England under DaveK

[Imager36]

If you win the second test, are you going to drop/retire Pietersen? I'd enjoy the realism and it would be a good excuse to squeeze a youngster in... anyway, your call, just a small suggestion.

[DaveK93]

First Test

Teams:

England:
A Strauss
A Cook
J Trott
I Bell
K Pietersen
M Prior
S Broad
T Bresnan
G Swann
J Anderson
S Finn

Bresnan gets the nod for us in overcast conditions.

S Africa:
G Smith
H Amla
J Kallis
A B De Villiers
A Peterson
J Rudolph
V Philander
T Tsolekile
M de Lange
M Morkel
L Tsotsobe

The South African team lacks Dale Steyn, but the bowlers selected are more than capable.

Toss: We won the toss! I decided to bat first, before the pitch deteriorated too much.

Day 1:
We finished the first day on 261/4, after a rain affected first session. Morkel took 3 wickets, those of Strauss, Cook and Trott, and Pietersen was removed by part-timer Rudolph. Prior and Bell consolidated though, and leaves the first day even. I can see the rain affecting this match more though, so we do need a good first innings to make sure we could win this.

Day 2:
We lost Prior to the first ball of the day, edging behind. However, Bell did get to his century, ably supported by a Broad half century. The tail collapsed with Broad’s departure though, as we finished on 380, which in my opinion is probably too low.
Steven Finn produced one of his best bowling performances in an England shirt, as he took 7 wickets to leave South Africa teetering on the edge of the follow on. Swann picked up the other wicket, as South Africa could not do anything about Finn. England are really in the driving seat in this test match.

Day 3:
Anderson picked up the last wicket early on in the day, and South Africa were made to follow on. The openers rediscovered their batting talent though, and were 195/4 by the end of the days play, having lost some of the last session to rain. Bresnan got a wicket, whilst Broad got 3. Still plenty of time to wrap this one up though.

Day 4:
We finished the South Africans off for 291, Bresnan getting a five wicket haul. Swann also came into play, getting a wicket. This compensated for the fact that Broad got injured, which is disappointing, but given that Chris Woakes was in good form against the Australians, I would think he would be ideal to replace Broad.I say this in confidence, as on my Nottinghamshire story, he would bat as high as five for them.
England were left with only 81 to chase, so fairly easy. Or so you would think. We very nearly threw it away! Only Trott and Cook provided any real resistance, and that just about took us over the line, but I was very, very worried throughout the innings.



Batting Award: Ian Bell: purely for his first innings century. Nobody really pushed him for it in the second innings.
Bowling Award: It has to be Steven Finn, lethal bowling in the first innings put us in a very strong position.

Second Test squad announcement following shortly.

[DaveK93]

England vs South Africa

So we now play one of the most complete units on the international cricket circuit. This should be a good series.

The team that will be touring England is:

South Africa:
G Smith
H Amla
A B De Villiers
A Petersen
J Rudolph
J P Duminy
T Tsolekile
J Kallis
M De Lange
V Philander
I Tahir
M Morkel
R Peterson
D Steyn
L Tsotsobe

It’s worth noting Dale Steyn has a broken finger, and is out for two weeks, so he’ll definitely miss the first test. We need to take advantage of this.

England:
A Strauss
A Cook
J Trott
I Bell
R Bopara
K Pietersen
M Prior
S Broad
T Bresnan
G Swann
J Anderson
S Finn

A strong squad for the first test, with the team picking itself. Bresnan or Bopara will be picked once again based on the conditions. I will try and bring the youngsters through again, but for now, it will take injuries or very bad form for them to sneak in.

I will also be choosing my 30 man shortlist for the T20 World Cup after the first test. I may not need to, but it will be useful to have, for me at least.

[DaveK93]

Sorry, forgot to put the ODI stats in!

England:



Australia:

[DaveK93]

Their bowling was horrendous we destroyed them, they only had one bowler going under 6 an over and he was at 5.8, Hilfenhaus.... Can't wait for the South Africa series, may start that later on!

Yeah, I may make an attempt at starting the series later, I'm getting quite into this story at the moment. I found they weren't expensive as such, they just weren't able to take wickets.

