England under UTBash

[UTBash]

Starting XI's for the first T20i

Kerrigan makes his debut. The team will be rotated a lot throughout the 3 game series.

[UTBash]

1st T20i VS SA

We lost the toss and were asked to bowl.

SA were 24-0 off 3 until Anderson took 3 wickets in an over, leaving them on 28-3. But guess who was still there? That's right, Graeme Smith. He didn't make too many as he became Kerrigan's first victim of 3. Petersen played the best innings with 41 from 39 but we managed to keep the runs down, restricting them to 126-7.

Our dangerman Bell fell early but Trott took on his role, scoring 24 from 13 to get the Required Rate down to 6 an over. At the half way mark we were 58-3, so South Africa were doing well. Morkel bowled a spell of 4 overs taking 3-15 and this could prove to be a match winning spell. We needed 39 off 4 overs. Patel and Cook hit 10 off the next over from Peterson. Next over it was Tahir's turn to bowl, he had bowled a maiden a few overs before! This one went for 6 and also got the wicket of Patel, we were struggling, needing 23 from 12. Two wickets were taken in the penultimate over leaving us with no chance, we fell short by 6. Close but so far away.



Series State: SA lead 1-0 with 2 games left.

Batting Award: Cook. He anchored the innings going at a run a ball but didn't get enough backing.

Bowling Award: Simon Kerrigan. A great debut for the young left arm spinner.

[UTBash]

2nd T20i vs SA

Team News: Bresnan and Hales for Cook and Anderson.

We lost the toss and were put in to bat.

Although the openers didn't do too well, Trott and Kieswetter piled on the runs to help us reach 153-3, a good total! Morkel once again bowled well keeping his economy rate under 6.

Amla and Smith got off to a good start for a change...... Graeme Swann pegged them back though with the support from Patel. Swann bowled his 4 overs taking 2-19. They required 20 from the last 2 and Bresnan bowled an exceptional over, going for just 6. Steven Finn's first 3 balls of the last over went for 1, then Jacques Kallis hit a 6 and then a 4. Leaving them requiring 3 to win from the last ball! Fortunately, Kallis only picked up a single to long off and we won by one run! If it wasn't for Bresnan's penultimate over, we may have lost!



Series State: 1-1 with one game left.

Batting Award: Craig Kieswetter. He scored his runs at a higher rate than Trott, who was only just over a run a ball.

Bowling Award: Graeme Swann. The veteran spinner will be vital in the world cup in this form!

[UTBash]

3rd T20i VS SA

Team News: Taylor and Broad for Bell and Finn.

We won the toss and batted.

Our new opening partnership, Kieswetter and Hales took to the crease, for 2 balls.... Hales hit a four and was then bowled. Kieswetter followed not long after as we were 9-2 off 1.2 and then 9-3 off 1.3 as Taylor got a golden duck. Despite being 59-7, our depth in batting was shown as Broad and Patel took us to a respectable 128-7.

South Africa got off to a decent start, keeping in touch with the required run rate. At 89-2 from 14, they needed 40 runs at 6.6 an over with both the openers gone, but with Kallis well set. The spinners all bowled well, with Patel having just one bad over which went for ten. With 2 overs left, South Africa needed 16. This over from Broad went for just 6, including one dot ball. So it was Tim Bresnan's turn to bowl the final over, with 10 needed to win....

Ball One: One run to Kallis, 9 to win.
Ball Two: NO RUN, Petersen plays and misses, 9 off 4 needed.
Ball Three: Two runs to Petersen, 7 off 3 required.
Ball Four: One run to Petersen, 6 off 2 needed.
Ball Five: One to Kallis, 5 off 1 needed.
Ball Six: Four to Petersen. Match and Series tied!! Great competition!



Batting & Bowling Award: Stuart Broad. A quick 43 not out when we were under severe pressure and good bowling while picking up the only wicket taken with the ball.

Series State: 1-1 Draw.

[DaveK93]

A tie to finish for both of us against SA! Are you looking at any new faces for the T20 World Cup, or are you going to stick with experience?

[UTBash]

A tie to finish for both of us against SA! Are you looking at any new faces for the T20 World Cup, or are you going to stick with experience?

I'm considering a couple of changes from the South Africa series! You'll see

[UTBash]

T20i Series VS SA (STATISTICS)

I'm going to put both teams' stats together for the T20 series'.

