged it a diving G.Jones.

After the match Sky Sports Joined up with players for the presentation:
G.Smith- " We played extremely good after a disappointing first innings i thought. We knew England wanted at least a 300 lead for us to chase in the final innings but Shaun and others performed exceptionally well and that left us with a fairly easy total to chase. I was pleased with my performance and happy to get to my 50 but a stupid runout which looking back on it is fairly comical stopped a chance of a 100. Im looking forward to the next test and hopefully we can carry the form with us."
S.Pollock- "I didn't expect to recieve man of the match with all the good peformances but i am extremely greatful. I was disappointed with my first innings bowling and wanted to improve. Everything seemed to click and i was bowling were they didn't like it, thanks to that a got 6 wickets which makes my performance for match a bit more impressive."
M.Vaughan- "We think that this match is a wake up call for all of us. We bowled better in the first innings and seemed to lose our form going into the 2nd. S.Jones bowled well along with Harmy and Hoggard. Freddie proved a handful especially with Rudolph who skied it and ran his captain out. I think we can bounce back and prove more of a challenge in the 2nd Test."