Life is a Rollercoaster - England Story

[Frosty10]

put your saves on a memory stick

[Frosty10]

how do you get the images and scorecards on

[Chasjs]

Print Screens, Google Searches and HTML code.

[Chasjs]

First Test

The team was a fairly simple pick. Bopara just missed out to Vaughan due to form. With 4 pace bowlers all on good form, why not use them all.

England win the toss and chose to bat.
England get off to a disasterous start, getting to lunch at 58/5. Strauss the only batsman who seemed comfortable still there on 34. But he don't last much longer, only making 40. England collapse again. After Swann and Broad both depart Ambrose goes aswell for 23 leaving ten and eleven the responsibiltiy of pushing England over 100. They get to 118 before Anderson is bowled. Harmison doing most of the damage between them scoring a good 22 off 37.
England go out with the intention of restricting the West Indies lead. Six wickets fall before the end of the day, leaving the West Indies 76/6. Harmison bounces Taylor in the first over of the Second Day. The West Indies fast bowler is forced to retire. The West Indies reached 120 before Englands fast bowlers wrap them up.
With the scores tied, England lose Strauss. England lose 3 futher wickets in quick succession. Cook bats well supported by the lower order.

Flintoff makes an uncharacteristicly responsible 39 off 121. Ambrose gets 33. Swanns 46 comes off 143 balls while Broad chips in with 29. Cook is eventually the last wicket to fall. Out for a battling 155 off 426 balls. England 341 all out.
The West Indies go out to bat chasing 340 to take a 1-0 Series lead. With the pitch now spinning at right angles England must wish they hard picked two spinners. The West Indies reach 100/1 by the end of the Third Day. They reach lunch 202/4. Flintoff takes a wicket in the first over after lunch. Swann then gets Ramdin.

England take the new ball. It proves a good decision with Anderson removing Sarwan second ball. Wallace only lasts one ball while Anderson finishes the job his next over with 80 runs to spare.

England Man of the Match - Cook, with everyone else falling around him he stood firm in the second innings to make sure England had something defendable on the board.
Other Notable Mentions - Anderson, Swann
Poor Game - Vaughan, Collingwood, Pietersen

[Imager36]

Great to see a return to this after such a long absence, although it has to be said that the batsmen looked rusty on their first innings back

[Chasjs]

Yeah... that was all done and written last year with just the pictures left to do... then I didn't take anything to Uni with me... Back home now so I think it's time to kick on. The goal, retaining the Ashes.

[Chasjs]

...If you thought that was rusty...

[konrad_middlesex]

Read your story- and great that you're carrying on now

[Chasjs]

Read your story- and great that you're carrying on now

Thanks, good to know it's appreciated.

[Chasjs]

Second Test

One change for the second Test. Bresnan was brought in to bolster the batting lineup. Harmison misses out. Collingwood and Vaughan could have been replace but have been given another match to prove themselves. The weather, while fine for the first few days, takes a tun for the worst on day four an only gets worse by the final day.

England win the toss and chose to bat.
Poor start for England. Cook falls in the forth over. Vaughan fails, out first ball. Pietersen prevents the hat-trick. Strauss doesn't last long and neither does Pietersen leaving England 22-4. With the WIndies attacking boundaries are plentiful. Flintoff quickly forces the fielders back and with Collingwood help England recover to 102-4 by lunch with Flintoff reaching his half century. He only adds one, though, after the break. After putting up a bit of a fight Collingwood(43) and Ambrose(56) both fall before tea. The tail only lasts 45 minutes leaving England 234 all out.
It only gets worse for England with the West Indies starting well with an opening stand of 100 and passing Englands score only two wickets down. Gayle and Barath put on 325 runs before Gayle falls for 230 leaving the West Indies in a commanding postion on 444-3. They declare on 519-5, 285 runs ahead.

England have a better start than last time with Strauus reaching 50 before the Wallace claims his wicket. Vaughan avoids a king pair but next ball, still on a pair, he's out caught.

Cook becomes the latest England batsman to fail to capiltalise on a good score as England collapse to 240 all out with only Pietersen and Ambrose offering any resitance. A shocking peformance all round with the West Indies leveling the series.

England Man of the Match - Ambrose, the only player to make something half decent in both innings.
Other Notable Mentions - If anybody, Swann, though his figures weren't exactly that great, he was better than the rest.
Poor Game - Vaughan, Broad, Bresnan

[konrad_middlesex]

I've just started an England game too and the West Indies are a tough bunch. Beat them in the tests, despite Chanderpaul hitting 3 centuries, but their one-day side destroyed me.

