NZ story (pre-patch)

[acook]

enjoying reading this story. give broomy a good chance hes a gun ai!

[GrahamB]

enjoying reading this story. give broomy a good chance hes a gun ai!

He's bound to figure in the story. He scored a half century upon his test debut.

[GrahamB]

NZ Squad for the ODIs in Pakistan



Normally I wouldn't select batsmen with a defensive style such as Greg Hay and Michael Papps, so I'm experimenting a little here.

[GrahamB]

Our team for the first of five ODIs:

P.Fulton
P.Ingram
G.Hay
R.Taylor
M.Papps
G.Elliott
C.Nevin (wk)
J.Oram
D.Vettori (capt)
S.Bond
B.Arnel

We battled like hell to get through a total of 235/5, largely thanks to an unbeaten century from 2 metre Peter.
The Pakistanis found things just as tough when it came their turn to bat, and although they got a small sniff after caning the bowling of Arnel, they fell further and further behind the required run rate before finally collapsing in a heap.



NZ 1-0 up.

[seanoc]

I've found that Vettori does very well; in my save he was one of the best Test and ODI bowlers in the world, and I was able to bring his test and ODI average to below 28.

Iv found vettori to be a terrible bowler. Iv had reasonable success with roneel hira in ODI and robbie Schaw in the tests but unless the pitch begins with some help for spin, i will usually play 4 or 5 fast bowlers with hay,taylor and robertson providing spin cover.

Fantastic story, i enjoy playing with NZ rather than anyone else and its great to see other people out there taking in interest out there.

[GrahamB]

Fantastic story, i enjoy playing with NZ rather than anyone else and its great to see other people out there taking in interest out there.

It's a challenge for sure.

[GrahamB]

We retained the same playing eleven for the second match of the series.
And this one was a classic, going right down to the wire.
Half centuries to Papps, Fulton and Elliott saw us through to a useful total, but a majestic century from Alam led the home side through to a victory that was achieved with just two balls to spare.
The series level now at 1-1.

[Chewie]

Here is Vettori in my game

[GrahamB]

Guys - I'm embarrassed to post this one. I hope I haven't set some sort of abysmal record.
We kept the same playing eleven for the third straight game, but there will be changes now.



Pakistan 2-1 up with two to play.

[GrahamB]

The axe fell on Ingram, Hay and Bond for their poor performances in the series to date.
The playing eleven for this crucial match is:

P.Fulton
M.Bell
R.Taylor
M.Papps
K.Williamson
G.Elliott (capt)
C.Nevin (wk)
J.Oram
B.Diamanti
D.Vettori
B.Arnel

Elliott has been the player of the series and has relieved Vettori of the captaincy for the final two matches.

[GrahamB]

The NZ boys pulled together nicely in the 4th ODI with a very committed performance all round.
Taylor and Papps laid the foundation for a solid score, with Elliott topping it off with an unbeaten 43.
Elliott again shone with the ball as we steadily restricted and then dismissed the Pakistanis.



2-2 going into the final ODI.

[GrahamB]

We made one change to the side for the decider, with Shane Bond coming back in for Diamanti.
On a turning wicket, Afridi knocked the top off our batting order and we were always struggling from that point on, doing well to get through to 224 in the final over.
We didn't have the spin attack to challenge the Pakistani batsmen and they found our pace attack ineffectual on this wicket.
A well deserved win to the home side to take out the OD series 3-2.

[shawndx]

loving the story graham,your doing a great job and innovated a whole new area to the forum,i'm a pak fan and just like in real-life,pak crap at tests,dangerous side in ODIs,whats your next series ?

[GrahamB]

loving the story graham,your doing a great job and innovated a whole new area to the forum,i'm a pak fan and just like in real-life,pak crap at tests,dangerous side in ODIs,whats your next series ?

Next up is Bangladesh coming to NZ.

[patrickF690]

hopefully you beat bangledesh