Top 5 Batsmen (Runs & AVG)
1. G Smith - 111 runs @ 37.00
2. J Trott - 102 runs @ 34.00
3. J Kallis - 84 runs @ 84.00
4. H Amla - 69 runs @ 23.00
5. C Kieswetter - 59 runs @ 29.50


Top 5 Bowlers (Wickets & AVG)
1. M Morkel - 5 wickets @ 10.60
2. V Philander - 5 wickets @ 18.60
3. D Steyn - 5 wickets @ 19.40
4. J Anderson - 3 wickets @ 8.67
5. G Swann - 3 wickets @ 20.67

Series Awards

Batting Award: It has to be Jonathan Trott. A surprise in the shortest format from Trott and may just have secured himself a place at the world cup!

Bowling Award: Graeme Swann. Anderson only played one game and Swann went at just 5.17 runs per over in 3 games!

SUMMARY

A good series running up to the world cup, we've competed with a team as good as if not better than us which is a good sign. Roll on Sri Lanka!!

[UTBash]

Preview

World Cup 20 in Sri Lanka Preview!

Group A

Afghanistan
There's no team details for them, but I'm guessing they'll travel with a few spinners. They could cause an upset in Sri Lanka and I'm slightly wary about playing them in the first group game.

Key Player - Nawroz Mangal. Okay I just picked a random name from the current Afghan Squad, I know as much as that he's the captain!

Prediction - Bottom of group A.

India
6th in the world rankings but definitely a lot better side than that, with some dangerous players! They have 3 men who could make their debuts, Abhinav Mukund, Mayank Sidana and all rounder Sachin Rana

Key Player - Ravi Ashwin. World number 2 bowler in this format, going at less than 6 an over this year and taking wickets too.

Prediction - Winners.

England
I back our chances of reaching the final, but I am slightly nervous about playing the Afghans first up

Key Player - Graeme Swann. The obvious choice in his current form.

Prediction - Runners up!

Group B

Australia
Australia come into the tournament with little T20 practice and a strange squad selection. They have no bowlers and all rounders will make up the bowling attack. Many of their players haven't played a T20i this season with many of their experienced bowlers being left out!

Key Player - Shane Watson. The main all rounder, will have to lead the bowling attack and do well with the bat at the start of the innings.

Prediction - Semi Finalists.

West Indies
Big players Sarwan and Gayle return to the West Indies squad, as does Kieron Pollard. I feel their bowling attack could be hit or miss, with some main bowlers being left out.

Key Player - Chris Gayle. He will be key with the bat for the WIndies, obviously, and could provide a few cheeky overs with the ball.

Prediction - Super 8 Stage.

Ireland
A half dangerous team, capable of upsetting West Indies at least.

Key Player - Okay i'm not sure who to pick, but I'm going to go with Paul Stirling. A very poor man's Chris Gayle, backwards. The hard hitting youngster needs to get Ireland off to a good start.

Prediction - Bottom of Group B.

Group C

Sri Lanka
They travel with a somewhat weakened squad, with players such as Dilshan and Mendis left out.

Key Player - It's going to have to be the in form Angelo Mathews who is handy with bat and ball.

Prediction - Super 8 Stage.

South Africa
They have a changed squad from the series in England, leaving out all their spinners, with the only spin options being Faf Du Plessis and Graeme Smith.

Key Player - Graeme Smith. After his all round form in England I can't choose anybody else can I?

Prediction - Semi Finalists.

Zimbabwe
Can't see them causing an upset. Rock bottom in all forms of cricket.

Key Player - Hamilton Masakadza - He is averaging 53 in 2 T20i's this year so is vital for their batting. He can bowl a bit, if you like, but I doubt he'll be used.

Prediction - Bottom of Group C.

Group D

Pakistan
Seem to be really lacking in the bowling department, although they do have some good hard hitting batsmen.

Key Player - Shahid Afridi. A proven match winner with bat and ball. He will need to bowl very well as it is likely he will be one of the only capped players to be bowling.

Prediction - Super 8 Stage.

New Zealand
They could go either way, their problem is that in my opinion they have no big name match winner in their side.

Key Player - James Franklin - Averaging 30 with the bat currently and going at 5.25 an over, this form will need to be carried through to the world cup.

