England Story

[UTBash]

Series Summary

Top 3 Batsmen

Ian Bell	238 runs	119 average
Ravi Bopara	160 runs	80 average
Alastair Cook	128 runs	42.67 average

Top 3 Bowlers

Jimmy Anderson	8 Wickets	17.75 average
Graeme Swann	5 Wickets	31.20 average
Ravi Bopara	5 Wickets	33.20 average

Series Awards

Batting Award	Ian Bell. Who the hell else? Hopefully he carries this form into the Champions Trophy.
Bowling Award	Jimmy Anderson. Our most consistent bowler this series who will be crucial also in the Champions Trophy.

[UTBash]

Champions Trophy Preview!

Champions Trophy Preview

Group A

Australia
Squad - Michael Clarke, George Bailey, Phil Hughes, Adam Voges, David Warner, Shane Watson, Matthew Wade, James Faulkner, Mitch Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Xavier Doherty, Clint Mckay.

Key Man - Shane Watson. The hard hitting all rounder will need to be in form with bat and ball to drive on his team.

Prediction - 3rd in Group A. I feel Sri Lanka will just pip them to qualify

England
Squad - Alastair Cook, Joe Root, Jonathan Trott, Ian Bell, James Taylor, Ravi Bopara, Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan, Craig Kieswetter, Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Steven Finn, Reece Topley.

Key Man - Ian Bell. With his recent form Ian Bell has to be our key man, hopefully he will continue to destroy bowling attacks.

Prediction - Runners up. I feel we have what it takes to get to the final but I'm wary of India!

New Zealand
Squad - Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, Daniel Vettori, James Franklin, Grant Elliot, Andrew Ellis, Nathan McCullum, Colin Munro, Kane Williamson, Brendan McCullum, Luke Ronchi, Trent Boult, Mitch McClenaghan, Kyle Mills, Tim Southee.

Key Man - Kane Williamson. His hard hitting middle order batting can turn games on their head and he could also prove handy with the ball.

Prediction - 4th in Group A. After seeing all this squad has to offer I'm confident they will struggle.

Sri Lanka
Squad - Tillakaratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene, Lahiru Thirimanne, Kumar Sangakarra, Dinesh Chandimal, Kusal Perera, Angelo Mathews, Jeevan Mendis, Tissara Perera, Rangana Herath, Nuwan Kulasekara, Shaminda Eranga, Lasith Malinga, Sachithra Senanayake, Chanaka Welagedara.

Key Man - Lasith Malinga. In a team of great players Malinga will be key, leading the bowling attack.

Prediction - Semi Finalists. This side has some stars on it's day but it is also prone to the odd bad game.

Group B

India
Squad - Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Murali Vijay, MS Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, Ravi Jadeja, Ravi Ashwin, Irfan Pathan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav.

Key Man - Ravi Jadeja. I'm a massive fan of this man, great all rounder and dangerous with both bat and ball. Will make a big influence with both, even if there aren't many extraordinary performances.

Prediction - Champions. This star studded side has everything and are clear favourites.

Pakistan
Squad - Misbah Ul-Haq, Asad Shafiq, Imran Farhat, Nasir Jamshed, Mohammed Hafeez, Umar Amin, Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Asad Ali, Wahab Riaz, Ehsan Adil, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammed Irfan, Abdur Rehman, Junaid Khan.

Key Man - Saeed Ajmal. Arguably the worlds best off-spinner and may need to pull Pakistan out of the dirt in some games if the batting fails.

Prediction - 4th in Group B. Although I don't know much about some of the Pakistanis, I can't see them progressing and will struggle even against the WIndies who are destructive on their day.

South Africa
Squad - Graeme Smith, Farhan Behardien, Hashim Amla, Faf Du-Plessis, JP Duminy, Colin Ingram, David Miller, AB De Villiers, Ryan Mclaren, Robin Peterson, Rory Kleinveldt, Morne Morkel, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Dale Steyn, Aaron Phangiso.

Key Man - Hashim Amla. An unreal batsman who can destroy anybody.

Prediction. Semi Finalists. Hopefully they'll choke as usual, although they're a force to reckoned with.

West Indies
Squad - Chris Gayle, Darren Bravo, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Devon Smith, Dinesh Ramdin, Johnson Charles, Dwayne Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Kieron Pollard, Darren Sammy, Tino Best, Jason Holder, Sunil Narine, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach.

