Story Lancashire and England Manager Diary [ICC 2005]

[RabbleRouser]

Lancashire and England Manager Diary

​

After guiding Lancashire to 10 straight National League and 9 County Championship trophies, coach Hugh Jass resigned. This came as a shock to many people but could be a fresh start for a Lancashire team who are struggling to post big totals consistantly.

The resignation of Hugh came as a shock to us all but we can fully understand his descision. With immediete effect Phil Rogers, the current England coach, will take over whilst reatining his job with England. We have full faith in him.

So 7 games into the season i'm taking control. Here are my targets for the season
-Post 350+ in first innings on all good batting strips
-Lighten load on Robert Townsend (Lancashire captain, England Captain, Star spinner)
-Introduce younger players
-Win County Championship, Top 3 finish in National League and Get into Semi final stage in one other trophy

Ones to watch-

Sam O'Neill 26yo Right hand Opener- Sam is into his 4th season now with a FC average of 55.36 and a OD average of 63.39. When on form is as good as any batsman in the world.

Robert Townsend 32yo OS- Officially the greatest bolwer ever to have graced the earth. His stats currently stand at 1949 FC wickets @ 13.59; 576 OD @ 8.27; 955 Test @ 16.49 and 444 ODI @ 11.91. Could make or break Lancashires season.

First match - County Championship - Away to Durham

 

[RabbleRouser]

Distaster Strikes before Durham Match!

My star spinner is out with a broken finger! Novice spinner David Harkness will have to take his place. This could be his chance to shine.

So I won the toss and decided to bat on a pretty poor pitch
Game Targets
- Post 300+
- Bowl Out Durham for Under 200
- Win match

Day 1

Hmmm, mixed feelings about today. A superb century by Godwin and well supported by Christie. Not much resistance beyond that though scoring 300 looking unlikely with the tail exposed, Whitworth is no mug with the bat though, we'll try to keep him on strike.

Day 2

I knew Whitworth could come up with the goods, Superb 58 from him! Durham in control though Harkness really struggling to even trouble the batsmen, we're really missing Townsend today

Day 3

We REALLY missed Townsend! Harkness with some rather poor figures there. Killer blow was those late wickets though, we can't win this so we'll be trying to bat out the day

Day 4

We did it. I never thought I'd be so happy with a draw! Best and Vowden really showing grit and determination to survive on a terrible pitch for batting

Targets -
-300+ runs.
Acheived in both innings posibly need a reshuffle for the next match though
- Bowl Out Durham for under 200.
Failed misreably without Townsend I can see why Lancashire have relied on him so much in the past
- Win Match.
Never look like doing so.

More updates tomorrow

 

[James_W]

Good stuff matey, Townsend looks top quality.

 

[RabbleRouser]

Lancashire vs Glamorgan

Just the one change, Harkness out, Noel Reid a 19yo Leggie comes in for his debut.

We win the toss and choose to bat on a good pitch

Target
-Win

First Innings

Wow! Sam O'Neill absolutely unstoppable. The biggest total by Lancashire for 3 years. Couldn't have asked for much more, let's see if the bowlers can do as well as the batsmen.

Second Innings

Superb! Noel did brilliantly, could be one for the future. Glamorgan never even looked like getting a partnership of even 20!

Target
-Win.
Easily. 'Nuff said

Next match - Challenge Trophy 2nd round vs Nottinghamshire

 

[gary0808]

Probablt the best diary yet. So much detail is being put in. Top Job

 

[RabbleRouser]

Champions Trophy 2nd Round

Well here we are in the second round after progressing easily past Buckinghamshire. I'm not to bothered how we win as long as we do. I've got bigger fish to fry with the England squad being announced after todays match.

Targets-
-Win
-See if Noel Reid is a 1 match wonder

Match Result


Pretty easy win. Noel failed to impress taking 1-39. O'Neill and Christie really pushing for a place in the England squad.

Targets-
-Win
Relatively easy win, not our greatest ever performance, but a solid one at that.
-See if Noel Reid is a 1 match wonder
Still undecided about this one. First few overs seemed dangerous and picked up a wicket but faded quickly after that. I think he could be a top quality spinner if he bowled a little more consistantly for the whole 10 overs.


Anyway on to more important matters. India are to play 2 tests and a triangular series (Australia, coming to regain the ashes, being the third team); here is the squad who will take them on.



I've had to pick no fewer than 5 test debutants picked after injuries to Townsend, Flavin, Pietersen and Hildreth. Carl Currie will fill the void left by Townsend, with the captaincy being passed to Whitworth.

Targets for the test series-
-Score 1000 runs in 2 tests
-Bowl India out for under 200 at least once
-Win the series

First Test coming up later today

 

[pinchinator]

nice story keep it up

 

[RabbleRouser]

Thanks for the feedback so far!

England vs India first test @ Lords

We win the toss and decide to have a bat on what looks like a very good batting strip.

Targets-
-Score no less than 375 in 1st innings and 300 in second (if a 2nd innings is needed )
-Bowl India out for under 300, doesn't seem like we'll get them for under 200 on this pitch.
-Each debutant doing his bit.

Day 1

We started out fantasically with O'Neill trasnferring his county form to the test match arena. Opening partnership was worth 113 before debutant Righton (51) edged one behind. I was really happy with the performance until Bell (52) and Langely (57) threw away their wickets. A good old Enlgand collapse followed slumping from 216-2 to 283-6. Lets hope the tail can conjure something up.

