Australia: The Rumblah Chronicles - A Cricket Captain 2015 Story

[Rumblah]

So coming into October we have a tour of Bangladesh. The tour will consist of two Test matches, three One Day Internationals and two Twenty20 matches to finish. Naturally, the Test series is the first, and here is the 18-man squad selected -

NAME	TYPE	AGE	CAPS	AVERAGE
M Clarke (c)	BAT	34	115	50.95
S Smith (vc)	BAT	26	33	61.09
J Burns	O BAT	26	3	48.83
D Warner	O BAT	28	43	48.51
A Voges	BAT	36	7	37.45
S Marsh	BAT	32	12	35.57
C Ferguson	BAT	30	-	-
P Nevill	WK	29	7	25.30
S Whiteman	WK	23	-	-
M Marsh	ALL	23	11	42.59/ 54.44
G Maxwell	ALL	26	3	13.33/ 38.71
M Johnson	SEAM	33	71	27.45
S O'Keefe	SPIN	30	1	54.75
M Starc	SEAM	25	22	32.01
J Hazlewood	SEAM	24	10	33.47
N Lyon	SPIN	27	46	36.86
J Bird	SEAM	28	3	23.31
J Pattinson	SEAM	25	13	27.08

* Callum Ferguson gets a chance in the squad after an impressive First Class season last year. He made 1002 runs @ 52.74 with 4 hundreds and 4 fifties from 12 matches.
* Sam Whiteman joins the squad as the reserve keeper. He's a very highly rated gloveman who comes off a First Class season of 572 runs @ 40.86 with 2 hundreds and 2 fifties from his 13 matches.

[Rumblah]

If it was just his fielding, you could have given him fielding training, but as he's not making runs either, I can understand your situation.

Yeah that's the thing. I'm not a huge fan of Wade personally. Okay with the bat but he's garbage with the gloves. The downside of that tour being when it is, I have absolutely no run of form to select from, so it doesn't leave me with a lot of room to move. So I went against my own thoughts, and got what I deserved in terms of a keeper. Live and learn.

[GrahamB]

Matthew Wade put him down in the first over, an absolute sitter and he isn't likely to represent Australia again to be honest. Put down a few chances throughout the series and offered very little in the way of runs.

If it was just his fielding, you could have given him fielding training, but as he's not making runs either, I can understand your situation.

[Rumblah]

FIFTH ODI REVIEW AND SERIES REVIEWED

Well Moeen Ali made runs again, there's a shock. Matthew Wade put him down in the first over, an absolute sitter and he isn't likely to represent Australia again to be honest. Put down a few chances throughout the series and offered very little in the way of runs. Mitchell Starc put the drop behind him and went on to take 5-44 for the match, with Josh Hazlewood again acting as a fantastic foil. I think we've settled on the opening duo going forward. Shaun Marsh (97) and Aaron Finch (80) put on 154 together and from there, even a disgraceful middle order collapse couldn't save England.

So, even with three walk-up best XI players in the side we managed to swat away the English. Australia won the series 5-0 in the end, the early somewhat lucky wins proved to be the catalyst as England fell away dramatically towards the end. Things are not looking good for them, still losing to a side without captain Steve Smith and fast bowling weapon Mitchell Johnson.

NAME	M	I	SR	HS	100's	50's	RUNS	AVE
S Smith	4	4	93.8	120	2	1	321	80.25
A Finch	5	5	90.5	80	-	3	256	51.20
S Marsh	2	2	81.1	97	-	2	159	79.50
G Maxwell	5	5	109.0	50	-	1	121	24.20
G Bailey	5	5	73.4	54	-	1	91	18.20
M Johnson	4	2	91.5	38	-	-	65	65.00
M Wade	5	5	95.5	22	-	-	64	21.33
M Marsh	5	5	75.3	28	-	-	64	16.00
D Warner	3	3	75.9	30	-	-	60	20.00
M Starc	5	5	97.8	18*	-	-	44	22.00
U Khawaja	1	1	96.7	29	-	-	29	29.00
A Zampa	4	2	62.5	12*	-	-	15	15.00
J Hazlewood	5	1	25.0	3*	-	-	3	3.00
G Sandhu	2	-	0	-	-	-	0	0

