Australia - 2017 and Beyond

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The Ashes in Australia - 2nd Test

We named an unchanged team for the 2nd test, though Chadd Sayers is under pressure to perform. The pitch is expected to be more friendly to bowlers, spin and fast, so this could be a low scoring test. England won the toss and decided to bat, surprisingly, with a bit of cloud around. Hopefully a good toss to lose.



Day 1
A venomous opening spell from James Pattinson produced 2 early wickets, but Hackford and English batted solidly until lunch, with the score 2/104 at the interval. Pattinson picked up 2 more after lunch, but the other bowlers lacked penetration before Watson broke through during a solitary over prior to tea. Bairstow and Pietersen combined for a solid partnership that was ended by Pattinson's fifth wicket, the score at 6/296. He picked up a sixth with the new ball and England finished the day 7/355.

Day 2
Pietersen and DeFries dominated proceedings early on the 2nd day before Agar removed the latter for 68. Siddle accounted for Pietersen 2 overs later for a splendid 118 and England were soon all out for 500, Pattinson picking up 7/140. Watson and Doolan saw us through to tea uneneventfully, compiling 80 runs. Both, however, departed soon after the interval. Clarke and Hughes looked set to see us through to stumps before Clarke was caught behind on the last ball of the day.

Day 3
Burns recorded another failure early in the day. Nevil and Hughes followed him swiftly back to the pavilion. Agar and Faulkner offered some resistance, until Agar was bowled for 33, still 45 runs shy of the follow on. Faulkner followed one run later and a quick fire 23 from Sayers at 11 got us to within 20 of the follow on, 281 all out. So we had another chance to bat, but Doolan and Watson were unwilling to take it, and we were 2/74 in our second innings at tea. Constant wickets thwarted our attempts at a comeback, the wickets of Clarke, Hughes, Burns and Faulkner in the 30's particularly frustrating. At stumps we were 8/232, a 13 run 'lead'.

Day 4
We only added 10 runs in the morning, Pattinson picked up Root but that was the only joy in the 9 wicket loss.



AB Medal
3 Pattinson - a lion hearted effort.
2 Faulkner - in the runs in both innings, but needs to convert the starts if he is to bat 8.
1 Clarke - in the absence of any others…

Verdict
That sucked.

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The Ashes in Australia - 3rd Test

We decided to go with an old head in the 3rd test, Andrew MacDonald in to bat 6 and bowl a little on the back of some good shield form. Khawaja should be back for the 3rd test, so the batsmen should be on notice. We won the toss and batted on a flat pitch.




Day 1
A disastrous start to the test, with only our 2 old allrounders putting up a fight. Watson and MacDonald took as to lunch at 4/77. Doolan, Clarke, Hughes and Burns managed only 7 between them. MacDonald was out soon after the interval and Nevill added 27 before losing his wicket to Broad. Watson picked up the pace and he, along with Faulkner took tea at 6/197. After tea, Watson brought up a 188 ball hundred, and Faulkner got his 50 two overs later, then lost his wicket. We finished the day 9/318, with Watson 151*.

Day 2
Watson added 8 to the overnight total before being dismissed for a Herculean 159, more than half our 326 total. There was a bit of cloud cover and we needed to capitalize. England knew this however, and reached lunch at 0/59. Pattinson grabbed two wickets in quick succession after lunch. Agar and Faulkner added one each to see England four down by tea. Pattinson added a third after tea, but a counter attacking partnership from Bairstow and Pietersen got England back into the game, before Agar took the latter's wicket to leave England 6/257. Faulkner removed Bairstow in a quick new ball spell and England ended the day 7/300.

Day 3
An annoying half century from Stuart Broad boosted England to a total of 351, a 25 run lead. Faulkner grabbed the last 3 wickets to finish with 5/87, a good return after being promoted to opening bowler. Doolan fell cheaply again and we were 1/58 at lunch. The second session was going well, until Clarke was dismissed for 73 in the last over before tea, and Hughes followed for a first baller and we were 3/160. Burns, MacDonald and Nevill didn't last long and they were soon joined in the pavilion by Watson who scored his second century of the test, 116. From there the tail fell quickly and we were all out for 238, setting England a target of 214.

