England Story

[UTBash]

Unlucky mate, not a bad start though

Cheers pal, can't wait for the Ashes!

[DaveK93]

Cheers pal, can't wait for the Ashes!

Looks like you are in with a real chance!

[UTBash]

Looks like you are in with a real chance!

Should win it really! hopefully early so I can get some youngsters in!

[UTBash]

T20 Series Squads

NZ: So for the 2 match series the Kiwi's make one change from their ODI squad, Rutherford in for Ellis.

England: KP is STILL injured! Alex Hales comes in for Bairstow and Kerrigan in for Bresnan as we bring in the youth for these games.

[UTBash]

1st T20i vs NZ

Eng XI: Hales, Kieswetter, Root, Bell, Bopara, Taylor, Buttler, Broad, Swann, Anderson, Topley.

NZ XI: Rutherford, Guptill, Munro, Taylor, Williamson, McCullum, Franklin, Ronchi, Vettori, McClenaghan, Boult.

Topley and Taylor make their debuts.

We lost the toss and were asked to bat!

Boult bowled a pearl of a first over, taking out Hales and Bell! After 10 we were 70-3 and Vettori was the pick of the bowlers with 1-5 from just 2. We started to lose pretty regular wickets but it was Buttler and Broad's hard hitting late on which took us to 157! Broad hitting 35 from 21!

Topley was welcomed to international T20 cricket by being smashed at 9 an over for his first 3, however he picked up his maiden wicket when brought on later. Their innings was swinging in and out of both teams favour by the over. The game was in the balance as they required 8.8 per over for the last 5. Anderson swung it back in our favour with a great over going for just 3! They now needed 23 from 12 balls! However McCullum smashed Broad to leave them needing 9 from the last over off Anderson....

Ball One: One run, 8 from 5 needed.
Ball Two: One run, 7 from 4 needed.
Ball Three: WICKET! Williamson LBW. 7 from 3 needed.
Ball Four: WICKET! Franklin LBW. 7 from 2 needed.
Ball Five: One run, 6 from 1 needed.
Ball Six: SIX!!!! New Zealand win!

Brendan McCullum is a pain in the arse, 31 from 16 to win it.

Batting Award:	Stuart Broad. Some great hard hitting late on.
Bowling Award:	James Anderson. Some great death bowling until the final ball.
Series State:	NZ lead 1-0

[UTBash]

2nd T20i vs NZ

Team News: Kerrigan for Broad.

We win the toss and bowl first.

Everyone but Bopara bowled very tightly considering. Swann bowled a double wicket maiden in the 18th! Rutherford was their saving grace, still unbeaten on 66! Swann picked another wicket up to finish with great figures of 3-16. Kerrigan bowled a wicketless 4 overs for 25 and young Topley took 1-26.

Hales got his second GOLDEN DUCK of the two match series, what a series for him haha! I was determined not to take it down to the final over and Kieswetter lead the way with another well played 40. Bopara and Bell struck well to finish them off with a lot of time to spare.

Batting Award:	Craig Kieswetter. 40 off 27, a good knock again!
Bowling Award:	Graeme Swann. Picks up his first award (I think), well overdue!
Series Result:	1-1 draw

No stats will be provided for this 2 match series.

[UTBash]

Ashes in England squad!

So we have to name a 12 man squad before each match but I'm going to choose an 18 man squad to choose from just like Australia have.

Ashes 2013 squads

England	Australia
Alastair Cook	Michael Clarke
Joe Root	Ed Cowan
Ian Bell	Phil Hughes
James Taylor	Usman Khawaja
Jonathan Trott	Chris Rogers
Gary Ballance	David Warner
Craig Kieswetter	Shane Watson
Matt Prior	Steve Smith
Jonny Bairstow	Brad Haddin
Ravi Bopara	Matthew Wade
Stuart Broad	James Faulkner
Chris Woakes	Mitchell Marsh
Graeme Swann	Jack Bird
James Anderson	Ryan Harris
Reece Topley	Nathan Lyon
Simon Kerrigan	James Pattinson
Steven Finn	Peter Siddle
Toby Roland-Jones	Faraz Ahmed

We have KP who could also play but he almost always seems to be unavailable due to injury!

