Story Story Ended!

[Gary123]

Nice effort by Pakistan there.
Just missed it in the end.
Though either of Misbah,Younis or Malik should have seen Pak home.
T20 WC is up next.
Waiting for it.
Nice work.
I would recommend you to use a Simple font like Times New Roman or even Arial Black with some effects to it.

 

[surendar]

No doubt, it's a great story. Keep up the good works going, I am sure that it will get nominated for next month's SOTM contest

 

[BKB1991]

1st May
5th ODI
1st Innings


Umar Akmal had arrived and impressed me a lot in the nets. He was very talented and played sensibly too (as sensible as you can in the nets) Anyways, with the series over we decided to give the players who had not played in the series so far, a chance to shine. We won the toss and elected to field. The pitch was still good for batting but since we hadn’t chased well in this series we decided that this was what we had to do.
Both teams made a lot of changes. The teams were

1) D. Warner 2) B. Haddin 3) S. Watson 4) M. Clarke (c) 5) J. Hopes 6) C. Ferguson 7) D.Hussey 8) N. Hauritz 9) P. Siddle 10) B. Hilfenhaus 11) N.Bracken

1) S. Butt 2) K.Akmal 3) Y.Khan 4) S. Afridi 5) S. Malik 6) U.Akmal 7) F. Alam 8) Y. Arafat 9) U. Gul 10) M. Aamir 11) S. Ajmal

Warner, Ferguson guide Austraila to 251​

Warner made full use of his chance

​

D. Warner and Haddin arrived to the crease. Umar Gul and Mohammed Aamir, who was making his ODI debut started for us. Warner looked set to make use of his chance while Haddin played decently too. With the Aussie pair looking dangerous, Younis bought our best bowler in the series Afridi much sooner, into the attack. He was rewarded instantly as Haddin swept the ball in the deep and Aamir caught a simple catch. Australia 55/1. Watson demoted to no.3 , played confidently before misreading Ajmal’s straighter one and was caught behind. With Arafat turning into and expensive option and Ajmal not beingas threatning , Younis bought in Alam into the attack. The gamble worked as the stand in captain Clarke was bowled by Alam 20th over at 97. Hopes whose performance in the previous game gave him a promotion to No. 5 batted with Warner who completed a fifty of 69 balls. Warner and Hopes combined for a 70 run partnership before Alam worked his magic again, surprising Hopes with a quicker one, and getting him trapped lbw. Younis brought in the quick Aamir and was rewarded instantly when Warner played a cut shot but couldn’t keep it low. The last recognized pair of Hussey and Ferguson looked to build a partnership but at the score of 200 Aamir bowled another quick bouncer that bought the end of Hussey. 3 bowls later he got Hauritz caught behind for naught as well. With partners and overs running out, Ferguson took the tempo of the game up getting Australia to 251, scoring 41 of the last 50 runs.

@ Gary: I have tried the fonts, Times New Roman didnt look good at all whereas Arial looked alot better. Arial is coming up in the next update and looks much realistic to Ten Sports scorecard then Comic Sans MS

 

[Gary123]

Good batting by Warner and Ferguson over there.
But 251 isn't a good total I think.
Pakistan really can win this one easily.
@Bilal-Yeah,Arial would be good as well.

 

[BKB1991]

1st May
5th ODI
2nd Innings

Afridi Finds Form As Pakistan Beat Australia​

Afridi blasted his way for 52-ball-77

​

Chasing 252 wouldn?t usually be too hard on a pitch like this but going in with two rookies and only one genuine on-form batsman it would definetly be challenging. With a new look opening pair going in (Shehzad was out of form and thus dropped/rested) and Malik coming at no.3, it would be a tall order for our batsmen. The openers got off to a reasonable start, with Akmal taking the attack to the bowlers. The assault didn?t last long as Hilfenhaus got the bowl to swing into Akmal and break his stumps. Malik arrived and played cautiously while Salman Butt kept rotating the strike. He got off to decent start, but as his problem throughout the series he couldn?t keep it going. With Siddle bowling with some hostility it was a well deserved reward for him when he got Butt to edge to Haddin and we lost our second wicket at 69. Afridi was sent up the order ahead of Younis as we wanted him to get some form before the World Cup. He started slowly with singles and looked set for a good innings today. Malik was quietly going on his business without taking too many risks and the partnership was building. With Afridi now full of confidence he started going after the bowlers and they had no reply. He picked up poor deliveries and thank God did not look to pre-mediate any stroke. Malik provided good support and this looked like a match winning partnership. However their 115-run-stand was over when Hauritz bowled into one of the cracks and got one to turn remarkably and Malik was trapped in his crease and given lbw. With Aussies gaining some lost confidence Younis gifted them with a cheap run out adding further pressure on us. Things got worse when Afridi?s luck finally ran out; playing across the line on Hopes and after the ball spent an age in the sky, Warner caught a difficult catch to end Afridi?s innings. With 2 youngsters batting we had our fingers crossed, and the Aussies were pumped up. They bowled everything possible but our batsmen looked firm. With the Aussies unable to break the stand, Fawad and Umar took the attack to the bowlers, and they batted with maturity beyond their years to grab us a consolation win.

