NZ Story

[Chewie]

After reading GrahamB's NZ story, I've decided to have a crack at my own in a similar vein. Seeing as it's the holidays at the moment, I will hopefully update this rather regularly. This story is also being posted at Planetcricket.net but I thought I would get a more appreciative audience here It's not going to be as fancy as GrahamB's with no screenshots (too much work :P) but i hope it's nearly as good

New Zealand Tour of England

Squad:

Openers:
P. Fulton
T McIntosh
N Parlane

Batsmen:
G Hay
I Robertson
J Ryder
T Weston
R Taylor
G Todd

Keeper:
B McCullum

All-Rounders:
B Hiini
J Oram
D Vettori
J Franklin
K Mills

Bowlers:
M Gillespie
A McKay
T Southee

As you may be able to tell, all the players I've chosen are younger than 30 so that it can develop together and improve.

Tour Match vs Kent

Team:
P Fulton
N Parlane
G Hay
R Taylor
J Ryder
J Oram
B McCullum
D Vettori (c)
J Franklin
T Southee
M Gillespie

Kent 249 all out (M Van Jaarsveld 70, M Gillespie 4-55)
NZ 296 all out (J Franklin 81*, D Vettori 74, R McLaren 5-76, A Mahmood 4-77)
Kent 209-5

After losing the toss we were made to bowl. Getting them out for 249 was rather good, however we suffered a terrible batting collapse, falling to 54-5 then 95-6. However Vettori and Franklin dug in for a 109 run stand, and then Franklin and Southee batted for 56 to put up a half decent total of 296. However, rain intervened and play was cut short, Kent being on 209-5.

Tour Match vs Essex

Team:
P Fulton
N Parlane
G Hay
R Taylor
J Ryder
J Oram
B McCullum
D Vettori (c)
J Franklin
T Southee
M Gillespie

No changes as I want to see these players get some good time out in the middle.

NZ 502-7 dec. (G Hay 146, J Oram 77, P Fulton 71, D Vettori 60*)
Essex 356 all out (R Bopara 81, V Chopra 80, J Franklin 80-6)
NZ 172-1 (G Hay 71*, R Taylor 65*)

After winning the toss we batting and were pleased to see runs being scored by the top order. Hay's knock was especially pleasing and he followed up with another good one in the second innings. The downside was Parlane getting injured after reaching 33. In the following innings we were not able to bowl Essex out fast enough and couldn't enforce the follow on, despite a wonderful effort from Franklin. Therefore we decided to use the final innings as batting practice.

Tour Match vs MCC

Team:
P Fulton
T McIntosh
R Taylor
T Weston
J Ryder
J Oram
B McCullum
D Vettori (c)
J Franklin
T Southee
A McKay

A number of changes made here, McIntosh replacing the injured Parlane, Hay has been given a rest, and McKay replaces Gillespie who was not taking as many wickets as I had hoped. MCC is always a pushover anyway so whoever I play is gonna do well.

NZ 546-9 dec. (P Fulton 144, R Taylor 141, B McCullum 102*, J Ryder 84)
MCC 101 all out (J Oram 18-4, J Franklin 38-4)
MCC 127 all out (K Highsmith 76*, T Southe 41-4, J Franklin 21-3)

As expected, a pushover.

First Test vs England

Team:
P Fulton
T McIntosh
R Taylor
G Hay
J Ryder
J Oram
B McCullum
D Vettori (c)
J Franklin
T Southee
A McKay

Parlane is still injured, so McIntosh keeps his place despite scoring only 4 against MCC. Hay comes back into the team, and McKay keeps his place after taking two wickets rather cheaply against MCC.

End of First Day:
England 274-6 (A Cook 75, K Pietersen 60, T Southee 95-4)

Southee has done a good job, taking 4 important wickets. Hopefully we can finish them off early tomorrow morning.

End of Second Day:
England 359 All Out (A Flintoff 102, D Vettori 4-52)
NZ 131-2 (T McIntosh 70*)

McIntosh is doing a very good job on test debut, going slowly after two wickets fell early. Hopefully McIntosh can continue playing his strokes tomorrow and go on to a century on debut!

End of Third Day:
England 359 All Out
NZ 397 All Out (G Hay 119, T McIntosh 96, B McCullum 73, A Flintoff 50-4)
England 2-0

McIntosh got out with the introduction of the new ball, just short of his maiden test century on debut. However, his team mate Hay, also on debut reached his . A first innings lead of 38 runs is not bad but we could be ahead by much more if the other batsman had played their part.

End of Fourth Day:
England 359 All out
New Zealand 397 All Out
England 296-5 (A Strauss 140, M Prior 71*)

England are in a good position to declar and try bowl us out. However I don't see anything but a draw happening here.

