Three Lions on the Shirt - England Story

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This starts on ICC2010 in May 2010. The previous year, England reclaimed the Ashes in a stunning series at home to Australia, and then went to tour South Africa and Bangladesh in the winter. England drew the Twenty20 and Test series in South Africa, but managed to win the ODI series 2-1. In Bangladesh, England completed a clean whitewash, winning the test series 2-0, and the ODI series 3-0

Into 2010, and the schedule looks like this

May 2010: ICC World Twenty20 in West Indies
Jun/Jul 2010: Home vs Bangladesh (2 Tests, 3 ODI's)
Jul 2010: Home v Australia (5 ODI's)
Jul - Sep 2010: Home v Pakistan (4 Tests, 2 T20's, 5 ODI's)
Nov 2010 - Jan 2011 - Away v Australia (5 Tests, 2 T20's, 7 ODI's)
Mar 2011: ICC Cricket World Cup in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh

As far as tests are concerned, we need to try and build a squad capable of retaining the ashes. We have the start of one, but I don't think we're quite there yet, so the Bangladesh and Pakistan series will be very useful indeed. We've decided not to change the default squad, to see where it gets us, and then analyse whether changes need to be made to it.

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ECB Press Release: Squad for ICC World Twenty20 in West Indies:

P Collingwood*
C Kieswetter (wk)
J Anderson
R Bopara
T Bresnan
S Broad
M Lumb
E Morgan
K Pietersen
A Shahzad
R Sidebottom
G Swann
J Tredwell
L Wright
M Yardy

England are in Pool D with West Indies and Ireland

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Pool D: West Indies v England in Guyana



Paul Collingwood wins the toss and elects to bat first, with the weather expected to become more overcast as the day goes on

England Innings (115 all out):
The England openers flew out of the blocks, smashing ten per over for the first three overs, until Lumb got caught in the slips trying to smash a Jerome Taylor delivery away. Another blow fell soon after when fellow opener and debutant Kieswetter took silly run and managed to run out main dangerman Kevin Pietersen for 3. Kieswetter continued and eventually hit 40, but he was the only real resistance and after his departure, the innings eventually fell apart for 115, and only that high because of a slightly wagging tail

West Indies Innings (116-3):
Stuart Broad gave England hope with an early wicket of Chris Gayle, but that brought in Ramnaresh Sarwan, whose quick fire 44 destroyed any hope of an English comeback. Chanderpaul, Deonarine and Bravo all did their bit too, as West Indies reached the target with 27 balls to spare

West Indies win by 7 wickets

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Pool D: England v Ireland in Guyana



Ireland captain Niall O'Brien won the toss and asked England to bat first, citing that he thought his bowlers could get something out of what looked like an uneven pitch

England Innings (136-6):
England again raced out of the traps, but Ireland responded by bringing the spinner on, and his first ball was edged behind by Kieswetter for the first wicket. That seemed to be the cue for the wickets to tumble as England collapsed from 70-1 to 96-6 and seemed in grave danger of dropping out of the tournament! However, the innings was steadied by Luke Wright and Graeme Swann who shared a 40 partnership to steer the innings to a respectable 136-1, which should be enough to beat an associate nation.

Ireland Innings (118 all out)
Jimmy Anderson made the perfect start for England, knocking captain Niall O'Brien's off stump out of the ground with his first ball. Ireland weren't going to give up that easily though, and Porterfield and Cusack scored decent scores as they looked to challenge England's total. Luke Wright and Graeme Swann saw to that between them though, as they demolished 6 of Ireland's last 7 batsmen for just 18 runs, bowling them out for 118.

England won by 18 runs







That means we finish 2nd and qualify for the Super 8 stage of the competition, alongside Australia, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, South Africa, India and West Indies. Early exits went to Bangladesh, New Zealand, Afghanistan and Ireland.

We have been drawn with South Africa, Zimbabwe and Pakistan in our Super 8 group.

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Super Eights: England v Pakistan in Barbados



England won the toss and elected to bat on a wicket that looked and felt like concrete

England Innings:162-3
For the third consecutive game, England had their opponents on the rack from the start, smashing 40 runs off the first 3 overs, Mohammed Asif and Mohammed Aamer the unfortunate opening bowlers. On the previous two occasions, the run rate had been slashed when the first wicket had gone down, which happened when Kieswetter managed to run out partner Lumb for 20. Kieswetter had no intention of stopping though, and looked to form a partnership with Kevin Pietersen. Pietersen was soon trapped lbw, but Kieswetter kept firing the shots away in partnerships with Ravi Bopara and then his captain Paul Collingwood, and eventually ended up on 98* after the 20 overs, 2 runs short of the hundred he deserved so much.

