Story SouthAfrica's International Diary(ICC CT 2009) - Boucher tries to Steady the Ship

[Highlander999]

Shan. In all honesty this last page has been of a quality higher than Suren's (sorry Suren ) and that is saying something. It is mind blowing, I don't normally reply like this to many stories, but this is properly standing out. I really hope you continue this (as you do tend to end stories rather easily ) as it could be an all time great. This will be a cracking series

Fantasy Team

Graeme Smith
Kevin Pietersen
Sachin Tendulkar (C)
J.P. Duminy
AB de Villiers
Andrew Flintoff
Mark Boucher (wk)
Dale Steyn
Zaheer Khan
Makhaya Ntini
Harbhajan Singh

I assume you will pick both teams for the matches via Mch Editor, due to the AI picking stupid squads at times :

 

[Dez]

1. Graeme Smith
2. Shaun Marsh
3. Ricky Ponting (C)
4. Kevin Pietersen
5. Jean-Paul Duminy
6. Andrew Flintoff
7. Mahendra Singh Dhoni (WK)
8. Nathan Bracken
9. Dale Steyn
10. Ishant Sharma
11. Monty Panesar

 

[shantanu_rooney]

Shan. In all honesty this last page has been of a quality higher than Suren's (sorry Suren ) and that is saying something. It is mind blowing, I don't normally reply like this to many stories, but this is properly standing out. I really hope you continue this (as you do tend to end stories rather easily ) as it could be an all time great. This will be a cracking series

I assume you will pick both teams for the matches via Mch Editor, due to the AI picking stupid squads at times :

Thanks a lot for the comments Tom. Really I am looking forward to take this story very long and wont be ending it rather easily as I have done in the last many stories.

Yeah will use Mch Editor for the lineups as AI picks stupid squads sending MS Dhoni to open along with Yuvraj and all..

 

[MWaugh]

hey mate,

just done a bit of catching up and i must say that the story (in particular the graphics) are sensational. ill be honest that im not much into the fantasy cricket (mainly because i dont understand it ) but this definately looks great.

out of interest, what program do you use for your graphics? excellent job once again

MWaugh

 

[shantanu_rooney]

Well I use Photoshop Cs for the graphics..and Adobe Imageready for the animations..

 

[Funknath]

1. G.Gambhir
2. H.Gibbs
3. Y.Singh
4. Kevin Pietersen
5. M.Hussey
6. A.Flintoff
7. M.S.Dhoni(c)
8. S.Harmison
9. I.Sharma
10. N.Bracken
11. M.Johnson

 

[Jaztheman]

Graeme Smith(c)
Gautam Gambhir
Jean-Paul Duminy
Sachin Tendulkar
Kevin Pietersen
Mark Boucher (wk)
Andrew Flintoff
Nathan Bracken
Dale Steyn
Makhaya Ntini
Harbhajan Singh

Looking forward to this, Shantanu. Brilliant presentation and writing with the squads and such, awesome standard.

 

[mattfb]

LOVE! the presentation. Brilliant gfx there! Great stuff Shan, one of the top stories atm.

Graeme Smith
Gautam Gambhir
Ricky Ponting
Keven Pieterson
Michael Clarke
Andrew Flintoff
Brad Haddin
Nathan Bracken
Dale Steyn
Ishant Sharma
Johan Botha

 

[shantanu_rooney]

Quadrangular Series 2009, Australia
Australia v India
1st Match, Melbourne

Welcome to the first match of the, what should be a very tough Commonwealth Bank Quadrangular Series. The first match is between the World Champions Australia and contenders and inform India. So atmosphere here at the MCG is terrific and without wasting time lets go down to Geoffrey Boycott for the pitch report

Pitch Report​

Well the atmosphere here is excellent for cricket this afternoon in Melbourne. As you can see the stadium is almost full pack and we do expect a full house for the match between the home side Australia and the mighty India.

Looking at the pitch it is very hard with some cracks on it. It is the same pitch which was used during the second test match which the South Africans won by 6 wickets. So lots of runs are in store for us today. The bounce will be even through the game and the ball will nicely come on the bat which will make it easy for the batsman. To describe this pitch in two words it is a batsman's paradise. Its going to be a tough day for the bowlers out in middle with the afternoon heat. So its going be a easy decision, win the toss and bat first. Set a huge score and then it will be difficult for team batting second chasing the target under the lights.

Toss​

Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat first. This surely looks like the correct decision but at the end of the day the outcome depends on how you play.

