Life is a Rollercoaster - England Story

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First Test

Skelton recovers from his cold and makes his Test debut in place of Prior. Gould was expected to also figure in place of Bell but with the pitch looking like it might spin Patel was chosen instead.

England win the toss and bat first.
England enjoy a good first day, finishing on 311/2 losing just Strauss and Cook for 67 and 92 respectively. Bopara becomes the second batsmen to fall in the 90s, out for 99 early on day 2. Pietersen, though, makes no mistake and moves into three figures shortly after lunch but England lose Cobb for 49 the very next over. Pietersen himeslf is out for 129. Patels 71 and a quick 52 from Skelton push England to 600 as they declare with a hour left in the day.
England take 1 wicket before the close, Amla off Anderson in the final over. Anderson and Broad each take a wicket early on day 3 and the introduction of spin does for Smith. Swann gets a further 4 wickets to finish with 5. Broad takes his second and Patel finishes off the South Africans for 269.
England elect not to enforce the follow on. They bat aggressively but lose wickets regularly. Even so they restore their 600 run lead and make it to lunch on day 4 282/8 where they declare.
England bowl well in the last 2 sessions taking 5 wickets with Woakes, Anderson, Swan and Patel each taking a wicket each and Duminey run out. England take the new ball the next morning and with it comes their first breakthrough. From then the pace bowlers have no problems taking the remaining wickets to put England 1-0 up in the series with 2 to play.

England Man of the Match - Pietersen, century helped to set up a big lead then 61 off 75 in the second innings put England firmly in control.
Other Notable Mentions - Bopara, Cook, Swann, Skelton, Patel
Poor Game - Woakes

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Second Test

With the pitch in the second game also likely to turn and along with his good performance in the first Test Patel keeps his place in the side as England go into the second match unchanged.

England win the toss and bat.
A Strauss century anchors Englands innings on day 1 with 33 from Cook and 47 from Pietersen the other main contributions to see England to 272/5. England loses Skelton early for 18 but Patel goes on to 71. England are then bowled out half way through the day for 397 with Broad unbeaten on 58.
Broad and Anderson each strike twice as South Africa make it to the close of day 2 153/4. Broad takes 3 early wickets and with Anderson claiming another to reduce South Africa to 177/8 but Prince sees South Africa safe of the follow on but is trapped lbw by Woakes in the last over before lunch. Broad needs just 3 balls to claim the final wicket to bowl the South Africans out for 213.
England lose Strauss in the first over but England dig to battle through the bowler friendly conditions of day 3, losing only Cook for 54 late on. Bopara goes on to make 80 and a century from Pietersen supported by a quick 49 from Skelton gives England a lead of 508 when they declare at tea on day 4.
South Africa reach 103/3 at stumps on day with Broad taking 2 wickets and Woakes snaring the third in the last over of the day. Broad, Anderson and Swann each take a wicket in the morning session to take England 4 wickets away from a series victory. Broad takes his tenth wicket of the match after lunch and soon after he has his second five wicket haul but South Africa resist through a Prince century which takes them to the final session. They don't last too long into the final session though with 2 quick wickets from Woakes.

England Man of the Match - Broad, exceptional bowling display on a pitch which was meant to favour spin taking career best innings and match figures.
Other Notable Mentions - Pietersen, Strauss
Poor Game - Swann, Cobb

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Third Test

England make one change, Gould in for Patel on a flat pitch.