What a game! It was a dead rubber but the better thing was to see young and talented Alam and Akmal standing up to challenge and delivering under pressure.

A bit disappointed with the lack of comments made by anyone other than Gary. I know some people are reading the story but for reason best known to themselves, they dont post comments. I know sometimes we dont know exactly how to respond to an update, in that case please use the thanks system, as it can inform me who is reading the story. Feedback, esp. negative, is important to me. Thanks and Your co-operations is appreciated. Hope you enjoy the story

 

[Gary123]

Boom Boom Afridi!
That was great performance from your side.
Alam and Akmal also batted responsibly.
The scorecards look much better now,don't they?
Bilal,I would like to tell you here-
Don't worry if you are not receiving comments. It happens everywhere and with everyone.
Just go on to make your story as good as you can and eventually people will reply.
Great job and carry on

 

[Masood]

Boom Boom Afridi!
That was great performance from your side.
Alam and Akmal also batted responsibly.
The scorecards look much better now,don't they?
Bilal,I would like to tell you here-
Don't worry if you are not receiving comments. It happens everywhere and with everyone.
Just go on to make your story as good as you can and eventually people will reply.
Great job and carry on

As gary said just keep going in your story and your story is really nice mate ....

 

[BKB1991]

After the game, I opened Cricinfo and started looking at squads for the Twenty World Cup. Here they are:

Australia Squad: R. Ponting (C), M. Clarke, D. Warner, S. Watson, M. Hussey, B. Haddin, J. Hopes, M. Johnson, N. Hauritz, B. Lee, N. Bracken, C. White, B. Hilfenhaus, P. Siddle

Bangladesh squad: M. Ashraful (C), Saqibul Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Zunaed Siddiqui, R. Hossain, Mahmudullah, M. Rahim, M. Mortaza, A. Razzaq, S. Rasel, R. Hossain, S. Hossain, M. Hossain, E. Haque, T. Imran

England: P. Collingwood (C), K. Pieterson, R. Bopara, L.Wright, O. Shah, A. Flintoff, J. Foster, D. Mascarenhas, S. Broad, G. Swann, J. Anderson, A. Rashid, E. Morgan, J. Trott, R. Sidebottom

India: MS Dhoni (C) V. Sehwag, G. Gambhir, S. Raina, Y. Singh, R. Sharma, Y. Pathan, H. Singh, Z. Khan, I. Sharma. RP Singh, I. Pathan, R. Jadeja, M. Patel, P. Ojha

New Zealand: D. Vettoru, B. McCullum, J. Ryder R. Taylor, M. Guptill, J. Oram, S. STyris, B. Diamanti, D. Vettori, K. Mills, I. O? Brien, N. McCullum, J. Franklin, I. Butler, J. Patel, A. Redmond

Pakistan: Y. Khan (C)S. Butt, N. Jamshed, A. Shehzad, K. Akmal, Y. Khan, S. Malik, Misbah, S. Afridi, S. Tanveer, U. Gul, I. Anjum, S. Ajmal, M. Aamir, F. Alam, Y. Arafat

South Africa: G. Smith, J. Kallis, H. Gibbs, AD de Villiers, J. Duminy, M. Boucher, A. Morkel, R. Van der Merwe, J. Botha, D. STeyn, M. Ntini, W. Parnell, R. Peterson, M. Morkel, H. Amla

Sri Lanka: K. Sangakarra (C), M. Jayawardene, S. Jaysauria, T. Dilshan, A. Mathews, J. Mubarak, N. Kulasekara, T. Thushara, M. Muralitharan, A. Mendis, L. Malinga, C. Kapugedara, F. Maharoof, T. Kandamby, D. Fernando

West Indies: C. Gayle (C), A. Fletcher, R. Sarwan, S. Chanderpaul, D. Bravo, K. Pollard, L. Simmons, D. Ramdin, S. Benn, J. Taylor, F. Edwards, R. Hinds, B. Nash, D. Sammy, L. Baker

(I didn?t bother with the rest of the countries as I didn?t know most of them anyways,)

There was something wrong in our squad. Hey! Ahmed Shehzad wasn?t part of the squad the selectors and I had decided. We had picked up Umar Akmal instead! I checked the squads again. I wanted to call the PCB right now but noticed the time. It was late but I would certainly do so tomorrow.

6th May


The last couple of days in UAE ended on a disappointing note. We were practicing for the lone T20 game but rain hit the day of the game. It was barely drizzling but enough to keep the pitch a bit soggy and the umpires called it ?to dangerous to play at?

