England story!

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Champions Trophy Semi Final vs India


The Teams

The Toss: India win the toss and choose to field. They must fancy a chase!

Roy and Duckett started well against an Indian side lacking wickets, accumulating 53 from 12 overs before Roy was caught behind. It was surely time for Root to end his bad spell here but he failed to do so, introducing himself with a maximum before chipping one back to Jadeja. Their spinners were looking dangerous. By the 30th we were 128-3 and behind where I felt we should have been. Bumrah had managed to sneak his quota of 10 overs in and only gone for 20! Duckett continued to play a mature anchor role and finished on an unbeaten century. We scored 258 which was probably below par, hopefully we can bowl well!

The formidable Indian opening partnership was broken with the score at 75 after Dhawan was run out. They required another 184 at 5.1 per over. Rahane and Kohli put on another 100 together in a chanceless partnership and they were looking for the win, needing 84 at 5 an over when Kohli departed. Shortly after, another run out came, this time Rahane, was this a lifeline? Unfortunately not! In the end, they were too good and as predicted, we were knocked out by India.


Batting Award: Ben Duckett. Maybe he should have scored quicker, maybe those around him should have done better.

Bowling Award: Reece Topley. We didn't bowl brilliantly, to be honest.

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Champions Trophy - Finals results

I won't be providing stats or awards for the Champions Trophy, but here are the results of the semi finals and Final!

Semi Finals

India beat England by 6 wickets
Pakistan beat New Zealand by 7 wickets

Final

India beat Pakistan by 7 wickets

It's worth mentioning that Ajinkya Rahane was an absolute machine and in his 5 games scored: 172*, 76, 161*, 67 and 161 again!! Madness.

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South Africa in England - T20 Squads

Our squad contains 5 potential debutants as I use this first T20 series to look at the English talent pool!

England Squad

Batsmen
Jason Roy
Joe Root
Liam Livingstone
Eoin Morgan
Dawid Malan
Ben Duckett
Jonny Bairstow (WK)
Jos Buttler (WK)

All Rounders
David Willey
Adil Rashid
Benny Howell
Ben Stokes
Chris Jordan

Bowlers
Mason Crane
Tymal Mills

I'm really interested to see how some of these guys play in this series.

South Africa Squad

Batsmen
AB De Villiers
Farhaan Behardien
Reeza Hendricks
David Miller
JJ Smuts
Mangaliso Mosehele (WK)

All Rounders
Chris Morris
Wayne Parnell
Dwaine Pretorius

Bowlers
Imran Tahir
Morne Morkel
Dane Paterson
Andi Phehlukwayo
Tabraiz Shamsi

Perhaps the most notable omission from the South African squad is that of Quinton De Kock, must be injured!

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1st T20i vs South Africa


Duckett and Howell make their T20i debuts!

The Toss: England win and elect to bat.

We struggled early on and lost regular wickets meaning we couldn't pile on the runs. However an all time 4th wicket partnership record of 117 between Bairstow and Morgan allowed us to post a good target!

After two quick wickets from the off, a partnership between Miller and De Villiers drove the proteas up to 101-3 and needed 8 an over. Millers innings of 59 from 34 finally came to an end and it was a relief when it did, with Howell taking his first international wicket. With 4 overs left they required 9 an over, with De Villiers set. The game seemed done and dusted with them requiring 14 from the last over. The first 3 balls went for 2 runs, with De Villiers departing also. It went down to the last ball though, as Parnell smashed a 6 and edged a 4 to leave them needing 2 from 1 ball. Parnell hit another 4 and it was advantage South Africa.


Batting Award: Jonny Bairstow. Looking important in all forms for us!
Bowling Award: Ben Stokes, his spell was the stand out.
Series State: South Africa lead 1-0 with 2 to play.

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Second T20i vs South Africa

Team News: We hand a debut to Malan and Tymal Mills joins the XI, they replace Duckett and Jordan. South Africa bring in Shamsi for Paterson.

