England under UTBash

[UTBash]

3rd Test vs India

Team News: James Taylor and Stuart Broad for Kerrigan and Bresnan.

We won the toss and chose to bat.

Day 1
A very good day for us, finishing on 275-3, with Strauss passing 100 and Bell passing 50. We once again had a decent opening partnership to set the ball rolling. Their main man Ravi Ashwin picked up 2 of the 3 wickets taken on the day.

Day 2
Bell passed 100 in the morning session and Strauss fell for 140 as we continued to strengthen our position. Bairstow finally found some form in this format, hitting a new best of 80 not out. Our lower order struggled as we reached a very good 486. India ended the day on 82-2.

Day 3
After taking a few early wickets we once again struggled to finish them off, with Ashwin making a vital 67 not out to help avoid the follow on. We were still in a very strong position with a lead of 192 when we eventually bowled them out. We struggled with the bat, scoring only 45 from the whole evening session and losing 3 wickets.

Day 4
Bell made 81 and we recovered to make 226-6 before I declared. They now needed 419 to win from 4 sessions. The day ended with 2 quick wickets, thankfully for us, and they were 106-2, needed 313 to win! A big last day is waiting!

Day 5
They caused us to sweat, with Sehwag and Gambhir piling on the runs in a good first session for them in which they lost just one wicket. But we finally got the breakthrough and it was pretty simple from there. Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann took 8 wickets between them as we finished India off for 297.



Series State: India lead 2-1 with one game remaining.

Batting Award: It had to be Ian Bell. Two very good innings by the man.

Bowling Award: Stuart Broad. 8 wickets in the game, showing why he maybe should've been included from the start.

So, we have one game to play, and still a ranking point to play for which will put us 1 behind world number one side South Africa.

[UTBash]

Team News: No changes.

We won the toss and chose to bat.

Day 1
We really struggled with the bat, reaching just 243 all out. KP was left stranded on 90 not out at the end as Zaheer Khan took 6 wickets. They ended the day without losing a wicket.

Day 2
Lets just say they passed our score none down and ended the day way past us.

Day 3
They declared at the end of the first session on 504-6, with Sehwag unbeaten and past 200, he opened and batted all the way through. We were set for a disaster as Cook fell to the 2nd ball of the innings. However Strauss and Trott rescued the collapse, taking us to 198-1 at the end of the day. I felt that we could also turn the game on its head if we stayed disciplined on the fourth day.

Day 4
We evened the scores with still one wicket down. We were on our way to putting ourselves in a position to avoid a loss or maybe sneak a win. Bell and Pietersen followed up the 2 centurions by passing fifty themselves. We finished the day on 517-9 and hoped for a cameo last wicket partnership to give us an extra boost for the final day.

Day 5
We were bowled out for 530, and they needed 270 to win, this could now go either way, I hope. We were buzzing, they were 95-6 by the end of the morning session, we were bloodthirsty. We swiftly finished them off to secure a series draw. A good turnaround in this test and a good series comeback to show that we're made of the tougher stuff.



Series Result: 2-2 Draw.

Batting Award: Jonathan Trott. The big man fortunately found his form at the perfect time for us and it was his innings that won the game for us and helped us turn it around.

Bowling Award: Graeme Swann. Despite his first innings nightmare, our star man found it in him to lead the attack to bowl India out for 141 on their home soil.

[UTBash]

Test Series vs India (STATISTICS)

Top 5 English Batsmen (Runs & AVG)
1. I Bell - 467 runs @ 58.37
2. A Strauss - 435 runs @ 54.37
3. K Pietersen - 361 runs @ 51.57
4. A Cook - 331 runs @ 41.37
5. J Trott - 323 runs @ 40.37

Top 5 Indian Batsmen (Runs & AVG)
1. V Sehwag - 471 runs @ 67.29
2. V Kohli - 404 runs @ 57.71
3. G Gambhir - 395 runs @ 49.37
4. S Tendulkar - 262 runs @ 32.75
5. R Ashwin - 243 @ 40.50

Top 5 English Bowlers (Wickets & AVG)
1. G Swann - 24 wickets @ 29.37
2. S Finn - 16 wickets @ 36.50
3. J Anderson - 15 wickets @ 32.93
4. S Broad - 12 wickets @ 27.58
5. S Kerrigan - 4 wickets @ 75.75


Top 5 Indian Bowlers (Wickets & AVG)
1. Z Khan - 24 wickets @ 34.04
2. R Ashwin - 22 wickets @ 38.00
3. P Kumar - 18 wickets @ 27.72
4. S Tyagi - 9 wickets @ 36.78
5. I Pathan - 3 wickets @ 20.67

Series Awards

Batting Award: Ian Bell. The most runs and most consistent out of the 5 batsmen that passed 300 runs for the series. A good team effort though

Bowling Award: Graeme Swann. Not only our best bowler, but the best in the series!

Next up is the two match T20 series vs India!

[UTBash]

T20 series squad vs India

I selected my world cup squad with one change, Taylor out for Borthwick. I want to win the series to try and become world number one in this discipline.

[UTBash]

1st T20i vs India teams

I've selected the XI that hammered India in the semi finals for a mental boost in this first game.

[UTBash]

1st T20i vs India

We lost the toss and were put in to bat.