Prediction - Bottom of Group D. I needed one surprise prediction! I think the Bangladeshi spinners may cause them problems in Sri Lanka too.

Bangladesh
They travel with 4 spinners and their batsmen have exceptional strike rates currently.

Key Player - Shakib Al Hasan. An experienced and quality player, his spin bowling will be key and he may play a few cameo innings'.

Prediction - Super 8 Stage.



So there you have it, full England squad will follow!

[UTBash]

T20 World Cup Squad

Okay, despite considering changes, I've kept the same squad which was chosen for the SA series. We're pretty experienced with a few young lads, it's time for some of our batsmen to perform!



In the first group A game India beat the Afghans by 6 wickets! The Afghans however made a very good total of 181-8!

[UTBash]

England vs Afghanistan

Team News: We bat down to 10 and play 2 spinners.

Cook, Hales, Trott, Bell, Morgan, Bairstow, Patel, Bresnan, Broad, Swann, Anderson.

Afghanistan won the toss and batted first.

Broad bowled a great first over, taking a wicket and conceding just 2. In came the Afghans key man, who fell without scoring, HA! They finished the powerplay overs on 41-3, a decent run rate to be fair. We bowled well, restricting runs as much as possible whilst also taking wickets. We managed to bowl them out 3 balls from the end for just 117! Broad took 3-22.

We got off to a good start and were 60-0 from the first 10. We were scoring slightly slowly for my liking though. I had a feeling we needed a big over, and we got it, hitting one over for 13 to take us to 89-0 from 14, needing only 4.8 runs per over. Cook and Hales both passed fifty in the 18th over and Hales also fell in this over which went for 14. We were more or less home, needing 3 off 12 balls. We hit only 2 from the penultimate over and needed 1 to win from the final over. Cook hit a single from the first ball to finish on 53 not out from 50 balls and secured the win!



Batting Award: Alastair Cook. Good innings and scored considerably quicker than Hales.

Bowling Award: Stuart Broad. Carried on his form from the final SA game, well bowled.

Key man watch: Nawroz Mangal. 0 from 3, well done my son.

[UTBash]

Update

Group A
India beat Afghanistan by 6 wickets. (Kohli 61, Shenwari 58)
England beat Afghanistan by 9 wickets. (Cook 53*, Hales 53)

England and India through, but who will top the group?

Group B
Australia tied with Ireland.
West Indies beat Australia by 6 wickets. (Darren Bravo 50*)

Australia need Ireland to lose by a bigger margin than they did to the WIndies to progress.

Group C
Sri Lanka beat Zimbabwe by 7 wickets. (Kanishka 79)
South Africa tied with Zimbabwe. (Smith 79*, Sibanda 58)
Sri Lanka beat South Africa by 5 wickets. (Mathews 79*, Smith 74*)

Smith hasn't disappointed and Mathews did well in the last game. My key men watches are going okay! The Saffers scraped through on net run rate, JUST!

Group D
New Zealand beat Bangladesh by 7 runs. (Taylor 54, Hom 78*)

So just one game played in this group. Franklin didn't play for NZ and Al Hasan went for 48 from his 4 overs, though he did get 48 runs.

[UTBash]

England vs India

Team News: Finn and Kerrigan for Anderson and Swann. A bit of a change to give other bowlers a go, seeing as we're already through.

We lost the toss and were asked to bat.

We struggled to 101-8, the Indian spinners bowled very well, restricting the runs. Ashwin was exceptional with figures of 2-13. We had our work cut out in the 2nd innings!

We did well to be honest! Only Dhoni's release innings of 34 from 24 won them the game as early as they did. Broad and Patel were outstanding.



Batting Award: ermm, Jonathan Trott?

Bowling Award: Stuart Broad again, great figures with a couple of wickets!

Key man watch: Ravi Ashwin. He didn't disappoint, put it that way.

We progress to the Super 8 stage!

[UTBash]

Update

Group A
India beat Afghanistan by 6 wickets. (Kohli 61, Shenwari 58)
England beat Afghanistan by 9 wickets. (Cook 53*, Hales 53)
India beat England by 5 wickets.

This group was already settled before the final game and no upsets were provided.

Group B
Australia tied with Ireland.
West Indies beat Australia by 6 wickets. (Darren Bravo 50*)
West Indies beat Ireland by 7 wickets. (Miller 4-28, Gayle 56*)

Ireland provide the upset, going through on net run rate despite being beaten by 7 wickets! They actually scored quicker than the West Indies but were bowled out in their innings.