Teams​

Australia: 1)David Warner 2)Shaun Marsh 3)Ricky Ponting(C) 4)Michael Clarke 5)Michael Hussey 6)David Hussey 7)Brad Haddin(WK) 8)Cameron White 9)Mitchell Johnson 10)Nathan Bracken 11)Shaun Tait.

Australia have made a last minute change of bringing in local boy Cameron White in-place of allrounder James Hopes. David Warner is set to make his debut for Australia while Shaun Tait returns to the side after almost a year.

India: 1)Virender Sehwag 2)Sachin Tendulkar 3)Gautam Gambhir 4)Suresh Raina 5)Yuvraj Singh 6)Mahendra Singh Dhoni(C)(WK) 7)Yusuf Pathan 8)Irfan Pathan 9)Harbhajan Singh 10)Zaheer Khan 11)Ishant Sharma.

Sachin Tendulkar returns to the side in-place of Mumbai team-mate Rohit Sharma. Praveen Kumar is out of the match due to virus and is replaced by Irfan Pathan. Harbhajan Singh also makes his come-back to side after missing out the Sri Lankan tour due to injury.


There is a huge cheer as Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag follow the Australian team and the two umpires, still then we will take a small break but when we return we will have the live action.

Note: Fantasy Cricket teams can be posted before the next update.

 

[saladguy]

I'm backing India to win by a significant margin. Dhoni to get a century!

 

[Roofrom50]

There pretty strong teams for both. Can't wait to see Davey Warner belt it out at the MCG again, should be a thrilling contest.

 

[mattfb]

Decent squads, but both are probably a pace bowler short. Looks like a batters pitch so it was an obvious decision by Dhoni to bat. Australia will be disappointed to lose the toss but will need to bowl well here.

Great presentation Shan, kiu!

 

[surendar]

Shan. In all honesty this last page has been of a quality higher than Suren's (sorry Suren ) and that is saying something. It is mind blowing!

haha... You are late to realize that one Tommy! I realized it long time back when Shan was updating that test match. :hpraise

Should I echo the comment? I think this story's beautiful presentation is self explanatory. Keep it up :onpc

 

[shantanu_rooney]

Quadrangular Series 2009, Australia
Australia v India
1st Match, Melbourne
End of 10 overs

Indians off to a Steady Start​

Nathan Bracken was given the first over of the Commonwealth Bank Quadrangular Series 2009 and he was bowling to Virender Sehwag and on the non-strikers end was Little Master Sachin Tendullkar and from the word 'go' Bracken was accurate with his length pitching it on middle and leg stump and asking the batsman to play it on the leg side. Sehwag got the mark of the third ball with a single towards fine-leg and it took Sachin just one ball to get off the mark with a single towards long-off. It was a good fielding setting by Ponting as he had fine-leg and long-off as two fielders outside the circle in the power-play overs. Shaun Tait was the one to share the new ball with Bracken and straight away Sachin Tendulkar got his first boundary of the match with a brilliant cover drive beating Clarke and Hussey for four. As Sachin had got his first bounday Sehwag was not gonna stay behind and he too got his first boundary of the match through gully beating Warner over there.

Bracken and Tait bowled accurately in the right line and lengths not giving the two batsman much width to free their arms on the off-side. But when the Little Master is in the mood of answering the critics no one can stop him. Tendulkar smashed Bracken who had pitched the ball on middle and leg stump through the covers making some room for himself. Surely this was the best shot of the day so far. Bracken was the pick of the bowlers for the Aussies today as he kept the run-rate down by not conceding anything more than 4 per over and kept on changing the speed by bowling at least on slower one per over. While Tait was completely the opposite as he kept bowling in the high 140 kmph and was easily giving away the singles. Tendulkar looked in aggressive mood while Sehwag looked happy taking the ones and twos and keep rotating the strike and had a strike-rate of under 60. Tendulkar soon got his third boundary of the day and a lucky one. Bracken pitched the ball on middle and off stump and Tendulkar again going for the drive got the thick outside edge but the ball went pass Marsh at second slip and Warner at Gully for four.

Indians have got off to a steady start but they really needed to increase the run-rate as they have scored only 41 runs in the first power-play and have just two more power-plays let. They need Sehwag to play his natural game now.

India: 41/0(10 overs)
Sehwag: 19(35)
Tendulkar: 18(25)
Extras: 4

Bracken: 5-0-15-0
Tait 5-0-26-0

 

[Roofrom50]

Wow!! Fantastic presentation mate, this is looking wonderful.

Well, Bracks has done it again that's why his the best One Day bowler going around at the minute. 5 overs for 15 runs, is a good bowling economical rate, but Tait is his usual expensive self.
Not a bad start for India, Tendulkar looks to be scoring heavily while Sehwag is just holding back a little.