We got off to a good start despite losing a couple of wickets and were 45-2 by the end of the powerplay, with big hitting Kieswetter still at the crease. At the 10 over mark we were 85-2 with Kieswetter and Morgan well set. The two of them took us to the end and we finished on 153-2, both faced fifty balls for their 75 and 59. Irfan Pathan bowled the best conceding just 22 runs from his 4.

They scored 43-1 from their powerplay overs, with Bresnan going for 29 from 3! Swann and Samit managed to get on top of their batsmen in the overs that followed, leaving them needing 77 from the last 8 overs. However with nothing really to lose, the Indian batsmen all agreed to come out and swing from ball one. Dhoni and Tiwary were the main hitters, both bringing India into contention for the final over. Sehwag was still in on 71 and Ashwin was on 5 from 2 balls as Tim Bresnan found himself in a familiar position. India needed 11 to win....

Ball One: One to Sehwag, 10 off 5 needed.
Ball Two: Two to Ashwin, 8 off 4 needed.
Ball Three: One to Ashwin, 7 off 3 needed.
Ball Four: WIDE BALL! Come on Tim!! 6 off 3 needed.
Ball Five: One to Sehwag, 5 off 2 needed.
Ball Six: FOUR to Ashwin!! 1 off 1 to win.
Ball Seven: OUT! LBW! MATCH TIED........ yawn.



Series State: 0-0 with 1 to play.

Batting Award: Craig Kieswetter. He really is a class act for us in this form.

Bowling Award: Stuart Broad. He kept the runs down very well when all others went over 7 an over.

[cricfan1]

Ohhh You are the master of Tie Matches ,Its record No. of Tie

[UTBash]

Ohhh You are the master of Tie Matches ,Its record No. of Tie

it is quite frustrating at time but it's better than a loss i suppose!

[UTBash]

2nd T20i vs India

Team News: Finn for Bresnan.

We won the toss and bowled first.

I was disappointed with our bowling performance after having them 35-2 from the first 6. They pushed on well in the middle and Tiwary hit a very handy 21 from 11 balls. Swann wasn't his usual self, conceding 35 from his overs. Finn bowled well, going for just 19 and picking up a wicket.

We started off better than they did, reaching 51-2 in our powerplay the in form Kieswetter and Bell were the men who had gone. However, it was their bowlers who managed to turn the screw in the middle overs, who changed the game. Unusually for us, we lost regular wickets and this resulted in us being off the mark and losing the game and the series.



Series Result: India win 1-0.

Batting Award: Alastair Cook. He looked to be really pushing on well before he was dismissed.

Bowling Award: Steven Finn. Returned to the T20 scene with a good bowling performance, showing our depth.

[UTBash]

T20i Series vs India (STATISTICS)

Top 5 Batsmen (Runs & AVG)
1. C Kieswetter - 91 runs @ 91.00
2. V Sehwag - 77 runs @ 77.00
3. E Morgan - 74 runs @ 74.00
4. G Gambhir - 59 runs @ 29.50
5. R Sharma - 46 runs @ 23.00


Top 5 Bowlers (Wickets & AVG)
1. J Anderson - 5 wickets @ 13.80
2. P Kumar - 3 wickets @ 21.00
3. V Kumar - 3 wickets @ 24.33
4. R Ashwin - 2 wickets @ 16.00
5. Z Khan - 2 wickets @ 27.00

Series Awards

Batting Award: Craig Kieswetter. He's proving to be more than capable with the bat in the T20 scene!

Bowling Award: James Anderson. The obvious choice as he was the only person to make it into the top 5, and he was the number one series bowler.

[UTBash]

Squad for ODI Series vs India.

Borthwick is left out in favour of an Chris Woakes, set to make his first appearance under the new regime.

[DaveK93]

Borthwick is left out in favour of an Chris Woakes, set to make his first appearance under the new regime.

I recommend Woakes, he has worked wonders for my team at times!

[UTBash]

Warm up OD games.

Once again we played Mumbai CC and Karnataka to warm up for the one day series! Here are the summaries.

Two clinical wins with two different sides out.

[UTBash]

1st ODI vs India XI's

We include 3 spinners. Woakes and Kerrigan are selected after impressive warm up matches.

[UTBash]

1st ODI vs India

We won the toss and bowled.

I tried something different, opening the bowling with Broad and Samit! We got off to a good start, they were 42-2 from 10, Samit had 1-16 from 5! We stuck to our jobs well throughout the innings and the youngsters did very impressive! Gambhir held their innings together scoring an unbeaten 81, but our ability to take regular wickets was their downfall and they finished on 233-9.

We came out in our usual way, scoring 12 from the first over before Cook was the victim of an unfortunate run out. Ian Bell was leading the way before he went for 48 from 41 balls. We looked to be getting home quite comfortably before a Ravi Ashwin spell of 10 overs for just 20 runs turned the game on its head. He was supported by just as important a spell from Praveen Kumar, who went for 38 from his 10. Unfortunately this pressure was too much and we crumbled to fall just short of the target, but this game was promising and we've identified the main Indian threats.



Batting Award: Ian Bell. Continued to be our best ODI batsman this year.

Bowling Award: Chris Woakes. The young all rounder has impressed me on his first outing under my management, plenty more opportunities will come his way. Special mention for Kerrigan who bowled a good spell of 1-44 from 10.

Series State: India lead 1-0 with 4 games to play.