International Cricket Captain

[9 to 5]

Bad like 9 to 5, I brought Panesar in as a nightwatchman in the hope that he'd make a 50 or something and he smashed 17 off 14 balls

Right, thats it. Monty will be opening from now on. >_>

[Thomas]

Is there any chance you could edit how far everyone has got into your first post, lafunk? Just because it's going to pretty confusing soon enough. For Example:

Thomas

Home Test series vs India: Series lost 2-0

- Match Drawn

- Lost by 8 Wickets

- Lost by 14 Runs

Or something. Here's my stats thing for the test series:

* Highest innings score in a Test: 372/5

* Highest innings score in a ODI

* Lowest innings score against: 190 all out

* Lowest ODI score against

* Highest individual score in a Test: 178 (Strauss)

* Highest individual ODI score

* Best bowling in a Test (innings): 6/58 (Flintoff)

* Best bowling in a Test (match): 7/138 (Flintoff)

* Best bowling in an ODI

* Quickest 50: Won't bother with this for tests

* Quickest 100: "

* Most runs in a series

* Most runs in the year

* Most wickets in a series

* Most wickets in a year

Now the special awards

* First person to score an ODI 100 with Michael Vaughan

* Highest score by the 'next' Alistair Cook (debut only)

* Highest score with Monty Panesar: 4, 0, 0, 0, 0 !!!

--

It's now the Twenty20 game for me, and I've picked my squad. Harmison, Trescothick, Cook out. Shah, Mahmood and Anderson in. No recall for Hoggard. Mahmood 12th man.

--

Lost by 64 whole runs. They got to 136 for 4 which I thought was pretty good. I had to tinker with the field a lot because the computer seems to think a defensive field involves two slips. Things were looking good with the bat too when Strauss crashed 17 off an over, but we collapsed to 72 all out. It didn't help that the umpire CHEATED too, giving three catches out with no noise, and an lbw that was clearly going down leg. Flintoff has continued being poor with the bat, just 14 off 15. Pieterson and Strauss were the only other two to get double figures.

Edited April 24, 2007 by Thomas

[Liam]

I should have looked at Tom's team and realised that having the same one really wouldn't work for me >_>

I had Anderson as 12th man though.

I batted first and got 296, India were all out for 359, I then collapsed to 208 leaving them to beat me with 7 wickets in hand.

My second test idea of dropping Strauss, who wasn't playing well, for Cook, who had been, was pretty poor, as Cook got me 8 runs over the two innings. With rain on the 5th day, I was able to get a draw whilst looking to get 388 off the last innings, with India having declared at 359 for 4. Lucky, but I still had 3 wickets in hand at the end of play, so not too too bad.

I used Panesar way too much, but he was the only person getting anything of note.

So 1-0 down with 1 game to go.

EDIT: Bah, lost 2-0 in the end. This last one was only by two wickets, and by all rights, I had no reason to still be in the match after a shocking 196 all out, though Vaughan 93 was a good point. I got them all out for 307, and a 376 all out offered me a mildly competitive 266 to defend, and Flintoff finally decided to bowl with some decency. Again, thier middle order kept them going, and though I got down to the 9th and 10th man, only 18 runs were needed, and they got them with relative ease.

SECOND EDIT: Went on to lose the 20/20 by 40 runs. Shah hit a nice innings, but other than that, not much to write home about.

Edited April 24, 2007 by Liam Byrne

[Liam]

YESSSS!! First victory, achieved in the first of the ODI's. I was put into bat first, and with a 67 from Trescothick and a 62 not out from Vaughan, put 249 on the board. I'm rubbish at ODI's usually on ICC, so wasn't expecting much, but I was able to get India all out for 198, with Flintoff taking 4/50

Question: When it says series, does that include ODI's and Tests, or just Tests?

Edited April 24, 2007 by Liam Byrne

[Thomas]

Just selected my squad for the three match ODI series (against India), hopefully I can overturn the disappointment of losing the test series. I picked a 15 man squad, Bell not included through injury, with this as the first lineup:

Trescothick

Vaughan

Strauss

Pieterson

Flintoff

Dalrymple

Collingwood

Nixon

Jones

Hoggard

Panesar

Shah

Solanki

Mahmood

Anderson

--

Wahey, first victory of the series by an emphatic 132 runs! Won the toss and decided to bat. Not great conditions and a slow outfield, but seemed like a pretty decent track, was hoping to get to around 250.