Key Man - Chris Gayle! The beast, an absolute monster who can probably be given the ball aswell.

Prediction. 3rd in Group B. Although a strong One Day outfit, the WIndies will struggle to qualify in such a strong group at the top level.



So there we are, the preview is done and we're ready to play some cricket in what is basically a world cup!

[UTBash]

England VS Australia

Team News: We play the same XI that thrashed NZ twice, except Taylor replaces Root

Cook, Kieswetter, Trott, Bell, Bopara, Taylor, Buttler, Broad, Swann, Anderson, Finn.

Aus: Watson, Warner, Clarke, Hughes, Maxwell, Bailey, Wade, Faulkner, Johnson, Mckay, Coulter-Nile.

We won the toss and batted.

Disaster! The Aussie openers Watson and Faulkner struck 4 times in 6 overs, leaving us 7-4! Taylor and Bopara picked up the pieces with a stand of over 100 before Bopara fell, we were still in big trouble. We opted for an early push for runs which payed off well after Buttler, Swann and Broad all made a quick 20/30 each, giving us something, though very little, to bowl at.

After taking an early wicket, we failed to stem the flow of runs, with Aus being 50-1 from 10, it was looking grim. However our surprise package Bopara pulled out a great spell alongside Broad to peg the Aussies back. Swann continued this good bowling, going for just 29 from his 10. Suddenly the Aussies found themselves in a bad position, with the run rate climbing at 139-7. Then it was Jimmy's turn to get in on the action as he took 3 wickets in 4 balls to finish them off! What a performance!

Batting Award	James Taylor. The young batsman scores his 2nd ODI 50 in a mature fashion, rebuilding our innings alongside Bopara.
Bowling Award	Ravi Bopara. That man comes to the front again and is proving to be a more than capable bowler for me, turned the game on its head in all honesty
Key Man Watch	Shane Watson. A run a ball 40 and 1-36, including a wicket in our early collapse. He definitely proved dangerous.

[UTBash]

Update

Group A

• England beat Australia by 58 runs. (Bopara 54, Taylor 74)
• Sri Lanka beat New Zealand by 3 wickets. (Ronchi 52, Mathews 90)
• New Zealand beat Australia by 3 wickets. (Warner 104, Maxwell 50*, Ronchi 53, Franklin 77*)

So us and Sri Lanka are in the driving seat, being 1st and 2nd after playing only 1 game. New Zealand still have an outside chance with Franklin in great form with the ball and Ronchi scoring runs. Despite having a centurion, the Aussies are already out.

Group B

• India beat South Africa by 1 run. (Dhawan 109, Steyn 5-23, Amla 54)
• West Indies beat Pakistan by 107 runs. (Gayle 81, Samuels 53, Shafiq 54)
• South Africa beat Pakistan by 7 wickets. (Amla 77*, Smith 65)
• India beat West Indies by 59 runs. (Sharma 66, Raina 95, Gayle 64)

With India already through, the second semi finalist spot is up for grabs in the final game between West Indies and South Africa, and it's looking like an Amla vs Gayle match!

[UTBash]

England vs Sri Lanka

So a win here can put us through with a game to spare!

Team News: No changes as we continue forward with our winning team.

Cook, Kieswetter, Trott, Bell, Bopara, Taylor, Buttler, Broad, Swann, Anderson, Finn.

Sri Lanka: Dilshan, Thirimanne, Mathews, Sangakkara, Jayawardene, Perera, J Mendis, Senanayake, Kulasekara, Herath, Malinga.

We win the toss and choose to bat.


A chanceless first 10 overs gave us confidence but this was halted as Cook fell to the spin of Herath for 24. Kieswetter repaid my faith by scoring a 50, however our run rate was slow, only in the 80's from 23 overs. Our saving grace was the wickets we had in hand. Trott decided to take control by smashing his way into form, hitting his 50 from 46 balls as we started to push on! The stall was set as we were 150-1 from 35. Trott finally fell for an outstanding 93 from 76 as Kieswetter carried through past his century! The last few overs saw wickets fall and runs scored as we finished on 270. I feel we should've got 300+ though.