We have an array of players who could make their debut but will start with experience first.

They include Pakistani Faraz Ahmed, good going ICC.

[UTBash]

1st Ashes Test!

It's here, the most historical series in the history of series'!!!!!

Pitch Conditions: A pitch which will favour spin and pace alike later on, with some overcast conditions throughout the 5 days!

Eng XI: Cook, Root, Trott, Bell, Bopara, Taylor, Prior, Broad, Swann, Anderson, Finn.

Aus XI: Watson, Rogers, Clarke, Hughes, Khawaja, Warner, Cowan, Haddin, Pattinson, Harris, Siddle.

The Aussies go with 3 bowlers plus Watson. Clarke may bowl some spin.

Toss: Australia won and chose to bat.

Day 1
After the first session Anderson and Swann had a wicket each as the Aussies were 86-2. Watson was unbeaten in the 40's. Hughes and Watson absolutely dominated the day, both passing 100.

Day 2
The wicket of Watson fell early, out for 177. Rogers also fell early for 133, however the long batting line up prevailed and the Aussies declared late on the 2nd day, it's looking like a survival mission already! However we lost both openers before the close.

Day 3
Bopara, Prior and Trott were the three men to show some real character on a tough day under tough overcast conditions. We ended the day 284-6 and there was still a massive job on to avoid the follow on.

Day 4
WE DID IT! We avoided the follow on with Broad and Bopara batting excellently. I sensed massive weakness in their bowling ranks, failing to really trouble us in the horrendous conditions, on the pitch and in the air.

Day 5
Australia declared after the first session, leaving us needing 297 to win. There was still a big job for us to do in this game to play out the conditions. We decided to attack them! And this left us needing just over a hundred from one session, with 4 wickets left! Our decision was unwise, and we lost, we need to bounce back well.

Batting Award:	Jonathan Trott. Bopara had a massive score but Trott was consistent.
Bowling Award:	James Anderson. Someone has to get it.
Series State:	Australia lead 1-0

[UTBash]

2nd Ashes Test

Team News: Gary Ballance comes in for Root to make his debut. No Australia changes.

Australia won the toss and chose to bat on an absolute ROAD!

Day 1&2
Lost track of time! Anyway, same old story, Anderson and Finn bowled awful and they batted well, although the track is unreal! Swann picked up a 7 for in the end. We started reasonably well but there's still room for improvement was we finish 173-3.

Day 3
By the end of day 3, the game was looking to be a draw already, the bowling continued to be weak and Bopara and Taylor both passed 100.

Day 4
Prior became our 3rd centurion as we continued to bat, not much to say really.

Day 5
Another boring day of a load of runs being scored, sort it out bowlers! A draw in the end.

Batting Award:	Matt Prior. Our highest scorer in a great knock.
Bowling Award:	Graeme Swann. A great 7 for followed by 0-99
Series State:	Aus lead 1-0 with 3 games left.

[UTBash]

3rd tes vs Aus

Team News: We continue with the same XI and so do they.

They once again won the toss and chose to bat.

Day 1
There was almost some progress! We had them 3 down for under 100 before Rogers, Warner and Cowan destroyed us. Broad and Finn leaked runs at a shocking rate.

Day 2
Runs continued to flow for them and carried on for us when we bowled them out. Yawn.

Day 3
The high point of the day was Ballance's 100 as runs continued to be piled on....

Day 4
Ballance made a great 171 in just his 2nd test match innings! Great performance as we were bowled out, leading by 39. They ended the day without loss.

Day 5
The Aussies declared with a 226 lead and a session remaining. We made a bloody good go of it! Falling about 20 short! Another draw, changes needed.

