Story England's World Cup Dream:England vs. Zimbabwe: England make good start!

[thesweepmaster]

To All the fans of this story,

Firstly, I would like to say thank you for all of those who nominated me in the SOTM. It is nice to know that you guys would pick me to nominate over the other quality stories that were also involved and it does make me feel great that I am doing a good job on this story so far.

Secondly, I understand that everyone doesn't like this story but trust me when I say this, I will try and compensate for the majority of you and make sure that all your demands for this story are met at the best of my abilities.
Also, I would advice any of you with new and fresh ideas for this story to not be afraid and come forward with your ideas and if people like them, a substantial VCASH reward will be given to you plus reps and credit will go down in the update with the improvement.

Finally, I know some of you will feel this is a fake SOTM considering Arslaan's story had to be closed to unfortunate circumstances and I do agree with you. If I did have the chance to refuse it then I would but hopefully in 3 months time, this story will hopefully be still going, then I do hope that I could win it fair and square.

Thanks for reading,
Bobby Bob

 

[saladguy]

Mate, your doing a great job with this story! I think that you deserved SOTM! KUTGW!

 

[thesweepmaster]

Sorry this hasn't been updated but quite a few things have happened recenty involving friends and not a computer to go on, but I will promise you sometime next week things will be back to normal!

 

[PhilD123]

Thread closed and unstickied as there is no point it being stickied if it has finished. If you ever want to open the thread, just drop me a PM and consider it done!

 

[thesweepmaster]

As you may have seen in my comment on the "I am leaving/back thread", this story will now be continuing, so it may take a few days to find out where I was but after that expect my regular updates as I used to do before.

 

[Pakistani Army]

Thats great news Bob and also congratulations on 200 Posts in this story! :happy

 

[saladguy]

Yay! SOTM returns!

 

[thesweepmaster]

Sky Sports analysis centre with David Gower, Ian Botham and Dipak Chudasama​

DG: Hello and welcome back to the Sky Sports analysis centre with me, David Gower, Ian Botham and Dipak Chudasama. If you have just joined us then you may not have noticed that England have beaten Kenya by 3 wickets thanks to Ryan Sidebottom hitting the winning runs off the final ball but before that Michael Vaughan and Kevin Pietersen both hit well deserved and aggressive fifties, which will certainly please Duncan Fletcher after such a poor start to the tournament for both of them with runs hard to come by. Right I will now let Ian Botham talk about the England innings and the performance on a whole.

IB: Thanks David, I must say that this was going to be a hard game considering previous meetings between both teams. I wasn?t too happy with the bowling performance but really Kenya managed to bat really well to be fair. I am really pleased though that Vaughan and Pietersen got England in the game and I was also happy how England started their innings with the aggression by Matt Prior. Overall they will need to improve against tougher opposition but they certainly have got a great opportunity to win this tournament.

DG: Well said Beefy, I couldn?t have put it better myself. Now Dipak, give us your opinion on Kenya throughout today.

DC: Cheers David, I was very impressed with how well we batted, I was pleased with Tikolo scoring a very quick century and Modi gave him great support with a quick-fire 88. The total that we set was very good on this pitch and I always thought that we had a great chance of winning this game but I do think Michael Vaughan and Kevin Pietersen took the game away from us for a time but batted back and only just lost which will put us in good steed for the Super 8?s.

DG: Perfectly put there Dipak. Right back to you Beefy, what do you think of England?s chances in the Super 8?s and what do you think of there chances of winning the tournament?

IB: Ummm? well we will have to wait and see who goes into the Super 8?s but there is one thing that I am glad of and that is we don?t have to play Kenya in the Super 8?s! Personally, I do think that England were third favourites behind Australia and South Africa before the tournament started but now, we could be joint favourites.

DG: Thanks for that Beefy, now to you Dipak, basically the same question but this time about Kenya?

DC: It is very difficult to say really, I didn?t expect us in the Super 8?s to be honest but now we are there we do have to battle hard and not show ourselves up. If you remember in the 2003 world cup, we got to the semi-finals which was unexpected. Really I don?t expect us to do that again but it would be great if we did!

DG: Thanks for that Dipak. Unfortunately it is time to finish, so we will leave you with a few things to expect over the following days. In 2 days we will bring up the analysis of each group and having a little preview of each team in the supers 8 and a couple of days after that will be England?s first game of the super 8?s so goodbye and thanks for being with us!