[Chasjs]

Third Test

Resisting the temptation to make any drastic changes only Vaughan was dropped. The obvious replacements were Bell and Bopara. With so little difference between the two both were played with Bresnan also losing his place in the side. Collingwood will count himself lucky to be in the side though, only his good domestic form saving him.

West Indies win the toss and choose to bat.
England don't make the same mistake this time. Anderson leads the way picking up 4 wickets while Broad takes 3. West Indies all out for 271.
The England batsmen look to make amends for the performace in the last game with the openers batting out the final 3 overs of the first day with little trouble, only Strauss top edging a hook for 6. They start the next day strongly making 56 before Sammy traps Cook lbw for 26. Bopara justifies his selection putting on 162 with Strauss before he's bowled for 89 by Tonge. Strauss makes his century shortly after. After edging his first ball for 4 Pietersen goes on to make just 24, getting caught and bowled by McClean just as England look to pass the West Indies first innings score. Collingwood disappoints again putting his place in the side in doubt. Strauss finally edges on to the slips and is out caught after a well played 139 leaving England ahead by 53 runs by the end of the second day. Bell(78) and Flintoff(43) help England to a lead of 183.
The West Indies start much better reaching 175 before Smith edges Anderson to the keeper for 74. Gayle, on 99 edges on to the slips. It's dropped and they run 1, Gayle's century coming off 131 balls. Sawnn gets him sortly after for 109. Armned with the new ball Anderson and Broad slice through the West Indies middle order and Swann cleans up the tail, Anderson taking his 10th wicket of the match.

England 205 runs away from retaking the lead in the series and with just short of 4 sessions to do it in.
England make a shaky start ending day 4 on 47/2. Englands problems are compounded when the captain departs ealry the next morning. Collingwood fails to create anything from oppertunity adding just 6. Bell makes 18 before becoming th 3th English wicket to fall in the morning session with England 58 runs from victory and Pietersen on 71. He fails to add to his score out lbw in the first over after lunch. Flintoff follows and Swann goews first ball. Broad makes 15 before being Englands 9th wicket to fall while they are still 19 from victory. Next over Ambrose edges on to the keeper.

England all out for 186 with the West Indies winning by 18 runs and taking a series lead into the final two games.

England Man of the Match - Anderson, his 10 wickets were instrumental in setting up the oppertunity for the batsmen to win the game.
Other Notable Performances - Strauss, Bopara, Bell, Pietersen, Broad
Poor Game - Collingwood, Cook

[Chasjs]

Fourth Test

After a series of poor scores, reaching double figures once and scoring a total of 66 runs with a high score of 43, Collingwood has been dropped. Bopara and Bell played well last game. Bell has been promoted to 5. With the intention of going back to a 5 man bowling attack Rashid has been brought in to play if the pitch favours spin. However, with this not the case Bresnan plays instead.

West Indies win the toss and choose to bat.
The batting side make a good start but lose there openers in the first session, both in their 30s. England have to wait till the evening session before picking up their next wicket, Pietersen removing both set batsmen with Swann also picking up a wicket. England take the new ball with Anderson and Broad(5-58) wrapping up the tail just before the close bowling the West Indies out for 334.

Both Englads openers go on to make 50s. Strauss doesn't make many more, departing just before lunch. Bopara doesn't last long after the break bringing in Pietersen who makes 44 off 52 balls before being trapped lbw. He is quickly followed by Bell before Cook moves into 3 figures. Flintoff joins Pietersen in getting out on 44, his coming off 67 balls. Cook finally edges one to the slips, out for 151 as England pass the West Indies first innings score.

Ambrose, Bresnan and Swann help take England to a 102 run lead, Ambrose not out on 51.
Gayle goes on the offensive and pulls his side past Englands lead for no loss. He goes on to make a stunning 155. All the West Indies top 5 put in 50s with Barath making his second century of the match. Sarwan also brings up his 100 and the West Indies declare with a lead of 478 and just sort of 4 sessions left.
With victory unlikely England look to save the Test match but lose both openers before the close of play on day 4. Night-watchman Anderson goes early. Pietersen and Bell both make good scores but the final session is left to Bresnan, Swann and Broad to bat out. Bresnan departs early leaving the West Indies 1 wicket away from a Series victory. Next over Broad is dropped. It doesn't make any difference though and Wallace traps Swann lbw soon after. West Indies win the Test Series.

England Man of the Match - Cook, purely for his 151.
Other Notable Mentions - Pietersen, Broad
Poor Game - Anderson, Bresnan, Bopara

[Chasjs]

I've just looked at Prior and it seems clear he's keeping wicket for Sussex... then I look at Hodd and his stats look like he's keeping wicket. Explain???

[Imager36]

What makes it seem clear that Prior's keeping?