Australia: The Rumblah Chronicles - A Cricket Captain 2015 Story

[Dick Van Dykes Disco Dog]

FIRST ASHES TEST NEWS

There will be no debutants for the series from our point of view, which is a good thing because this is the one series on the calendar where the idea of debuts somewhat angers me. We put up a decent show in the final three day game, but our inability to run through sides is still a worry. Mitchell Johnson attempted to rectify that with 11 wickets for that match, but overall he received very little support. The weather report for the First Test isn't great, with rain hanging around for all six sessions of the first two days. It's likely that Australia will head in unchanged from their last Test against the West Indies.

Likely XI:

Chris Rogers, David Warner, Steve Smith, Michael Clarke (c), Adam Voges, Peter Nevill, Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon.

Great read so far.

That's only 10 mate
Assume you'd have Mitch Marsh at 6.

I'm doing an Aussie save and have just finished the ashes test series.

Voges a massive disappointment against WI & ENG .... and would have been dropped for Bailey but then in the warm up game prior to the decisive final test Clarke broke his arm so Voges kept his place .... He then tanked in both innings and we lost the series 2-1.

Hardin was hopeless but then managed some 50s for the final few ashes tests - think I'm with you that his best years are behind him so Wade (who will play in the T20 and ODI series) will take over for the next test series with the second keepers spot up for grabs - I've always liked Paine.

I've gone with Pattinson over Hazelwood for the Tests but might give Hazelwood the nod for the ODIs to see what he can do.

Keep up the good work mate !!

[Rumblah]

Great read so far.

That's only 10 mate
Assume you'd have Mitch Marsh at 6.

I'm doing an Aussie save and have just finished the ashes test series.

Voges a massive disappointment against WI & ENG .... and would have been dropped for Bailey but then in the warm up game prior to the decisive final test Clarke broke his arm so Voges kept his place .... He then tanked in both innings and we lost the series 2-1.

Hardin was hopeless but then managed some 50s for the final few ashes tests - think I'm with you that his best years are behind him so Wade (who will play in the T20 and ODI series) will take over for the next test series with the second keepers spot up for grabs - I've always liked Paine.

I've gone with Pattinson over Hazelwood for the Tests but might give Hazelwood the nod for the ODIs to see what he can do.

Keep up the good work mate !!

Thanks pal!

Yeah Mitchell Marsh was meant to be in there at 6, just slipped my mind haha.

As you saw Adam Voges was quite good for me in the Caribbean. Personally I wouldn't recommend giving Bailey another shot but if he's making FC runs you gotta back yourself in there. Haddin is hopeless bud, I didn't even entertain the idea of picking him. I'm a HUGE Hazlewood fan IRL so I just had to go with him, Patto will no doubt get a shot soon though, my succession plan has Rogers making way for Joe Burns soon and Mitchell Johnson on the way out.

Thanks for the reply mate!

[Dick Van Dykes Disco Dog]

Thanks pal!

Yeah Mitchell Marsh was meant to be in there at 6, just slipped my mind haha.

As you saw Adam Voges was quite good for me in the Caribbean. Personally I wouldn't recommend giving Bailey another shot but if he's making FC runs you gotta back yourself in there. Haddin is hopeless bud, I didn't even entertain the idea of picking him. I'm a HUGE Hazlewood fan IRL so I just had to go with him, Patto will no doubt get a shot soon though, my succession plan has Rogers making way for Joe Burns soon and Mitchell Johnson on the way out.

Thanks for the reply mate!

Anytime mate.

Realised I hadn't picked Hazelwood in the ODI squad As I'd already played the T20 game
..... Well it was 1am

Voges and Bailey will have to battle it out for the 5th spot - will have to go with form like you say.
Smith and Clarke at 3 and 4 are immense .. Well come to think of it Warner and Rogers have been great too. It just becomes a disappointment 5-7 most of the time.

[Rumblah]

Australia XI:

Chris Rogers, David Warner, Steve Smith, Michael Clarke (c), Adam Voges, Mitchell Marsh, Peter Nevill, Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon.

