Story Scotland play Natwest ICC Knockout Trophy

[barmyarmy]

At the 15 over mark England were a disappoining 63/1. Seasoned observors put it down to excellent Scottish bowling and field placings:

as well as Vaughan knowing he had his two trump cards still to come with Flintoff and Pieterson.

The runrate required is already pushing 8 an over though so Vaughan and Strauss will have to find a way of breaking this disciplined Scottish attack.
More later.

On a sidenote there have been no crazy runouts. CPU AI is obviously higher for England players than Australian players! (that or the fact my mid on and off are deep)

 

[FishBowlMan]

That's one mad field! Seems to do the trick though. Interesting about the run-outs. I have very few these days. For some reason, the ball goes to a fielder, the batsmen yell "yes!" and the fielder stops and watches the ball go past allowing the batsmen time to run. I think I'm just using Sam's line-up .exe

 

[Scots_Windies]

'mon the scots :happy:

 

[barmyarmy]

Craig Wright, the Scotland captain, decided the best form of attack was attack, hitting his opposite number Michael Vaughan with several painful blows:

He got his reward when Vaughan, on 42, tentatively edged a ball that seamed away into the grateful arms of Smith. Strauss though was a much tougher nut to crack. Hamilton produced several deliveries of perfect line which beat the bat:

But Strauss stayed put and played a determined gritty innings, with some beautiful strokes thrown in:

He was ably assisted by Kevin Pieterson who made 39 off 51 balls before failing to pick Brown's slower ball:

 

[barmyarmy]

The big problem for England was still the runrate which was nearing 10 an over despite the imposition of CGPP V2 which made the bowling cursor huge!
As Flintoff came to the crease both sides expected fireworks. The burley all rounder lasted just 5 balls though before tamely hitting Maiden to cover:

Jones quickly followed, edging behind to the excellent Dougie Brown before Ashley Giles became Brown's 4th victem:

Andrew Strauss was fast running out of partners as the runrate became ungettable for England. Nevertheless Darren Gough, in at number 9 whacked this massive 6 into the top tier of the stand:

The next over Strauss finally brought up his century, the second 50 coming off just 54 balls:

 

[barmyarmy]

His joy was short-lived however, falling to Brinkley off the final over:

Kabir Ali also holed out off the final ball of the innings leaving England 69 short of victory despite their impressive total of 259

Strauss, Vaughan and Pieterson were the only batsmen in the runs for England and the whole team scored much too slowly to start with:

 

[barmyarmy]

The Scottish bowlers put in another good display. Special mention to Dougie Brown for his 4 wickets, bowling at the most difficult time in the game:

The English team were never on the runrate required and the Scots deserved their victory:

Man of the Match was Dougie Brown for his run-a-ball 31 as well as his bowling.

I: Michael, you must be hugely disappointed but the better team won.
M.V: Yeah. We can't take anything away from the Scotland performance. They batted us out of the game with that massive total. To score 260 and still lose heavily is a pretty strange feeling.
I: What would you say the difference between the two teams was?
M.V: Definitely the first 15 overs. Our bowlers gave far too much away and got them off to a flyer whereas we were pegged back and found it very hard to score.
I: Some of the commentators suggested that England were much too defensive in the first 20 overs and never gave themselves a chance. Do you see it like that?
M.V: Not really. You can only attack the ball if it's there to be hit. There's no sense in giving wickets away needlessly. I thought Strauss played a very measured innings and had Freddie got himself in we could have got near the target.


I: So Craig, it must seem like a fairy tale. First Australia, now England. How does it feel?
C.W: It's impossible to describe. I think this time round the team really had the belief they could win this game. Against Australia we didn't feel like we could win it until we actually hit the winning run. Certainly we felt on top all game and deserved to win.
I: can you go all the way?
C.W: We'd like to think so. Obviously, both India and Pakistan have explosive players so we'll not be over-confident but if we can play like we have today I can't see why not.
I: What was the critical part of this game as far as you're concerned?
C.W: I'd agree with Micheal Vaughan. Our openers got us off to a flyer and we never looked back.


I: Two players his centuries, Ryan Watson and Andrew Strauss, but Dougie Brown has picked up the Man of the Match award. How does it feel to beat England?
D.B: It's absolutely incredible. I don't think I'll be getting any stick from the Warwickshire lads for a while. Ryan played amazing and really set us up for the win and I just hung around with him and bit and managed to pick up some wickets.
I: Who do you want in the final?
D.B: Well I've been good mates with Waqar Younis for a while now so to play the Pakistanis would be pretty special. That said, all the boys would love to play against Rahul Dravid so we're torn.


Dougie Brown didn't get his wish; India defeating Pakistan by just 8 runs in the second semi-final.

We all look forward though to the final of the 2005 Natwest ICC Trophy between Scotland and India. Join us tomorrow for updates.

 

[m_vaughan]

Good win there. But chasing 328 was always gonna be a tough task for the CPU.

I predict an easy win for Scotland in the final as well.

 

[barmyarmy]

Good win there. But chasing 328 was always gonna be a tough task for the CPU.

I predict an easy win for Scotland in the final as well.

Depends how easy I find batting with CGPP2...

 

[SaiSrini]

Depends how easy I find batting with CGPP2...

I think India has an enormous task ahead of beating Scotland!

 

[The_gas]

Good story Colin makes a nice read. And a great spider from strauss aswell.

 

[FishBowlMan]

Love the picture of Kabir looking dejected. Chin up lad, it was out of reach before you came to the crease :crying

A good win Colin! If Saisrini's thread is anything to go by, you will have a large audience for the final with India. Here's hoping for a game fit for the occasion.

 

[barmyarmy]

Welcome to Lords where there's a huge buzz of anticipation as we await the final of the Natwest ICC Trophy. There's a fantastic crowd here from both countries but it's India who have the bulk of the supporters. We go live to the toss to join the captains:

Craig Wright has won the toss and put the Indians in. What's your thinking Craig?
C.W: It's a good pitch and we think it's going to stay true so we prefer to chase
I: Saurav, what do you think would be a good total on this wicket?
S.G: I think we will push for 280. We would have chosen to bat so we're not unhappy to be put in.

At the 15 over mark here, Craig Wright must be regretting his decision. India have got off to a flyer. They are 120 without loss and looking very dangerous.
Ganguly played aggressively right from the start, this beautiful on drive and massive six amongst the boundaries in his 64*

 

[barmyarmy]

He's been ably supported by Virender Sehwag who has been particularly strong off his legs. He had 55 off 44 balls at the 15 over mark:

Scotland had a torrid opening 6 overs. Hoffman and Brinkley went at 10 an over. Hamilton settled things down and but for one over where he was twice hit for 6 would have had an rpo of under 4 an over. Ryan Watson, used for the first time in this tournament, was picked off rather too easily with an inconsistent line and length. Gregor Maiden, turned to by his captain in just the 14th over, responded with maiden and could be the key to tying the Indian batsman down when we return.

Scotland have a big task to arrest the runrate and take wickets but they've proved throughout the tournament that they're not to be underestimated:

Join us tomorrow for the conclusion of the Indian innings.

 

[SaiSrini]

COME ON INDIA!!! Win this one!! Dont lose to Scotland!

Hope Ganguly and Sehwag hammer centuries and take India to 350!