Dream start for us! Dilshan caught by Bell at short leg first up! Mathews shortly followed to Finn but the Sri Lankan rate was a healthy 5.2 for the first 10. The danger man Thirimanne departed for 43 from 44, as SL were 67-3. Can anyone else step up? Sangakkara was next to go as he tried to take over from the opener. Sri Lanka needed a partnership as they were in trouble at 96-4 and a partnership could win the game from this position as the rate is still healthy. Jayawardene and Perera were looking dangerous before Mahela took a silly run to point and went for 49, 166-5 from 31. Perera shortly followed and we could smell blood! However Mendis and Senanayake took the game into the final 10, Sri Lanka needing 58 from 60 balls. Our nerve was truly tested by those two before Anderson claimed both of their wickets and they fell 16 runs short!

That win should see us through to the semi's, as long as we avoid absolute disaster!

Batting Award	Craig Kieswetter. He's been a man out of form but has repaid me with a great century. Special mention for Trott who was also out of sorts.
Bowling Award	Jimmy Anderson. A great 4 for and top spells at the start and end of the innings
Key Man Watch	Lasith Malinga. 10 overs, 0-45. Safe to say we saw him off well without problem.

[UTBash]

Update

Group A

• England beat Australia by 58 runs. (Bopara 54, Taylor 74)
• Sri Lanka beat New Zealand by 3 wickets. (Ronchi 52, Mathews 90)
• New Zealand beat Australia by 3 wickets. (Warner 104, Maxwell 50*, Ronchi 53, Franklin 77*)
• England beat Sri Lanka by 16 runs. (Kieswetter 111, Trott 93)

Providing New Zealand don't batter us I think it's safe enough to say we're through, I reckon Sri Lanka will come with us but they could slip up against the Aussies who have nothing to lose.

Group B

• India beat South Africa by 1 run. (Dhawan 109, Steyn 5-23, Amla 54)
• West Indies beat Pakistan by 107 runs. (Gayle 81, Samuels 53, Shafiq 54)
• South Africa beat Pakistan by 7 wickets. (Amla 77*, Smith 65)
• India beat West Indies by 59 runs. (Sharma 66, Raina 95, Gayle 64)
• West Indies beat South Africa by 10 wickets. (Gayle 95*, Sarwan 84*, De Villiers 52)
• India beat Pakistan by 5 wickets. (Shafiq 73*, Hafeez 66, Dhawan 81)

India continue their 100% record but the surprise was the hammering of South Africa! I said it'd be Gayle vs Amla and Gayle fired when it mattered, he's in formidable form, as is Shikhar Dhawan!

Final Group B Table

Team	Played	Won	Lost	Ties	Points
India	3	3	0	0	6
West Indies	3	2	1	0	4
South Africa	3	1	2	0	2
Pakistan	3	0	3	0	0

[UTBash]

England vs New Zealand

Team News: I was going to make changes before i realised we had an outside chance of being knocked out, sorry guys got to go for it.

Cook, Kieswetter, Trott, Bell, Bopara, Taylor, Buttler, Broad, Swann, Anderson, Finn.

NZ: Guptill, Ronchi, Munro, Taylor, Williamson, McCullum, Franklin, Vettori, Elliot, Mills, Boult.


We won the toss and chose to bowl in overcast conditions.

The Kiwi batsmen showed no fear early on smashing 63 in the first 10, Anderson the main victim! We really did have a game on our hands here, the New Zealand men carried on the run a ball rate into the next 10, however, the top 3 were out. I was wary at the prospects of Taylor, Williamson and McCullum in this situation. We managed to peg them back very well thanks to the efforts of Bopara, Broad and Swann in the middle overs. However the in form Franklin unleashed in the last 10 to pass 50 at over a run a ball. Anderson the man to be destroyed!

Cook lead the way in the first 10 as we reached 50-0. Trott and Kiesy failed to fire as we lost 2 quick wickets and were under the kosh. Part timer Williamson got rid of Bell who was looking dangerous but Cook was still there at the 30 over mark as we required 141 from the final 20. By the 40 over mark the game was perfectly poised, we require 72 from the final 10 overs. Bopara and Cook were looking to take the game all the way to the end before Cook fell in the 45th for 120 off the bowling of Munro. In comes Taylor. 36 needed from 5 overs. An excellent over of just 4 from Mills cranked up the pressure. Munro followed this with a wicket in the next, that of Taylor, 31 off 3 needed! Bopara fell 2 balls later as the final nail seemed to be in the coffin. Swann smashed 2 huge sixes but we fell 5 short.

