Story The 2009 nPower Ashes Test series @ England

[OffCutters]

2009 Ashes Fixture

[B]July 8-12-1st nPower Test @ Cardiff

July 16-20- 2nd nPower Test @ Lord's 

July 30 - August 3- 3rd nPower Test @ Edgbaston

August 7-11- 4th nPower Test @ Headingley 

August 20-24 5th nPower Test @ The Oval 
[/B]

Written by- Troy Lerana

Its Ashes fever all over again, with the 2009 Ashes series coming upon us cricket fanatics. Yes, its the old-fashioned rivalry between Australia and England.

The two sides will be fighting over the mighty urn, which is believed to consist of Will England return the prized urn to home soil? Or will the Aussies keep the urn? Time will tell.

This is set to be a great series, with both teams in good form so far. The series will start off in Sophia Gardens at Cardiff, which is bound to be a very interesting 5 days of cricket.

Andrew Strauss will lead the English side in this series, whilst Ricky Ponting as usual will lead the Australian side. There is alot on the line for the Australian cricket team, who will be trying to recover from their humiliating 2-1 series loss in the 2005 Ashes series in England.

But times were different then, with new faces coming in to the side, and old faces. The likes of Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Adam Gilchrist will be sorely missed but there are new potential players in Mitchell Johnson, Ben Hilfenhaus and Phil Hughes.

The English side will be without a legend in former captain Michael Vaughan, who has decided to retire from international cricket. It will be Andrew Strauss' first Ashes series as captain of the side, which will be a tough job considering the skill of the Australian squad.

We all know, especially the Australian fans, that the Aussies own the urn at the moment after their 2006 5-0 series win in Australia. But the humiliation of 2005 still stands. 2006 doesnt matter anymore, the Australians want revenge on English soil, to make amends for 2005.

There arent too many players in the Australian squad who`ve played in the Ashes before, and this will be a dream come true for the first-timers. The experienced 'Ashes' players in the side would be Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey and Stuart Clark.

Whereas the English side has many players who`ve played in an Ashes series before, including dangerous Fast bowling all-rounder Andrew 'Freddy' Flintoff. Will youth come off with a win? Or will experience dominate? Once again, as stated before, time will tell.

The 18-man squads for both teams will be announced soon, which will be interesting. It will be good if England decided to play young players like promising future England Leg Spin bowling all-rounder, Adil Rashid, or Luke Wright, who is tipped to be the next 'Flintoff or promising middle-order batsman Jonathan Trott, who continues to perform immensely well in County cricket.

Australia might see benefits in giving young gun Callum Ferguson his Test cricket debut, to bring in some life into the middle-order. Will the very underrated off-spin bowler in Queenslander Nathan Hauritz, he is hugely underrated but could very much be a chance to have a spot in the first eleven for the 1st Test match.


Next update- 18-man Ashes squads.

Content

Update 1- Ashes 18-man squad

 

[OffCutters]

I`m back with another story people as you can see from my first update, obviously about the Ashes so, enjoy people.

 

[Gilly Fan]

Do your old story, that was gold.

 

[OffCutters]

Yeah man, i`ll just bring back all the deleted posts huh. :sarcasm But nah, I didnt like doing that story.

 

[Hooper]

Good ole Ashes, make sure you pick the right blokes aye.

 

[OffCutters]

Ashes 18-man Squads​

Australian Squad

Australia have a very dangerous all-round side, with very good bowling and batting line-up. Young gun Callum Ferguson is also tipped to make his test debut in the 1st Test at Cardiff,but for that to happen, someone has to miss out, which could possibly be between Michael Hussey and Marcus North. Australia`s bowling line-up is full of stars, with many different options such as Lee, Johnson, Hauritz, Siddle e.t.c. Hauritz is probably going to be a 50/50 chance for the 1st test, with him being in the first eleven probably depending on the conditions and the pitch at Sophia Gardens. It is also a bit of a shock to see Andrew 'Roy' Symonds in the squad, with him obviously getting into trouble off the field. It will be very interesting to see who the Australian Coach, Tim Nielsen will bring in to make up the 1st XI for the 1st Test.​

England Squad

England have a equally good squad, but it consists of a few shock ins, with Darren Pattinson and Matthew Hoggard, in the squad. England have a very good choice in their bowling line-up, with Sidebottom, Anderson, Onions, Broad, Swann, Panesar and Flintoff. Jonathan Trott may be making his Test debut for the Poms,with him performing very impressively with the bat in County cricket. There are about 4 candidates to make the number 4 spot, with Bell, Bopara, Trott and Collingwood. Kevin Pietersen will probably retain his No.3 spot which he does so well in. England could also very well play two spinners in their line-up with Samit Patel performing very well with both bat and ball. Patel bowls a very accurate left arm orthodox spin, and could be handy in the later overs of a test match.​

Next update- 1st Ashes Test Match @ Sophia Gardens, Cardiff. Day 1.