**********************************************
England v Australia
1st Test Match - 8 Jul 2015
**********************************************

Australia - 1st Innings
----------------------------------------------
C Rogers        c Buttler b Finn          31
D Warner        c Ballance b Broad        129
S Smith         b Finn                    129
M Clarke        c Buttler b Wood          10
A Voges         b Broad                   18
M Marsh         not out                   75
P Nevill        c Cook b Finn             16
M Johnson       lbw b Finn                0
M Starc         lbw b Rashid              9
J Hazlewood     not out                   8
N Lyon          
----------------------------------------------
Extras: (nb10,b4,lb7)                     21
TOTAL: (8 wkts, 135 overs)                446


**********************************************


                O       M       R       W
----------------------------------------------
J Anderson      40      2       127     0
S Broad         31      2       107     2
S Finn          33      3       106     4
M Wood          29      3       89      1
A Rashid        2       0       6       1
----------------------------------------------
Fall of Wickets:
1-58  2-276  3-316  4-316  5-364  
6-414  7-414  8-432

England - 1st Innings
----------------------------------------------
A Lyth          c Smith b Hazlewood       15
A Cook          lbw b Johnson             61
G Ballance      b Johnson                 0
J Root          c Smith b Starc           34
I Bell          lbw b Lyon                118
J Buttler       b Voges                   68
A Rashid        c Smith b Marsh           12
S Broad         b Lyon                    47
M Wood          lbw b Johnson             8
J Anderson      c Warner b Johnson        0
S Finn          not out                   2
----------------------------------------------
Extras: (nb3,w1)                          4
TOTAL: (all out, 115 overs)               369


**********************************************


                O       M       R       W
----------------------------------------------
M Starc         20      3       62      1
J Hazlewood     23      0       62      1
M Johnson       24      0       68      4
N Lyon          31      2       133     2
M Marsh         12      2       30      1
S Smith         2       0       9       0
A Voges         2       0       5       1
----------------------------------------------
Fall of Wickets:
1-31  2-36  3-105  4-124  5-272  
6-297  7-332  8-341  9-347  10-369

Australia - 2nd Innings
----------------------------------------------
C Rogers        b Finn                    28
D Warner        b Finn                    24
S Smith         c Broad b Finn            16
M Clarke        b Finn                    47
A Voges         b Broad                   18
M Marsh         b Broad                   48
P Nevill        not out                   40
M Johnson       not out                   13
M Starc         
J Hazlewood     
N Lyon          
----------------------------------------------
Extras: (nb5,w1,lb3)                      9
TOTAL: (6 wkts, 82 overs)                 243


**********************************************


                O       M       R       W
----------------------------------------------
S Broad         20      5       53      2
J Anderson      25      3       65      0
S Finn          17      3       47      4
M Wood          18      1       69      0
A Rashid        2       0       6       0
----------------------------------------------
Fall of Wickets:
1-38  2-70  3-77  4-104  5-189  
6-195

England - 2nd Innings
----------------------------------------------
A Lyth          lbw b Lyon                66
A Cook          lbw b Starc               7
G Ballance      b Lyon                    20
J Root          st Nevill b Lyon          0
I Bell          c & b Lyon                24
J Buttler       c Clarke b Starc          5
A Rashid        lbw b Marsh               38
S Broad         b Johnson                 43
M Wood          c Voges b Lyon            14
J Anderson      not out                   7
S Finn          b Lyon                    10
----------------------------------------------
Extras: (nb3)                             3
TOTAL: (all out, 68.1 overs)              237


**********************************************


                O       M       R       W
----------------------------------------------
M Starc         13      2       43      2
M Johnson       15      2       54      1
J Hazlewood     16      2       43      0
N Lyon          17.1    1       73      6
M Marsh         5       1       18      1
A Voges         2       0       6       0
----------------------------------------------
Fall of Wickets:
1-21  2-60  3-60  4-107  5-122  
6-123  7-196  8-219  9-219  10-237

**********************************************
Australia won by 83 runs
Man of the match: D Warner
**********************************************

[Rumblah]

FIRST TEST REVIEW + SECOND TEST NEWS

Very happy with that performance. Always good to get an early win on the board especially on a big away tour. David Warner and Steve Smith were just immense with those first innings 129's. Special mention to Mitchell Marsh in his first Ashes innings peeling off a very nice 75* too. I thought we bowled better than those first innings figures suggest. Mitchell Johnson will receive all of the praise for his 4/68 and rightly so, but with the exception of Nathan Lyon the entire group was very good with the ball.

