[Story] | Australia's Darkest Sporting Day - From Turmoil to Triumph

[Rumblah]

THIRD T20 v PAKISTAN IN ZIMBABWE – BULAWAYO

Pakistan XI:

A SHEHZAD
F ZAMAN
B AZAM
S MALIK
U AKMAL
S AHMED
I WASIM
S KHAN
F ASHRAF
M AMIR
Y SHAH

Australia XI:

D SHORT
A FINCH
C LYNN
T HEAD
M STOINIS
G MAXWELL
A CAREY
A AGAR
K RICHARDSON
A TYE
B STANLAKE

Notable moments -

> Australia have won the toss and have sent Pakistan in to bat.

> Not much to report from this one. Found it tough to rotate the strike through the middle overs and needing 21 off the last was just a few too many, despite Alex Carey’s best efforts.

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FOURTH T20 v ZIMBABWE IN ZIMBABWE – BULAWAYO

Zimbabwe XI:

S MIRE
C ZHUWAO
B TAYLOR
S RAZA
C ERVINE
R BURL
P MOOR
D TIRIPANO
B MAVUTA
G CREMER
T CHATARA

Australia XI:

D SHORT
A FINCH
C LYNN
T HEAD
M STOINIS
G MAXWELL
A CAREY
A AGAR
K RICHARDSON
A TYE
B STANLAKE

Notable moments -

> Australia win the toss and elect to field first.

> Billy Stanlake starts us off with seven dot balls before conceding his first run, and only one run off his first two complete overs.

> Kane Richardson super unlucky to end up with figures of 2/38. Craig Ervine’s entire score was edges off Richardson’s bowling as well as six of the 13 off his last over.

> Chris Lynn out LBW on 5. Wait, no! It's a no ball from Tendai Chatara!

> Travis Head returns to the scorer's sheet with a pretty ugly fifty from 40 balls.

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T20 TRI-SERIES TABLE

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As you can see by how things played out, that last game against Zimbabwe basically decided who goes on to lose to Pakistan in the final.

[GrahamB]

Nice ODI series win over England.

Pakistan seem to be overly strong from results I've seen.

[Rumblah]

Nice ODI series win over England.

Pakistan seem to be overly strong from results I've seen.

Thanks Graham.

T20 final has been played, will have it up tomorrow afternoon my time. Boy, does that have some twists and turns in it.

[Rumblah]

T20 FINAL v PAKISTAN IN ZIMBABWE – BULAWAYO

Pakistan XI:

A SHEHZAD
F ZAMAN
B AZAM
S MALIK
U AKMAL
S AHMED
A YAMIN
I WASIM
S KHAN
M AMIR
Y SHAH

Australia XI:

D SHORT
A FINCH
C LYNN
T HEAD
M STOINIS
G MAXWELL
A CAREY
A AGAR
K RICHARDSON
A TYE
B STANLAKE

Notable moments -

> Australia have won the toss and have sent Pakistan in to bat.

> Things were going absolutely perfectly with the ball until we conceded 46 runs off the final four overs.

> D’Arcy Short brings up his fifty with a huge six over cover off 37 deliveries.

[Rumblah]

TEST SQUAD ANNOUNCEMENT FOR UPCOMING SERIES v PAKISTAN IN THE UAE

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FIRST TEST v PAKISTAN IN UAE – SHARJAH

Pakistan XI:

S Aslam
A Ali
A Shehzad
A Shafiq
B Azam
S Ali
S Ahmed
F Ashraf
H Ali
M Amir
M Abbas

Australia XI:

M Renshaw
J Burns
U Khawaja
P Handscomb
S Marsh
M Marsh
T Paine
P Cummins
M Starc
J Hazlewood
N Lyon

Notable moments -

> Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first. Weirdly enough, the pitch heavily favours the quicks and this is something that caught me off guard at first. I had fully expected to play two spinners in both matches.

> Ahmed Shehzad is put down at first slip by Pete Handscomb on 0. Hopefully this doesn’t bite too hard. Score 1/3.

> Sami Aslam also put down on 2, this time a somewhat easy caught and bowled chance for Mitchell Starc. Score 1/4.

> Matt Renshaw took a hit while batting in the second innings and early reports suggest he has fractured his arm. No official statement yet but he’s unlikely to be fit for the Second Test.

> Shaun Marsh edges one for four through leg slip. Australia are nine down needing just nine runs for victory. Tension rises.

> SHAUN DOES IT! He goes to fifty and wins the Test! What a brilliant innings!

Australia lead to two Test series 1 - 0.

[Rumblah]

WHO REPLACES RENSHAW?

With Matt Renshaw set to miss at least three weeks due to a hit sustained in the first Test, we look at the candidates to replace him in the side.