South Africa win the toss and bat.
The ptich prooves to be a flat as expected with South Africa putting on 220 for the first wicket with both openers making centuries. England fight back in the afternoon with 5 wickets as South Africa go into day 2 380/6. South Africa go on to make 504 with Prince also reaching three figures.
In reply England make 409 with the bulk of the innings coming from a 228 run stand between Bopara and Pietersen who both make centuries.
Each of Englands bowlers take 2 wickets but they can't stop South Africa reaching a lead of 434 where they declare with an hour left in day 4.
England lose Cook early and Bopara falls soon in the morning session. Strauss and Pietersen each put on a century and bat till tea with England 190 short of victory. From here they start to attack and the partnership is quicky taken up to 243 before Strauss falls for 119. Pietersen smashes his way to 150 off 209 balls before he also falls. Gould fails to make an impression but Skelton looks impressive while Cobb makes an audition for the one day side as both strike at over a run a ball and they get England close. With an over left England are 15 short. A single off each of the first three balls makes a win unlikely but consectutive fours mean England need a 6 to win. It isn't to be as a dot ballis bowled. The match then finishes in a draw with Cobb 65* and Skelton 45* but England still win the series 2-0.

England Man of the Match - Pietersen, two innings of over 150 is a great return from a Test match and after centuries in the previous 2 games it's not any great suprise as he's in top form and he just loves batting against South Africa.
Other Notable Mentions - Strauss, Bopara
Poor Game - Cook, Gould

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The ECB Selection Committee has announced the 15 man ODI squad to tour South Africa:

ECB Selection Committee
A Cook*
J Anderson
R Bopara
S Broad
M Cale
A Flintoff
K Gould
S Neville
S Patel
K Pietersen
A Rashid
I Skelton
G Swann
C Woakes
L Wright

Swann comes back into the one day side after missing the last series through injury. He replaces Wainwright while Neville comes into the side in the place of Bell.

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First T20

England play a similar side to the last T20 except with Wright getting a game ahead of Flintoff and Anderson captains the side in his place. South Africa win the toss and bat.
South Africa lose early wickets and the spin of Rashid ties them down but runs are leaked at the other end. England's bowlers bowl poorly at the death to allow South Africa to set a challenging total of 176.

England lose Neville early but a strong partnership of 97 between Bopara and Pietersen keeps the rate under control. Gould comes in and bats well as Bopara goes on past 50. But England go 3 overs without a boundary leading up to the final over where with 15 runs left to get and it proves too much for the pair.

South Africa win by 8 runs
Man of the Match - Bopara
England Man of the Match - Bopara, batted fairly well throughtout even though he was restricted near the end.
Other Notable Mentions - Rashid, Pietersen, Gould
Poor Game - Woakes, Neville

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First ODI

Cook and Bopara again open the batting. Patel plays ahead of Wright while experienced Swann and Flintoff a chosen before Rashid and Woakes.

South Africa win the toss and bat.
South Africas top order all get good scores but England tie them down well in the middle overs while Broad and Flintoff bowl okay at the death to take a few wickets and restrict South Africa to 249.

Bopara struggles at the start and is out for 17. Pietersen comes and goes with a quick 52 off 32 while Cook also passes his 50 and looks to anchor the innings. He is out for 65 though with England still requiring 97 off 19.3 overs. England lose both Gould and Cale soon after but Patel and Skelton form a usful partnership. They also fall in quick succession though with England still 27 runs short but the rate now under 4 RPO. Swann bashes 22 to get England close but it's up to Flintoff to finish the job with 17 balls to spare.

England win by 2 wickets
Man of the Match - Cook
England Man of the Match - Pietersen, maybe should've got a bigger score but his 50 at a strike rate over 160 meant the rate was under control throughout the innings.
Other Notable Mentions - Swann, Patel, Cook, Skelton
Poor Game - Bopara, Gould, Cale

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Second ODI

England are unchanged for the second match of the series.

England win the toss and bowl.
South Africa attack Englands pace attack in the powerplay to put England under pressure. Bopara releives some of that with some good bowling but after a few succesful overs he is knocked out of the attack. England turn to spin with Swann and Patel restricting South Africa and even Pietersen doing a good job. Anderson and Flintoff come back to take a few wickets but can't stop South Africa reaching 290.

Bopara again struggles to score but Cook and Pietersen form a good partnership but after they fall in quick sucsession along with Cale England look in trouble. Gould bats well but after losing Patel and Skelton he also loses his wicket and with it Englands hope of a victory extinguished.