Day 4
Pattinson was fired up and took 4 wickets in his opening, 8 over spell, reducing England to 4/50. From there, however it was almost all England, Speed and Bairstow shepherding the away team to a victory, with the only stumble when Siddle had Bairstow lbw when they were 8 shy of victory.



AB Medal
3 Watson - because he didn't look like he was about to cry for a change
2 Faulkner - 5 for and a 50.
1 Pattinson - nearly stole us a victory. Nearly.

Verdict
A tepid second innings with the bat leaves us on the brink of defeat. Hopefully Khawaja can provide some spark.

[Cam]

Faulkner stiff not to get 3 votes in the first Ashes Test having won the MOM award

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Faulkner stiff not to get 3 votes in the first Ashes Test having won the MOM award

Ha! Didn't even notice that, I don't usually pay attention to the MOTM's. Doolan's century really did win us the game though, whether the AI thinks so or not!

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The Ashes in Australia - 4th Test

Some serious changes for the fourth test. Nic Maddinson is in to open following some good form for NSW. Khawaja is back at 3, and Doolan has the gloves back and is batting 6. Burns and Nevill have been dropped. Additionally, Andrew MacDonald makes way for 20 year old Keith Monks. This is a massive gamble on a kid with just 5 FC games. Fingers crossed. We lost the toss and had to bowl.



Day 1
Pattinson was dominant again, with 3 early wickets. Faulkner chipped in with one and England were 4/32. Root and Bairstow begun to rebuild against the change bowlers and England were 4/75 at lunch. Pattinson returned and got Bairstow after lunch, while Pietersen and Broad chipped in with useful runs. Root, however, was the star of the day, reaching 100 soon after tea. Steady wickets fell and England were 8/277 at the close, with Root 137*.

Day 2
New boy Monks took the last 2 wickets to finish with 3/76 on debut, but not before a burst of aggression from Root propelled England to 345, the Yorkshireman finishing on 186*. Maddinson hit his first ball in test cricket for four when we started, but lost his wicket to the next, particularly disappointed with just the one over prior to lunch. Watson, Clarke and Hughes all got in then out, but Doolan and Khawaja saw us through to stumps on 4/176.

Day 3
Doolan was out early for 40 and Khawaja followed soon after for 84. Faulkner and Agar managed a decent partnership, but from there the innings fell away and we were 290 all out, a deficit of 55. Interestingly, Monks also hit his first ball in test cricket for four! The rest of the day was disappointing and England were 1/160 at stumps, Monks the lone wicket taker.

Day 4
A better start to the day, with 2 early wickets to Agar and one each to Faulkner and Pattinson saw England 5/237 at lunch. The improvement continued after the interval and England were all out for 324. Our target was 380 - nearly impossible, but not much we could do about that! It got harder still when Watson was out for a duck. That set the trend for the innings and we were 7/151 at stumps.

Day 5
All out 173 and that’s that.



AB Medal
3 Pattinson - 7 wickets - please never get injured!
2 Khawaja - Only 50 of the match was telling of the overall performance.
1 Agar - best test in a while, picking up 4 wickets total

Verdict
England were too god for us. A serious lack of depth, both batting and bowling is the major problem. Hopefully a consolation win to boost the confidence for the ODI's.

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The Ashes in Australia - 5th Test

A big gamble for the fifth test - Mitch Marsh comes in for Peter Siddle. The veteran speedster only has 7 wickets at 63 for the series (and 2 of those were in the first over) so maybe a rest in order? He'll be back. Another flat deck with some rain forecast and England have chosen to bat first.



Day One
An even first session saw England 1/102 at lunch. The second session, however, saw Hackford and Hurst take the game away from us and England reached 1/219 at tea. Agar and Marsh removed the pair after tea and the new ball saw Pattinson grab two more to leave England 5/340 at stumps.

