England Story

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Loving this story mate, seems like you're doing really well! Just out of interest do you play your one day games ball by ball? I find playing over by over in one day games makes it particularly hard when batting in one day-ers because its hard to get the tempo right with new batsmen coming in etc.

Thanks mate, bit up and down at the moment but not doing too badly!

Yeah I go ball by ball most of the time unless I'm chasing a low score where it doesn't matter as much just to finish the game quicker haha

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SA Test Series Squad

This is a must win series! We bring in Trott and a very strong squad all round, hopefully we can pull it together. We bring in a new regen spinner, Glover who we last picked was never played after 5 FC games and our new regen, Tom Denver, was the leading wicket taker in the County Championship!



Meet the Regen - Tom Denver
Tom Denver, 23, of Derbyshire was the leading wicket taker this season in the County Championship. He is a leg spinner with a first class average of 23.62 and has taken over 100 wickets!

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Friendlies

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1st test vs SA

We got with a 4 seamer bowling attack and a youthful batting line up!

England: Cook, Root, Northeast, Taylor, Pietersen, Burrows, Bairstow, Broad, Ringham, Finn, Anderson.

South Africa: De Kock, Smith, Amla, De Villiers, Van Zyl, Du Plessis, Petersen, Philander, M Morkel, Steyn, De Lange.

South Africa won the toss and batted.

Day 1
We finished the day well after a huge ton from Smith looked to be taking the game away from us. Broad came back from his poor start to pick up 4 big wickets late on in the day!

Day 2
Their tail provided some annoying resistance as we bowled them out for 425. Root fell for just 4 but Northeast and Cook took us to the final over of play before Cook nicked behind for 55, we finished on 111-2.

Day 3
Day 3 was up and down for us, finishing on a down as we fell just short of their score. One annoying thing was Amla picking up 3-19 from 10, what the hell?! Taylor made a good century and Northeast 73, while Burrows made 60 himself.

Day 4
Without Amla's century, we could have had them very cheaply I feel. Ringham led the way with the ball, backed up well by Broad as they made a lead of 356 before declaring.

Day 5
We gave it a good go, but lost too many early wickets. This resulted in us being in a rescue mission late in the day, with young Burrows making him second 50 of the game to save the first test for us!

Batting Award	James Taylor. Batted well in a game where all our youngsters stood up to be counted.
Bowling Award	Stuart Ringham. His 2nd innings 5 for was superior to Broad's first.
Series State	0-0 with 3 to play.

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2nd test vs SA

Team News: No changes.

We won the toss and batted.

Day 1
We were 3 down at the end of the session, with Root, Northeast and Taylor gone. The next 3 men, Pietersen, Burrows and Bairstow, all got into their 30's and got out while Cook was still at the crease at the close. Oh look, Amla's bowling well again, 1-23 off 9!

Day 2
Cook eventually ran out of partners in the 2nd session after Finn supported him well in the first, he was unbeaten on 197! They finished the day strongly with Amla and De villiers going well.

Day 3
We made a good comeback, taking crucial wickets at the right time. Anderson and Finn shared 9 wickets whilst Ringham went wicketless! We were struggling, losing our top 4 before the close, in just half a session!

Day 4
A partnership of 150 between Bairstow and Broad put us in with a chance in the game as we made a lead of 272, we provided some good late resistance too. Time was on their hands but the wicket wasn't improving. They finished the day 103-1 though, meaning we had just a little chance of a win.

Day 5
Ringham took our only 4 wickets in a pathetic attempt, our bowlers have been bad for the past year or 2!

Batting Award	Alastair Cook. After that first innings who else could I give it to?
Bowling Award	Steven Finn. Simply for the first innings..
Series State	SA lead 1-0 with 2 to play.

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3rd Test vs SA

Team News: Trott and Bopara for Pietersen and Root.

South Africa won the toss and batted.

Day 1
It all started so well as they were 33-1, unfortunately they ended the day 335-3. Maybe this was just too much to handle for our out of form players, a series in South Africa that came at the wrong time?

Day 2
It didn't get any better, 603-7 declared. We ended the day 0 down and hoped to hold on for another day or more!

Day 3
We lost Burrows early and lacked the big innings all day, with everybody reaching double figures but nobody going on. We still had a big job to do at 327-6!

Day 4
We just avoided the follow on by 5 runs, everybody hit double figures but Anderson and Finn. We hit 408 with no centuries and just 2 half centuries! They declared with a lead of 377 just before the close as we failed to bowl well again.

Day 5
This game just gets stranger and stranger, I had totally written us of, but we did it! We came out and won the game, chasing 377 in a day!

Batting Award	Alastair Cook. Batted well in both innings, leading the way for us this series.
Bowling Award	Nobody, they don't deserve it at the moment.
Series State	1-1 with one to play!

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4th Test vs SA

Team News: Kerrigan for Anderson.

We won the toss and bowled.

Day 1
Once again, a poor day for our bowlers. We took 3 wickets and a run out. Kerrigan was our best bowler as our pacers didn't make use of the overcast conditions. What can I do to get wickets?!

Day 2
It didn't get any better as we bowled them out for 551! It is probably just a matter of saving the game now, and if we do we pick up a ranking point so it's not the worst thing. Burrows and Cook took us to 111 by the end of the day without losing a wicket.