End of Test:
England 359 All Out
NZ 397 All Out
England 341 All Out (A Strauss 140, M Prior 80, A McKay 4-74, J Franklin 4-105)
NZ 209-5 (J Oram 61*)

Getting England out early in the day meant that there was a slim chance of us winning the test. However, a couple of wickets during the rest of the first session meant that we just had to slowly make do with a draw. Flintoff was man of the match.

[Cricket Captain]

well done and good effort best of luck in remaining matches

[GrahamB]

A drawn first test is a solid start. Looking forward to the second test.

[Chewie]

Second Test vs England

Team:
P Fulton
T McIntosh
R Taylor
G Hay
B Hiini
J Oram
B McCullum
D Vettori
J Franklin
T Southee
A McKay

One change to the team with Hiini coming in for Ryder.

End of First Day:
NZ 272/3 (T McIntosh 94, P Fulton 63)

Winning the toss we decided to bat and today's progress has shown it to be a good decision, only losing three wickets. Again, McIntosh just missed out on his century; he must be kicking himself for that. We are in a good position to make a high score

End of Second Day:
NZ 519/9 (T McIntosh 94, G Hay 152*, B McCulllum 81)

We continued to pile on the runs, helped greatly by Hay's second century in his second test. We are looking to hopefully add a few more runs quickly tomorrow morning and send them in to bowl, and hopefully enforce the follow on.

End of Third Day:
NZ 546 all out (G Hay 167*, T McIntosh 94, B McCullum 81)
England 237/3 (K Pietersen 87, O Shah 75)

After adding 27 runs before being all out, we pushed to try to restrict them, however this has not worked so far. With the new ball due, hopefully we can take early wickets and get them all out quickly.

End of Fourth Day:
NZ 546 all out
England 332 all out (K Pietersen 87, O Shah 75, A McKay 89-5)
England 162/4 (I Bell 69*)

McKay and Oram bowled well with the new ball to trigger a collapse and we were able to enforce the follow on The England batting didn't improve in the second innings and we are hopeful of getting them out early and chasing to win the second test

End of Test:
NZ 546 all out
England 332 all out
England 383/8 dec. (I Bell 172*, M Prior 85)
NZ 42/1

Sadly we weren't able to take wickets fast enough, hampered largely by the 153 run partnership between Bell and Prior. This meant that when they declared all we could do was tamely bat out the draw. This means that the series comes down to the third and final test.

[Chewie]

Tour Match vs Northamptonshire

Team:
P Fulton
N Parlane
G Todd
I Robertson
B Hiini
J Oram
B McCullum
D Vettori
K Mills
T Southee
A McKay

I'm resting all the players in form, and playing the people that haven't played a game yet. If they do well they may get a run in the team for the third test...

NZ 407 all out (P Fulton 206, N Boje 99-6)
Northamptonshire 397 all out (A Crook 96*, N O'Brien 95, T Southee 94-5)
NZ 44/1

A very good effort from Fulton saw him score 206 and nearly carry his bat. However he was out trying to hit out when the rest of the batsmen couldn't support him and he was left with the tail. The bowling attack apart from Southee wasn't very penetrative however and we couldn't restrict them to a decent score, meaning a draw was inevitable. Only one game on the tour hasn't been a draw and that was against the pathetic MCC...

[Chewie]

Third Test vs England

Team:
P Fulton
T McIntosh
R Taylor
G Hay
G Todd
B Hiini
B McCullum
D Vettori
J Franklin
T Southee
A McKay

One change, Todd comes in for Oram who wasn't performing well with the bat or ball.

End of Second Day:
NZ 428 all out (B Hiini 117, P Fulton 114)
England 120/4 (A Strauss 64*)

Forgot to record the scores at the end of the first day >< Anyway, we won the toss and batted. Fulton carried over his good form from the test match to score his maiden test century. Hiini also scored his maiden test century in what was a decent batting effort. The rest of the team however didn't score many runs which they will be hoping to improve on in the second innings. Meanwhile, England are struggling at 120/4; Strauss is the only one holding their ship together.

End of Third Day:
NZ 428 all out
England 336 all out (M Prior 158, A Strauss 92)
NZ 58/0

Prior scored his highest test score as the bowlers failed to enforce the follow on; something that had looked a possibility early in the day. The openers have made a good effort not to have lost a wicket yet though.

End of Fourth Day:
NZ 428 all out
England 336 all out
NZ 316/4 dec. (G Hay 118*, P Fulton 92)

We have a day remaining to bowl out England after Hay and Fulton scored heavily to set up a target that will surely be too high for England to chase...

End of Test:

NZ 428 all out
England 336 all out
NZ 316/4 dec.
England 251/6 (K Pietersen 69)

Well another draw as England batted very cautiously to make their way to 251/6 at the end of the test. They were in trouble with only 5 wickets left at tea and only Flintoff and Shah standing in the way of the tail. However they managed to survive and the test series is drawn 0-0.