Story Natwest Series (Shailesh and Crick4life)

[crick4life]

Giles breaks through for England

Many in the ground frowned when Giles was brought into attack on a fast bowler's paradise and also having seen how badly the Aussies spinners were dealt on this track. Giles got the dangerous looking Martyn for 25(32 balls) just when Aussies were making a very strong come back. Collingwood has replaced Flintoff as Vaughan is not leaving any stone unturned by replacing the expensive Flintoff. Flintoff looked to be pleading his captain for couple more overs but ruthless Vaughan replace him with Colingwood and the run rate has dropped a bit since. The score at the end of 15 overs is 93/3 with a solid looking Ponting on 25*(32) and tentative looking Clarke on 2*(5).

Game poised nicely after 20 overs

Thanks to some inspiring batting by M.Clarke and bad bowling by Collingwood(gave away 20 runs in his 4th over ) the game is now nicely poised. Neither team is in front at the moment. Though Australia's run rate is way over what is required, they have lost crucial wickets just when they most needed their batters to grit it out.

England will be feeling the pressure for the first time during this series as Australia has continued to play their shots while keeping out the good balls. The sweep shots that caused Australia to collapse in the last two ODIs have now been a matter of past it looks like. Australia are not opting to playing sweep shots but are easily working Giles around for runs. Now Vaughan has gone back to his ace bowler Harmison replacing the expensive Collingwood and bringing himself on from the other end.

The score at the end of 20 overs is 136/3 with M.Clarke on 25*(23) and Ponting on 40*(45).

 

[m_vaughan]

Australia are definately on top in this game. They are riding well above the required run rate, and have a decent batting lineup. I would be surprised if the visitors lost it from here.

 

[crick4life]

Vaughan gets his counterpart

The big game between the two big wigs in the world cricket right now brought some tense contests. Vaughan as if wanting to show shouldering responsibility is second nature to him brought himself on when things got a little tougher for his team. Ponting showing no mercy and wanting to score a point cut the first ball mercilessely for 4 runs in front of square. There seemed to be a quirk on Ponting's face after that shot. The very next ball Vaughan struck gold by getting Ponting LBW right in front of the wicket while Ponting tried to work Vaughan to the leg side. England now should be definitley feeling on top and Australia yet again have thrown away an excellent opportunity when the going was so good irrespective of the start they had.

Meanwhile M.Clarke has continued his excellent form by scoring runs all over the wicket and Symonds has just joined him.

After 25 overs Australia are on 172/4 M.Clarke on 44*(35) and Symonds on 13*(16) is at the crease.

Australia now have moved on to 199/4 of only 30 overs. If England needed a wicket it is now, they have to strike now and get Clarke out if not both the current batters. Now with only needing 73 runs off 20 overs pressure is now mounting on England.

 

[crick4life]

England strike twice in one over

Vaughan brought back Gough when it was looking pretty much all over for England. Australia was needing 60 runs of 17 overs with 6 wickets in hand. Gough then bowled an excellent slower one to the settled Symonds who mistimed the shot. The ball popped in the air towards Gough but couple of yards short. Gough who was in his follow through made an excellent dive forward to bring up a blinder. Katich joined the now excellent looking Clarke but departed trying to convert a single to a couple. Katich was ran out just about 1/2 inch short and now the score is 230/6 off 34 overs. Clarke though slammed Gough for couple more fours in the last two balls of the over after Katich's run out to make up for the run out.

It now is very tense out there with Australia needing another 42 runs with 4 wickets on hand. Now the run rate is not of much of consequence but the wickets are for both the teams.

 

[crick4life]

Giles bowls Lee out

Giles strikes replacing Gough after the 2 fours Gough conceeded off the last two balls. It was an excellent piece of thinking and a bowling change. Clarke took on Giles' spin and slog swept him over midwicket for a huge six but then Giles got Bret Lee out in the last ball of his over. Now Australia require 29 runs with 3 wickets in hand off 14 overs.

