Victoria: A True Underdog Story

[stickwicky]

Hi All,

With the addition of the Australian League mode, and the surprising lack of Stories using this mode on the forum. I thought that I might give it a go myself.

I decided to leave the squad as is for the first season, justifying my decsion that it would give me a good insight into what the Victorian squad needs, and what it has in ample amounts.

I decided to write up a basic platform from which my First Class sides would be based on, and any variations would be a simple switch in and out, to avoid players from shifting around too much, and risk playing in a position they are not well aquainted with.

Default Side:
1. Hill
2. Quiney
3. Hussey
4. White
5. McDonald
6. Maxwell
7. Wade
8. Hastings
9. Siddle
10. McGain
11. McKay

Sheffield Shield - Victoria vs. South Australia
I forgot to take a screenshot of this match for you, so I will have to describe it in a bit of detail. South Australia won the toss and decided to bat on an inviting deck. Surely enough, they smashed me around for 414 off 138 overs, not a good start for the Vics. I went into bat, and... collapsed, thankfully, a certain Hussey managed to help the team to 298, but I was still behind by 100 odd runs. South Australia went into bat again on the last session of the third day and I tore through their top order, they then declared at the middle of the second session of the last day (at 8/160), giving themselves one and a half sessions to bowl me out. Thankfully, Hussey and White were able to hold tight until the end of the day, securing a draw, which I found out, was no better then a loss...

South Australia - 10/414
D. Christian - 84*
B. McGain - 6/51

Victoria - 10/298
D. Hussey - 103
P. George - 5/54

South Australia - 8/160
J. Smith - 38
P. Siddle - 4/52

Victoria - 2/82
C. White - 28*
C. Bailey - 1/21

Match Drawn
MoM: D. Hussey
Pts: SA - 2 Vic - 0

Conclusions: My openers need to stop drinking the night before the game. They only made 56 runs between them this game, an average of 14.00 each.

Sheffield Shield - Victoria vs. South Australia
I felt pretty confident going into my second First Class game in a row against the Redbacks that I could win with the knowledge of my previous game (i.e. bat first this time)... Until Cricket Australia decided that it would be funny if they were to pull half my team...

I felt confident with my 1st innings total of 362, made in four sessions. But South Australia decided it wasn't enough, belting 477 dec. My Openers obviously hadn't listened to my advice on drinking, because they started a top order collapse that would have finished me if it hadn't have been for Hastings and the tail enders batting out the rest of the match... not impressive.

IN: Finch, Rogers, Sheridan (FC Debut), Harwood, Wright
OUT: Hussey, White, McDonald, Siddle, McKay



Conclusions: Hill is ridiculously close to being booted over his namesake. Cricket Australia picking 80% of the NSW team for International matches isn't always a bad thing.

More to follow soon.

Scott.

[6ry4nj]

As a rule I read everyone's stories on here but this is totally unreadable through being too wide for the screen. Seems to be rather well done apart from that.

[stickwicky]

As a rule I read everyone's stories on here but this is totally unreadable through being too wide for the screen. Seems to be rather well done apart from that.

Are thumbnails better for you my good man?

[stickwicky]

Continuing on then.

One Day Cup - Victoria vs. South Australia
As they say, third time lucky. I went into this One Day match expecting a thrashing, and came out with a bit of confidence that my team might actually be able to do something this year other then flounder at the bottom of the table.

Quiney won the toss and sent the Rogers and Hodge in to open the batting. They put on 58 (Hooray!), before I lost 4 wickets for 19 runs, a rather large obstacle I needed to get over. Thankfully Wade (57) and Hastings (24) managed to carry me to a shaky total of 206, surely not enough to trouble the dominant Redbacks?

South Australia looked potent, hitting 5 an over during the compulsory Power Play, for only the loss of one wicket. But after the fielding restrictions came off, they lost a steady stream of wickets, falling for a total of 164. The First Victorian Victory for 2010/11 had arrived!



Conclusions: The lack of Hill's presence made me happy.

One Day Cup - Victoria vs. Tasmania
Buoyed by the success of my first win, the Vics went with an unchanged team into their next game against the Island State.

Quiney lost the toss and was told to bowl by the opposing Captain. The Tasmanians lost were suddenly 2/10 as Hastings and Nannes took a wicket each in the early stages. However, the opposition bounced back and managed 249, which would be a difficult target for the slow starting Vics.

The Chase, as predicted, started slowly, for the second time, the opening pair put on 58 before giving way, and Quiney stepped onto the field. The captain played a superb knock of 117, despite the failing middle order (22 runs from batsmen 4-7). Hastings, once again providing support as they accelerated the chase.

It came down to the last over, Quiney on strike, with one run required for Victory. Macdonald came steaming in and hit Quiney on the toe with a good delivery, having him depart LBW. Nannes then came to the crease, needing a solitary run from five balls, alas, due to tight bowling, batting incompetence or a big night out on the town, Nannes couldn't hit that run, a tie. Silence descended over the ground, the Vics fuming, and the Tasmanians breathing some sighs of relief that they salvaged something.



Coclusions: Nannes must move down the order. Hastings is a better batsmen then some of my middle order players. Hodge, for a Limited Overs specialist, is a little bit too slow for my liking.