 

[Hooper]

Go with

Hughes
Katich
Ponting
Clarke
Ferguson
Watson
Haddin
Johnson
Lee
Siddle
Clark

If you want to win, but I always play players I like personally rather then their rating on ICC09.

 

[OffCutters]

Same, but one exception is that i like Hauritz but i aint gonna risk him with his crappy ratings on ICC. That is probably the side i was going with anyway, not sure about Brett Lee though, might bring in Hilfy instead.

 

[OffCutters]

1st nPower Ashes Test- Sophia Gardens, Cardiff

Line-ups

Playing Conditions

Coin Toss

Australia calls heads- Its a head and Australia decide to bat​

Day 1​

(Michael Clarke celebrates his first century of the series)


It hasnt been the dream start the Australians were hoping for, getting bowled out for 360 4 minutes before the end of day`s play. Disaster struck very early, with 21-year old opener Phillip Hughes getting out cheaply after just 9 balls by James Anderson, and only adding 2 runs to the total. But that meant that Ricky Ponting, the captain comes in.

He and fellow batting partner Simon Katich went on to build a solid partnership, which after Ponting got out, was worth 119 runs. Katich went on to get his half-century, until James Anderson striked again, getting Ponting out for 45 caught by Pietersen, just 5 runs short from his half-century. Katich went on to make 90 runs before getting out by Ryan Sidebottom getting caught behind by Matt Prior.

Which meant that Michael Clarke and Marcus North were the two batsman in the middle. Michael Clarke was playing beautifully, scoring boundaries all over the ground. It wasnt a good day for North, getting out for just 18 after getting bowled off a fast yorker by Sidebottom, which brings him his second wicket. Callum Ferguson comes in to replace North, to face his first ball in a Test Match. He faces his first 5 balls for 2 runs, and then watches Clarke reach his half-century, well played.

7 balls later, fellow debutant Samit Patel, with his handy left-arm spin, bowls it on a full-length and thumps on Ferguson`s pads. LBW, says the umpire, and Ferguson walks off for a measly 4 runs, not a debut he would want to remember. Brad Haddin, Australia`s wicket-keeper batsman, comes in to the crease and settles the ship quickly. Michael Clarke then later on brings up his first test century of the 2009 Ashes Series in just 127 balls, with 18 fours. Very well played innings by Clarke, to stamp his role in the team, as vice-captain and as the No.4.

Not to mention Brad Haddin, who was also playing a good innings, but unfortunately, like Ponting, fell 5 runs short of his half-century, getting bowled by Sidebottom. Sidebottom certainly wasnt about to give any batsman a taste of glory at the moment. Shortly after that, Flintoff gets his first wicket of the match after 19 overs, and an useful one, of Michael Clarke, getting caught in slips. Clarke walks off towards the pavilion, with 105 runs under his belt, what a start to his Ashes campaign.

Things weren`t at all looking good for the Aussies, 7 wickets down. The tail-enders didn't do too much with the bat, with Broad getting some last-minute wickets, getting rid of Mitchell Johnson for 8, and fairly quick after that, Pete Siddle for 6. Just 5 minutes before play, Anderson gets rid of Stuart Clark, for just 6 runs, ending the Australian`s innings, leaving Hilfenhaus not out on 13. With one over to play, English opening batsmen, Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook, hitting 2 runs in the over to finish the day off with both on 1*. It has definitely been the English`s day, but Australia are capable with the ball in hand, and will definitely look for early wickets to set their game back on track.

Australian 1st Innings Scorecard

Australia-360 all out
England- 2 for 0 in reply

Stumps, Day 1​

 

[spaga1994]

LOL at strauss bowling 9 overs, but really good story kiu