Story Wisden Trophy 2004/2005

[rocklara]

Gower: " Good morning and welcome to this 5th and final day of this 3rd npower test match. Its a bit grey today, and some rain may just affect play later on today. England will be hoping to wrap this game up ASAP and get a well deserved rest. I don't think this pitch will favour the batters in any way and life will continue to be difficult for them. We have Mikey down at the pitch for the tail of the track for day 5."

Mikey: " Well its a typical day 5 pitch. Its dry and the conditions being grey may just give the pace bowlers a touch of early movement. We may see Giles soon here into the attack, but the cards are very much in Vaughn's favour here. Definitely an english victory I presume."

 

[rocklara]

End of West Indies 2nd innings

West Indies scored 272 all out 78 overs

Lara 74
Ganga 51

England's 2nd innings bowling figures

Hoggard 14.3 overs 1 maiden 52 runs 3 wickets
Anderson 12 overs 1 maiden 44 runs 1 wicket
Harmison 9 overs 1 maiden 19 runs 1 wicket
Giles 18 overs 2 maidens 65 runs 0 wickets
Flintoff 19 overs 2 maidens 67 runs 3 wickets
Butcher 6 overs 2 maidens 20 runs 2 wickets

Result: England win by 137 runs and lead the series 2-1

 

[rocklara]

Gower: " Thats it, England have completed the honours of retaining the Wisden Trophy by beating the west indies just before lunch on the 5th day, by dismissing them for 272. It was an inspired Hoggard and Flintoff to bowl england here to a professional victory after trailing on first innings. They just went through those tailenders with superb length and line with a touch of reverse swing, bowling Dillon, Collins and finally Hoggard yorked Edwards for 1. One must say, that we say a professional unit came together and put up a valiant fight to turn this match around in the second innings. Cheers to this english team for retaining the Wisden Trophy, however the west indies must still take heart here as they got everything to play for especially west indian pride at stake in the upcoming 4th and final test match. Hoggard and Flintoff shared 6 wickets between them which wrecked the windies reply and now lead 2-1. We have the presentation party, let's join them..."

 

[rocklara]

Mikey: " Good day to everyone and welcome to the presentation of this 3rd test match which has just been completed. Let's have a round of applause for both these teams, which played competitve cricket for 5 days or almost 5 full days. In the end the english have emerged the winners here by a whooping 137 runs just before lunch on the 5th day. We now call on the losing captain Brian Lara."

Mikey: " Brian, it seemed a gettable total, considering that time was almost limitless here, but it would always be difficult batting last here and chasing in excess of 400.."

Lara: " Yea it was always going to be hard batting through the 4th and 5th days on a deteriorating turf. Credit to england though for coming back strong in the second innings, which really cost us the game, through a weak bowling performance by us. Um I think 2-1 down we can still come back and play a hard fought final test and see if we can probably pull a win from the bag, or just play for west indian pride. I think we may consider a few bowling changes in the final test and see what happens. I think we had a few good performances here and there, but not consistent enough to enable a more postive result."

Mikey: " Good luck for the final test and don't forget to collect your team cheque from Mr. Ali Sewan on your exit. We now call on the successful english captain Michael Vaughn."

Mikey: " Micheal a very professional win here today, what was the key?"

Vaughn: " Well we got back to the locker room after a bad first innings performance and then we asked ourselves a question. " Do we want this test badly, if we do then let's get the job done" thats exactly what we said and put together a batting performance which really got us back almost back into total control. I think Freddie really set it up here with that fantastic ton and his 3 wickets to wrap up the win. But it was still credited to an all team performance."

Mikey: " Well you guys have retained the Wisden Trophy and I guess the confidence level will be high going into the 4th test here. Good luck Micheal, dont forget to collect that team winners cheque. Good luck.."

Mikey: " Man of the match Freddie Flintoff, have a word with us please."

Mikey: " True all rounder displayed his skills when most needed, did u feel under pressure in this crucial test match?"

Flintoff: " Well not really, I said to myself, if there's ever a time the boys needed me was now especially in that second innings. I guess when things are falling into place for you then you just have to make the best of the opportunity given."

Mikey: " Thanks Freddie, you may collect your winners cheque for the MOM award, and its goodbye from us here."

 

[rocklara]

Athers: " Good morning to everyone and welcome to the start of this final test match in this npower test series involving west indies and england. Its a bright day here at the Brit Oval and should welcome a capacity crowd over the next few days, as long as the weather stays this way. England lead the series 2-1 and will be looking for a possible 3-1 series win. The windies will be playing here for pride. We got Ian Botham down at the pitch for the tail of the track as well as the coin toss with both captains..."

Ian: " Well today, like all the other pitches in the previous matches is similar. There's a bit of grass planted here, and with these humid conditions, the ball will dart around here. It should even out a bit later on, but will be a good toss to win and send the oppostion in to bat. I have both captains with the coin toss. The call is heads. Michael, you win the toss again and what do you fancy here? "

Vaughn: " Well I'll do the same here, we'll have a knock on this track. I think even though we won the last test batting first on a greenish wicket, I still want to instill a bit more confidence into this English team, that we can overcome the odd ball seaming around and post a goodish first innings score. Ofcourse we don't wanna be batting last ( smiles)."