Day 2
Pietersen made an aggressive start to day 2 before losing his wicket to Agar. Another wicket to the spinner and 2 to Faulkner had England 9/458 by lunch. The last wicket nagged away and England were all out 485. We lost 3 quick wickets before tea and were 3/61 at the interval. Michael Clarke fought hard for 53, but then the wickets tumbled and we were 6/152 at stumps.

Day 3
This was forecast to be a rainy, cloudy day which was terrible considering we may have to bat twice. The first 50 minutes were lost and the resumption saw Marsh and Agar out in quick succession. The middle session was completely lost, as was all but one over of the evening session and we closed at 8/218.

Day 4
We were all out for 231 20 minutes into the session and would be following on. Watson and Maddinson's aggressive was aided by attacking fields and we were 0/101 at lunch, still 151 behind. We lost 4/109 in the next session, all batsmen getting a start and failing to make a big score, except Watson (maybe) with 92. Doolan and Hughes recovered however and by stumps we were 4/306.

Day 5
The dream was to set them a bit over 200 around 30 minutes after lunch. Runs and wickets came quickly despite the defensive mindset of the batsmen and at lunch we led by 179 with one wicket in hand. The next session was slower and we ended up setting England 200 in 3 hours. Pattinson had Root caught behind in the first over, but England made tea at 1/63. This set up a tight finish and with 15 minutes to go England needed 21. Last over: 4 runs needed, Faulkner bowling… 1 . 4 England win with 3 balls to spare!



AB Medal
3 Pattinson - workhorse
2 Watson - Would have been a great series if the others batsmen chipped in.
1 Agar - continues to improve

Verdict
Attacking fields probably cost us the draw, we held hopes of a miracle win for too long. Worth it though, a draw is basically a loss in a dead rubber. Need to find some batsmen!

SERIES RESULT: England retain the Ashes with a 4-1 series win

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Australia vs England - 1st T20

The toughest part of captaining Australia is the tedious tri-series every summer. Can't wait.. But I'll have to because there are T20's to play. Flat pitch, we won the toss and bowled.



England Innings
Pattinson was wayward but Faulkner grabbed some early wickets. From there however, Speed and English were ruthless and England saw out the overs, England finishing 2/178.

Australian Innings
Warner and Watson started well, scoring 91 for no loss in the first 10. Then Warner was dismissed for 49 (30) and Watson followed soon after for 55 (43). Then a brilliant innings of 39*(18) from Steve Smith saw us home with 2 balls to spare.




AB Medal
3 Smith - Match winning innings
2 Warner - scored quicker, so gets the nod from Watson this time
1 Watson - great opening stand

Verdict
A solid win - England got stuck with 2 slow scorers at the crease.

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Australia vs England - 2nd T20

Cummins comes in to give Pattinson a rest for the last game of the T20 series. We loss the toss on a flat pitch and were sent in.




Australian Innings
The wickets tumbled quickly and we were 5/82 at the 10 over mark, no. 6 Chris Lynn with 34 of those. Lynn was eventually out for 60, Mitch Marsh the only other batsmen to show resistance with 24 and we were all out for 150 on the last ball of the final over.

England Innings
Pat Cummins took 2 wickets in the first over to set us in the right direction. From there constant wickets kept the chase in check and Watson combined with Starc to finish off the tail.




AB Medal
3 Lynn - Held the innings together
2 Cummins - 3 early wickets made the chase to tall an order for England
1 Starc - 1 point for 4 wickets seems harsh, but he did grab the last three.

Verdict
A fair result - England are ranked a lowly 8th in T20's, while we are up in 4th. Hopefully the form continues into the ODI's.