NAME	M	O	SR	BB	WKTS	AVE
M Starc	5	46	28.0	5-44	10	24.70
J Hazlewood	5	47	31.3	3-36	9	24.56
M Johnson	4	40	30.0	5-52	8	25.25
M Marsh	5	31	62.0	2-55	3	58.33
G Sandhu	2	20	60.0	1-39	2	54.50
G Maxwell	5	21	63.0	1-20	2	63.00
A Zampa	4	36	108.0	1-47	2	110.50

AUSTRALIA WINS THE SERIES 5-0

[Rumblah]

Australian XI:

Shaun Marsh, Aaron Finch, Usman Khawaja, George Bailey (c), Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Marsh, Matthew Wade, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Gurinder Sandhu, Josh Hazlewood.

**********************************************
England v Australia
5th One Day International - 13 Sep 2015
**********************************************

England - 1st Innings
----------------------------------------------
A Lyth          lbw b Hazlewood           15
M Ali           c Wade b Marsh            112
G Ballance      b Hazlewood               4
J Root          c Finch b Marsh           17
J Buttler       c Wade b Starc            16
E Morgan        c Khawaja b Starc         0
B Stokes        lbw b Sandhu              53
C Woakes        not out                   18
L Plunkett      c Wade b Starc            6
C Jordan        b Starc                   0
S Broad         lbw b Starc               0
----------------------------------------------
Extras: (nb1,b8,lb4)                      13
TOTAL: (all out, 44.5 overs)              254


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


                O       M       R       W
----------------------------------------------
M Starc         7.5     0       44      5
J Hazlewood     7       0       43      2
G Sandhu        10      1       39      1
M Marsh         10      0       55      2
A Zampa         10      0       61      0
----------------------------------------------
Fall of Wickets:
1-25  2-39  3-85  4-130  5-130  
6-225  7-231  8-254  9-254  10-254

Breakdown:
10 overs: 2/48 (M Ali 27*, J Root 2*)
20 overs: 3/120 (M Ali 60*, J Buttler 11*)
30 overs: 5/173 (M Ali 90*, B Stokes 18*)
40 overs: 7/236 (C Woakes 5*, L Plunkett 2*)
44.5 overs: 254 (C Woakes 18*)

Australia - 1st Innings
----------------------------------------------
S Marsh         b Stokes                  97
A Finch         lbw b Woakes              80
U Khawaja       c Plunkett b Broad        29
G Bailey        c Ballance b Broad        2
G Maxwell       run out                   1
M Marsh         c Ali b Jordan            10
M Wade          not out                   19
M Starc         not out                   1
A Zampa         
G Sandhu        
J Hazlewood     
----------------------------------------------
Extras: (nb3,w7,lb6)                      16
TOTAL: (6 wkts, 46.4 overs)               255


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


                O       M       R       W
----------------------------------------------
S Broad         10      0       53      2
C Jordan        8.4     1       61      1
C Woakes        10      3       30      1
L Plunkett      10      0       64      0
B Stokes        8       0       41      1
----------------------------------------------
Fall of Wickets:
1-154  2-214  3-218  4-219  5-222  
6-245

Breakdown:
10 overs: 0/65 (A Finch 40*, S Marsh 22*)
20 overs: 0/120 (A Finch 65*, S Marsh 50*)
30 overs: 1/172 (S Marsh 80*, U Khawaja 1*)
40 overs: 5/228 (M Marsh 2*, M Wade 2*)
46.4 overs: 6/255 (M Wade 19*, M Starc 1*)

**********************************************
Australia won by 4 wickets
Man of the match: S Marsh
**********************************************

[Rumblah]

FOURTH ODI REVIEW + FIFTH ODI NEWS

Well it looks like the combination of Shaun Marsh and Aaron Finch works well. It might be worth persisting with too, as it was a better partnership than any of the three matches with Aaron Finch and David Warner put together. Mr. Consistent Steve Smith again got himself to 50 and the rest of the lads contributed okay. Shaun Marsh was fantastic in his return to the ODI setup with a nice 62. That was easily the best we've bowled for this ODI series. Josh Hazlewood struck in his first over and went on to take 3-36. Mitchell Starc set himself for some tail wickets and finished strongly taking all three in his final over.