I, meanwhile had other things to worry about. With something gone wrong during the selection of the team, I had already informed Younis about the ?mishap? and he was upset too. I had contacted Wasim Akram, one of the joint chief of selectors and he was as surprised as I was. He was trying to contact the chairman too, but like me found out that he was busy since he was dealing with the 2011 World Cup Issue. The news regarding the World Cup wasn?t great either but Wasim told me there was a board meeting at 4PM today and I was invited too.

PCB Headquarters had alot more security now​

In the board meeting we were basically discussing the end-of-month reports. It was obvious most of them didn?t realize there was something wrong. When it was Wasim?s turn to speak he informed most of them regarding what had happened and demanded an explanation from the chairman. The chairman was visibly shocked and said that it was the team that he had received. After a gruesome hour of talks, which included both selectors and me threatening to resign if this ever happened again, the result was that there was ?an error in communication? Wasim and Inzamam did not believe the story and said there was someone in the higher levels of PCB was responsible for this. The chairman even offered to request ICC for a change in the team. I was about to accept the offer but then realized one thing. It wasn?t Ahmed Shehzad?s fault. I thought how his confidence would shatter of first being selected in the final 15 and then dropped. He was only a seventeen year old and I had no idea how he would cope with it. I declined the offer but said that if the team was ever changed like this then I would resign. As I was leaving the room the Chairman told me that they had planned to renew my contract till the next T20 World Cup in West Indies. I nodded and left.

In the hall, I asked Wasim what he meant when he said that higher levels in the PCB were involved. He said, back in his days this also used to happen. It was a way of checking whether the captain/coach were strong enough or firm on their decisions , or in other words whether some people in the PCB could interfere in team decisions like the selection of the squads. I was utterly disgusted. They told me that I had handled it well and hopefully they won?t try to do this in the future. Yeah let?s keep our fingers crossed

 

[BKB1991]

With the T20 World Cup here now it means a new competition is in due. Firstly the winners of the previous one:

B. Haddin 219 runs (H.R.S.) skrillex_x
M. Johnson 12 wickets (H.W.T.) cricket22
B. Haddin and M. Johnson (Joint P.O.T) cricket22 and skrillex_x
Total vCash:
skrillex_x: 2,000vCash
cricket22: 2,000vCash

Now the New Competition:
Guess the answers to the following questions and the person with the most no. of points at the end of the tournament will win 5,000vCash. In Brackets is the no. of points you get if the answer you predicted is right. On player awards if you get the nation right you get 2 points (meaning that if your choice for top scorer is T. Dilshan [Sri Lanka] , and the real top-scorer is Jaysauriya then you get 2 points for choosing Sri Lanka)However, there should be at least 5 competitors for the competition to take place. I will update approximately in a week with the first game. You can edit your choices until the Super Eight Stages. Good Luck.

1)Who will win the T20 World Cup? (3)
2)Who will be the runner-up? (3)
3)Which 2 teams will be the other semi-finalists? (2+2)
4)Who will be the Player of the Tournament? (5; 2 if the right team)
5)Who will be the top-scorer? (5; 2 if the right team)
6)Who will be the top-wicket-taker? (5; 2 if the right team)
7)Who will win most Man-of-the-Matches? (5; 2 if the right team)

By the Way the squads are posted on the post above

 

[cricket22]

yep you only sent me 2 VCash:crying

 

[BKB1991]

yep you only sent me 2 VCash:crying

My bad ! I have sent the vCash again. Please confirm if you have recieved it.

 

[BKB1991]

Changed the price money. Now you can win upto 5,000vCash

 

[cricket22]

1)Who will win the T20 World Cup? (3) Australia
2)Who will be the runner-up? (3) South Africa
3)Which 2 teams will be the other semi-finalists? (2+2) Sri Lanka and Pakistan
4)Who will be the Player of the Tournament? (5; 2 if the right team) Michael Clarke
5)Who will be the top-scorer? (5; 2 if the right team) Graeme Smith
6)Who will be the top-wicket-taker? (5; 2 if the right team) Mitchell Johnson
7)Who will win most Man-of-the-Matches? (5; 2 if the right team) Michael Clarke

Aren't 4 and 7 the same question?

BTW i did receive the 2k vcash

 

[BKB1991]

Yep, my mistake edited it now.

 

[CG123]

1)Who will win the T20 World Cup? (3) Pakistan
2)Who will be the runner-up? (3) Australia
3)Which 2 teams will be the other semi-finalists? (2+2) India and South Africa
4)Who will be the Player of the Tournament? (5; 2 if the right team) S. Afridi
5)Who will be the top-scorer? (5; 2 if the right team) R. Ponting
6)Who will be the top-wicket-taker? (5; 2 if the right team) U. Gul
7)Who will win most Man-of-the-Matches? (5; 2 if the right team) S. Afridi