Ian: " Brave call, but is it the same squad, or I assume that there are no changes.."

Vaughn: " No we're going there with the same team, that won the last test."

Ian: " Good luck Micheal...Brian, fancy the chance of bowling yet again and what changes are there?"

Brian: " Well yes, I still think we can get it done here. Use these conditions, similar to the one at Lords where we won, and we did make a few changes, considering the outcome on a 3rd day at the oval. We brought back Mohammed hoping that his spin will pose a threat as a specialist when it comes down to the wire, and Pedro has been rested. Sars is still unavailable so Ganga has been kept and its great to have Wavell back in to open the batting. Um Tino is back, hoping that he can inspire our bowling attack especially in the second innings where we fail badly, so um its a more balanced looking team on paper today."

Ian: " Good luck Brian."

 

[rocklara]

Lunch update day 1

England are 68/0 after 28 overs

Butcher 39*
Trescothick 26*

West Indies bowling figures at lunch day 1

Dillon 7 overs 3 maidens 6 runs 0 wickets
Best 7 overs 1 maiden 12 runs 0 wickets
Edwards 7 overs 0 maidens 21 runs 0 wickets
Mohammed 7 overs 0 maidens 26 runs 0 wickets

 

[rocklara]

Athers: " Well Vaughn's decision will almost be fully justified as england have made the best possible start to this final test match. At 68/0 they have really set the most formidable platform that the middle order will be hoping to capitalize. Both Butch and Tres have negotiated the moving ball, and haven;t managed to nick any. There were a few lbw appeals from Edwards and Dillon but in vain. West Indies have bowled quite well here, getting the ball in the right areas, but have been a touch unlucky. It's a typical start to a test match. Mohammed has been ineffective, so I doubt that Lara will fancy bowling him, not until the 3rd day to the 5th, where the wicket should give him a bit more turn by then. So another important session coming up, england just need to keep a cool head here. Lara in the mean while will vary his pace bowlers, and will tend to do a bit more in field placings etc. inorder to take a few wickets."

 

[rocklara]

My 600th post!!!

By the way, Im using Koala's latest 2.1 patch for tests, and so far its proving very hard to dismiss the cpu on a green wicket. Challenging though, quite good!

 

[rocklara]

Tea update day 1

England are 113/2 after 55 overs

Butcher 40
Trescothick 36

Windies bowling figures at tea day 1

Dillon 18 overs 7 maidens 22 runs 0 wickets
Best 18 overs 6 maidens 23 runs 2 wickets
Edwards 10 overs 0 maidens 31 runs 0 wickets
Mohammed 7 overs 0 maidens 26 runs 0 wickets
Ryan Hinds 2 overs 0 maidens 4 runs 0 wickets

 

[rocklara]

Jeffery: " Well so far, this match has progressed a bit slowly. its a bit difficult batting conditions, but England have managed to stabilize themselves here at 113/2. They need to continue to negotiate these windies bowlers over a period of time, and go on to post a reasonable first innings total. We saw the quick dismissals of both Butcher and Trescothick, trying to hit Best over the top, never timed it well and were both caught at mid off. West Indies have kept it tight, Strauss edged one which fell short of Baugh, so he has survived. The captain is trying to play the pivotal role, which he is performing quite well. This session yielded only 45 runs for 2 wickets, which is a bit excused, for these tough conditions, nevertheless its test cricket. An important session of play to follow though."

 

[espnstar]

are you going to kill your self rock lara arent you getting bored playing this game for about 2 days

 

[rocklara]

um it may get a bit, but i will switch to radaga's by tea on day 2

 

[rocklara]

England's 1st innings score of 158 all out after 76 overs

Butcher 40
Trescothick 36

West Indies 1st innings bowling figures

Dillon 22 overs 7 maidens 33 runs 3 wickets
Best 18.1 overs 5 maidens 28 runs 3 wickets
Edwards 20 overs 1 maiden 50 runs 0 wickets
Mohammed 7 overs 0 maidens 26 runs 0 wickets
R.Hinds 9 overs 3 maidens 13 runs 3 wickets

 

[rocklara]

Mikey: " Well England have been bundled out for 158 runs just 10 mins before the close of day 1. Dillon and Best were brought back into the attack by Lara just after tea, and really got the ball to move, with all the tailenders being rocked with a few short pitched deliveries, and when they were pitched up, they induced edges which were well caught. Big Freddie, fell very early, a rare failure for 1 being trapped lbw by the arm ball from Hinds, Hinds also bowled Vaughn just after tea with one which stayed straight on, and Strauss's run of miserable form continued by inside edging a ball to Chanders at silly point. Remarkably Hinds took 3 scalps on a green wicket, which favoured the faster bowlers. However, england have still got the attack to limit the west indies reply as they showed in their previous 2 wins. So I won't be counting my eggs here."

 

[rocklara]

Stumps day 1

West Indies are 5/0 after 2 overs

W.Hinds 3*
Gayle 2*

England's bowling figures at stumps day 1

Hoggard 1 over 0 maidens 4 runs 0 wickets
Anderson 1 over 0 maidens 1 run 0 wickets