Second batting innings was all about extending our lead and getting the declaration correct. I thought we did both of these things well, with Mitchell Marsh expertly hitting a very fast 48 and contributions from a lot of the lads. We declared with the idea of getting 25 minutes of bowling at England on day 4. From there Nathan Lyon just went ballistic. You look at his figures of 6/73 and think "yeah, great performance from the spinner", but the truth is it should have been even better. He himself put down Adam Lyth before snagging him LBW, and had Steve Finn put down as well.

Hard to see any changes for the Lords Test, we'll look to build on that win and throw everything we can at England on the slope that is Lords.

Likely XI:

Chris Rogers, David Warner, Steve Smith, Michael Clarke (c), Adam Voges, Mitchell Marsh, Peter Nevill, Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon.

[Chris Child]

Australia might need to take note of this story. Well played in the first test.

[Rumblah]

Australia might need to take note of this story. Well played in the first test.

Heh thanks mate. We didn't deserve to win after throwing away all the momentum early on day one with Haddin putting down Joe Root. The solution to our current problems are actually in the touring group, they just won't pick them until it's too late unfortunately. Appreciate the feedback, Chris.

[Rumblah]

Australia XI:

Chris Rogers, David Warner, Steve Smith, Michael Clarke (c), Adam Voges, Mitchell Marsh, Peter Nevill, Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon.

**********************************************
England v Australia
2nd Test Match - 16 Jul 2015
**********************************************

Australia - 1st Innings
----------------------------------------------
C Rogers        c Broad b Finn            38
D Warner        c Cook b Broad            0
S Smith         lbw b Wood                219
M Clarke        lbw b Wood                159
A Voges         c Cook b Wood             44
M Marsh         c Broad b Finn            47
P Nevill        lbw b Finn                0
M Johnson       c Ballance b Root         8
M Starc         not out                   7
J Hazlewood     not out                   2
N Lyon          
----------------------------------------------
Extras: (nb15,w3,b4)                      22
TOTAL: (8 wkts, 147 overs)                546


**********************************************


                O       M       R       W
----------------------------------------------
S Broad         35      1       126     1
J Anderson      43      6       140     0
S Finn          35      2       152     3
B Stokes        16      1       61      0
M Wood          14      1       54      3
J Root          4       1       9       1
----------------------------------------------
Fall of Wickets:
1-1  2-97  3-433  4-438  5-529  
6-529  7-529  8-543

England - 1st Innings
----------------------------------------------
A Lyth          c Smith b Johnson         28
A Cook          lbw b Johnson             65
G Ballance      c Voges b Johnson         4
J Root          c Lyon b Starc            99
I Bell          lbw b Marsh               20
J Buttler       c Voges b Starc           8
B Stokes        lbw b Lyon                135
S Broad         c Rogers b Johnson        6
M Wood          not out                   39
J Anderson      c Johnson b Lyon          0
S Finn          b Johnson                 4
----------------------------------------------
Extras: (nb7,w6,b8)                       21
TOTAL: (all out, 117.1 overs)             429


**********************************************


                O       M       R       W
----------------------------------------------
M Starc         22      1       75      2
J Hazlewood     25      4       77      0
M Johnson       23.1    2       92      5
N Lyon          32      4       125     2
M Marsh         13      0       45      1
S Smith         2       0       7       0
----------------------------------------------
Fall of Wickets:
1-46  2-50  3-158  4-189  5-203  
6-278  7-315  8-420  9-424  10-429

Australia - 2nd Innings
----------------------------------------------
C Rogers        not out                   117
D Warner        c Cook b Broad            5
S Smith         not out                   131
M Clarke        
A Voges         
M Marsh         
P Nevill        
M Johnson       
M Starc         
J Hazlewood     
N Lyon          
----------------------------------------------
Extras: (nb6,w4,b4,lb2)                   16
TOTAL: (1 wkts, 78 overs)                 269


**********************************************


                O       M       R       W
----------------------------------------------
S Broad         20      0       60      1
J Anderson      23      0       69      0
S Finn          18      1       64      0
B Stokes        8       0       35      0
M Wood          6       0       23      0
J Root          3       0       12      0
----------------------------------------------
Fall of Wickets:
1-7

England - 2nd Innings
----------------------------------------------
A Lyth          lbw b Johnson             86
A Cook          c Smith b Lyon            33
G Ballance      lbw b Starc               64
J Root          b Marsh                   2
I Bell          lbw b Johnson             3
J Buttler       not out                   26
B Stokes        c Voges b Lyon            13
S Broad         c Nevill b Starc          19
M Wood          not out                   2
J Anderson      
S Finn          
----------------------------------------------
Extras: (nb6,w1,b4,lb4)                   15
TOTAL: (7 wkts, 89 overs)                 263