Group C
Sri Lanka beat Zimbabwe by 7 wickets. (Kanishka 79)
South Africa tied with Zimbabwe. (Smith 79*, Sibanda 58)
Sri Lanka beat South Africa by 5 wickets. (Mathews 79*, Smith 74*)

Smith hasn't disappointed and Mathews did well in the last game. My key men watches are going okay! The Saffers scraped through on net run rate, JUST!

Group D
New Zealand beat Bangladesh by 7 runs. (Taylor 54, Hom 78*)
Pakistan beat New Zealand by 25 runs. (Jamshed 91*, Yousuf 64, Mills 4-24, Abbas 4-36)
Pakistan beat Bangladesh by 3 wickets. (Islam 50*)

Pakistan won what I think is the weakest group overall. Afridi did well in both games without setting off any fireworks. Franklin went for 56 in his 4 overs against Pakistan.

The two Super 8 groups are as follows:

Group 1
India
Sri Lanka
New Zealand
Ireland

Group 2
England
Pakistan
West Indies
South Africa

[UTBash]

England vs West Indies (Super 8)

So first up it's the WIndies! Hopefully we can start with a win and get into a strong position.

Team News: Swann and Anderson for Bresnan and Finn.

We won the toss and bowled.

The dangerman Gayle led the way after we took some early wickets having them 38-4. Him and Pollard rebuilt and hit a few big overs toward the end, targeting Patel before they were both dismissed. Ramdin played a cameo of 19 towards the end and our 2 left arm spinners were disappointing, although Patel took 3 wickets.

We started off quite slowly, allowing the West Indies to have the edge. Hales went for 31 from 31 and Trott got a golden duck. Cook was unbeaten and past fifty with Bell on 19 as we needed 18 to win from 12 balls. We hit 8 from the penultimate over leaving us needing 10 to win. Here's the final over....

Ball One: One to Cook, 9 off 5 needed.
Ball Two: One to Bell, 8 off 4 needed.
Ball Three: FOUR! Cook hits the ball to the cover boundary. 4 off 3!
Ball Four: One to Cook, 3 off 2!
Ball Five: One to Bell, 2 off 1!
Ball Six: One to Cook! Match Tied! ICC T20's are just great!



Batting Award: Alastair Cook. A good innings to the end! 74 from 63 balls!

Bowling Award: James Anderson. 2-15 from 4 when Gayle was in is exceptional!

Key man watch: Chris Gayle. Held their innings together at a good rate and scored his second fifty of the world cup.

[UTBash]

England vs Pakistan (Super 8)

Team News: Kieswetter for Trott. Hales drops down the order. Bresnan for Kerrigan.

We won the toss and bowled again.

We didn't allow them to make any telling partnerships. With all bowlers contributing with wickets. Patel was once again quite expensive but the others made up for this. Their top scorer was Haider with 32 from 30 but their fastest scorer was young Shahzaib Hasan who scored 22 from 14. They made 119-7.

Bringing Kieswetter in the squad was a wise one as he got us off to a flyer, although the balls did nearly catch up with his runs as he struggled against the spinners. The required run rate dropped to 4.8 needed with 7 overs left after Morgan and Bell piled on the runs. However Morgan fell and Bell must have faced at least 10 dot balls in a row before being dismissed. It was down to the rest of us to pick up the pieces as we needed 24 from 4 overs. Bairstow and Hales got us to the last over and we needed 4 runs from the final over......

Ball One: Quick single to Hales! 3 off 5 needed.
Ball Two: DOT BALL! 3 off 4 needed.
Ball Three: WICKET! Bairstow is caught! 3 off 3 needed!
Ball Four: One run! Bresnan edges to third man. 2 off 2 needed.
Ball Five: One run! 1 off 1 needed.
Ball Six: DOT BALL! Match tied AGAIN!!



Batting Award: Craig Kieswetter. He gave us a good start and once again our middle order was disappointing.

Bowling Award: James Anderson. Kept it tight with a couple of wickets. We still need that game changing spell by a bowler though!

Key man watch: Shahid Afridi. He disappointed me as he has all tournament. 1 run and 0 wickets, although he did keep it relatively tight.