Pakistan Innings:144-8
Pakistan knew it was going to be a tough task, but also knew that it was achievable. Their innings never really got going though, from the moment opener Latif was caught in the slips in the first over. Alam, Akmal and number 10 Aamer offered the best resistance, but even a 9th wicket partnership that threatened to make the impossible possible still fell short

England win by 18 runs

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Super Eights: South Africa v England in Barbados

A bowler friendly pitch and a cloudy sky faced the captains as they headed out for the toss. Graeme Smith won the toss, and made the obvious choice and puts England into bat.



England Innings: 151-7
Almost a perfect start for England as Kieswetter plays and misses at the first ball from Steyn before smashing the rest of the over to the boundary to make the score 20-0 after just six balls. The first ball of the next over though was the first sign of disaster as Lumb edged Theron to slip for a first baller. Pietersen came in and made his highest score of the tournament, but was still only on 19 when he top edged a Langdevelt straight back to the bowler. Bopara, Morgan, Collingwood and Wright followed him in and all failed, none making more than 12, leaving England in trouble on 73-7. Step forward Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad, both better known for their talent with the ball than the bat, but Broad hit an unbeaten 45 and at the other end Swann managed 33, taking the innings to 151-7 with a brilliant 68* partnership for the 8th wicket.

South Africa Innings (132 all out)
England got a boost early on when Herschelle Gibbs was trapped in front by Anderson on his first ball, but his replacement AB de Villiers smashed a few away to make 26 before he was run out in a massive turning point in the match. South Africa still put up a fight, mainly in the partnership between Smith and Duminy, but when the captain top edged Sidebottom to Anderson in the deep for 14, South Africa knew it had gone. The tail wagged slightly, but Luke Wright saw to that, dismissing Theron and Langeveldt in two balls at the start of the 19th over to secure the victory and passage to the semi-final with it.

England win by 19 runs

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Super Eights: England v Zimbabwe at St. Lucia



With qualification assured and weaker opposition as well, England made two changes to the side that had won the last three games. The poorly performing Ryan Sidebottom and Eoin Morgan were dropped, and replaced by bowler Ajmal Shahzad and all-rounder Tim Bresnan, meaning that England went in with six bowlers. Paul Collingwood won the toss, and made the slightly strange decision of putting Zimbabwe into bat on a good wicket, the only sensible reason was that the weather forecast predicted a perfect evening for batting.

Zimbabwe Innings (95 all out):
A terrible start for England as they were battered around for the first few overs, but when they managed to dismiss the top three batsmen, Masakadza, Sibanda and Taibu all for the same score - 17 - they never really looked back. The only real negative was debutant Shahzad being smashed for 18 in his only over but every other bowler took a wicket as Zimbabwe were dismissed for 95 in 17 overs.

England Innings (96-1):
England knew the only satisfactory performance would be to romp to that total and the top of the group and they came close to doing it without losing a wicket, Michael Lumb making 56 before being bowled by Chris Mpofu with England 5 runs from victory. Kevin Pietersen came in and finished the job, Craig Kieswetter finishing unbeaten on 36, his second not out of the competition.

England win by 9 wickets





England will face Australia in the semi-final, and South Africa will play India in the other semi

[Imager36]

Wow Luke Wright's bowling well for you... wish he was like that in my Sussex game (or real life, more to the point )

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Wow Luke Wright's bowling well for you... wish he was like that in my Sussex game (or real life, more to the point )

Yeah, Wright has been excellent, takes lots of wickets once the main bowlers have got rid of the top order and is very economical too. Hasn't done much with the bat, but hopefully that will come in time.

[Machinax]

Sri Lanka played three and lost three!? The shame!

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Semi Final: England v Australia at St. Lucia



Just the one change from the side that won the final Super 8 game against Zimbabwe, Tim Brensan retaining his place, but the highly disappointing Ajmal Shahzad was dropped and replaced by Michael Yardy, who will bat at number nine. Paul Collingwood won the toss and elected to bat first on an excellent wicket.

England Innings (106 all out)
Put simply, it went badly from the first ball to the last. Michael Lumb was out first ball, and the middle order swiftly followed, leaving England 64-8. Graeme Swann revived the innings providing further proof of himself as a world class all-rounder, but only he, Kieswetter and Broad managed double figures, as England eventually slumped to 106.