I know I said this before game four but we'll make some changes now. Given I only have four reserve players it's hard to get the balance right but given it's the final game, two key players will sit the final game out. Just who will they be?

[Rumblah]

Australian XI:


Shaun Marsh, Aaron Finch, Steve Smith (c), George Bailey, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Marsh, Matthew Wade, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Johnson, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood.

**********************************************
England v Australia
4th One Day International - 11 Sep 2015
**********************************************

Australia - 1st Innings
----------------------------------------------
S Marsh         lbw b Plunkett            62
A Finch         c Buttler b Stokes        79
S Smith         b Plunkett                50
G Bailey        c Plunkett b Woakes       24
G Maxwell       b Jordan                  23
M Marsh         not out                   11
M Wade          b Jordan                  1
M Starc         not out                   18
M Johnson       
A Zampa         
J Hazlewood     
----------------------------------------------
Extras: (nb6,w4,b4)                       14
TOTAL: (6 wkts, 50 overs)                 282


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


                O       M       R       W
----------------------------------------------
S Broad         10      0       63      0
C Jordan        10      0       49      2
C Woakes        10      0       61      1
L Plunkett      10      1       56      2
B Stokes        10      1       49      1
----------------------------------------------
Fall of Wickets:
1-146  2-146  3-191  4-248  5-248  
6-250

Breakdown:
10 overs: 0/65 (A Finch 45*, S Marsh 18*)
20 overs: 0/107 (A Finch 60*, S Marsh 44*)
30 overs: 2/155 (G Bailey 6*, S Smith 2*)
40 overs: 3/200 (S Smith 23*, G Maxwell 3*)
50 overs: 6/282 (M Starc 18*, M Marsh 11*)

England - 1st Innings
----------------------------------------------
A Lyth          c Wade b Hazlewood        6
M Ali           c Marsh b Johnson         21
G Ballance      c Hazlewood b Maxwell     24
J Root          lbw b Hazlewood           5
J Buttler       c Smith b Johnson         4
E Morgan        lbw b Zampa               39
B Stokes        b Starc                   76
C Woakes        b Hazlewood               49
L Plunkett      not out                   22
C Jordan        c Wade b Starc            4
S Broad         c & b Starc               0
----------------------------------------------
Extras: (nb2,w4)                          6
TOTAL: (all out, 46.5 overs)              256


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


                O       M       R       W
----------------------------------------------
M Starc         8.5     0       42      3
J Hazlewood     10      0       36      3
M Johnson       10      0       53      2
G Maxwell       4       0       35      1
A Zampa         9       0       66      1
M Marsh         5       1       24      0
----------------------------------------------
Fall of Wickets:
1-9  2-39  3-46  4-55  5-71  
6-122  7-206  8-252  9-256  10-256

Breakdown:
10 overs: 3/46 (G Ballance 14*, J Buttler 0*)
20 overs: 5/110 (E Morgan 31, B Stokes 16*)
30 overs: 6/170 (B Stokes 46*, C Woakes 22*)
40 overs: 7/231 (B Stokes 65*, L Plunkett 13*)
46.5 overs: 256 (L Plunkett 22*)

**********************************************
Australia won by 26 runs
Man of the match: A Finch
**********************************************

[Rumblah]

THIRD ODI REVIEW + FOURTH ODI NEWS

That middle order though. Honestly thank the heavens for Steve Smith, without him I feel like I'd be down 2-1 right now and in deep trouble. We bowled really well. Josh Hazlewood kept things really tight and Mitchell Johnson destroyed everything in sight taking 5/52. I was really impressed with all the bowlers, everyone did a job and handled it well. We batted poorly and deserved to collapse. When your second best scorer is 22 from your number seven you can see there are problems, and it's not good enough to be brutally honest. As mentioned about without Steve Smith's 120 we lose that match by a minimum of 100 runs, probably more.