England- 237/6

- Trescothick 63

- Vaughan 48

India- 105 all out

- Hoggard 4/26

- Jones 2/17

Panesar must've got bored, didn't bat or bowl.

[Thomas]

Liam: Vaughan is supposed to open in every game.

[Liam]

That wasn't my order, I'd closed the game and put down who I had in my team from what I remembered.

2nd ODI down, and I won it by 1 wicket, fucking close though. India reached 269 for 9, and with Pietersen smashing 122, it looked in the bag, but wickets were falling around him. In the end, I had 9 runs to get, 2 overs to go and only Panesar and Broad, but Broad scored the runs as Panesar survived to give me a narrow victory.

Edited April 24, 2007 by Liam Byrne

[Thomas]

Just played the second match, and won by 5 wickets! An unchanged lineup (just Pieterson batting above Strauss) from the side that won the first match. I lost the toss and they decided to bat. In my innings it looked like I was going to collapse after being 101/1 to 160/5, but Collingwood stepped in and supported Trescothick well, scoring 36 in 30 balls.

India- 221/7

- Panesar 2/44

- Hoggard 2/47

England- 222/5

- Trescothick 92 n.o

- Pieterson 36

Series won 2-0 with a game to play.

[Liam]

In my last game today before I go to work, I lost the 3rd game in the series, but won it overall 2-1. I put India in to bat, and they didn't offer much, getting 232 for 7, but my batting capitulated big time, seeing me all out for 132. I played the same side in all 3 matches, with the winning start I had the reasoning behind it, just a shame we got butt fucked in the last game.

* Highest innings score in a Test: 376 all out (India 3rd Test)

* Highest innings score in a ODI: 271/9 (India 2nd ODI)

* Lowest innings score against: 307 all out (India 3rd Test)

* Lowest ODI score against: 198 all out (India 1st ODI)

* Highest individual score in a Test: 93 (Vaughan 3rd Test India)

* Highest individual ODI score: 122 (Pietersen 2nd ODI India)

* Best bowling in a Test (innings): 6/65 (Harmison 3rd Test India)

* Best bowling in a Test (match): 8/195 (Panesar 2nd Test India)

* Best bowling in an ODI 4/30 (Dalrymple 3rd ODI India)

* Quickest 50: 50 off 48 balls (Pietersen 2nd ODI India)

* Quickest 100: I wasn't paying attention, but Pietersen thus far, not sure how many balls though

* Most runs in a series: 319 (Vaughan vs India)

* Most runs in the year

* Most wickets in a series: 17 (Panesar vs India)

* Most wickets in a year

Now the special awards

* First person to score an ODI 100 with Michael Vaughan

* Highest score by the 'next' Alistair Cook (debut only)

* Highest score with Monty Panesar: 8

[Thomas]

Lost the third match by 8 wickets, winning the series 2-1. We lost the toss and were put into bat. I wasn't sure how hard I should've pushed but was happy with 256/7. Pieterson scored a quick hundred, getting to 50 off 32 balls and his century after 86 balls, but it wasn't enough as they had enough wickets in hand to take risks at the end of the innings. Jadhav has scored about 4 millions runs against me since India have been here.

I shuffled the pack too, resting Trescothick, Strauss, Jones and Panesar for Solanki, Shah, Mahmood (who was shite) and Anderson (who was also shite)

England 256/7

- Pieterson 107

- Shah 44

India 258/2

- Collingwood 1/27

- Flintoff 1/61

[Thomas]

Summary of India's visit...

Home Test series vs India: Series lost 2-0

- Match Drawn

- Lost by 8 Wickets

- Lost by 14 Runs

- Twenty20 lost by 64 runs

Home ODI series vs India: Series won 2-1

- Won by 132 Runs

- Won by 5 Wickets

- Lost by 8 Wickets

-------------------

Only a week later begins the visit of the West Indies, with no fresh faces into the squad. Bell is still sidelined through injury.

Trescothick

Vaughan

Cook

Pieterson

Flintoff

Strauss

Nixon

Hoggard

Jones

Harmison

Panesar

Collingwood

--

Won the first by 9 wickets, my first test match victory. I was very happy to have won the toss and sent them into bat, but was dumbfounded by my first innings score.

