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Australian Test Glory: Story

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  • IGetOutToFullTosses
    replied
    First Test v Sri Lanka

    Lineup

    The same top 7 as the last ashes test, but a very different bowling attack. Both Starc and Hazlewood miss out due to some poor form with Australia opting for two spinners in the subcontinent. Cummins will have to bowl very well and most likely a lot of overs with Scott Boland looking to bowl like he did in the ashes.

    Toss

    Australia lose the toss and will bowl first.

    Sri Lanka First Innings

    Cummins picked up the first wicket of the match when Nissanka edged behind. After a 54 run partnership between Thirimanne and Dhananjaya De silva Cameron Green came into the attack and clean bowled de silva. In the next over Lyon got Thirimanne caught behind and Sri Lanka were in trouble at 66 for 3. Kamindu Mendis came in and hit a boundary off his first ball, but edged to slip trying to put pressure on Swepson. At the end of the first session Sri Lanka were 83 for 4 with two new batters at the crease in Chandimal and Angelo Mathews. Great first session.

    In the second over of the session, Mathews edged off and Sri Lanka were in a whole world of trouble. Enter Niroshan Dickwella. He played extremely well hitting 10 fours and scoring at almost a run a ball before yet another edge to Labuschagne. But Dickwella's 53 off 54 had given Sri Lanka a chance, a much needed chance. Chandimal and Ambuldeniya only batted together for 6 overs with Cummins trapping Chandimal in front for a well made 48. Cummins and Boland picked up a wicket each in the last 4 overs of the session to leave Sri Lanka 215 for 9 at Tea on Day 1.

    Cummins picked up a fourth in the second over of the session to bowl Sri Lanka out for 215.

    Australia First Innings

    Khawaja and Warner came out with 1 hour and 46 minutes to bat and try survive to the morning. Warner smacked Vishwa Fernando for 10 in the fourth over of the innings. With an hour left in the session Warner was looking good on 27 with Khawaja playing second fiddle on just 5. At this point the pitch was still extremely good for batting so Sri Lanka were going to have to come up with something to break the partnership. And they did. Vishwa Fernando got the ball to move in and bowl Warner for a fast 31 but that was what Sri Lanka needed, desperately. With 50 minutes until stumps Labuschagne came out and played a glorious cover drive to get off the mark. After 67 deliveries Khawaja got his first boundary with a flick through the on side. On the last ball of the session Labuschagne played and missed, almost getting out but he survived. A good 52 run partnership between Khawaja and Labuschagne brought Australia to 89 for 1 at stumps trailing by 126.

    Australia started the day off slowly, adding just 18 runs in the first half hour with Jayawickrama and Ambuldeniya bowling good lines. Khawaja brought up his 17th test match 50 with a square drive. Labuschagne followed suit the next over with a quick single to cover. With 56 minutes left in the session, Sri Lanka only lead by 75 runs in desperate need of a wicket. The next hour was toil for Sri Lanka's bowlers not a single chance and plenty of good shots being played. Australia made their way to 187 for 1 at the Lunch break with Labuschagne and Khawaja looking to continue their partnership next session.

    Lasith Ambuldeniya got Khawaja caught and bowled on the third ball of the session, and broke the mammoth partnership of 150. Steven Smith came in looking to bat well and get a healthy first innings lead. He hit a couple of boundaries in a row off Jayawickrama and was batting positively. Labuschagne brought the 200 up with a punch through the covers and despite getting Khawaja, Sri Lanka did not look like they could get another one. Labuschagne then brought up a magnificent hundred punching the ball to deep point and at this point Australia looked like they would gain a large first innings lead. Labuschagne played a glorious straight drive off Jayawickrama only to edge off to Mendis at slip the very next ball. Travis Head came in with 3 overs until the new ball was available. Sri Lanka took the new ball and Travis Head took advantage of the spread fields and hit two boundaries through an unusually large gap at square leg. Smith played a cut shot to bring up his 50 in style. Only a few overs later, he played a straight drive to bring up 300 for the team and a 50 partnership. Head tried playing the same shot but to no avail, edging to slip where Mendis took a good catch. Cam Green played a magnificent loft over square leg to get off the mark, leaving Australia 319 for 4 at Tea, leading by 104.

    Smith and Green took a liking to the pacers, both Fernando's getting hammered in the first 3 overs of session with Smith just 20 away from a hundred. He moved into the nervous nineties with a dab into the on side. Asitha Fernando came into the attack looking for his first, only to get pummelled by Green who brought up a good fifty. With just 28 minutes left in the session, Smith was 5 away from a hundred and had been stuck in the 90s for a while. Smith ended his time in the 90s with an off drive off Ambuldeniya's bowling bringing up a 28th test match century in style. Soon after, Cam Green made it a 100 run partnership with a cover drive. Unfortunately for Green, he was bowled by Ambuldeniya on 78 trying to play across the line in the second last over. Carey and Smith saw out the rest of the day and ended a great day's play for Australia, only losing four wickets and sitting on 435 for 5 with Smith not out on 112 and Alex Carey yet to score off his 4 deliveries.