With the series wrapped up and several players out of form, changes will be made going into game four. How many remains to be seen.

[Rumblah]

Australian XI:

Aaron Finch, David Warner, Steve Smith (c), George Bailey, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Marsh, Matthew Wade, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Johnson, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood.

**********************************************
England v Australia
3rd One Day International - 8 Sep 2015
**********************************************

England - 1st Innings
----------------------------------------------
A Lyth          c Wade b Johnson          64
M Ali           c Maxwell b Marsh         36
G Ballance      lbw b Johnson             37
J Root          lbw b Johnson             6
J Buttler       c Wade b Johnson          16
E Morgan        not out                   34
B Stokes        b Johnson                 10
C Woakes        c Wade b Maxwell          9
L Plunkett      lbw b Starc               8
C Jordan        lbw b Hazlewood           1
S Broad         not out                   1
----------------------------------------------
Extras: (nb4,w4,b4,lb1)                   13
TOTAL: (9 wkts, 50 overs)                 235


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


                O       M       R       W
----------------------------------------------
M Starc         10      0       55      1
J Hazlewood     10      1       32      1
M Johnson       10      0       52      5
A Zampa         10      0       47      0
M Marsh         5       0       24      1
G Maxwell       5       0       20      1
----------------------------------------------
Fall of Wickets:
1-84  2-137  3-149  4-168  5-169  
6-196  7-206  8-231  9-234

Breakdown:
10 overs: 0/47 (A Lyth 23*, M Ali 22*)
20 overs: 1/85 (A Lyth 43*, G Ballance 0*)
30 overs: 2/141 (G Ballance 31*, J Root 1*)
40 overs: 5/196 (E Morgan 17*, B Stokes 10*)
50 overs: 9/235 (E Morgan 34*, S Broad 1*)

Australia - 1st Innings
----------------------------------------------
A Finch         c Buttler b Jordan        11
D Warner        c Lyth b Jordan           16
S Smith         lbw b Stokes              120
G Bailey        lbw b Broad               8
G Maxwell       c Buttler b Woakes        2
M Marsh         c & b Plunkett            0
M Wade          c Plunkett b Broad        22
M Starc         lbw b Woakes              10
M Johnson       not out                   27
A Zampa         not out                   12
J Hazlewood     
----------------------------------------------
Extras: (nb1,w3,lb4)                      8
TOTAL: (8 wkts, 49.2 overs)               236


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


                O       M       R       W
----------------------------------------------
S Broad         10      0       44      2
C Jordan        10      0       56      2
C Woakes        10      0       39      2
L Plunkett      10      0       55      1
B Stokes        9.2     1       38      1
----------------------------------------------
Fall of Wickets:
1-21  2-28  3-66  4-72  5-77  
6-131  7-162  8-209

Breakdown:
10 overs: 2/58 (S Smith 23*, G Bailey 7*)
20 overs: 5/85 (S Smith 42*, M Wade 4*)
30 overs: 6/142 (S Smith 76*, M Starc 4*)
40 overs: 7/184 (S Smith 106*, M Johnson 6*)
49.2 overs: 8/236 (M Johnson 27*, A Zampa 12*)

**********************************************
Australia won by 2 wickets
Man of the match: M Johnson
**********************************************

[Rumblah]

Well done that man!!

You kept well above the RRR mate throughout

Gee whiz the side is riding their luck a bit! Admittedly our bowlers aren't in great touch, but the pitches have been standard roads so far, hasn't really provided me with a great deal of chances. Still, winners are grinners I guess. We were a fair bit off the RRR for chunks to tell you the truth. Within touch throughout, but without the 20-30 + 40-50 over blocks we wouldn't have had a chance. No idea why they kept turning to Ben Stokes as it clearly wasn't his day.

This is a great story!

Thanks matey, glad people are enjoying it!