Australia Innings (108-2)
It was never going to be much of a challenge really, and Australia took just over 15 overs to complete it, despite losing opener Warner first ball. Luke Wright also managed to trap Watson lbw for 36, but the Hussey brothers carried their innings through and booked Australia's place in Sunday's final against South Africa in Barbados.

Australia win by 8 wickets

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ECB Press Release: Squad for 1st Test versus Bangladesh at Lord's

A Cook*
C Kieswetter (wk)
J Anderson
I Bell
R Bopara
T Bresnan
S Broad
P Collingwood
S Finn
K Pietersen
G Swann
J Trott

Captain Andrew Strauss and keeper Matt Prior both miss the first test with injuries, so Alastair Cook deputises as captain, whilst Twenty20 keeper Craig Kieswetter is given a Test chance on the back of his World Cup form, and will also take Strauss' place opening the batting.

Bangladesh Test Series

1st Test - Lord's - 27th May to 1st June
2nd Test - Old Trafford - 4th June to 8th June

Australia ODI Series

1st ODI - Rose Bowl - 22nd June
2nd ODI - Cardiff - 24th June
3rd ODI - Old Trafford - 27th June
4th ODI - The Oval - 30th June
5th ODI - Lord's - 3rd July

Bangladesh ODI Series

1st ODI - Trent Bridge - 8th July
2nd ODI - Bristol - 10th July
3rd ODI - Edgbaston - 12th July

[6ry4nj]

I'm afraid the smart money is on Kieswetter not making a good Test opener. Could be a Doherty (pronounced D'oh!-erty) of a decision!... I would think a better batsman than Swann/Bresnan was called for at 7, so I guess Bresnan is carrying the drinks.

By the way, you've gotta tell who won the WC thingy. Even if it was Australia!

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I'm afraid the smart money is on Kieswetter not making a good Test opener. Could be a Doherty (pronounced D'oh!-erty) of a decision!... I would think a better batsman than Swann/Bresnan was called for at 7, so I guess Bresnan is carrying the drinks.

By the way, you've gotta tell who won the WC thingy. Even if it was Australia!

Well, as a keeper, you're probably right. Too many byes and a few dropped catches too, which won't do in Tests. As a batsman however, he ended up scoring the most runs in the whole series. It wasn't Bresnan at 12th man.

No, thankfully South Africa beat Australia by 7 wickets in the final.

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England v Bangladesh - 1st Test at Lord's



Day 1: The teams were faced with a good batting wicket on the opening day, maybe with something in it for some good bowling. Stand-in captain Alastair Cook won the toss and asked Tamim Iqbal's Bangladesh side to bat first. That decision was justified when the Tigers were 5 wickets down for just 70 runs at Lunch. The efforts of Mahmadullah and Ashraful allowed them to push on in the afternoon session, ending it 196-7, but when Ashraful finally lost his wicket for 58 just under an hour before the close, they were bowled out for 248. England batted for 36 minutes at the end of the day, making 15 slow runs for no wicket.

Day 2: Cook and Kieswetter came out on the second day at Lord's wanting runs, and runs they got, until Cook was caught in the slips for 30. Pietersen came in and batted well with the debutant until Kieswetter was eventually bowled for a credible 87, just 13 runs from a debut century. Pietersen soon followed him back to the pavilion for one run shy of that, but Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell formed a good partnership, Trott going for 46, Bell becoming the first England batsman to make a century, England finishing the day on

Day 3: Rain was expected overnight, and came, and we lost the first 40 minutes of the third day. When play did commence, it all went England's way, adding 67 runs for the loss of no wicket. In the afternoon session, Bangladesh turned it all around, taking the wickets of Bopara, Bresnan, Swann, Broad and Anderson, losing just 72 runs in the process in an uninterrupted session. It started raining at Lunch, and didn't stop, leaving England still on 453-9 and captain Alastair Cook took the decision to declare overnight with a lead of 205.

Day 4: Bangladesh had an awful lot to do, and in overcast conditions like these, it was never going to happen. They went into Lunch on Day 4 72-4, and it never really got much better, only Mahmadullah coming close to fifty before being removed by the rampant Anderson on 48. The wickets kept falling in between the rain showers, but they didn't stop England as Anderson took the final wicket with two balls remaining to secure an innings victory without having to come back on the last day.