**********************************************


                O       M       R       W
----------------------------------------------
M Starc         20      3       54      2
J Hazlewood     16      5       33      0
M Johnson       19      4       66      2
N Lyon          24      2       75      2
M Marsh         9       0       27      1
A Voges         1       1       0       0
----------------------------------------------
Fall of Wickets:
1-71  2-179  3-193  4-199  5-201  
6-229  7-259

**********************************************
Match Drawn
Man of the match: S Smith
**********************************************

[Graham_5000]

You're batting nicely! Look forward to the third Test. Perhaps the Aussie selectors in real life will listen to you and drop Haddin and Watson?!

[Rumblah]

SECOND TEST REVIEW + TOUR MATCH NEWS

So we started beautifully. Steve Smith hit his first double hundred, captain Michael Clarke was dropped twice before reaching 20, made the English pay big-time with a slow but vital 159. The captain and vice captain combined for 336 runs which is a new Australian record for the third wicket. Adam Voges made a nice contribution and Mitchell Marsh fell agonisingly short of 50 yet again. Disappointing for him but he's contributing well. It was the Mitchell Johnson show with the ball. The 34 year old claimed Adam Lyth as his 300th Test scalp as he went on to claim 5/92 on a heavily batsman favoured pitch. I thought we bowled quite poor overall, but the pitch didn't offer us much at all.

Our second innings was again, about building a total and getting the declaration right. This time it was Chris Rogers who stood up alongside Steve Smith, making 117* and 131* respectively. Not much else to report here, England bowled terribly on a flat wicket. A declaration was made with England needing roughly 400 and a fraction over a day to do it in. We bowled poor with the new ball and gave the English early momentum, and never really got in control after that. The pitch offered very little to the bowlers throughout the entire match, so taking 10 wickets on the final day wasn't going to be easy.

In terms of the upcoming Tour match, quite a few of the batsman will have a rest. Josh Hazlewood needs some form badly so he'll definitely be playing, I might look to play Mitchell Starc as well.

[Rumblah]

You're batting nicely! Look forward to the third Test. Perhaps the Aussie selectors in real life will listen to you and drop Haddin and Watson?!

Thanks champ. If only our selectors would! Unfortunately I'm expecting no changes, Watson will play until the series is lost and Haddin has an undeserved pass to play until he decides.

[Rumblah]

Australia XI:

Joe Burns, David Warner, Adam Voges, Shaun Marsh, Moises Henriques (c), Mitchell Marsh, Peter Nevill, Steve O'Keefe, Mitchell Starc, Peter Siddle, Josh Hazlewood.

**********************************************
Derbyshire v Australia
Three Day Friendly - 23 Jul 2015
**********************************************

Australia - 1st Innings
----------------------------------------------
J Burns         b Palladino               13
D Warner        b Palladino               5
A Voges         c Godleman b Palladino    1
S Marsh         lbw b Palladino           0
M Henriques     c Poynton b Palladino     42
M Marsh         c Cotton b Footitt        104
P Nevill        not out                   102
S O'Keefe       not out                   35
M Starc         
P Siddle        
J Hazlewood     
----------------------------------------------
Extras: (nb4,w1,b4,lb8)                   17
TOTAL: (6 wkts, 97 overs)                 319


**********************************************


                O       M       R       W
----------------------------------------------
T Palladino     28      1       86      5
M Footitt       25      3       69      1
W White         22      0       103     0
B Cotton        17      2       45      0
S Thakor        2       2       0       0
W Madsen        3       1       4       0
----------------------------------------------
Fall of Wickets:
1-9  2-11  3-13  4-20  5-115  
6-240

Derbyshire - 1st Innings
----------------------------------------------
H Rutherford    c Nevill b Starc          0
B Godleman      b Siddle                  26
S Thakor        lbw b Hazlewood           13
W Madsen        c Voges b Siddle          21
C Hughes        lbw b Hazlewood           29
B Slater        b Starc                   5
W White         c Nevill b Hazlewood      8
T Poynton       lbw b Starc               7
T Palladino     c Burns b Hazlewood       0
M Footitt       not out                   11
B Cotton        b O'Keefe                 9
----------------------------------------------
Extras: (nb2,w3,lb1)                      6
TOTAL: (all out, 47 overs)                135


