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International Cricket Captain: Forumer's Challenge

GotSpin

Hall of Fame Member
Marcus picking up cheap wickets against the tail. No surprise there
 
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Howe_zat

Audio File
1st Test vs Australia

CW began the series by winning the toss and batting on a good, hard track. They'd kept an unchanged side from the tour match.

The batsmen started slowly against some accurate bowling from the Aussie quicks, and an hour into the day Heads fell for 11 when he edged Court behind. Ballich and Narang made steady progress, and the visitors managed to get the better of an attritional session as they reached lunch on 79/1.

Court picked up his second wicket when Narang top-edged a cut to gully, falling for 42 just as CW's hundred came up. Ballich was out soon after to the same bowler for 45, and when Spark nicked off against Watson the home side were in some trouble at 124/4. That rose to 158/4 at tea, with Dharan and Riley seeing them to the interval.

The Riley-Dharan partnership got the CWers past 200 and into a position of relative safety, but the game swung back Australia's way late on as McDonald struck twice. Dharan was bowled and two overs later Riley was lbw, becoming the third and fourth batsmen of the day to be out in the 40s. Stumps came with the score on 226/6.

The innings was rescued in the morning by a superb stand of 92 between Winne and Hing. The pair ******ed the CWers past 250 and soon 300, before Winne (yet another batsman out in the 40s) gave Court his fourth wicket via second slip. Hing held on until the lunch break with Capone, and raised his first Test fifty with the final ball of the session. They were 330/7.

Hing had just about survived the 40s, but was undone almost immediately after as Lee got one through him in the early part of the afternoon. Dean (24) contributed his now expected cameo to give the score a boost, but Gillespie had him (bowled) and Dong (fended to short leg) out in the same over to end the innings.

The total was 360 all out. It was under-par for the pitch, and was made to look even more so as Hayden and Jaques saw out the rest of the session, easing their way to 48 for no loss at tea.

Dean got the breakthrough with score on 78, getting Hayden (34) out bat-pad, but Ponting and Jaques were able to push on, and at a healthy speed. Australia looked comfortable at 150/1 late in the day, but Dong came on for a fierce second spell.

The opening quick had a huge lbw appeal turned down against Jaques, before taking the umpire out of it by bowling the opener two overs later for 88. Dong followed that up by removing Ponting (bowled for 27), and CW were right back in it. Australia were 159/3 at the end of day 2.

The first session of the third day was Australia's, with David Hussey making his way to a half century. Hing claimed the only wicket of the session - Martyn, bowled for 17 - as Hussey and Watson took Australia within a hundred runs of the lead. The partnership continued to turn from very good to matchwinning throughout the third day as the pair batted out the entire afternoon, and took the lead for the home side soon after tea.

Hussey by this point had raised his century, and Watson his fifty. Hussey was finally dismissed for 133 when he edged Capone to first slip, breaking a fifth wicket stand of 163. Capone was keeping CW in the game - Watson (81) fell just as Australia reached 400, and Gilchrist departed soon after, both edging the left-armer into the slips.

Australia counter-attacked before the close, with Lee's unbeaten 24 from 27 re-asserting Australia's control over the day. The score was 446/7, and the lead worth 86, at stumps.

Capone was able to minimise the lead early on the fourth day. His first over featured a ball spearing in past Lee to bowl him for 28, and McDonald (21) was caught behind soon after for Capone's fifth wicket. Court could only make 4 before hitting Dean to short leg, and the home side were all out within half an hour of the day, their lead restricted to 97.

The CW batsmen were still in with a chance of overturning the deficit and setting the Australians a target, but going for the win quickly took a back seat as Narang lost his wicket early, bowled by Lee for 2.

Once again, CW briefly recovered from an early wicket, but once agin, Court made inroads into the top order, this time drawing edges from Ballich (24) and Dharan (8). The visitors were in serious trouble once more, three down and still 32 runs from making Australia bat again.

Heads, who over the break had been 30*, decided the best form of defence was attack. His side gained the lead as he sped to 70* from 110 balls, with Spark in steady support. The hundred partnership lasted for the whole of the afternoon session, and by the end of it CW led by 68, with Heads into the 90s.

That was when it all went horribly wrong for the visitors. Spark (32) was the first to go as Gillespie found his outside edge, and in the following over Heads departed, caught behind off Lee for 96 off 160 balls.

Riley failed to trouble the scorers as Gillespie picked up a second, and though Winne and Hing managed to block out a few overs, Gillespie found a way through to dismiss Winne (9 off 36) and collect a third. By the time Watson bowled Hing for 4 off 21 balls, the game was up.

Court came on to bowl to the tail and quickly finished things off, picking up Dean for a duck and Dong for 5. The CWers had collapsed helplessly from 169/3 to 196 all out, and set their opponents only 100 runs to win.

The only way CW were going to defend this was with a clutch of new-ball wickets, and so would have nine overs at Australia's openers before the close. With CW going for an all-out attack, Hayden and Jaques responded in kind and came off far the better. They closed at 67/0, and the match was all but over.

Jaques made his way to a run-a-ball fifty in the morning, and hit the winning runs with a powerful pull for four off Hing. Australia had shown CW how to play like the no.1 team.

Australia won by 10 wickets

MotM - Bill Court
 

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GotSpin

Hall of Fame Member
ffs jake. Scorecards are in the wrong order.

