Life is a Rollercoaster - England Story

[Frosty10]

glad that you have continued this story
looking forward to when you face the aussies

[Chasjs]

Third ODI

Same side that won the last game was selected for the third in the series.

England win the toss and choose to bat.
Vaughan, Pietersen and Collingwood all fall in the opening powerplay. Flintoff leads the counter attack with Strauss supporting from the other end. That is until Strauss runs himself out for 42. Flintoff reaches a brisk 50 off 63 balls.

Morgan chips in with 20 off 15 before being bowled. Wright follows him next ball. Prior avoids the hat-trick. Flintoff falls next over for 60. Prior, Swann and Broad don't stick around for too long as England stumble to 177 all out.

The England bowlers do a good containing job early on and remove both openers fairly cheaply. But the tith a below par total mean the West Indies stroll to a simple victory in 42.2 overs to retake the lead in the series despite a late collapse.

West Indies win by 3 wickets
Man of the Match - McClean
England Man of the Match - Flintoff, 60 runs at a good strike rate and bowling 10 overs for 28 runs is a pretty good performance.
Other Notable Mentions - Strauss, Swann
Poor Game - Vaughan, Pietersen, Collingwood, Prior

[Chasjs]

Fourth ODI

Morgan, in the main, has disappointed so far this series. For the fourth game he was dropped. The pitch looked as if it would be good for spin so Rashid was brought into the side as the extra spinner.

West Inides win the toss and stick England in to bat.
Strauss doesn't even last the opening over. Pietersen gets a start but only makes 20.

Vaughan plays well for his 41 but then edges one to the keeper. Collingwood becomes the third England player to get a start but not go on to make a big score, out for 21. Flintoff and Prior fail to make an impact. Wright makes 21 and Swann 14 leaving the 12 overs for the last three to bat out. THey do so but can only push England to 189.

Gayle hits the first ball for 6. That sets the tone for the innings as the West Inides go on to win comfortably in 39.1 overs to win the game and the series.

West Indies win by 6 wickets
Man of the Match - Gayle
England Man of the Match - Swann, inexpensive and a few useful runs make him probably the best of a very poor bunch.
Other Notable Mentions - Rashid, Vaughan
Poor Game - Strauss, Flintoff, Prior

[Chasjs]

Fifth ODI

With the last game being fairly meaningless a few of the other players in the squad were given a chance. SOme of the players assured of their World Cup places were rested. Bopara and Morgan come back into the side in place of Pietersen and Swann. Denly and Woakes make their England ODI debuts in place of Strauss and Broad.

England win the toss and choose to bat first, avoid the heavy cloud later in the match.
Vaughan his consectuive fours in the second over but is out caught on the boundary next ball. Denly follows him in the next over. Bopara and Collingwood lead the fightback and both reach their 50s pushing England to 146/2 after 30 overs. The 139 run stand between the pair is broken next over, Collingwood departing for 68. Flintoff makes just 11 and Bopara is clean bowled for 77. Morgan, Wright and Rashid all make useful contributions as England are bowled out for 242 in 47.3 overs.

England do a good job of containing the West Indies in the opening 20 overs but fail to take any wickets. Gayle accelerates and goes on to hit a superb 109 ball century.

They enter the last 6 overs needing 25 runs. Wright concedes 6 off his over but takes 2 wickets. Flintoff is expensive and goes for 9 runs. Anderson only concedes 1 and takes a wicket. But Gayle is still there and with the help of Bravo finishes it in the next over for another 6 wicket win.

West Inides win by 6 wickets
Man of the Match - Gayle
England Man of the Match - Bopara, good score, good strike rate, shame he didn't go on to 3 figures.
Other Notable Mentions - Collingwood, Wright, Woakes
Poor Game - Anderson, Flintoff, Denly, Vaughan, Prior

[Chasjs]

Series Reaction
West Indies win the Series 4-1

Man of the Series - Graeme Swann, didn't do particularly well with the bat but in four games took 8 wickets at an average of 18.87. To top that off his economy was a measliy 3.77 RPO.


The less said the batter. Another poor showing against the West Indies. I was hoping to get in a series win before heading down under but since winning the Tests in Pakistan I've only won one series, Bangladesh in the Test Series. Not the best preperation so we go to Australia as huge underdogs. Despite losing this series 4-1 we did have a good start. The first match was very close and the second was won at a canter. The batting in the last three was just horrific at times, a problem which needs to be rectrifed before the World Cup.