Batting Award	Alastair Cook! Great century and a shame he couldn't see us through!
Bowling Award	Ravi Bopara. Very economical considering their score and picked a couple of wickets up. I'm becoming less and less surprised at giving him this award.
Key Man Watch	Kane Williamson. 23 off 35, not the best. However his cameo appearance with the ball saw him take the scalp of Ian Bell, who was looking very good for us.

Sidenote: We qualify as we're still in front of New Zealand, it's all down to Sri Lanka to smash the Aussies now if they want to qualify.

[UTBash]

Update!

Group A

• England beat Australia by 58 runs. (Bopara 54, Taylor 74)
• Sri Lanka beat New Zealand by 3 wickets. (Ronchi 52, Mathews 90)
• New Zealand beat Australia by 3 wickets. (Warner 104, Maxwell 50*, Ronchi 53, Franklin 77*)
• England beat Sri Lanka by 16 runs. (Kieswetter 111, Trott 93)
• New Zealand beat England by 5 runs. (Franklin 59*, R Taylor 50, Cook 120, Bopara 56)
• Australia beat Sri Lanka by 64 runs. (Bailey 81*, Clarke 70, Mendis 54)

There it is, Sri Lanka choked leaving us and New Zealand to qualify. Franklin is definitely a surprise this tournament. Bring on West Indies!

Group A Final Table

Team	Played	Won	Lost	Ties	Points
England	3	2	1	0	4
New Zealand	3	2	1	0	4
Australia	3	1	2	0	2
Sri Lanka	3	1	2	0	2

Group B

• India beat South Africa by 1 run. (Dhawan 109, Steyn 5-23, Amla 54)
• West Indies beat Pakistan by 107 runs. (Gayle 81, Samuels 53, Shafiq 54)
• South Africa beat Pakistan by 7 wickets. (Amla 77*, Smith 65)
• India beat West Indies by 59 runs. (Sharma 66, Raina 95, Gayle 64)
• West Indies beat South Africa by 10 wickets. (Gayle 95*, Sarwan 84*, De Villiers 52)
• India beat Pakistan by 5 wickets. (Shafiq 73*, Hafeez 66, Dhawan 81)

India continue their 100% record but the surprise was the hammering of South Africa! I said it'd be Gayle vs Amla and Gayle fired when it mattered, he's in formidable form, as is Shikhar Dhawan!

Final Group B Table

Team	Played	Won	Lost	Ties	Points
India	3	3	0	0	6
West Indies	3	2	1	0	4
South Africa	3	1	2	0	2
Pakistan	3	0	3	0	0

[UTBash]

Semi Final Preview!

Here is the Semi Final Preview!

England vs West Indies

Here are the line ups with the averages for the tournament! Batsmen will have batting averages and bowlers bowling averages.

England	West Indies
Alastair Cook - Bat: 48.00	Chris Gayle - Bat: 120.00
Craig Kieswetter - Bat: 43.00	Ramnaresh Sarwan - Bat: 64.50
Jonathan Trott - Bat: 32.33	Kieron Pollard - Bat: 28.50
Ian Bell - Bat: 17.67	Marlon Samuels - Bat: 33.00
Ravi Bopara - Bat: 58.00, Bowl: 24.00	Devon Smith - Bat: 38.00
James Taylor - Bat: 40.00	Dinesh Ramdin - Bat: 11.50
Jos Buttler - Bat: 26.00	Dwayne Bravo - Bat: 24.00, Bowl: 44.67
Stuart Broad - Bat: 11.50, Bowl: 18.43	Darren Sammy - Bat: 9.00, Bowl: 17.62
Graeme Swann - Bowl: 55.00	Sunil Narine - Bowl: 18.60
James Anderson - Bowl: 16.11	Ravi Rampaul - Bowl: 40.67
Steven Finn - Bowl: 51.67	Kemar Roach - Bowl: 14.37

So there you have it. They're looking stronger than I thought but I'm still confident we can turn them over!

[UTBash]

Champions Trophy Semi Final

We won the toss and decided to bowl in the overcast conditions!