First Test 50. About time really. Shame about the absolute shellacking though
 

Howe_zat

Audio File
2nd Test vs Australia

Australia won the toss and chose to bat. Both sides were unchanged.

The home side began cautiously, scoring only a handful of runs in the first hour. Hayden failed to make his long stay count, though, when Dong got through to bowl him for 14. Two overs later Ponting edged to slip for the second wicket, and Australia were in a mess at 21/2.

Jaques and Hussey were able to mount a recovery, their fifty partnership lasting well into the afternoon, before Jaques lost his concentration and pulled Winne straight to Spark at squae leg, going for 34 off 110 balls. Hussey was still there, and was intent on staying - his half-century came off 150 balls - but Martyn (18) top edged a pull just before the break. Australia made it to tea four down, and with only 132 runs on the board.

CW brought the spinners on after tea, and Australia responded with a shambolic middle order collapse. Watson got off the mark with a four muscled through midwicket, but was gone the very next ball as he nicked Dean behind.

Gilchrist looked steady, but it wasn't long before he edged Hing to the keeper for 11. McDonald was greeted by a crowd of fielders around the bat, and only lasted three balls before a giving a simple catch to silly point.

Hussey's marathon 188-ball 69 was finally ended when Dean trapped him in from with an arm ball, and soon after Lee inexplicably charged down the wicket (with 6 runs to his name) and got himself stumped off Dean. Australia had slid helplessly to 163/9.

Gillespie and Court decided that they had nothing to lose, threw the bat and their classic tailender's stand quickly pushed the score past 200. They were able to frustrate the CW bowlers just long enough for them to take the second new ball, with which Winne got Court (37) lbw. They were all out for 222, and the CW openers reached stumps on 5 runs without loss.

They lost the wicket of Narang (9) early the next day when he edged Gillespie to slip, but that was the only blip in a dominant session for the visitors. Heads reached fifty from only 75 balls, and with Ballich guided CW pasrt 100 before lunch.

Things continued in much the same fashion in the afternoon as CW took full control of the match. Heads completed a fine century off 148 deliveries, just before Ballich raised his fifty. Court got the only breakthrough, bowling Heads shortly after the opener reached three figures, and at tea the visitors were 210/2, only 12 behind.

Ballich was unable to get to three figures himself as he was bowled for 82. Dharan (42) was bowled by Court after helping to build a lead, and Spark and RIley played out the rest of the day without further damage. At the start of day 3, they were 295/4.

It was only when the score passed 300 in the morning did Australia begin to fight back. Spark fell for 30 when Lee beat him for pace, and when Winne, Hing and Capone departed for single figures, CW suddenly found themselves 320/8, and less than a hundred in front.

Riley, fortunately, was still there, and amidst the confusion had raised his half century. The left-hander batted superbly throughout the rest of the morning, and well into the afternoon, to bat Australia truly out of the game. Shepherding the tailenders well, he put on another 51 with Dean (6), followed by another 69 with Dong (12).

By the time he was the last man out - lbw to Watson - he had compiled 125, and taken the score up to an imposing 440. CW led by 218.

After having made it to tea unscathed, Australia's openers began work on erasing the deficit. Having seen off the new ball, they made solid progress, and Jaques brought up his half-century from 90 balls. CW had to be content with only his wicket as the opener hit Hing to midwicket on 58. that broke an opening stand worth 90, and the home side ended the day on 117/1, still 101 behind.

The Australians were still fighting their way back into the game. Ponting, having edged Dean to slip on 49, was the only wicket in the morning session, and shortly after lunch his side had re-taken the lead only two wickets down thanks to Matthew Hayden's century.

When David Hussey raised his second half-century of the match, CW had almost lost any advantage they held, with Australia in effect 45/2. Dean began to re-assert their advantage when he got Hussey to edge to slip, but Capone got the crucial wicket when he took the new ball and used it to bowl Hayden for 114. At tea Australia were 300/4 and back on the ropes once more.

After the interval, it was almost a repeat of the first day. Capone struck again to remove Martyn, before the spinners came on to dismantle the lower-middle order. Watson and Gilchrist were lbw to Hing and Dean respectively, before Hing struck twice in one over to remove McDonald (another lbw) and Lee (edged to one of his many close fielders).

The home side had lost 5/25, and when Dean picked up his fourth (Gillespie bowled for 5) he ended the innings on 359 all out. CW would only have to chase 142 to win on the final day.

It was hardly a diffcult total to begn with, and the CW openers made sure the chase was straightforward with a solid opening partnership of 68. Heads (24) was the only loss of the morning session, as narang raised a welcome half century and guided the away side to lunch on 117/1.

Narang had made 77 before Lee broke through for the last time, bowling the opener with only five runs required. Dharaan came in almost solely to hit the winning runs, and with that CW had levelled the series.

CW won by 8 wickets


MotM - Alasdair Riley
 

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Howe_zat

Audio File
I'm thinking I should probably be making a bigger deal out of the final match.

I can't do it over-by-over like the WC final, so I think it might be more fun to submit end of day reports, in genuine headlined style rather than the as-we-go-along style I normally write the reports in.

Does that sound like a good idea? It'd probably take me a couple of hours to get through the match like that, so people would still have the chance to comment on it as it goes.
 

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