Downloaded the 2 day trial version of International Cricket Captain 2011 and came up with probably the most exciting test match in my England gamesave against Sri Lanka in the 2nd test at Lord's.
Starting this match with a 1-0 lead and having won the toss and put SL to bat in bowler friendly conditions, I always knew I had a chance in bowling them out for a scanty total and rightly so dismissed them for 206.
Then came the real shock, or should I say over-confidence when I got bowled out for just 103 having set all batsmen to defensive straight up. Halfway through the first session of Day 2, and SL were already leading England by 103 runs and set to bat a second time.
And as expected, SL took full advantage of that massive lead and capitalized on some dropped catches and toothless bowling from Swann to register 375, thereby setting us a world record target of 478. England had 7 sessions to see this mammoth run chase off.
Strauss and Cook went into Stumps day 3 on 63-0 having been set to a v.defensive mode. Day 4 saw an early wicket for SL in Andrew Strauss as England were 78-1, still 400 away from winning the match and series. Trott din exist long either, but then came a partnership from Bell and Cook worth 83, followed by another partnership between Bell and KP worth 75, and on and on... before we were at one stage positioned at 434-5 with a well settled duo of Bell & Prior on 156 and 42 respectively. We had played so slowly that we had to knock off those remaining 44 runs in just 39 minutes. Then what an anti climax occurred as wickets continued to tumble at regular intervals leaving us with 13 required off the final 17 minutes of game's play with 1 wicket in hand. Anderson and Tremlett the last men standing! Tremlett starts the over with an aggressive intent taking a double and single off the first two deliveries, before Anderson drives one through the covers to the boundary for four to leave us needing 7 more runs to attain glory. Then the very next ball... it is all OVER as Jimmy gets knocked over by Herath.
England lost the second test agonizingly short by 5 runs and with 8 minutes left to conclude the test match. Series decider to be played at the Rose Bowl later. Definitely a match that will haunt me forever, especially given the manner I lost it.