[Chasjs]

Series Highlights

4 - Luke Wright's second innings 64 run last wicket stand with Anderson with Wright adding 77 runs on his Test debut to take England to a defendable total. The two of them then go an bowl the West Indies out and lead England to victory.


3 - Pietersen and Vaughan cruising to victory in the second ODI with a 173 run unbroken partnership.


2 - Anderson's 10-189 in the third Test. Great bowling, deserved to be on the winning side.


1 - Cook's second innings 155 in the first Test. With nobody else contributing much in the way of runs Cook's innings in this game put England on the path to victory.

[Chasjs]

Ashes Build-Up
The morning after the conclusion of the West Indies Series the papers were particularly harsh on the teams performances. The batting lineup was singled out with people noting that Australia would tear England to shreads and another 5-0 whitewash was a distinct possiblity. SOme newspapers contained rumours of the retirement of some of the older generation. Some columists even called for immediate retirements. Later that morning a press conference was schedualed at Lords for the afternoon. Micheal Vaughan, Andrew Flintoff and suprisingly Andrew Strauss were present.

Vaughan announced he would be retiring at the age of 37 from all forms of cricket after the World Cup, whether he be selected for the tornament, or indeed the Ashes or not. He added he was proud of his achivements with England in his career and hoped that their is still room for another chapter.


Andrew Flintoff stated his desire to continue playing cricket for England but that he could no long take the strain of Test cricket. Therefore he would be retiring from Test after the Ashes. He said he hoped he could be a part of Englands one day squad for the World Cup next year and into the future.


Andrew Strauss announced he would be relenquishing the one day captaincy after the World Cup to give the next captain time to plan for the next one. He stated he doubted he would be playing ODI cricket at the next World Cup and felt that the next person in should be given a fresh start. Even so he did not rule himself entirely out of selection for ODIs. He then went on to say he would continue to lead the Test side for the forseeable future.


With these revelations plastered over the back pages the next day the media's attention turned to Paul Collingwood. Collingwood immediately released a statement saying that despite his poor form in the Tests he would not be retiring from any form of cricket and was ready to play for England should the selectors ask him to. He noted that there is still a few weeks until the Ashes squad is announced and he would be preparing for a tough winter by trying to get as many runs as he could with his county Durham.


The other major talking point was the One Day captaincy. Flintoff and Pietersen are regarded as the favourites though some felt that Cook would come into the side as captain after the World Cup. Some pointed out that Bell, Broad and Anderson could all be dark horses for the role. Paul Collingwood was the other name mentioned but many felt he is not the player to take the side forward. The ECB refused to comment and said an announcement would be made after the World Cup.

The ECB also stated that they felt the recent developments would help clear the air before the Ashes and remined players that they should now be concentrating solely on going back to their counties and finding some form to go into the Ashes with.

[Chasjs]

The ECB Selection Committee has announced the 18 man squad for the 2010-11 Ashes Series in Australia:

ECB Selection Committee
A Strauss*
T Ambrose^
J Anderson
I Bell
R Bopara
T Bresnan
S Broad
J Cobb
P Collingwood
A Cook
S Davies
A Flintoff
K Pietersen
A Rashid
G Swann
J Trott
M Vaughan
C Woakes

The Ashes 2010-11. 18 places on the plane. Who gets them? The main concerns were on how many keepers and openers to take along with the numbers of batsmen. In the end it was decided that Cook would not be the second keeping option and a specialist would be taken along with a large number of batsmen.

With the batting line-up looking fragile in recnet series' the squad chosen looks to favour a 4 man bowling attack. All the usual candidates were selected as far as the batting is concerned. Trott has been in great form and makes the side. As has young Joshua Cobb who scored over 1500 first class runs this summer.

Vaughan gains his place by viture of a couple of good ODI performances and some good form for Yorkshire. Collingwood didn't score as many runs as he would've hoped to but still makes the squad. Bopara has only averaged 30 in first class cricket this season and narrowly gets into the squad. Denly, Horton, Morgan and Moore were all fairly close but a reasonably tried and tested set of players was chosen. Ambrose keeps the golves and with Pror in very poor form Davies comes in as his deputy.