England 1st innings
(Sorry, i forgot to take a screeny)
346 all out
Dyke helping England to boost their total with a crucial 34

India 1st innings

Well we didn't do too badly, taking a slight lead into our 2nd innings. Currie struggled at times but a real captains performance from Whitworth with the new ball was too much for India. Looks like Kamal could be India's new Tendulkar if he continues batting like this.

England 2nd Innings

Dissapointment again for Christie, Meier and Aitkin. They've made just 42 runs between them in the test. Apart from that though we are in complete control here thanks to Righton and O'Neill again. Righton is really impressing me and all of the coaches, he could have a very bright future ahead of him. Ian Bell did well making 57 but the real surprises were Dyke and Whitworth making 47 and 53 respectively. India need 464 to win

India 2nd innings

Don't be fooled by the score. India on the whole batted terribly except Kamal (again : ), Sodhi and Mahesh. No other Indians even got into double figures. But when Sodhi and Kamal were at the crease I really thought they were going to win, putting a partnership or 149 together. Dyke excelled in the end though, taking 3-29 off 14.4 overs.

Match result: England win by 150 runs
MOM: Bill Righton

Targets-
-Score no less than 375 in 1st innings and 300 in second (if a 2nd innings is needed )
Failed in the first innings but flew past the second innings target
-Bowl India out for under 300, doesn't seem like we'll get them for under 200 on this pitch.
Failed, but with the pitch staying hard for longer than expected i'm not too worried
-Each debutant doing his bit.
If not with bat or ball, they made up for it with some excellent fielding

England lead 2 test series 1-0

 

[RabbleRouser]

England vs India 2nd test @ Chester Le Street

I've made a few changes from the first test. Atkin is replaced by Stoker; Meier by Flavin; Chrisite by Ryan and Langely by Pietersen so the team will look like this

O'Neill,Righton, Bell, Ryan, Flavin, Biley, Stoker(Wkt), Whitworth (Cpt), Dyke, Currie and Allsop

India win the toss and elect to bat on a rock solid pitch. Fantastic toss to win for India they will be looking to score at least 400

Targets-
-Dismiss India for under 400 in first innings
-Take lead into India 2nd innings
-Don't let India get into winning postion after 2nd innings

Indian 1st innings - Day 2 Session 2

Well, India take full advantage of the pitch and post big total. Centuries from Mahesh, Sodhi and Jaffer really frustrated the bowlers out there, Dyke in particular who only has 1-104 to show for some bowling which would have picked him up 3 or 4 wickets in a normal match. It looked like we were going to take control at one stage when Whitworth took 2 in 2 with Kamal gone for a golden duck this time. Its going to be very hard to take a lead into their 2nd innings.

England 1st innings - Day 4 session 1

Looks like we're headed for a draw. Carl Stoker came in with the score at 286-6 after centuries from Bell and Ryan were the only resistance from us. It meant he and the tail would have to produce the performance of their lives to give us a lead. But they did. Stoker brutally smashed the Indian bowlers all over the park on his way to 180 of just 195 balls. He was abley assisted by the captain Whitworth who parked his caravan infron of the stumps on his way to 36 off 152 balls. India are really going to have to go for it if they are to level the series.

Start of day 5 - The situation

It's all about when India are going to declare. The pitch is starting to wear a bit giving their bowlers more of a chance. I'd expect them to declare at Lunch.

Indian 2nd Innings - Day 5 Session 2

Terrible captaincy if you ask me. There's 30 minutes left in the session when they've declared. Mahesh is really annoying me! Why can't he just get out! : He's playing like Kamal did in the first test, but it just shows how good India are at producing quality batsmen. Anyway, we need 267 to win in just over a session. We're going to go for it, should be very interesting.

End of day 5

So close yet so far. Righton and O'Neill were smashing the bowlers all over the place like Stoker did in the first innings. The run rate was up to 8.5 an over at one stage! After we lost a few wickets we just shut up shop and that was that. Looks like we've cemented our place at the top of the test rankings with this series victory.


MOM- Mahesh
Match Result- Match Drawn, England win 2 test series 1-0

Targets-
-Dismiss India for under 400 in first innings
Looked like doing so at one stage but never pressed home our advantage
-Take lead into India 2nd innings
Did it thanks to one of the greatest innings ever by an English wickie
-Don't let India get into winning postion after 2nd innings
They only had themselves to blame for this one. An earlier declaration and they would've been

Series Targets-
-Score 1000 runs in 2 tests
Easily did this one some fantastic individual perfomances
-Bowl India out for under 200 at least once
Failed this one, but the pitches didn't really lend themselves to bowlers
-Win the series
Did it 1-0

 

[RabbleRouser]

England vs Australia Twenty20 match

Townsend returns, this will be his first match after breaking his finger. A few changes from the Test squad.

Lineup - O'Neill, Righton, Pieterson, Flavin, Hildreth, Matterson, Stoker(W), Whitworth, Townsend (C), Allsop, Dyke

We lose the toss and are put into bat on a bowlers pitch.

Targets -
-Lose no more than 5 wickets
-Post 150+
-Win

England Innings

Only one word to describe this - Dissapointing. We lost wickets regularly and never really looked like being able to score freely. Much improvement needed in the triangular series.

Aussie Innings

They've never had it so easy. Townsend- Poor, Whitworth- Poor, Allsop- Poor, Dyke- Poor. The whole team was poor. Only managing one wicket in a Twenty20 match shows me this bowling attack wasn't up to the task. Hopefully it was a 1 off but i'm slightly worried, could effect my selection for the Triangular series.

Targets -
-Lose no more than 5 wickets
Failed Miserably
-Post 150+
Failed Miserably
-Win
Failed Miserably again.

 

[duffarama]

Moved to Cricket Games Stories & Strategies Forum.