South Africa win by 49 runs
Man of the Match - Amla
England Man of the Match - Patel, bowled his 10 overs very economically.
Other Notable Mentions - Cook, Gould
Poor Game - Broad, Flintoff, Anderson, Cale, Bopara

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Third ODI

England go into the decider with an again unchanged side.

South Africa win the toss and bat.
England bowl better early on but this time it's after the powerplay where South Africa attack with Amla and Duminey putting on 167 runs together. Patel again bowls very economically and Broad and Flintoff return with 5 and 4 wickets respectively to bowl South Africa out for 272 in the final over.

Englands innings follows a similar pattern to the last three with Bopara falling early and Cook and Pietersen fighting back. They both reach 50 but fail to go on to a bigger score. Gould falls soon after but Patel assisted first by Cale, then by Skelton leads the team to victory in the series.

England win by 4 wickets
Man of the Match - Amla
England Man of the Match - Patel, again bowled economically but this time backed it up with a match winning innings.
Other Notable Mentions - Pietersen, Cook, Skelton
Poor Game - Swann, Gould, Bopara

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Series Reaction
England win Test series 2-0
England win ODI series 2-1

Another Test series victory and the second one over South Africa this year. It could've been 3-0 aswell after the amazing effort chasing a large total in the final Test meant the side fell just a few runs short. But there wasn't really much between the sides with the only difference being in the bowling attacks. South Africa never looked like taking 20 wickets in a Test and their lack of a good spinner in good spin conditions was a big weakness in their attack. After the last ODI series I said Pietersen loves batting against South Africa and he's again proved the thorn in their side with 4 fantastic knocks. After such a great series he now overtakes Strauss as Englands all-time leading Test runs scorer despite 2 Strauss centuries. Swann, although a good consitsent performer over the past few years, was disappointing in this series despite pitches in the first two Tests which looked ideal for him to do well. Broad, however, was the pick of the bowlers and bowled fantasitcally well in the second Test taking career figures.

Just like in the summer the ODI side follow up a Test victory over South Africa with victory in the ODIs. But this one was much closer and no batsman really got in and made a big score. In particular Bopara really looked like he struggled. After the last series I said score a century, win the game and in the last 2 matches Amla was amazing with two huge scores but only won one. Meanwhile 68 was the highest score made by an English batsmen. However, we chased well in two of the three games and therefore come away with a victory.

Man of the Test Series - Pietersen. What an amazing series he had. A century in each Test with two in the last match. He score 647 runs averaging 107.83 which is an epic performance from the number one batsman in the world.

Man of the ODI Series - Patel. He's in the side for his batting but in this series he was extremely economical going at 3 an over overall. Then, although he had a quite time with the bat in the first three games, he took his side froma difficult posoition in the last game to victory in the series.

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The ECB Selection Committee has announced the 15 man ODI squad to tour Zimbabwae:

ECB Selection Committee
A Cook*
J Anderson
R Bopara
S Broad
M Cale
K Gould
A Ingram
S Neville
S Patel
K Pietersen
A Rashid
I Skelton
D Wainwright
C Woakes
L Wright

Flintoff and Swann have been rested for the trip to Zimbabwae in order to give Woakes and Rashid a chance to impress. Ingram and Wainwright have been called up as cover.

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First ODI

One suprise selection for the first ODI, Ingram makes his debut ahead of Rashid due to the pitch being well suited to pace bowling while Patel is trusted as the sides only spinner after his impressive series with the ball vs South Africa. Despite his poor form Bopara keeps his opening berth ahead of Neville.

England win the toss and but Zimbabwae in to bat.
Woakes bowls sumpremely well in his opening spell taking 1/11 off 7 overs. Broad proves expensive in an early 3 over burst but comes back to bowl a little better in the middle overs. Patel keeps it tight at first until Zimbabwae hit him out of the attack. Anderson returns to take a further 5 wickets to restrict Zimbabwae to 192.