**********************************************


                O       M       R       W
----------------------------------------------
M Starc         11      1       23      3
J Hazlewood     14      2       39      4
P Siddle        8       2       20      2
S O'Keefe       10      1       39      1
M Henriques     3       0       13      0
----------------------------------------------
Fall of Wickets:
1-0  2-29  3-58  4-64  5-99  
6-101  7-114  8-115  9-115  10-135

Derbyshire - 2nd Innings
----------------------------------------------
H Rutherford    lbw b Starc               0
B Godleman      c Nevill b Henriques      73
S Thakor        c Voges b Siddle          27
W Madsen        lbw b Starc               28
C Hughes        c Starc b Siddle          69
B Slater        lbw b O'Keefe             44
W White         b O'Keefe                 1
T Poynton       not out                   32
T Palladino     c Burns b Siddle          12
M Footitt       b Siddle                  1
B Cotton        c Marsh b Siddle          0
----------------------------------------------
Extras: (nb7,w1,b4,lb6)                   18
TOTAL: (all out, 120.2 overs)             305


**********************************************


                O       M       R       W
----------------------------------------------
M Starc         22      0       84      2
J Hazlewood     28      5       50      0
P Siddle        26.2    2       46      5
S O'Keefe       27      7       45      2
M Marsh         8       0       30      0
M Henriques     6       0       18      1
A Voges         3       0       22      0
----------------------------------------------
Fall of Wickets:
1-0  2-70  3-118  4-179  5-250  
6-251  7-271  8-298  9-304  10-305

Australia - 2nd Innings
----------------------------------------------
D Warner        not out                   12
A Voges         not out                   12
J Burns         
S Marsh         
M Henriques     
M Marsh         
P Nevill        
S O'Keefe       
M Starc         
P Siddle        
J Hazlewood     
----------------------------------------------
Extras: (nb1,w1)                          2
TOTAL: (0 wkts, 11 overs)                 26


**********************************************


                O       M       R       W
----------------------------------------------
M Footitt       6       1       16      0
T Palladino     5       0       10      0
----------------------------------------------
Fall of Wickets:

**********************************************
Match Drawn
Man of the match: P Siddle
**********************************************

[Rumblah]

TOUR MATCH REVIEW + THIRD TEST NEWS

Gee whiz we started as if we hadn't even woken up for the day. 4/20 and looking down the barrel of a tough day with the willow. Captain Moises Henriques and Mitchell Marsh steadied the ship putting on nearly 100 runs together before Tony Palladino struck for a fifth time. Mitchell Marsh and Peter Nevill put us back on top with brilliant hundreds. Mitchell Starc struck first ball, and bowled really well in tandem with the under pressure Josh Hazlewood. Everyone bowled well truth be told, no complaints from me.

Forced Derbyshire to follow on given we'd bowled them out in a session and a half. In hindsight it was probably a poor decision but I figured if we ran through them again it'd make everything easy. As you can see it wasn't. Mitchell Starc struck first ball again which was nice, and Peter Siddle put forward his case for a Test recall. Overall, not too pleased with the follow up effort. With just 11 overs left in day three, I wanted to see David Warner and Adam Voges face some much needed deliveries. They got through not out and will probably hold onto their spots for the time being.

Likely XI:

Chris Rogers, David Warner, Steve Smith, Michael Clarke (c), Adam Voges, Mitchell Marsh, Peter Nevill, Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon.

[KGKOOLKAT777]

Interesting story - following it with interest. Being a warm-up, did you consider going for the runs at about 10 an over and trying to play those two into some sort of form and going for the gamble. Good job with the first two tests though!

[Rumblah]

Interesting story - following it with interest. Being a warm-up, did you consider going for the runs at about 10 an over and trying to play those two into some sort of form and going for the gamble. Good job with the first two tests though!

Thanks mate. Not really, to be truthful. Chasing 120-odd from 11 overs was obviously never going to be easy. My plan from the start of the second innings was to get as many deliveries as I could into Warner and Voges, so they were going to open. Initially I thought I'd be batting a session at least so I wasn't worried, then we bowled pretty bad and only got 11 overs in. Could I have gone much harder for it? Sure. At the end of the day the game meant nothing and building some form of confidence into the two guys mentioned was more important going forward in my opinion.