Anderson failed to find form early on once again as the West Indies started off well. It was Bopara who took the first wicket in the 12th over, that of Sarwan for 33 from 31. Gayle and Pollard batted responsibly together before Pollard fell for a handy 41, Gayle was still in on 62. With 20 overs left they were 136-2 with plenty of firepower to unleash, we needed to stay disciplined. And we were, soon after, Samuels and Gayle were dismissed in consecutive overs to bring Ramdin and Smith to the crease an over before the final powerplay! Bopara and Finn continued some tight bowling into the powerplay and Bopara took 2 in 2 to leave them 186-6 after 40! Devon Smith followed to make it a team hat-trick! Anderson found some late form taking the final 4 wickets and dismissing the WIndies for 206! A great half for us!

Strike man Roach took Kieswetter early, caught Ramdin. Before the 10th over, Cook ran himself out in a suicidal run attempt. Bell and Trott proceeded to take control of the situation with a partnership of 116! At the 31 over mark we were 3 down, requiring just 3.1 an over, nice and easy from here! Trott brought his century up with the winning runs as we passed their score with ease! We could've gone earlier too! Final here we come!

Batting Award	Jonathan Trott. The experienced man showed his class as he finds some more champions trophy form!
Bowling Award	Ravi Bopara. Did all the hard work in the middle, if it wasn't for him Anderson would've been carted around again at the end.
Key Man Watch	Chris Gayle. Well he certainly made an impact but wasn't backed up and didn't have it in him to make his score really count.

The other semi result is to follow, who will we face?

[UTBash]

Update

Semi Finals

• England beat West Indies by 6 wickets. (Trott 104*, Gayle 67)
• India beat New Zealand by 4 wickets. (Sharma 71, Dhoni 67, Ronchi 57)

As I predicted, it will be an England vs India final. India's top order batsmen are in great form in this tournament with medium pacer Kumar being the man to watch out for in with the ball

[UTBash]

Champions Trophy Final!

We're here at Edgbaston and here is the preview!

England vs India

England	India
Alastair Cook	Shikhar Dhawan
Craig Kieswetter	Rohit Sharma
Jonathan Trott	Virat Kohli
Ian Bell	MS Dhoni
Ravi Bopara	Suresh Raina
James Taylor	Ravi Jadeja
Jos Buttler	Murali Vijay
Stuart Broad	Ravi Ashwin
Graeme Swann	Irfan Pathan
James Anderson	Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Steven Finn	Umesh Yadav

Key Men Performance

England's Ian Bell: Bell has struggled to find form this tournament averaging 23.50, this may be his game to step up!

India's Ravi Jadeja: Averaging a healthy 22.00 in the lower order. However his bowling is looking most dangerous, he's picked up 7 wickets at an average 18.86 and an economy rate of under 4.

[UTBash]

Champions Trophy Final

Here's my first shot at some silverware so I want to make it count against a very strong India team!

We won the toss and chose to bat, with a view of getting some runs on the board.


The problems Yadav caused early on brought the wicket of Kieswetter in just the 3rd over. His partner Pathan picked the wicket of Trott up soon after and by the 14th we were struggling at 55-3. By the 26th, we'd fallen to 96-5, a real blow for us. The 6th soon followed and it was down to Bell and Broad to bat the remainder of the innings out, ensured we played as many balls out as possible. In the end we slumped to 177 all out, with the Indian bowlers all chipping in.

We were always going to struggle to defend that score, and we did. Despite our best efforts and a good 10 overs from Anderson, we just never had enough on the board. Dhawan and Raina both hit good half centuries which took the game away from us.

Batting Award:	Ian Bell. A gritty knock when we were in trouble.
Bowling Award:	James Anderson. A superb 10 overs from him but wasn't backed up by the others.
Key Man Watch	Ravi Jadeja. Not much with the bat and a steady 2-40 from his 10 overs.

[UTBash]

Tournament Awards

ICC Champions Trophy Awards

Batting Award (Most Runs)

Chris Gayle. 307 Runs.

Bowling Award (Most Wickets)

James Anderson. 15 Wickets.

Best Batting Performance

Jonathan Trott 104*. Not the highest score of the tournament but he dug in after losing a few wickets.

Best Bowling Performance

Dale Steyn. 5-23.

Best All Round Performance

Ravi Bopara. 54 and 4-42.

Next up is our first shot at some Twenty20 cricket, with New Zealand staying over to play a couple more games!

[DaveK93]

Unlucky mate, not a bad start though