SERIES RESULT: Australia Win 2-0

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Benson and Hedges Tri Series - Australian squad

A few changes to the squad. Notably, Evan Gulbis gets a run after some good domestic form, Steve O'Keefe replaces Ashton Agar and comes in with good form while Shane Watson makes a return to the ODI squad. Now strap yourself in for many, many, many, many ODI's against England and New Zealand. England are ranked 2 in the world, NZ 4 and we are 5…

Here are the career ODI stats for the squad:

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Benson and Hedges Tri Series Game 1 - Australia vs England

Here are the teams. We lost the toss and were put in on a flat deck.



Australian Innings
We scored slowly and were 3/90 when we lost Hughes and Clarke around the 27th over. Smith and Maxwell lifted the rate with quickfire 30's. We were bowled out for 229 at the start of the last over, Faulkner and Doolan making useful contributions.

England Innings
England batted steadily and by the 30th over needed just 101 runs to win with 9 wickets in hand. We needed wickets, but they weren't forthcoming and England won with 7 wickets and 5 overs in hand.



AB Medal
3 Starc - bowled really well considering.
2 Clarke - Top scorer with 45. Sheesh.
1 Faulkner - bowled tight and took a wicket.

Verdict
Well, we need to improve. England have a great bowling line up for the ODI's.

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Benson and Hedges Tri Series Game 2 - Australia vs New Zealand

We were greeted by a seamers deck for our first game against NZ. They'd also been thrashed by England so hopefully I had a chance! Gulbis is in to give Pattinson a rest. It also Clarke's 300th ODI. We won the toss and decided to bowl.



NZ Innings
They started solidly, but Gulbis had his first wicket in the 9th over when Rutherford departed. Faulkner took out Ryder soon after and Starc grabbed 2 early wickets to slow their progress significantly. Munro and Mitchell built a solid partnership but Starc soon exposed the long NZ tail and we restricted them to 9/220.

Australian Innings
Hughes held the innings together as wickets fell steadily, batsmen again making starts and not going on. Hughes was eventually dismissed for 66 (93) with the score at 6/179. We needed 42 from 58 balls but a splendid spell from Milne had us on the ropes. 29 were needed from 24 with 2 wickets in hand and then 14 from the last over. 6 2 . 2 1 1 and NZ had a 2 run victory.



AB Medal
3 Starc - bowling kept us in it
2 Hughes - played his role as backbone well
1 Faulkner - another solid bowling performance

Verdict
So close! We really need the batsmen to start scoring though…

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Benson and Hedges Tri Series Game 3 - Australia vs England

A flat deck greeted us for the next game vs England. Maddinson comes in for Marsh to strengthen the batting while Pattison is also back in. We won the toss and batted.



Australian Innings
Warner got us off to fly but was out on 20, as was Watson. Hughes, Clarke and Maddinson added nothing significant but Maxwell and Smith combined for a counterattacking partnership. When Maxwell fell for 39 (54) Doolan, Faulkner and Starc followed close behind and I was in deep trouble at 9/200. Smith kept attacking and eventually fell for 73 (65). We were 225 all out, and had batted only 39.5 overs.

England Innings
If we could break through the top order I thought we had a chance. England's batting was solid again however, and when they played out Pattinson 10 overs losing just wicket for 27 runs against my spearhead, all was basically lost. England won comfortably by 8 wickets with 6.2 overs to spare.




AB Medal
3 Smith - would have been really bad without my man Steve
2 Pattinson - A good tight spell for the pick of the bowlers
1 Maxwell - Decent all round performance

Verdict
Bright side.. I might not be subjected to the dull final series.

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Benson and Hedges Tri Series Game 4 - Australia vs New Zealand

O'Keefe comes in for Watson in a bit of a gamble for our second ODI against NZ. Another flat pitch welcomed us and we batted after winning the toss with thick cloud expected for the afternoon.

Australian Innings
We fell quickly to 4/49 before Maddinson and a super aggressive Smith finally combined for a decent partnership. Maddinson was out for 26 (47) and Maxwell came in. He and Smith set about trying to immediately destroy the NZ attack. And they succeeded taking us to 5/218 with 10 to play. With 5 overs to go Maxwell was out for 93 (55) and the pair had made an Australian record 6th wicket partnership of 165. We finished 7/319 with Smith 122* (108), a remarkable comeback from 4/49 and 5/113.