The Toss: England won the toss and chose to bat!

Joe Root was back with a bang, hitting his first half century in a while! We were looking well set at 10 overs on 82-3. Everybody chipped in with quick runs including a 10 ball 24 by Stokes to take us to 172.

The conditions favoured us but De Villiers kept them in touch before being ran out! With the pressure on, Morris gave his best efforts in trying to secure the series for them, but it proved too much and we levelled the series!



Batting Award: Joe Root. Finally back in form!
Bowling Award: Benny Howell. Overlooked in real life but proving to be handy for me!
Series State: 1-1 with one to play!

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3rd T20i vs South Africa
Team News: Livingstone and Jordan come in for Malan and Willey.

The Toss: South Africa win and choose to bat.

Despite the first 6 going for 65, we had them 5 down!! They failed to get going from here and ultimately they posted a score which may have lost them the series!

We never looked in danger and finished the game off easily. Morgan was involved in another record partnership and this time it was the opening partnership. Well played boys!



Batting Award: Jason Roy, well played!
Bowling Award: Tymal Mills. Early wickets set the tone!
Series Result: We win 2-1!

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T20 Series vs South Africa - Summary

The end of our limited overs stint came with a 2-1 win over South Africa. We picked up another point for the rankings table but stayed in the same position, onward to the tests!

Batting Award

Eoin Morgan
The skipper was involved in 2 record partnerships at the top and middle of the order and scored 112 runs at an average of 56

Bowling Award

Benny Howell
Perhaps the biggest positive to come out of this series. The medium pacer took 6 wickets at an average of 10 and only going for 5.5 an over! Good going.

NEXT UP - The 4 match test series!

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1st Test vs SA

We switch to the longer format of the game as we aim to topple the top ranked side. Adil Rashid is the man to miss out from our 12 man squad this time round.

The Toss: South Africa win the toss and will bat first.

On a day where we would have liked to be batting, the first session belonged to South Africa. Debutant Markram fell early and Elgar and De Kock saw the morning out together with the score at 90-1. Woakes claimed his second scalp of the day when the afternoon session resumed, dismissing Elgar. The introduction of Ali to the attack saw De Kock fall for 50 and Amla and Du Plessis followed. At tea, they were 5 down and we felt we could get stuck into them from here. Philander supported Bavuma before falling to the new ball and they ended the day 7 wickets down. The first session of day 2 brought the last 3 wickets with Jimmy Anderson being the pick of the bowlers.

Rabada was fired up and had us struggling at 20-2, Root and Hameed the men to go. The remainder of day 2 consisted of a Cook/Ballance partnership of 160 as we trailed by 170 going into the third day! With the pitch starting to take spin, Maharaj opened the day with Rabada and took the wicket of Cook within 45 minutes. The South Africans had used 3 bowlers for the majority of their overs up to the second new ball, with Olivier only bowling 4, strange! Rabada worked well with the new ball again, dismissing Ballance as we trailed by 140. Maharaj proceeded to rip through our middle order and we were bowled out for 293, we were definitely up against it!

We struggled with ball in hand as their batting line up proved strong, we could only hope for a draw, requiring 400+ from 3 and a half sessions.

Hameed and Root failed us again.We entered the final day 44-2. Cook and Ballance once again showed their class, battling through the first session of the final day and taking us closer to saving the game. The second new ball was taken a few overs into the final session as Cook and Ballance continued to bat on. Rabada once again did well though, taking the wickets of both the set batsman and really firing the South Africans up. Bairstow failed to trouble the scorers but Ali and Stokes held their nerve to take us to the final overs and secure a draw. A gritty performance.



Batting Award: Gary Ballance. His spot is under some scrutiny in the real world but he's performed well for me here!
Bowling Award: James Anderson. Kept it tight and picked up wickets.
Series State: 0-0 with 3 to play!