Day 3
Cook and Burrows continued to bat well, putting on an opening stand of 209. However a rain break interrupted our flow and we ended up falling to 308-7 by the end of the day.

Day 4
Bairstow and Ringham took us past the follow on mark before Bairstow got out. A big blow came when Kerrigan was forced to retire hurt though, we were 361 all out but they had to bat again. They took the game away from us big time, making a lead of 421. I think we'll struggle to draw or win now, especially after losing our openers before the close!

Day 5
With a good opening stand we might have saved the game, but we didn't, and lost our 3rd test series in the last 4.

Batting Award	Alastair Cook. Mainly for the century, this match was a LONG time ago.
Bowling Award	Steven Finn. The best figures.
Series Result	South Africa win 2-1.

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ODI Series vs SA Squad

So, I'm back to continue the story after a break! Here goes with our squad for the ODI series vs South Africa!

England Squad
Alastair Cook
Joe Root
Jonathan Trott
Kevin Pietersen
James Taylor
Gary Ballance
Shiv Thakor
Craig Kieswetter
Jos Buttler
Chris Woakes
Stuart Broad
Ben Stokes
Stuart Ringham
James Anderson
Steven Finn

We go with no out and out spinners as they've disappointed recently (from memory).

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One Day friendlies

Two friendlies, one regulation win, one underwhelming performance.

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1st ODI vs SA

England: Cook, Root, Stokes, Trott, Ballance, Taylor, Buttler, Broad, Ringham, Anderson, Finn.

SA: Amla, De Kock, De Villiers, Smith, Du Plessis, Duminy, Van Buuren, Mclaren, Abbott, Philander, Steyn.

South Africa won the toss and chose to bowl.

Root and Cook started off slow against the dangerous Steyn and Philander, with Root being dropped in the first over. We were 23-0 from the first ten. Bowling changes saw us pick up the run rate slightly, but wicket preservation was the first priority. Our first wicket was lost at a bad time, with Cook going run out for 47, from a marathon 103 balls. I'm still getting back into the game. Ben Stokes was sent in at 3 for a hit, which didn't last. We lost a flurry of wickets at the worst possible time and ended up not recovering.

De Kock led the way for them and our inability to take early wickets cost us, however I think if we can score more runs we can really get stuck into their batters in future games.

Batting Award	Joe Root. Welcome back to the ODI side!
Bowling Award	Ben Stokes. A good spell from him!
Series State	SA lead 1-0 with 4 to play.

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2nd ODI vs SA

Team News: No changes.

We won the toss and batted.

Cook led the way after a good stand with Root to start. Our middle order somewhat faltered but we had managed to reach a competitive total with those later on chipping in with quick runs to give our bowlers something to bowl at!

Our attacking early approach paid off as Amla fell to Finn. Our constantly nagging line and length bowling gave South Africa no room to manoeuvre and any bad shot was punished. We won comfortably in the end, despite the best efforts of Smith and De Kock.

Batting Award	Alastair Cook. As usual of course!
Bowling Award	Steven Finn. Early wickets set the tone!
Series State	1-1 with 3 to play!

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3rd ODI vs SA

Team News: No changes.

We won the toss and batted.

A decent start set us up for another 230/250+ innings. But our middle order proved unsteady again as we slumped to 196-9. Cook once again top scored!

It was a spirited bowling performance, however, we just didn't have the runs we should have. And once again, just another 30 more could have won us the game!

Batting Award	Alastair Cook. Another 50 to add to his collection.
Bowling Award	Ben Stokes. Very economical with a wicket.
Series State	SA Lead 2-1 with 2 to play!

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4th ODI vs SA

Team News: Thakor and Kieswetter in for Taylor and Buttler.

South Africa won the toss and batted.

Amla and De Villiers came together to show their true class. Ringham was carted around the ground going for over 8 an over and a late flurry of wickets kept them to 299, giving us a nice round 300 to chase, this could be interesting!

Yorkshiremen Root and Ballance provided a good help towards the chase but in the end we just fell short. With a few more wickets in hand it could have been a more interesting finish at the rate we were scoring at! This is the first ODI series I've lost

Batting Award	Gary Ballance. Can't grumble at 75 from 62!
Bowling Award	Steven Finn. He actually bowled really well!
Series State	SA lead 3-1 with one to play.

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5th ODI vs SA

Team News: Woakes for Ringham. They replace Mclaren with Pretorius.

SA won the toss and batted.

De Kock's form continued with an excellent huge century! Stokes was the pick of our bowlers with 3 wickets and Van Buuren ended the innings strongly.

A fantastic chase, but still, too little too late. Trott, Kiesy and Shiv were our main men, all passing 50 at excellent scoring rates and our attacking approach from the start paid off!

Batting Award	Jonathan Trott. An excellent knock by the old man!
Bowling Award	Ben Stokes. 3 wickets for him.
Series Result	SA win 3-2. Unfortunately, this knocks us off number one spot

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T20i Series Squad

So for the series before the T20 world cup, here is our squad.

England
Joe Root
Alastair Cook
Gary Ballance
Kevin Pietersen
Ian Bell
Jonny Bairstow
Craig Kieswetter
Ben Stokes
Ravi Bopara
Chris Woakes
Stuart Broad
Scott Borthwick
Steven Finn
James Anderson
Stuart Ringham