 

[Ayub 95]

This story is back wahay

 

[gutterman]

great first up return post mate kutgw

 

[Pakistani Army]

Great analysis and great presentation Bob. It great that this story is back!

 

[thesweepmaster]

Super 8's Preview!​

Finally after all the groups games have been played, we have our 8 teams in the Super 8?s and all I can say is, a lot of teams that were expected to be whipping boys have managed to get through, with the world champions Australia, India, Pakistan, West Indies and New Zealand crashing out in dramatic fashion. Infact only 4 test playing nations managed to get through, showing how good the non-test playing nations are. So here are the super 8 teams in Alphabetical order:

Bangladesh: Clearly the weakest test nation but have been known to cause a few shocks in one day international. They weren?t expected to qualify out of their group but with an impressive win against India in their first game showed that they weren?t going to be beaten. They also beat Bermuda but unfortunately lost to Sri Lanka meaning they don?t have the bonus points, but are still capable of getting through and maybe even getting to the final.
Star Player: Hannan Sarkar


England: They had a superb record in their group as they managed to win all 3 games. Firstly they beat New Zealand by comparative ease, then Canada also fairly easily and finally Kenya in what has to be said is a classic. With the bonus points, they should be a favourite to get through but with the way they are playing, then they can win world cup.
Star Player: Ian Bell


Ireland: Certainly weren?t expected to get through but somehow managed to win all 3 games very handsomely. In their first game Ireland beat Zimbabwe without any real problem, then shocked the world by beating Pakistan with still 20 overs to spare and finally beat the hosts West Indies to give them a 100% record. Like England they have the bonus points and with the way they are playing, look a solid bet on getting to the Semi-finals.
Star Player: Niall O?Brien


Kenya: A team that caused the story of the 2003 world cup by getting to the semi-finals and only a fool could say that they don?t have a chance of doing it again. In the group stage, they battered Canada and New Zealand meaning their final game against England was for the bonus points. Unfortunately they lost, but showed how good they actually were. Without the bonus points, it will be harder to get through but out of all the non-test playing nations they have to best chance of doing that.
Star Player: Steve Tikolo


Netherlands: Another surprise in the super 8?s but they are known for putting up a good fight and that is exactly what they did in the group stage. They stunned South Africa in the first game winning in a close encounter but a loss to Australia meant they had to win against Scotland. They won fairly easily to go through. With the bonus points in their hands, they definitely have got a great chance to go through.
Star Player: T. De Leigh


South Africa: They were certainly expected to go through to the Super 8?s but did have to work hard for it. In their first game, they shockingly lost to the Netherlands but wins against Scotland and Australia booked their place in the Super 8?s. Even without bonus points, they will be favourites to go through as they are a test playing nation but with recent showing what happens to them under pressure, then another shock could be on the cards here.
Star Player: Jaques Kallis


Sri Lanka: Has to be said that they are now probably one of the favourites to win the tournament after such a great group stage and with the lack of test playing nations they must have a great chance. They won their first 2 games against Bermuda and Bangladesh without too much hassle but a loss against India in the final game may have damaged confidence. With the bonus points and being a test playing nation, must surely go through into the semi-finals.
Star Player: M.Muralitharan


Zimbabwe: Despite all of their problems in the country, the boys of cricket did their country proud after stunning some nations and getting through into the super 8?s. They started with a defeat against Ireland, the only game they were expected to win but railed to send Pakistan and the West Indies out of the tournament by beating both of them. Without the bonus points, it will be hard but they have done impossible things before so they still have a chance.
Star Player: E. Chigumbara


England Fixtures:
Zimbabwe vs. England
Bangladesh vs. England
Ireland vs. England
Sri Lanka vs. England
South Africa vs. England
Netherlands vs. England

England will hope that Ian Bell will continue to do the business​

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Cheers for all the comments guys. It's great to be doing this story and hopefully I can win a few more SOTM but we shall see. Anyway West Brom play Aston Villa on Sunday, Come on you Baggies!

 

[shefellover93]

Hooray, soz thesweepmaster, gotta support the homeland!!!:happy:happy

But seriously, great update, an Ireland England final on the cards?

 

[Pakistani Army]

How the hell did Australia and Pakistan crash out! This Tournament is heating up and I am loving it.

Great works and neatly presented Bob!

 

[saladguy]

Haha, no Australia, India and Pakistan. My guess is that South Africa will win, they look pretty strong with the Netherlands match being an exception.

Great work mate