Rashid was chosen as the second spin option alongside Swann leaving only 5 pace bowling slots. The first three were easy. Flintoff, Anderson and Broad. Bresnan has been in good form recently with both bat and ball. He makes the plane. That leaves just one space and several candidates. Harmison and Onions seem to be the favourites both are in the 5 highest bowling averages of the summer. Also in that list are Durham team-mate's Plunkett and Davies along with the impressive Woakes heading the list and, despite not being in the provisional squad, has been making a late push.

Nobody took more wickets than Plunkett but he was also the most expensive. Woakes meanwhile has shown consistency, not taking 5 wickets in an innings but has been inexpensive and still takes almost 4 wickets per game. In the end Woakes was picked. Partically for his youth, looking to the future and partically to add an FM bowler for varity.

[Imager36]

Generally good selection, but can I ask why Wright wasn't selected after a decent debut test?

[Chasjs]

Ah... I didn't mention Wright... he was close and after I had decided on taking Cobb I really considered leaving out Davies to get him in. He could've got Woakes' slot but I felt another specialist was needed and if I took him it would be in place of a specialist batsman and I don't think he's quite there yet.

Still, his ODI place is among the safest in the squad.

[Chasjs]

I also feel that with Wright his opportunities will become greater in the future with the retirement of Flintoff and may find himself as the 4th pace bowler as I feel he can add more to the batting than Bresnan can.

That is, if he continues to perform.

[ollieconnolly]

followed this thread closely, what you are doing is brilliant btw
good selection , i too wondered about wright, and woakes, on the bouncy wickets i think that i would have opted for plunket but good luck and i think anderson/freddie for the ODI captincy

[Chasjs]

I would want to appoint a captain who will be at the next World Cup... Flintoff... maybe.

Personally I'd like Anderson, partially because it seems he'll forever be overlooked IRL with a little bit of bias (he plays for Lancs).

EDIT: And yes, I do think I may possibly be a bowler short.

[Chasjs]

First Test

The big suprise with the team selection was the decision taken to go with 5 bowlers. That meant only 5 batting spots. Strauss, Cook and Pietersen were always certainties to play leaving 6 batsmen to fight over 2 places.

Trott, Cobb and Vaughan were the form men. In the end the senior players Vaughan and Trott were chosen though Cobb can consider himself unlucky. The bowling attack was much easier to pick with Swann being the only spinner and Flintoff, Anderson and Broad being three of the four pace bowlers. Bresnan has been in good form with both bat and ball with his county so he was picked over Woakes.

Hughes opens with Katich. Pointing, Clarke, Hussey and Jaques make up the rest of the batters with Haddin keeping wicket. Australia give debuts to Luke Butterworth and Burt Cockley.

With Johnson and Siddle making up the rest of the bowling attack.

England win the toss and choose to bat on a wicket which could spin quite a bit later on.

[Chasjs]

Siddle bowls the opening ball of the 2010-11 Ashes Series, and it's not a wide. England make a solid start but lose Strauss and Vaughan just before lunch. Pietersen gets out for a duck just after lunch as Cook reaches 50.

But he only makes 66 before edging Butterworth to second slip. Trott then gets a dubious decision when he is judged to have edged Cockley to the keeper on 38, but the ball looked to have come off his pads, leaving England 145-5. Flintoff only makes 20 as England look to be stumbling to a low first innings score. Bresnan edges to the keeper, making just 19 with England passing the 200 mark after tea. Ambrose passes 50 but receives little support from Swann as England finish day one on 268/8. Broad bats well and allows Ambrose to reach his 5th Test century.

They add 148 runs together until Broad eventually gets out just before lunch on the 2nd day for 47. Ambrose is out soon when he becomes Siddles 5th wicket after for a career best 145 with England all out for 380.
Australia make 107 with Flintoff taking the first wicket of Katich for 54. Ponting only lasts 3 balls against Flintoff before he is clean bowled. He then gets Hughes caught and bowled in his next over. Hussey and Clarke rebuild, batting out the rest of the day. Hussey passes reaches 3 figures the next morning.

England fail to take a wicket before lunch, even with the new ball. After lunch Bresnan take his first wicket of the match removing Clarke for 99.

Broad gets Jagues in the next over. Haddin and Hussey guide Australia into the lead but Haddin becoem Bresnan's second victim soon after. Bresnan then takes the wicket of Hussey for 158. Butterworth and Johnson add useful runs until Anderson removes the former for 25 and Flintoff the latter for 45. Flintoff finishes it off later that over bowling Cockley to complete a 5 wicket haul. Australia 471 all out with an 91 run lead.