Batting Award:	Gary Ballance. Great 171 from him.
Bowling Award:	Graeme Swann. Someone needs to be given the award although it's not even worth it at the moment.
Series State:	Aus lead 1-0 with 2 games left

[UTBash]

4th Test vs Aus

Team News: Pietersen for Bell, Roland Jones for Finn. They make no changes, and why would they? They're leading.

WE WON THE TOSS! AND BATTED :-D

Day 1
A boring day as we finished on 207-0, batting cautiously due to the overcast weather. Cook finished on 99 and Trott on 95.

Day 2
Another day of batting, it's actually getting really boring now....

Day 3
We were 510 all out in the first session. Despite no early breakthrough, we had a chance after they fell to 125-4, they rebuilt well.

Day 4
We took them so close to the follow on and let them off the hook! Their last 3 scored 100 between them! We lead by 79 and decided to have a go!! We finished the day with a healthy run rate and something to build on.

Day 5
We set them a target of 278 in just less than 2 sessions, can we do it? A resounding no, they bored the pants off us scoring at just over 2 runs per over. Match drawn, however if we win the last test we draw the series and retain the ashes.

Batting Award	Alastair Cook. Great contributions in both innings.
Bowling Award	Graeme Swann. He's been our best bowler by far this series, maybe we should play two spinners in the final test, get loose Kegsy.
Series State	Aus lead 1-0 with 1 test remaining.

[UTBash]

5th test vs Aus

So it's here, our one and only chance to tie the series and retain the ashes. Maybe it'd still be 0-0 if I didn't make a stupid decision to go all out in the first test. How was I supposed to know this would happen?

Team News: Kerrigan and Topley in, Broad and Roland-Jones out. No change for Aus.

Oh look we lost the toss and will bowl first!

Day 1
A better first day for bowlers!! With young Topley taking a couple of wickets cheaply! They finished 344-6, Watson lead the way with 170 for them.

Day 2
We let them off the hook as usual..... They declared on 605-9! Damn. We batted like muppets and were 4 down by the end of the day.

Day 3
Our 5th wicket fell early, the rest followed, and the series was sure to be lost. We followed on, way behind. Our 2nd innings went better, KP came in and absolutely rocketed the ball to all parts of the ground and we finished the day 2 down.

Day 4
A middle order mini collapse meant we were all out after just passing their score, this match wasn't going all the way. They finished us off swiftly.

Batting Award:	Kevin Pietersen. Two scores over 50.
Bowling Award	James Anderson. Took 3 wickets, erm we were shocking.
Series Result	Australia win 2-0 and win the ashes.

So I've got over the result and decided to return to the story in the hope of smashing the Aussies in the shorter games.... Some shocking stats to follow in the meantime!

[UTBash]

Ashes in England: Stats

I can't really bring myself to provide any real stats for this series. We batted decent and bowled awful. Our second best bowler, Anderson, averaged 70!!!!!!



3 Australian batsmen averaged over 100, they were Cowan, Clarke and Watson.



The end.

[UTBash]

T20 Series: Squads

The Aussies go with only 3 players who won the Ashes! We drop Cook and Trott for the T20's.

Aus Squad


Eng Squad

[UTBash]

1st T20i vs Aus

We play a young side!

Eng XI: Kieswetter, Bell, Pietersen, Bopara, Ballance, Taylor, Buttler, Broad, Swann, Topley, Kerrigan.

Aus XI: Watson, Warner, Bailey, Wade, Haddin, Rohrer, Marsh, Faulkner, Mckay, Coulter-Nile, Hazlewood.

They won the toss and put us in.

Well, being 2 down after 2 balls wasn't the best. Bell even got a diamond duck hahaha! We never got going at all. Faulkner and Hazlewood destroyed us in all fairness.

We started well with a maiden from young Topley and this pressure was followed by a Broad wicket. However from this point, Watson destroyed us as usual, no joy once again.

Batting Award	Gary Ballance. 23 from 20 balls, about a quarter of our runs.
Bowling Award	Reece Topley. Young 'Toppler' bowled a great spell at the start.
Series State	Australia lead 1-0 with a game to play.