Australian Story [ICC 2002]

[morgieb]

OK, so I'm currently in 2012, and Australia are doing ****. We aren't getting any regens, and Australia are dead last on both rankings.

No one's averaging under 30 with the ball, and only one batsman is averaging over 40.

I'll show you my ****house squad in a few minutes.

 

[morgieb]

OK, our batsman:

Tony Kael (aged 26, 3624 runs @ 41.65 from 44 tests, 1837 runs @ 32.23 from 62 ODI's)

Best batsman by far. Made his debut in 2007 due to my ignorance in selecting squads, and when he returned following Langer's retirement, he has been a shining light in my side.

Simon Katich (aged 37, 5518 runs @ 35.15 from 86 tests, 1238 runs @ 32.58 from 46 ODI's)

His career has been quite inconsistent. It wasn't until about 2005/06 that he established himself in the side, and it took a million retirements for him to get a OD spot due to his dire record. He is slowing down in his old age.

Michael Hussey (aged 37, 3661 runs @ 34.87 from 56 tests, 1902 runs @ 28.39 from 70 ODI's)

Another player who needed to wait a while to establish a place, like in real life. Hasn't sparkled as much as I've liked, and it was more because of retirements rather than good batting that allowed him to establish a place.

More players coming up...

 

[morgieb]

Greg Riley (aged 31, 1883 runs @ 31.38 from 31 tests, 507 runs @ 28.17 from 23 ODI's)

Despite an excellent youth record, Riley has failed to shine. He looked good in his first few tests, but now, especially if he was playing for a good team, he would battle for a place. He's really lucky that's he's an Aussie, where he can claim a spot despite playing ****.

James Calderwood (aged 31, 707 runs @ 29.46 from 12 tests, 287 runs @ 22.08 from 16 ODI's)

When you go 7 years of solid Shield performances without recognition, you'd expect to gun it in international cricket. However, Calderwood's performances have lacked consistency. He has scored some innings, but none of them have become centuries, and his career is hanging by a thread.

Max Fuller (aged 26, 697 runs @ 29.04 from 12 tests)

Has often traded good performances with crap ones. Hasn't scored a century yet, so the jury is still out, but he isn't quite the finished article yet. Could still turn out to be a great..

Max Balderstone (aged 23, 316 runs @ 22.57 from 7 tests, 101 runs @ 14.43 from 8 ODI's)

While this guy has high praise from good cricketing judges, he has underperformed bad. I guess he is still quite young, but he needs to pull something out of his ass to be a future force.

Next up, the all-rounders (plus our keepers).

 

[morgieb]

Colin May (aged 24, 1843 runs @ 27.51, 59 catches and 6 stumpings from 38 tests, 211 runs @ 26.37, 7 catches and 2 stumpings from 15 ODI's)

Crucial player. So often he tries to get crucial knocks, but these aren't often backed up/don't go far enough. Looks like a test specialist only.

 

[morgieb]

Bowlers, now.

Brett Lee (aged 36, 434 wickets @ 30.33 from 107 tests, 280 wickets @ 26.83 from 183 ODI's) [RF]

My loyal solider. While age has seemingly caught up with him, he is still arguably our most reliable bowler. Will he reach 500 test wickets and 300 OD wickets? Time will tell.

Andrew Hislop (aged 26, 34 wickets @ 35.88 from 9 tests, 14 wickets @ 36.64 from 13 ODI's) [OS]

After an awesome start to his career, he has fallen apart. There's still time to pick up the pieces, and I have faith in the Foyle/Hislop spinning pair, but the jury's still well out.

 

[morgieb]

I'll do the rest later...

 

[Jakester1288]

Your squad does look really ****. You have barely any good batsmen.

I'm looking how you perform when you start the matches TBH.

 

[inbox24]

I thought the earlier ICC versions had all those 'super regens' with 100+ batting averages and 15ish bowling averages.

 

[morgieb]

Australia seems to have **** regens though for whatever reason.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

I thought the earlier ICC versions had all those 'super regens' with 100+ batting averages and 15ish bowling averages.

Yeah, basically England and India mopped up all the awesome players and the rest of the countries floundered.

 

[Jakester1288]

Do you plan on doing this?

 

[morgieb]

Basically fell out of ICC 2002. May finish it later.