[UTBash]

I'll be honest, I was expecting more of a challenge from the Aussies. I didn't lose though, which is always nice I've got 4 or 5 spinners in mind, the three I previously mentioned,due to their skills, but Naik of Leicestershire has been fairly impressive in the shorter formats, so I may consider him if he continues that form. Exciting times for English spinners!

Their bowling was horrendous we destroyed them, they only had one bowler going under 6 an over and he was at 5.8, Hilfenhaus.... Can't wait for the South Africa series, may start that later on!

[DaveK93]

Kerrigan is my going to be my 1st choice young spinner when i decide to bring another through, I may take him to the t20 world cup and India. Woakes is doing well! The Aussies are weak, but they can surprise at times as they have a few stars such as warner, watson, clarke.

I'll be honest, I was expecting more of a challenge from the Aussies. I didn't lose though, which is always nice I've got 4 or 5 spinners in mind, the three I previously mentioned,due to their skills, but Naik of Leicestershire has been fairly impressive in the shorter formats, so I may consider him if he continues that form. Exciting times for English spinners!

[UTBash]

Kerrigan is my going to be my 1st choice young spinner when i decide to bring another through, I may take him to the t20 world cup and India. Woakes is doing well! The Aussies are weak, but they can surprise at times as they have a few stars such as warner, watson, clarke.

[DaveK93]

Fourth ODI

Teams:

England:
A Cook
A Hales
V Chopra
J Bairstow
J Taylor
M Prior
C Woakes
S Broad
G Swann
J Anderson
C Tremlett

Australia:
D Warner
S Watson
D Hussey
M Clarke
G Bailey
M Wade
P Forrest
B Hilfenhaus
M Johnson
B Lee
J Pattinson

Toss: Aussies win the toss and bowl first…

Match Report:
So it turns out that even when my batting doesn’t quite fall into place, the Aussies still can’t win. We didn’t particularly well this time, James Taylor getting the highest score out of the batsmen. On he and Bairstow really performed, before a good partnership from Woakes and Broad saw us to a respectable total, but certainly one that was chase-able.

Australia never looked in this match though. They were 71/3 at one point, before Woakes and Swann came on and did the damage again. Those two appear to be an integral part of my one day squad currently, although Swann will be fairly old when we get to the next World Cup, so Danny Briggs, Scott Borthwick, and maybe Simon Kerrigan, will get a chance to impress. Given I have a tour of New Zealand coming up eventually; they may get a chance to go. I digress though. Only Michael Clarke provided any major resisitance, but once again, they look nothing like the team that dominated cricket only a few years ago.



Batting and Bowling Award: Chris Woakes: A great all-round performance from the youngster. He’s really started to come of age in this series.

[DaveK93]

Third ODI

England:
A Cook
A Hales
V Chopra
J Bairstow
J Taylor
M Prior
C Woakes
S Broad
G Swann
J Anderson
S Finn

Australia:
D Warner
S Watson
D Hussey
M Clarke
G Bailey
M Wade
P Forrest
B Hilfenhaus
M Johnson
B Lee
J Pattinson

Chopra and Bairstow in for Trott and Bell, both of which had been largely ineffective. Forrest returns in place of Smith for the tourists.

Toss: Aussies win it and bat first…

Match Report:
Well, at least the Aussies reached 200. I’ve seen and read about the great Aussie teams of old, but this one in comparison is very, very poor. They started a lot better than they have done previously, but when Swann came on, everything fell apart. At one point, Swann had figures of 6-2-4-2, and it completely crippled the run-rate. Bailey was once again the best of the batting, but he did receive a little support this time, albeit not anywhere near enough.

This was the first match that our batting looked under pressure. We did struggle a little early on, but Hales batted well, and managed to stay in. He fell shortly after reaching his half century, but it did bring in Jonny Bairstow, who played a great knock of 84* to get us home. He was ably supported by Swann, who soaked up the bowling, and let Bairstow score freely. We’ve won the series now, but I want the whitewash against the old enemy, so no let-up in pressure.



Batting Award: Jonny Bairstow, a magnificent knock, kept us in the game.
Bowling Award: Graeme Swann, halted the Aussie charge, when it started to threaten.

[DaveK93]

Maybe Tim Bresnan should've been included, check my story and the 2 ODI's vs Australia at how he did!

Yeah I saw, madness! Fortunately I found my own performer in Chris Woakes, if the 3 ODIs I've just played are anything to go by!