NZ Innings
The sun was still shining so I took a gamble and threw the ball to the spinners to start. It worked in the first over, O'Keefe picking up the wicket of Rutherford, but the next 2 overs leaked 24 runs so I went back to the quicks. Starc's first 2 overs cost 29, but he had Munro caught behind for 42 (24) on the first ball of his next. The run rate slowed momentarily, and a few more wickets fell but a strong partnership between Mitchell and Southee got the required run rate back to 5/over. We were sweating before Faulkner and Pattinson eventually broke into the tail and bowled them for 276 in just the 42nd over.



AB Medal
3 Smith - I think this man needs to bat further up the order, he has been brilliant.
2 Maxwell - Unbelievable innings, deserved a century
1 Faulkner - Finished with 4/42 off 10, but that might be a tad flattering.

Verdict
I was wondering how I'd explain that defeat to my faithful audience for a while. That was a fun game. The NRR boost saw me get ahead of NZ on the points table, but England look uncatchable at this stage.

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Benson and Hedges Tri Series Game 5 - Australia vs England

This looked a good pitch for the bowlers. Gulbis comes in to give Pattinson another rest and Watson replaced Warner at opener. We lost the toss and were sent in by England.



Australian Innings
Watson was out early for 12, but Doolan got us off to a good start with an attractive 38 from 34 balls. Hughes came up to no. 3 to give Clarke a little buffer and they were soon batting together. Hughes batted well but was out after getting a start that totaled 39 runs. Clarke was dismissed early and Smith's golden run ended when he was out for 5. When Maxwell followed for 1, Maddinson attempted to 'do a Smith' and succeeded for a while before he was dismissed for 72 (64). We were bowled out for 223, again missing out on around 10 overs of batting.

England Innings
It was always going to be a tough total to defend, and Gulbis' combination with Faulkner lacked penetration in the early overs. Starc and O'Keefe bowled good, tight spells but it was to little avail as England cruised towards the target with 5 wickets and 16 balls in hand.



AB Medal
3 Maddinson - great innings
2 O'Keefe - has cemented his place as the limited overs spinner
1 Starc - has been bowling very consistently

Verdict
Another failure for the top order. We just need one or two of the top guys to carry on and we have the lower order power to win the ODI's.

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Benson and Hedges Tri Series Game 6 - Australia vs New Zealand

A batting order shakeup sees Maddinson opening, followed by Smith at 3. Gulbis remains in the side, Pattinson will be back next match for a tilt at the finals. A flat pitch awaits and NZ have sent us in.



Australian Innings
Maddinson failed with just 3, but Doolan batted well for 45 (64). His dismissal brought Smith and Clarke together. Smith batted considerably more slowly than his last big innings, reaching 50 from 78 balls, exactly what we needed. After 30 over the score was 2/124 and it was time to attack. Smith and Clarke made 67(88) and 42(45) respectively and the platform was set for the lower order to slog away. No-one seemed up to the task until Faulkner made 28 (12) and Starc 21 (7) but we were bowled out for 260 with one over left.

NZ Innings
Rutherford got NZ off to a blazing start with Ryder more subdued. The introduction of spin saw the run rate slow and the pressure got Rutherford's wicket. Spin seemed to be working to slow the rate so I introduced my wild card, Steve Smith. It was a disaster and his 3 overs cost us 34 runs. Starc nabbed a couple of late wickets but it was to no avail as NZ cruised to a 6 wicket win.



AB Medal
3 Starc - good innings and 2 wickets.
2 Smith - Held the batting together and will stay at 3. Won't bowling again for a while though.
1 O'Keefe - Kept it tight with the ball.

Verdict
We need Pattinson back to try and get some pressure on the opposition.