Jake Weatherald:

Jake is a 23 year old opening batsman from South Australia who has really pushed himself in front of selectors eyes over the past 24 months with his aggressive play being on show. Averaging close to 40 in First Class cricket last year, Jake is the front runner to replace Matt Renshaw as a like for like replacement, with many reporters thinking coach Justin Langer will not want to mess with the line-up too drastically.

Glenn Maxwell:

Glenn is a seasoned campaigner now and whether he is asked to open or slide down the order we're confident he'll do the job. The 29 year old has been asked to perform a variety of roles in his short Test career, but could be seen as the easiest option of the pack with Shaun Marsh or Usman Khawaja candidates to open the batting.

Travis Head:

The 24 year old short form captain may not have had the greatest of performances in the national side but his Domestic form has been brilliant. From his nine First Class matches this year, Head has made 778 runs at an average of 59.85 with two hundreds (one 200) and a fifty. He also smashed a brilliant One Day 104 in the days leading up to this squad being announced. A fine candidate to slot into the middle order.

Ashton Agar:

Ashton jumps towards the front of the group with this second Test in Abu Dhabi looking like it will take to spin bowling. The 24 year old lives in infamy following his debut knock of 98 batting at 11 in the batting order, but looms as the understudy to Nathan Lyon. Of course, with all three quicks performing admirably well in the first Test, it seems unlikely any would make way for Ashton, but does this injury present the perfect scenario to have them all play alongside Nathan Lyon and Ashton Agar?

[zippygeorgeandben]

Hello - didn't want to read and run. Really enjoyed reading what you have written so far. I have just bought the game and pretty much a beginner so I'll be using your story here as a guide as to what to do really.
In fact, you might inspire me to do my own story and yourself and others can point me in the right direction when I start making obvious errors!
Keep up the good work!

[Rumblah]

Hello - didn't want to read and run. Really enjoyed reading what you have written so far. I have just bought the game and pretty much a beginner so I'll be using your story here as a guide as to what to do really.
In fact, you might inspire me to do my own story and yourself and others can point me in the right direction when I start making obvious errors!
Keep up the good work!

That's really nice, thank you so much!

[Rumblah]

SECOND TEST v PAKISTAN IN UAE – ABU DHABI

Pakistan XI:

S ASLAM
A ALI
A SHEHZAD
A SHAFIQ
B AZAM
H SOHAIL
S AHMED
F ASHRAF
S KHAN
H ALI
M AMIR

(Haris Sohail replaces Saad Ali, Shadab Khan replaces Mohammad Abbas)

Australia XI:

S MARSH
J BURNS
U KHAWAJA
P HANDSCOMB
G MAXWELL
M MARSH
T PAINE
P CUMMINS
M STARC
J HAZLEWOOD
N LYON

(Glenn Maxwell in for the injured Matt Renshaw)

Notable moments -

> Pakistan have won the toss and have elected to bat first. While I previously mentioned this Abu Dhabi pitch looks like it will spin more, batting first would have been my choice too.

> Glenn Maxwell scores a very much needed hundred as the rest of the side crumbles around him. Handy performances by Pete Handscomb and Mitch Starc but nothing else of real substance.

> Pakistan have figured out how to bat this second innings, a very annoying hundred made by Samy Aslam. As Pakistan sit here currently 3/244 I can't help but feel this may already be too much for out batsman batting last.

> Mitch Starc's 5-86 is the first five-fa under Justin Langer's reign. Pretty flat about that bowling performance overall, feel like we really didn't perform to the standards set across the series so far.

> Shadab Khan. Unplayable in those sorts of conditions. It's a shame he eclipsed Nathan Lyon comfortably with just one match. Might be an area to look at in the future.

Two Test series is drawn 1 - 1.

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SERIES STATISTICS

*Sidenote: Edited the bottom part of Australia's stats out as it had a series of bizarre Kolpak players I didn't select.

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T20 SERIES SQUAD ANNOUNCEMENT

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FIRST T20 v PAKISTAN IN UAE – SHARJAH

Pakistan XI:

A SHEHZAD
F ZAMAN
B AZAM
S MALIK
H SOHAIL
S AHMED
I WASIM
S KHAN
F ASHRAF
H ALI
M AMIR

Australia XI:

D SHORT
A FINCH
C LYNN
T HEAD
M STOINIS
G MAXWELL
A CAREY
A AGAR
K RICHARDSON
A TYE
B STANLAKE

Notable moments -

> Pakistan have won the toss and elect to bat first.

> Really happy with that bowling performance, especially after losing the toss. Risks paid off.

> New partnership record (Stoinis Short 56) now 102 x2?

> D'Arcy Short brings up 50 with a beautiful late cut off just 38 deliveries.

Australia lead the three match series 1 - 0.