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2nd Test vs SA

Team News: Keaton Jennings and Adil Rashid replace Haseeb Hameed and Jake Ball. South Africa are unchanged.

The Toss: We win the toss and bat first!

On a track that looks like it will assist spin bowling, we chose to bat. Jennings was the latest opener to fall early and although Root looked good for his 38, he would have wanted more. Alastair Cook led the way again before falling shortly before the end of the afternoon session. Moeen Ali justified his inclusion and we ended the day 300-4. By the end of the innings, we'd have 5 batsman pass 50, a much better performance! Ben Stokes played brilliantly late on, hitting 89 from 103 balls.

The introduction of Rashid was proving to be a good one, after his first over he had dismissed their openers! Our bowlers put in a good team effort and took regular wickets as they just passed the follow on mark.

Day 3, session 3. We lead by 159! From this position we can push on for the win. The overcast conditions and turning pitch contributed to our openers going in the session and we entered day 4, 2 wickets down. Batting was tough at this point, especially against Maharaj as the pitch was turning loads! He picked up a 7 fer as we set South Africa a target of 377 in 4 sessions.

Jimmy bowled well taking 4 wickets in his opening spell, South Africa shut up shop until the end of the day. They were never likely to save the game from the position they entered the final day in and we bowled well to finish them off, with Rashid being surprising ineffective!



Batting Award: Moeen Ali. Rose to the occasion this time around after being close to the axe.

Bowling Award: James Anderson. It was a good team performance with the ball but Jimmy killed them off to get us closer to the win!

Series State: We lead 1-0 with 2 to play!

[Nottsboy118]

Nice start to the save, the tests are looking tight which is quite the opposite to the series so far in real life, where there have been two hammerings.
Nice run in the Champions trophy too, just a shame about encountering that Indian juggernaut

[UTBash]

Nice start to the save, the tests are looking tight which is quite the opposite to the series so far in real life, where there have been two hammerings.
Nice run in the Champions trophy too, just a shame about encountering that Indian juggernaut

Cheers mate! Been decent and there's more to come, especially if Root starts to score runs! Aye, they're so good... They're beatable though cause their bowling is average!

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3rd Test vs SA

Team News: Both sides are unchanged on a spin friendly track again!

The Toss: We won the toss and chose to bat!

The top 3 fell early and left us in a hole we needed to get out of. Bairstow passed 50 in the second session but support around him was lacking and at 97-4 a partnership was needed! Ballance batted well for his 41 but was bowled by Maharaj in the third session after the left arm spinner had failed to impress so far on a turning pitch. At 205-7 and without Bairstow, Ben Stokes decided to launch a counter attack. It's a good job it came off as we'd have been in a poor position. There's work to be done!

They got off to a good start and a partnership of 102 was broken by Stokes. The runs didn't stop there and we struggled to take wickets, with South Africa passing our total with the loss of just 3 wickets, with De Kock doing major damage! When De Kock did fall, we managed to peg them back and take the final 7 wickets for 60 runs. Could we come back from here.

I think you may have guessed what I'm about to say.... EARLY WICKETS, and another underwhelming Root innings. The middle order began to chip in with scores and once we levelled the scores we were 4 down. We lacked a big score as Maharaj once again ripped through us, he's bowled so well in these conditions. Well, here's to hoping we can defend 97!

Well I can't fault the effort, I though we may have been able to defend 180/200 and we probably would have done, positive signs but our batting needs to improve. 1-1.



Batting Award: Not many contenders for this but it'll have to be Bairstow!

Bowling Award: Adil Rashid. 8 wickets in the match, not too bad!

Series State: 1-1 with one to play!

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4th Test vs SA

Here is the series decider, hopefully we get the win and take the spoils.
Team News: Gutted! Adil Rashid is out injured so we bring in Liam Dawson. Ballance is promoted to number 3 and Root down to 4 in the hope he will score some runs this time round!

The Toss: England win the toss and bat first!

