England under DaveK

[UTBash]

India’s Innings:

India started brightly, Mukund and Sehwag looking good, before Finn removed Mukund for 5. Broad then produced a spectacular display of pace bowling, to take 4 wickets in 4 balls, to remove Kohli for 1, and then golden ducks for Jadeja, Raina and Dhoni.



It left India at 11/5, and really struggling. Sehwag was still in, and was joined by Yuvraj Singh, a capable batsman. No more wickets fell in the powerplay, and India looked to be repairing their innings. That is, before Graeme Swann came onto bowl. Removing Yuvraj in his first over, he also removed both the Pathan brothers. By this point, Sehwag had cut loose, as he was losing partners fast. Finn came back on to remove the dangerous looking Ashwin, before Danny Briggs removed Sehwag at the end for a valiant 85.





Result: ENGLAND WIN THE T20 WORLD CUP!


We retained the World Cup, a great achievement for such an inexperienced squad.

Batting Award: Alex Hales, held the innings together, a superb innings from one of our best players.

Bowling Award: Stuart Broad, 4 wickets in 4 balls removed India’s finest, and left them teetering on the edge.

Tournament stats to follow shortly.

So here I am tying nearly every other T20 and you get Broad taking 4 in 4!!! Haha, funny game! Well done mate!

[DaveK93]

So here I am tying nearly every other T20 and you get Broad taking 4 in 4!!! Haha, funny game! Well done mate!

Thanks Steven Finn did the same thing earlier in the tournament if I remember as well! And a tie isn't a defeat, so that is something!

[DaveK93]

Tournament Stats: (Top 5)

Most runs:
Alex Hales: 292 runs @ 48.67
Virender Sehwag: 212 runs @ 31.29
James Taylor: 202 runs @ 40.40
Virat Kohli: 195 runs @ 32.50
Nasir Jamshed: 193 runs @ 32.17

Highest Score:
M Shahzad 103* (AFG)
A Hales 89* (ENG)
A Mathews 89* (SL)
V Sehwag 85 (IND)
G Smith 85 (SA)

Most Wickets:
S Finn 16
D Steyn 15
S Broad 14
T Perera 14
I Pathan 13

And now finally, the tournament awards for batting and bowling.

Batting Award: Alex Hales: scored the most runs in the tournament, 3 half centuries, and I can’t think of another batsman to take this award, led the way for England’s batsmen.

Bowling Award: Steven Finn sneaks the award, because he is only young, and took key wickets at key times. He’s going to be a potential match winner with the right training.

[DaveK93]

England’s Tour of India

Test Squad:

Batsmen:
A Hales
A Cook
V Chopra
P Horton
I Bell
J Trott
J Taylor

Wicketkeepers:
J Buttler
M Prior
J Bairstow

All-rounders:
T Bresnan
S Broad
A Rashid

Bowlers:
R Topley
J Anderson
S Finn
D Briggs
G Swann

Two notable omissions: Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Strauss. Strauss has been in shocking form, and I’m not recalling him for such an important series. Pietersen misses out, as he is tempermental, and Bairstow and Taylor are more deserving, especially after they performed so well in the T20 World Cup.

[DaveK93]

Pre Test Friendlies:

Just the scorecards for you, so I can proceed straight into the test series.

[DaveK93]

First Test Match

Teams:

England:
A Cook
A Hales
I Bell
J Taylor
J Bairstow
M Prior
S Broad
G Swann
D Briggs
J Anderson
S Finn

India:
V Sehwag
A Rahane
G Gambhir
MS Dhoni
VVS Laxman
A Mukund
R Sharma
R Ashwin
P Kumar
V Kumar
Z Khan

Toss: India win the toss and bat first.

[DaveK93]

Match Report:

Day 1:
Mukund and Praveen Kumar thwarted England after some good bowling reduced India to 197/7. Sehwag fell on the first ball of the test match, but once again, we couldn’t capitalise, so I am slightly disappointed.

Day 2:
We finished India off for 394, and then started our own attack. We batted solidly through the day. Hales, who can do no wrong it seems, got a century, and Cook and Bell both got 50’s, as we finished on 245-1 at the close of play.

Day 3:
We collapsed to 414 all out, but we should have done better. The only highlight was Hales getting 198 before departing, continuing his recent good form.
India could only reach 144-5 by the end of play, as Anderson bowled well again, but Mukund was still in, and we need to remove him as soon as humanly possible to win this.

Day 4:
If you can’t get Mukund out, remove the rest of his team mates. We bowled out India for 234, and have given ourselves a fighting chance. Danny Briggs was desperately unlucky, he deserved a wicket, but he still has a chance.
We collapsed. I’m appalled. Other than that, I have no printable words to describe it.