 

[crick4life]

Giles snares another

Giles gets Gillespie with a superb ball that spun sharply. Much kudos should go do the keeper for hanging on to such a tough chance. It turned enough but the keeper's foot work was so good, he move right in time to bring up a blinder.

Now the question is can Clarke do it for Australia in this do or die game.

 

[crick4life]

Clarke sizzles in a thriller

Clarke continued his sublime batting by taking strike to Harmison and scoring 9 runs off the over including a last ball single. The highlight of the stroke making in this over is the lofted on drive on the front foot that cleared the short mid on and beat the long on fielder for a four. This inning is going to be the difference between England's win or an Australian. England has to ensure Clarke doesn't get enough strike and even one ball may be good enough to get the other batsman.

Australia to win require another 14 runs and Clarke 8 more runs for his 100.

 

[crick4life]

First time ever in any cricket game, I have not rotated strike and refused any singles. Clarke refused to run 5 singles in a row to ensure he plays out the entire Giles' last over and he sucessfully did that. Took a run off the last ball and now faces Harmison.

 

[crick4life]

M.Clarke leads Australia to first win in the Natwest series

M.Clarke showed immense maturity and talent to lead Australia to their first ODI win in the Natwest series. After having been down 90/3 Clarke joined Ponting and then on it was only Clarke show although Symonds provided the much needed support at one end.

In the end it came to a crunch and looked like England were going to run away with the game. Even when there were only 10-12 runs needed Clarke made sure that the tail did not have to shoulder the responsibility of getting those runs in such tense situation. Clarke's innings was sublime to say the least and it was aggressive knock but not one irresponsible shot was played. The aerial shots were attempted when there were no fielders around and all the shots Clarke played came from the middle of the bat. This knock will mean a lot to the Aussies who were down 0-2 in the Natwest series.

A word of admiration also needs to be extended to England who struck in there and gave their best shot. They were always in the game and made crucial breaks when needed but today there was one man defining the loss or win for England. That was M.Clarke. Most of the bowlers though a touch expensive bowled their heart out and got wicket almost regularly but in the end Clarke batted smartly to ensure the tail enders did not have to bat against these quality bowlers.

Vaughan yet again did a great job by shuffling his bowlers just about right and also making sure Australia did not get used to one kind of bowling on this wicket. Both the teams fought hard in this game but the heroics of Clarke out witted Vaughan's and Australia deservedly won the game.

 

[crick4life]

S, a very good game mate. Absolute thriller and tested my patience fully. When I scored 13 runs off the first over I thought I am in good touch but then lost 2 quick wickets. Never in this series have I posted good score for the first wicket and the tail has hardly scored any runs. Mind you I like the way it is right now. The last 4 wickets should just be useless most of the times as it was in this game. The win should be set up by the top and middle order while the tail can wag but cannot score 20s 30s consistently. In this game I had to protect the tail thanks for having a settled batsman at the crease. If I were left with 20-30 runs with 3 wicket but with only the tail and no settle batsman I would have lost in less than 3-4 overs. Surviving one full over as a tail ender was next to impossible which I think is how it should be.

Although I am happy with this inning I am not sure why I am not able to score in the areas you are able to. Look at the spider of Clarke, they are very strong in some areas but not all around the wicket. After seeing your spider I reckon there must be something wrong with my settings for sure. I will look back few pages and see if I ever got to play in lot of areas. I did manage to time the ball when hitting aerial shots. I loved that six that Clarke hit off Giles, when they are rare they end up being the best.

 

[T20]

Congrats Ravi. Good effort by the Aussies, England kept coming back by taking wickets but the good runrate ensured Aussies were always on target. not surprised by the Aussies win it was always on cards and especially after being 2-0 down. So the series comes alive! over to 4th odi..

 

[m_vaughan]

Yeah good effort by England though, making life very difficult for the Aussies right till the end.

 

[The Champ]

Excellent effort by clarke and good fight by ENG

 

[jonah]

Good match fellas, well played Ravi. Now the Aussies have a foothold in the series can they make it 2 in a row?

 

[gold639]

can they make it 2 in a row?

They better