[UTBash]

Maybe Tim Bresnan should've been included, check my story and the 2 ODI's vs Australia at how he did!

[DaveK93]

Second ODI

England:
A Cook
A Hales
J Trott
I Bell
J Taylor
M Prior
C Woakes
S Broad
G Swann
J Anderson
S Finn

Australia:
D Warner
S Watson
D Hussey
M Clarke
G Bailey
M Wade
S Smith
B Hilfenhaus
M Johnson
B Lee
J Pattinson

No change for England, I see no need. Australia drop Forrest, in favour of George Bailey. Anything to improve the batting would be useful.

Toss: Australia win the toss and bowl first…

Match Report:
The Aussies really didn’t show much signs of improvement. They put us into bat, which to start with paid off, as we lost a couple of early wickets. In fact, I would go so far as to say we were struggling up until the arrivals of James Taylor and Matt Prior at the crease. They stuck at it, and both got themselves half centuries, and put us into a fairly good position, in what was very overcast conditions; certainly much better for bowling.

This was evident when it did come to our turn to bowl. The Aussies had very little answer to Stuart Broad in the first few overs, as he took key wickets. Once Warner departed, it was pretty much game over. To be fair, their team change did work, George Bailey reached 75 not out, but was not helped by the fact that no other batsmen helped him.



Batting Award: Matt Prior: A quick display of hitting, and increased the run-rate quickly, leaving Taylor to consolidate, taking the pressure off of him.

Bowling Award: Stuart Broad: He knocked over 3 of the top four, and left us in a really strong position.

[DaveK93]

England vs Australia First ODI

Teams:

England:
A Cook
A Hales
J Trott
I Bell
J Taylor
M Prior
C Woakes
S Broad
G Swann
J Anderson
S Finn

A fairly straight forward squad this, Taylor gets the nod over Bairstow, with Woakes being chosen over Patel on the basis of form and pitch condition.

Australia:
D Warner
S Watson
D Hussey
M Clarke
P Forrest
M Wade
S Smith
B Hilfenhaus
M Johnson
B Lee
J Pattinson

A good team, also only one spinner selected. It’s going to be a good contest.

Toss: The Aussies won the toss and batted first

Match Report:

Well, if all the matches are like this in this series, this should be easy. We completely humiliated the Aussies. There was strong bowling throughout, each bowler getting two wickets to their name. We fielded well, bowled tightly, and to limit them to 127 was a major achievement, for what I would argue is a relatively inexperienced squad. The team has never played together before, so I’m happy.

When it came to batting, we were just as impressive. Hales, Trott and Bell did depart relatively quickly, but Cook and Taylor took their time and got to the target with ease. A comfortable win all-round I would argue.



Batting Award: Cook, stayed in through the innings.
Bowling Award: Woakes, picked up two very important wickets. The rest fell into place from there.

[DaveK93]

England vs Australia ODI Squad Announcement

The teams are in ready for the 5 match series between two of crickets greatest rivals.

England:
A Cook
I Bell
J Trott
A Hales
J Taylor
V Chopra
J Bairstow
M Prior
S Patel
S Broad
C Woakes
C Tremlett
S Finn
G Swann
J Anderson

A blend of youth and experience for England then. The surprise exclusion is that of Tim Bresnan, but it was felt by all parties that it would be more beneficial for him to be playing for Yorkshire. Not having Pietersen also leaves a hole in the batting line-up, and this is the first series I’ve really had to deal with it. The chances are it will be either Taylor or Bairstow competing for that position. I include both Chopra and Hales, despite the fact Trott and Bell can both open, as I see Bell at 3, to anchor the innings, and Trott in much the same role, so they will probably take 3 and 4. Hales and Chopra impressed against the WIndies, and are doing so at county level as well, so it will be a case of decide on the day for them. The other surprise omission is that of Ravi Bopara, due to an oversight on my part, I forgot him! He is in my plans though, and being considered for the T20 series.

Australia:
M Clarke
P Forrest
D Hussey
G Bailey
S Watson
D Warner
M Wade
S Smith
X Doherty
B Hilfenhaus
M Johnson
B Lee
A McKay
J Pattinson
P Cummins

A fairly strong squad from the Aussies, despite including the Kiwi Andy McKay (This has been raised by UTBash on the forums I believe). I’m not going to read too much into the squad as yet, I will have to wait and see who lines up on the day.