Story The Great World Tour (C07)

[blake]

The Great World Tour

After enjoying near domination throughout the fast few years, finally it seemed Australia could be set for some trouble. Local cricket fans eagerly read through the article, headlined on the back page of the newspaper. No, Ricky Ponting hadn't retired and Brett Lee hadn't suffered a career-ending injury, but a draining tour of the world might just give some opposition teams the edge of Australia.

Already outrage was bursting around the country including from the players themselves. CEO and chief executive of Cricket Australia, James Sutherland, had officially announced a challenge to the rest of the world to see if they could topple the World Cup champions and the leaders of world cricket. Some details were still to be confirmed, but it seemed that the general consensus would be that Australia was going to tour every cricket-playing nation, including the minnow nations like Canada, Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands and take each country on in an individual tour. They would not return home at all during the tour and it would be a nonstop trek of cricket.

Eager young kids quickly ran to tell their fathers about the news and it was spread around in an instant. The great world tour was here.

15 nations. 1 year. The great world tour is on.

 

[gamerkid22]

Good start mate. All the best with this story

 

[freddiw]

could use variation of text etc
but good work

 

[surendar]

I still remember your neat/excellent writing skills in your previous story.. But ofcourse, I wish you could continue this one for long term. All the very best Looking forward to the start.. And I am sure, your writing skills will be as good as your previous one.

Good luck again.

 

[blake]

Fixtures Announced For the Great World Tour​

The order of the world tour has now been arranged. Australia will first start by travelling across the nation to North America where they will play Canada in a short tour in which they are expected to warm up for the rest of their tour quite nicely and easily.

The World Tour Begins - Tour 1

Australia to tour Canada.​

The fixtures are not real dates - i.e, if a match is scheduled to be played on the 16th of February I won't necessarily play it on the 16th.

15 February: 1st ODI @ Maple Leaf Cricket Club

18-22 February: 1st Test @ Maple Leaf Cricket Club

25 February: 2nd ODI @ Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club

27 February: 3rd ODI @ Maple Leaf Cricket Club

1-5 March: 2nd Test @ Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club

10-14 March: 3rd Test @ Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club

 

[freddiw]

awesome start cant wait for this to get going

 

[gutterman]

great start mate i hope this is successful for you kutgw

 

[blake]

13th February - Interview With the Skipper

A few days after the Australian cricket team landed in Canada, we got a chance to speak to the captain of the team, Ricky Ponting, in an exclusive interview.

Reporter: So, Ricky, having just arrived here in Canada and after having a few training sessions with the lads, what are your thoughts on this great world tour?

RP: Yeah, well I am certainly shocked about how fast this has all come about. We were given no warning from the chairman James Sutherland, and it seemed he just announced it on his own. It's going to be one of the hardest tours ever to be involved in - and some of our players will find it tough to pull through physically and mentally. It won't be easy at all and I'm not too sure I enjoy it.

Reporter: Well, you'll get to kick off against Canada, obviously we're over here right now.. what are your thoughts on starting off?

RP: I definitely want to get a positive start on the board here, obviously, I'm hoping we can win this series against Canada fairly easily and hopefully it should just be a bit of a warmup before we start playing some of the harder teams. We do have three tests and three ODIs scheduled here so it's nothing short, but I am hoping we can pick up the victory in this tour.

Reporter: What are your thoughts on the man who hit the fastest World Cup century in 2003 and captain of the Canadian team, John Davison?

RP: Yeah, well he's definitely a good player so we'll have to watch him but I'm pretty confident in our bowling stocks and I think we should be able to contain him well. He's certainly good once he gets going but I'm hoping we'll be able to dismiss him cheaply.

Reporter: Good luck for this upcoming tour of Canada, I wish you all the best as well for this and the rest of the great world tour.

RP: Thanks mate, hopefully we won't need it but it's going to be tough.

Matches will commence soon.

 

[freddiw]

i would centralize the pics

good interview and lets hope the aussies get stuck against canada!!!!!1

 

[blake]

Well, here we are at the Maple Leaf Cricket Club to kick off the great world tour with Australia taking on Canada in the one dayer.

Here is the Australian side, no changes are expected:

1. M. Hayden
2. A. Gilchrist
3. R. Ponting
4. M. Hussey
5. M. Clarke
6. A. Symonds
7. B. Haddin
8. B. Hogg
9. B. Lee
10. M. Johnson
11. N. Bracken

12. B. Hodge

The pitch looks dry, it's a warm day here and it doesn't look like any rain is on the way - it's just a beautiful day for cricket. Let's get down to the middle where captains Ricky Ponting and John Davison are waiting to do the toss.

"OK, Ricky, you are the away captain so you call."

RP: Heads

"And heads it is, Ricky, what would you like to do?"

RP: We'll have a bat first. This pitch looks like it might deteriorate later on in the game but I'm not really too worried about that. I just want to get runs on the board and then put them under pressure at the end.

"OK, and what are your thoughts John?"

JD: Yeah, I probably would've liked to have a bat but it doesn't bother me too much. We'll try and keep them to a reasonable score and then we'll see what happens.

"Alright, thanks for that, play should commence soon."

 

[gutterman]

cant wait mate kutgw

 

[surendar]

This Aussie team is too good for Canada.. Interesting to see how Canada handles their mighty opponents. As I expected, nice writing skills continue here too.. Keep it up.

 

[gamerkid22]

Wow that a great start to the story mate. Great to read and nice use of the colors. This story looks simple with the presentation but its very very effective and worth reading as you have brilliant writing skills Keep it up.

 

[Highlander999]

I think Canada might be in a bit of trouble

Nice start to the story and hopefully you'll be able to continue it after the TTFSL series ends.

 

[blake]

Australia got off to a good start in the first over, with Osinde bowling four wides straight up and then Gilchrist smashing a boundary off Codrington on the first ball of the second over. It didn't go so well from there, however, with Gilchrist departing soon later as he spooned a catch to square leg.

Hayden and Ponting put on a quick partnership of 35 to steady Australia but it was the skipper who fell next, mistiming a leg glance and hitting it to a waiting midwicket as Canada claimed a big wicket. Hayden started to look comfortable out in the middle with a few boundaries but the new man in Hussey was immediately out, caught for a duck as Australia started to fall under some pressure.

After the 10 over mark Australia had steadied a little bit but the pressure was still on. Australia had a good run rate but Canada had taken 3 wickets and it was anybody's game for the taking.

Australia 3/68 (10.0 overs)​

M. Hayden 29* (29), 5 fours
A. Gilchrist 4 (3), 1 four
R. Ponting 16 (15), 4 fours
M. Hussey 0 (5)
M. Clarke 11* (8), 2 fours