    Day 3 started with Carey looking to make some runs and nail down a spot in the XI while Smith simply wanted to keep up his good work. Carey played a lovely lofted drive to get the ball rolling, but couldn't do too much else getting clean bowled by Ambuldeniya for a modest 17. Pat Cummins came in looking to give as much of the strike to Smith. However, Cummins didn't last very long and was caught by Mendis trying to play a cover drive. Smith played some very good shots, and motored his way to 153 not looking like slowing down. Australia reached 500 when Lyon got it through the infield, almost reaching the rope. Smith tried to play one big shot too many and skied it on 169. But smith had played a great innings and set Australia up for an innings victory. Asitha Fernando trapped Swepson in front two balls later with Boland the final man to come in. Lyon was soon bowled but off a no ball so he survived. Asitha was filthy. It didn't matter to much as he nicked the ball to Dickwella the keeper and the innings had ended at 536. With Australia having a lead of 321, it was very hard to see Sri Lanka winning from here.

    Sri Lanka Second Innings

    Scott Boland made sure Sri Lanka couldn't get off to a good start picking up Nissanka for 6. Thirimanne and de Silva batted together for the remainder of the session to get Sri Lanka to 16 for 1 at Lunch.

    Thirimanne and de Silva fought hard for the first hour but only made 22 runs in that period. Green came into the attack and bowled a pearl to dismiss Thirimanne for a hard fought 83 minute 15. Chandimal only lasted a couple of deliveries as Lyon got him to edge off. He almost got 2 in 2 balls when Mendis when for a slog first ball and almost got bowled but it missed. de Silva got Sri Lanka to 50 for 3 with a good off drive. Dhananjaya de Silva soon brought up an important 50 for Sri Lanka and with that shot also made the partnership worth 51. Kamindu Mendis swept a full-toss from Nathan Lyon to bring up the 100 for Sri Lanka. No runs were scored in the last 3 overs to see Sri Lanka end the session at 106 for 3 still behind by 215.

    de Silva and Mendis were batting well together when Swepson got one to turn but it turned too much and Ball Tracker showed it was missing by quite a bit. Drinks were called with Sri Lanka only adding 19 runs in the first hour with the Aussie bowlers putting the clamps on. During this time only 1 boundary was scored which was a sweep by de Silva off the bowling off Mitchell Swepson. Half an hour later Swepson broke the partnership, dismissing Mendis for 39. With the new ball likely to be taken on Day 4, Sri Lanka were looking to get as many runs on the board as they could. Unfortunately for them though, de Silva chipped a short ball back to Cam Green and was out for a fighting 82. The day ended with Sri Lanka on 166 for 5 with the new ball 10 overs away.

    Dickwella was dismissed on the fifth ball of the day being trapped in front by Green who claimed his third. Not long after Lyon got Ambuldeniya leaving Sri Lanka with just 3 wickets in hand still behind by 138. Australia took the new ball with Cummins and Boland rested and ready to go. Boland was bowling well, creating chances he just couldn't get the wicket. Cummins nor Boland were able to get a wicket with the new ball so Green came on looking to grab a fourth. Green and Lyon were both ineffective and Sri Lanka got to Lunch at 238 for 7, trailing by 83.

    Angelo Mathews continued his great test career by bringing up an extremely important fifty, his partnership with Praveen Jayawickrama really frustrating the aussies. The first half hour was good for Sri Lanka, not losing a wicket and adding 17 runs. Cummins finally broke the partnership when Jayawickrama edged it faintly to keeper Carey. Mathews tried to be more aggressive but that was his downfall, Cummins picking up a second and Australia just one away from a win. Asitha Fernando was the last one to go when he was clean bowled by Boland for 4.

    Result

    Australia win by an innings and 55 runs

    Man of the match

    Steve Smith (169)

    Other Notable Performances

    Labuschagne (104)

    Cameron Green (78) (1/22, 3/59)

    Usman Khawaja (73)

    Disappointing Performances

    Carey (17)

    Swepson (2/52, 1/42)

    Wrap-up

    Overall, a magnificent first test. Good partnerships throughout the batting order, and not many failures. One possible change is Starc in for Boland or Swepson, depends on the type of pitch.
    Attached Files
    Last edited by IGetOutToFullTosses; 06-30-2022, 03:43 AM.

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  • IGetOutToFullTosses
    replied
    Originally posted by Cam View Post
    Get Glenn Maxwell in! I played as the Aussies and had him at 6 with Green at 5. Strengthens up the team. I found him better with the bat than Head and Green plus handy overs
    Thanks, series verses West Indies definitely will.

    Leave a comment:


  • Cam
    replied
    Get Glenn Maxwell in! I played as the Aussies and had him at 6 with Green at 5. Strengthens up the team. I found him better with the bat than Head and Green plus handy overs

    Leave a comment:


  • IGetOutToFullTosses
    replied
    Australia have named their 18 man squad to face Sri Lanka in 2 tests.

    Will Pucovski has been named in this squad as Australia look to the future.

    Matt Short is a surprise selection, but with spin likely to play a part he has a chance to debut. The rest of the squad is mostly regulation, with Mitchell Swepson looking to announce himself as Nathan Lyon's successor after taking only 2 wickets in his debut v Pakistan
    Attached Files

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  • IGetOutToFullTosses
    started a topic Australian Test Glory: Story

    Australian Test Glory: Story

    Hey everyone I am starting my first story.

    I am going to be playing as Australia and trying to win the Test Championship.

    This will be purely tests, no white ball games as I am very bad at them.

    In The current Test Championship we sit first ahead of South Africa and India. After a horror ashes series England are in last place.

    Upcoming Series

    We have a 2 test match series v Sri Lanka and then a long break from tests with our next series vs West Indies in December. This series will be two matches.

    To cap off our home summer we play 3 matches vs South Africa who should be a tough opponent.

    Our year ends off with 4 test matches against India in India, trying to get revenge after losing the last 2 home series against them.

    I hope you all enjoy this story.
    Attached Files
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