West Indies 227 all out

- Flintoff 6/37

- Jones 3/55

England 158 all out

- Trescothick 54

- Pieterson 24

West Indies 105 all out

- Jones 5/31

- Hoggard 3/31

England 175/1

- Vaughan 91 n.o

- Cook 40 n.o

Edited April 24, 2007 by Thomas

[Thomas]

Rain-ruined second test. Was looking to turn into an interesting game before then, I'm pretty happy with a draw though, since we didn't do well. Two changes from the last team, Cook out for Harvey, and Harmison drops to 12th man.

[Whisper]

I borrowed this game off a mate today, just started mucking about with it. Can someone tell me what chaning the skill level actually affects?

[Thomas]

It makes the game easier if you have it on easy.

I lost the third test by 262 runs. Absolute bollocks from my players. Flintoff is shit. He's been on batting coaching near enough the whole time and still hasn't got a decent score. He's scored 150 for me in ten innings, 15 an inning. 15....

Now I've got to win this final test otherwise it's a big failure.

[Thomas]

Won the 4th test by 3 wickets to take the series 2-1. Flintoff got injured in the previous game and was unavailable, so back into the test scene came Mark Butcher! Harmison was dropped to 12th man. It seems like a tighter run chase than it was, was 164/4 at one stage but lost some quick wickets towards the end. It was Colllingwood and Jones who steered us home. 9 wicket haul for Hoggard gets him MoM.

Edited April 24, 2007 by Thomas

[Thomas]

Lost the Twenty20 on the final ball. Not sure how, I think it's because other teams are capable of putting on partnerships after the 5th wicket. Oh well. Lineup was:

Strauss

Vaughan

Pieterson

Bell

Flintoff

Collingwood

Dalrymple

Nixon

Jones

Hoggard

Panesar

[Whisper]

Trescothick

Vaughan

Strauss

Joyce

Pieterson

Flintoff

Collingwood

Nixon

Harmison

Hoggard

Panesar

12th man: Anderson

That's my team. Ed Joyce getting his test debut, I was torn between him, Bell and Cook. Here's betting I get hammered.

[FireDoughnut]

I've just started this... well I've been playing all day.

I lost the India test series 3-0... bit rubbish.

Won the 20-20 game.

Won the One Day series 2-1, won the first two matches. Mahmood was injured and Harmison is retired so the matches saw the return of Darrn Gough. He played a blinder.

And then destroyed West Indies 4-0 in the Test Series. With Vaughan opening, I've discovered that Ali Cook with him and Ian Bell at 3 is genius. Cook and Bell were destructive, while Pansear was the pick of my bowlers.

I'll edit in more specific stats tomorrow about all the matches.

P.S. I debuted 19 yr old Paul Plummer from Notts in his first season against India. Made around 23 in his first innings, but has gone up as high as 60+ since.

[lafunky xxvii]

Finished my series against India yesterday, lost 2-0.

First Test - Lost by 215 runs

India scored a big total to start with, with Dravid tormenting me with 199 . We responded in OK fashion, scoring 385 with Bell getting a century and a couple of 50s, but it wasn't enough as I couldn't get India out again and Kumble tore through me on a turning pitch.

Second Test - Match drawn

Got put in on a very cloudy and overcast day with rain expected, so I just tried to bat out the difficult conditions. Made 288, Bell top scoring again with 91. They raped me again with the bat on an awesome batting pitch, 510 for 5 dec, Sehwag and Tendulkar smashing me all over the shop. Not a good debut for Broad either who went at 5 an over with no wicket. Our second innings showed what a good pitch it was, scoring 499 for 5 dec, Bell and Collingwood scoring 150* and 149 respectively, but with the rain delays it wasn't enough time to get anywhere near bowling them out.

Third Test - Lost by 9 wickets.

Won the toss, batted, thought fantastic, set a massive score and then we'll be laughing. Great start with Strauss and Vaughan putting on 190 for the first wicket, then we were 309 for 2 when Cook ran Vaughan out, but we collapsed from there to 472 all out. Had India 213 for 6, but a century from Yuvraj fucked us up. Then came the textbook England collapse - 74 all out. Flintoff was injured bowling so we only had 9 wickets to begin with, but Harbajan ran through us with 5-19 and left them an easy 174 to win.

Verdict: Not enough bowling firepower.

[Zaz]

Do I win for the test series?