England get off to a solid start but lose Bopara for 23. Pietersen follows him back soon after. Cook goes on to a 50 but can't go on to a bigger score. Gould and Cale get England close until the cloud comes in and batting starts to get very difficult. Then Zimbabwae strike with a flurry of wickets removing Gould, Patel and Skelton in quick sucession. Then Cale loses his wicket to put England in real trouble. Broad and Woakes bat sensibly and score at the required rate for the last few overs. They enter the last over requiring 4. After facing 2 dot ball Broad hits the required boundary to give England a tight victory.

England win by 3 wickets
Man of the Match - Anderson
England Man of the Match - Anderson, great bowling to restrict Zimbabwae's run flow and to take 6 wickets aswell.
Other Notable Mentions - Woakes, Cook, Gould
Poor Game - Broad, Pietersen, Skelton

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Second ODI

Two changes with Rashid and Wright replacing Ingram and Patel.

Zimbabwae win the toss and bat.
Again Woakes bowls economically at the start and gets three wickets with Anderson picking up just one but keeping the other end tight. Broad bowls better in this game and also chips in with a wicket while Wright and Rashid keep it tight in the middle overs. Anderson returns with his second wicket before Woakes and Broad finish Zimbabwae off for 156.

England lose Bopara and Pietersen early while Cook also fails to make a decent score. Gould bats well with Cale but after he is dismissed England again collapse. However, Cale stays in and scores an important 50 which ultimately takes England to victory.

England win by 4 wickets
Man of the Match - Woakes
England Man of the Match - Woakes, best figures in international cricket. He bowled well throughout keeping it tight and taking wickets.
Other Notable Mentions - Cale, Rashid
Poor Game - Pietersen, Bopara

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Third ODI

England stick with the same side as in the last match hoping to inflict a whitewash on Zimbabwae.

Zimbabwae win the toss and bat first.
England take wickets early on with all four specialist bowlers bowling well throughout. THe fith bowler happend to be a bit of a problem though, with Wright, Bopara and Pietersen all going for runs. That allows a good partnership to develop which takes Zimbabwae past the 200 mark for the first time in the series. They also bat out their 50 overs for the first time in the rseries and set the highest total of the series, a challenging 245.

Bopara and Pietersen again disappoint while Cook can only make 36. Gould and Cale steady the innings but by the time they take the batting powerplay in the 38th over the rate is at 7 an over. That is when Gould explodes hitting several boundaries as England score 43 for the loss of no wickets off the powerplay. But Gould falls for 92 after a 120 partnership. Wright hits 3 boundaries but then England lose another 4 wickets leaving Broad and Woakes to finish the job.

England win by 3 wickets
Man of the Match - Chigumbura
England Man of the Match - Gould, great knock to take his side within reach of victory. A very well paced innings which deserved a 100.
Other Notable Mentions - Cale, Woakes, Rashid
Poor Game - Wright, Bopara, Pietersen

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Series Reaction
England win ODI series 3-0

An ODI whitewash to complete the year again, although this time against far weaker opponents. The bowlers excelled in this series, always restricting Zimbabwae to below par scores and only once did the opposing batsmen get on top of them. The batting, though, was inconstistent but always managed to get the job done in the end despite playing on pitches where it was difficult to score and chasing was always hard work.

Man of the ODI Series - Woakes, was required with the bat twice and on both occasions held his nerve to help his team over then line. But the place he really excelled, though, was with the ball. In three games he bowled 25 overs conceding just 86 runs and taking 7 wickets. That equates to an average of 12.29, an economy of 3.44 and a strike rate of 21.4 which are good enough figures in itself before you factor in that he bowled the vast majority of his overs in the opening powerplay. He'd hope that this performance would push him ahead of Flintoff in ODI sides in the future.

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2011/12 Season Review - Test Team

Results:
Home Sri Lanka - 1-0
Home South Africa - 3-0
Away South Africa - 2-0

Batting:


Bowling:


Player of the Year - Pietersen