Batting Award: Alex Hales, best FC score of his career. Shame we couldn’t capitalise.
Bowling Award: James Anderson, bowled well at the start of both innings.

[DaveK93]

Second Test:

No change for India, England bring in Rashid for Broad.

Toss: India win the toss and bat.

Match Report:

Day 1:
India finished the day on 319/7, the spinners proving largely ineffective. Finn took 5 as Dhoni got 112, but an evenly poised day, so anything could happen, as we saw in the last match.

Day 2:
India were bowled out for 353, Finn and Anderson getting the rest of the wickets. In reply, Cook and Hales both hit centuries as we finished on 277-2, a good overnight position, but we can’t relax yet.

Day 3:
We finished on 416, another collapse from our overnight position. We also lost Danny Briggs to injury, which won’t help. India finished on 121-2, so they hold a lead at the minute, but the pitch will take spin, so we need to take advantage.

Day 4:
India declared on 447-7, leaving us to chase 370 on the final day. No chance. The spinners were useless, and changes will need to be made.

Day 5:
Never, ever give me a target to chase on the final day. I’m kamikaze enough to chase it. We didn’t start that well, Cook, Bell and Hales all falling early. Bairstow followed soon after. Fortunately, Matt Prior and James Taylor were in no mood to argue and launched an assault. Prior fell for 91, Rashid following him back straight away. Swann did some damage before departing, and with no Danny Briggs, we looked like we were going to lose. However, James Anderson hit 48 off 77, in a great performance. Taylor finished on his best test score of 133*, as we won it with 9 balls to spare. A great test match, and it also levels the series, which we really should be winning. Even better!



Batting Award: Taylor steals it from Hales, as Taylor was under a lot more pressure.
Bowling Award: Steven Finn/ Jimmy Anderson, I can’t decide, they both bowled well.

[UTBash]

this spam is pathetic is there no way of deleting it from this thread?!?!?

[DaveK93]

Had this problem this morning as well, I've reported it, but not much else I can do! A crying shame as well, I have results to post

[DaveK93]

Third Test Match:

Teams:
Danny Briggs is out for 4 weeks, and Adil Rashid misses out after a poor performance. Broad and Topley come in for this match. Tyagi comes in for his Indian debut, replacing Praveen Kumar.

Toss: India win the toss, and bat.

Match Report:

Day 1:
India finished on 326-9, as Laxman and Rahane did the most damage. Topley bowled well in his first test of the tour. The game is starting to shape up like the previous two, in terms of the first innings, hopefully we can win this one, and give ourselves a big lead this time.

Day 2:
We failed as we fell for 172. It wasn’t great, and only Alex Hales provided any resistance. I’m not happy. India went on to get to 86/0 by the close of play. It’s not looking good for us.

Day 3:
We bowled India out for 343, leaving us to chase a mammoth 514 to win. I can’t see this one happening if I’m honest. We’ll see though, stranger things have happened.

Day 4&5:
I’ve had to put these two days together, because I was so engrossed in this innings that I forgot to look at which session I was in. Cook and Hales both started well, putting on 167 for the opening partnership, before Cook went for 78. Hales followed shortly after reaching his 3rd century of the tour, before Bell and Bairstow sped the run rate up a bit, giving us a platform to aim for the draw. Bell went, and in came Prior, who played the innings of his life for England. 130* including 4 6’s, and backed by Bairstow, and then Taylor, as we crossed the line with a session, and 5 wickets to spare. It’s the best chase I’ve ever been in, but I was very nervous throughout. England really need to stop scaring me like that.



Batting Award: Alex Hales, only batsman to show up in the first innings, and gave us a great platform in the second. He and Cook at the top of the order looks promising.
Bowling Award: Graeme Swann, the spinner took 6 wickets to give us a slim chance of winning, which for once we took.

[UTBash]

You must be breaking a few records with these run chases!!

[DaveK93]

You must be breaking a few records with these run chases!!

It was completely ridiculous! I'm not complaining, but I was expecting a collapse at any moment!

[6ry4nj]

Man of the Match is a really puzzling choice. How does Ashwin's one 4fer put him ahead of three centurions (two of whom top-scored in both innings) and six in an innings from Swann?

[DaveK93]

Man of the Match is a really puzzling choice. How does Ashwin's one 4fer put him ahead of three centurions (two of whom top-scored in both innings) and six in an innings from Swann?

What I haven't mentioned is that Ashwin did make two half centuries. For a bowler, that's failry impressive. Or annoying, from my point of view anyway.