Scott

[stickwicky]

One Day Cup - Victoria vs. Western Australia
Another One Dayer, and against WA to boot. They are a strong team, so it was handy that Cricket Australia decided that they would be nice enough to return some of my players from International Duty. This provided me with some much needed Middle Order strength. I decided that Siddle needed to be rested, based on his dwindling stamina.

IN: Hussey, White, McDonald, McKay
OUT: Finch, Maxwell, Sheridan, Wright

Huss won the toss on another brilliant batting pitch. The Vics went in first, and finally clicked. The Openers scored at a brisk rate and with the exception of Quiney, all 5 batsmen scored above 40, setting a target of 248 to win.

Somewhat encouraged by the confidence of their team mates, the bowlers charged in and did me pround, all equally sharing the wickets. However, it was not enough as the Warriors chased down the total with 3 Overs and 2 Wickets in hand.

Despite losing, I was still quite happy with how the team worked. I seem to be on the right path with my batting order and the bowlers aren't having too much trouble taking wickets.



Conclusions: I'm on the right path, but tweaks still have to be made.

Sheffield Shield - Victoria vs. Western Australia
Seeing the pitch going into this game made me slightly excited. The pitch showed three green bars for spin, meaning that late in the game spinners would have a large impact.

With this in mind, I gambled on taking two spinners, with the back up that McDonald and Sheridan should be able to support the other pacemen.

IN: Hussey, White, McDonald, McKay, Holland
OUT: Finch, Maxwell, Hill, Harwood, Wright

A bad result at the toss meant that I had to bowl first, not what I wanted, as my spinners would have maximum impact in the first innings. Nevertheless I carried on, bowling them out for a round 350, with Holland taking 2/56. McKay having a bad first innings, finishing with 0/63.

I went in to bat on the second day with firm thoughts of taking the first innings lead, remembering my poor efforts to do so in previous games. I couldn't have asked for better from my two openers, both taking hundreds, as well as Hussey at No.3. I managed to secure those points with wickets to spare, declaring at 7/467.

WA started their second innings well, getting to 2/110, before losing their remaining 8 wickets for 145 runs, Clint McKay (5/33) literally tearing out the heart of the westerners:



Only Adam Voges stood tall, with 126*. My plan of utilising spinners had gone awry, as only 4 out of 20 wickets taken by the Vics came from spinners, and then only from Holland.

By the time I had finished off the tail, it was too late to do anything more with the game, and Quiney and Rogers batted out the overs.



Conclusion: This opening pair is working well for me. Sheridan is a star of the future. McGain's best is behind him.

[6ry4nj]

Are thumbnails better for you my good man?

The problem is fixed, thank you. It wasn't the width of the images I had a problem with. All the text was two screens wide. Anyway, fixed now so looking forward to a good read.

[stickwicky]

Sheffield Shield - Victoria vs. Queensland
Siddle and McKay trotted off to join Australia once again to play in the Ashes series... I rested Siddle so I could use him as a strike weapon, and he goes off to the Internationals when I need him... Ah well. In the end, I decided to perservere (sp?) with my 2 spinners, and the one that performed the best in the match would be my No.1 for the remainder of the season.

IN: D. Pattinson
OUT: C. McKay

True to most Aussie grounds, the pitch is a nice batting deck. Full Green for Bounce, and 4 Green for Spin. I win the toss. Marvellous.

The first session proves to be one of the best of my season. On average, I was scoring around 60-70 per session. On this day though, I scored a healthy 1/96 in the first session. The second session contained similar success as I scored 0/128, Rogers making his century. Rogers, however, fell soon after tea, Hussey (141) and White (104*) continuing through the session with no further loss. At the end of the day I was 2/319. The second day came with even more runs to the Vics. Hussey fell early in the day, but White and McDonald poured on more runs to take Victoria to a total of 4/446 dec.

It was the middle of the day when Victoria came out to bowl. Hastings struck early, removing Townsend for 1. Sheridan struck on the first change, snaring Broad for 21. Wickets seemed to fall at a steady rate, and Queensland finished the day on 6/161. McGain (4/61) and Holland (1/15) opened the bowling in the morning, and the veteran seemed to have the edge on his younger counterpart, bowling out the tail single handedly. Having bowled out Queensland for so low a total, Hussey was asked if he wanted to enforce the follow on, he declined, and sent out his men to bat again.

Quiney and Rogers attacked early building a solid foundation of 65 (at least thats solid for my side...) for the first wicket. Rogers, Hussey and White provided support for a rampaging Quiney on his way to a 102*. With a solid total of 2/229, Hussey declared with an hour to spare on the third day, setting a target of 454.

On the second ball of the Innings, Pattinson removed Broad again, a good start for the Vics. It turned sour though, with Hartley and Townsend building a solid 100 run partnership before being broken apart by McDonald. This wasn't enough though, and Queensland were able to drag it out for a draw. I however, took first innings points.



Conclusions: Maybe I should have enforced the follow on? McGain won the spin battle, 7 wickets to 1. Holland will be subbed out for another paceman.

[ab5ides1]

If you're subbing him out, then use James Pattinson as he gets better the more you use him, at least, that's what I found.