[Rumblah]

SECOND ODI REVIEW + THIRD ODI NEWS

Once again we were incredibly lucky. Not sure how long this luck can last, but I'm thankful for it. Despite what Australia's bowling figures may suggest, I thought we bowled okay without luck. Moeen Ali and Adam Lyth are in great nick and gave us absolutely no chances at all. Gurinder Sandhu finally got the breakthrough and not long after Josh Hazlewood snared one too. It was clearly a batting strip, and didn't Steve Smith make the most of it? Smashing a very quick 112 with some great support from George Bailey who contributed a much deserved 54. Runs came really easily and a heavily bat dominated game, but it went the distance with Mitchell Starc hitting the winning runs with just two balls remaining.

Again, we won't really know the selected side until we can assess the pitch and conditions, but I'd prefer to have a frontline spinner in the side.

Likely XI:

Aaron Finch, David Warner, Steve Smith (c), George Bailey, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Marsh, Matthew Wade, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Johnson, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood.

[Tipsysmokey]

This is a great story!

[Dick Van Dykes Disco Dog]

Well done that man!!

You kept well above the RRR mate throughout

[Rumblah]

Australian XI:

Aaron Finch, David Warner, Steve Smith (c), George Bailey, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Marsh, Matthew Wade, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Johnson, Gurinder Sandhu, Josh Hazlewood.

**********************************************
England v Australia
2nd One Day International - 5 Sep 2015
**********************************************

England - 1st Innings
----------------------------------------------
A Lyth          lbw b Hazlewood           105
M Ali           c Smith b Sandhu          145
G Ballance      not out                   41
J Root          not out                   33
J Buttler       
E Morgan        
B Stokes        
C Woakes        
L Plunkett      
C Jordan        
S Broad         
----------------------------------------------
Extras: (nb2,w3,lb2)                      7
TOTAL: (2 wkts, 50 overs)                 331


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


                O       M       R       W
----------------------------------------------
M Starc         10      0       56      0
J Hazlewood     10      0       66      1
M Johnson       10      0       62      0
G Sandhu        10      0       70      1
G Maxwell       6       0       44      0
M Marsh         4       0       31      0
----------------------------------------------
Fall of Wickets:
1-251  2-270

Breakdown:
10 overs: 0/49 (M Ali 31*, A Lyth 17*)
20 overs: 0/103 (M Ali 59*, A Lyth 41*)
30 overs: 0/159 (M Ali 91*, A Lyth 63*)
40 overs: 0/232 (M Ali 130*, A Lyth 99*)
50 overs: 2/331 (G Ballance 41*, J Root 33*)

Australia - 1st Innings
----------------------------------------------
A Finch         c Lyth b Jordan           36
D Warner        lbw b Woakes              30
S Smith         b Plunkett                112
G Bailey        b Broad                   54
G Maxwell       c Buttler b Stokes        45
M Marsh         b Plunkett                15
M Wade          not out                   20
M Starc         not out                   11
M Johnson       
G Sandhu        
J Hazlewood     
----------------------------------------------
Extras: (nb3,w4,lb2)                      9
TOTAL: (6 wkts, 49.4 overs)               332


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


                O       M       R       W
----------------------------------------------
S Broad         10      0       44      1
C Jordan        10      1       49      1
C Woakes        10      0       74      1
L Plunkett      9.4     0       63      2
B Stokes        10      0       100     1
----------------------------------------------
Fall of Wickets:
1-64  2-84  3-222  4-255  5-285  
6-315

Breakdown:
10 overs: 0/54 (A Finch 32*, D Warner 17*)
20 overs: 2/103 (S Smith 25*, G Bailey 7*)
30 overs: 2/193 (S Smith 75*, G Bailey 46*)
40 overs: 3/244 (S Smith 109*, G Maxwell 8*)
49.4 overs: 6/332 (M Wade 20*, M Starc 11*)

**********************************************
Australia won by 4 wickets
Man of the match: S Smith
**********************************************

[Rumblah]

The bug added 1024 to his matches.

Bah humbug. I'll have to go edit the pic now

Another ridiculously close one mate - how are your fingernails

Haha that was crazy. Even heading into the last over, I think they needed something like 9 to win, and I still wasn't sure. Here's hoping we don't have too many of those going forward!!