I almost bowled first, conditions were set be cloudy on the opening day but not overcast. With a bit in it for seam and spin I thought we would have to get the best of the pitch and trust our bowlers in the 4th innings! The opening partnership finally got us off to a decent start, albeit with some luck after Jennings edged a 4 for his 50 and Cook was caught off a no ball the next over, haha! Saying that, he was caught behind in the next over as we were 95-1. Despite Ballance and ROOT (AGAIN) failing us, Jennings played the day out with Bairstow and I was hopeful of building a big total on the second day. Jennings departed after a fine innings and getting his highest test score and his second hundred! A slight wobble followed by some handy batting from Dawson saw us bowled out for 357, not bad but I wanted 400.

Chances came at a premium early on but we claimed our first when Anderson rattled the ball into Elgars pads with the score on 65. De Kock launched the run rate up with an attacking innings but Ben Stokes prevailed and claimed five wickets by the end, with the South African's leading by 6. Moeen Ali picked up a couple of wickets, something he'd so far struggled to do.

Our 2nd innings got off to a stinker as the usual wickets fell and Root was forced to retire hurt. Gary Ballance provided resistance but we were rubbish once again!

And with that the series was lost. This England test set up doesn't feel anywhere near as strong as it has been before, maybe we'll come good and had an off series!



Batting Award: Keaton Jennings. Decent knock in the first innings!
Bowling Award: Ben Stokes. Severely underused in the first 3 games (my own fault) but showed his ability with the ball here.
Series Result: South Africa win 2-1

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West Indies in England - Test Match 1

After the disappointment vs South Africa, I've decided to continue straight into the West Indies series, stats will be provided for both series' after this one!


Liam Livingstone comes in to make his debut after a cracking campaign in the County Championship. Jake Ball is preferred to Stuart Broad.


The Toss: West Indies win the toss and will bat.

They got off to a good start in this day/night test match and we didn't help ourselves by dropping catches. Leon Johnson led the way with a solid century as they ended the first day on 348-5. At 400-9 we were already thinking of batting, but a frustrating partnership for this last wicket left us depleted. With the last day looking like a washout I was already thinking we might draw this game.

We really are playing awfully at the minute. We slumped to 135-7 as West Indies put the pressure on, although I'd argue we created our own, especially when Ramdin came on to bowl his first ever over in professional cricket and dismissed Cook with the first ball. We were bowled out for 199 and asked to follow on.

It was too little too late as we only managed to set them 80 to win and we were pummelled by 10 wickets, sigh.


Batting Award: Ballance?
Bowling Award: Woakes
Series State: West Indies lead 1-0 with 2 to play.

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Test Match 2 vs WI

Team News: Finn and Broad replace Dawson and Ball

The Toss: England win and will bat.


A lot better from us this time around with the bat, although when Cook went in the 6th I thought we could be in trouble again. Thankfully Jennings and Bairstow got us going and despite a mini collapse our lower middle order pulled us over the 400 mark, Ben Stokes's hard hitting didn't go unnoticed and he's looking to be a great player, consistently striking at over 75 which gives us some quick runs in the middle/later end of the innings!

Stokes showed the true all rounder in him, taking 4 wickets as we bowled the West Indies out for less than 200, all of our lads chipped in and bowled well as an attack. We didn't ask them to follow on although the option was there. With plenty of time left in the game we could put them well out of it and still have 4/5 sessions to bowl them out.

COOK finally showed us he still has centuries in him. Stokes was sent in at 3 to boost us and he did exactly that, hitting his 98 runs off 81 balls. With a day and a half left, I was certain we were going to win.

Series levelled! They showed some resistance with Johnson and Dowrich but the latter was left stranded as he ran out of partners with half a day to play, now to win the 3rd and take the series!



Batting Award: Ben Stokes. He was fantastic in both innings'
Bowling Award: Chris Woakes denies Stokes of both awards with an excellent couple of spells, he's upped his game in this series!
Series State: 1-1 with one to play!