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International Cricket Captain: Forumer's Challenge

Howe_zat

Audio File
Tour match vs Karnataka

CW warmed up for their tour of India as before with a 3-day match against Karnataka. CW won the toos and batted on a pitch that had nothing for the seamers, but was expected to take turn.

Playing XI: REMOVED, Narang, Ballich, Riley, Dharan, Clark, Winne, Corrin, Hing, Howe, Dong

Given a chance to impress, REMOVED survived a close lbw shout in the first over. After starting to find his feet, he was cruelly run out by some excellent fielding for 22. The spinners made an immediate impact as Kumble bowled Ballich, and Riley edged a ball from Patel to reduce CW to 79/3.

Narang and Dharan recovered for the tourists as both men reached steady fifties, playing very cautiously against the spin. Kumble removed Dharan for 63 and did the same for Clark soon after as CW went to tea on 201/5. Narang was still there, on 80 from 236 balls.

Patel bowled Narang for 87, but CW reached 300 shortly before the close, thanks to a 63-run partnership between Winne and Corrin. Both Corrin (32) and Hing (8) had been removed, and so CW were eight down, but Winne was still there on 54*.

Howe did not last long into the morning, and Winne was forced to protect Dong before getting caught in the deep for 69. CW had made 325 on an increasingly perilous surface.

Nonetheless Karnataka started well, with an opening partnership of 82, before Corrin bowled Rowland on the stroke of lunch. After the interval, the spinners ran riot. Hing bowled the other opener, and also claimed a stumping victim, but Corrin was the star as he completed his five-for. The collapse was from 82/0 to 165/7.

Kumble and Binny provided the resistance either side of tea with their partnership of 88. Corrin eventually removed both men for 50 and 40 respectively, but the tail continued to be hard to deal with. CW gained a lead of only 20, but saw out the day without loss.

REMOVED fell early in the day to mark another poor return, and Ballich soon after, as the CWers relied on Narang for their lead. The opener made it past 50 before lunch, but only made 71 before departing. Looking to push the score on, Riley and Dharan put on 92 in 67 overs before Riley edged to slip for 79. Clark was dismissed first ball, and Dharan the following over, and so with the lead at 255 the CWers declared, with around 45 minutes remaining before tea.

They were given a sniff at the win when Dong bowled Rowland, and soon after Arunkumar was run out. Tea came with the score on 32/2. With men all round the bat and a cracking, spitting wicket, Bharadwaj held out for 79 balls before edging Hing to silly point. The spinners beat the bat countless times but Dravid, with 50 from 192 balls, kept the strike and clung on to ensure the draw.

CW drew with Karnataka

MotM - Ishan Narang
 

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Howe_zat

Audio File
1st Test vs India

CW began their tour of India by being asked to bowl first on a dry pitch. Dean, Heads, Spark and Phlegm all returned to the lineup.

Playing XI: Heads, Narang, Ballich, Riley, Spark, Dharan, Winne, Corrin, Capone, Dean, Phlegm

The opening stand was broken early, as Capone got an inswinger to trap Rowland lbw for 5. Tendulkar and Sehwag lived through a few chances, including a tight run-out call and lbw shout for Tendulkar, and Sehwag being dropped off Winne by Spark. Sehwag continued to live dangerously, and was caught at slip in Corrin's second over, for 40 off 50 balls. 90/2 was the score at lunch.

India pressed forward in the afternoon as both Tendulkar and Dravid raised fifties, but Phlegm returned for his second spell and immediately had endulkar out caught behind for 71. Kambli and Dravid lasted until just after tea, and raised the 200, when Kambli (27) hit one straight to mid-on.

Dravid remained rock solid as ever, and brought up his hundred as he and Laxman saw off the second new ball. India ended day one well on top on 320/4. Early the following morning, the catching continued to desert CW as Ballich dropped a sitter off Capone, that would have had Laxman dismissed for 59.

Eventually Laxman was out for 83 when Capone had him lbw, and Deshpande followed soon after, bowled by Dean. Harbhajan miscued a horrid slog to mid-off and India had lost 3-17, but Dravid was still there and soon raised his 150 with the team's 400. Another drop, this time relieving Kumble, came just before the lunch break with India 417/7.

Dravid was eventually dismissed for a magnificent 171, bowled by dean, and Gagandeep went next ball in the same fashion. The hat-trck ball was blocked, but the fourth ball of Dean's over went on to castle Shib Paul's stumps. The offspinner had five, India were all out for 433, and had lost 6-53.

The CWer's reply began solidly, with an unbeaten 50 taking the opening pair to tea. Narang fell for 25, and Heads for 58 an hour later, but Ballich had compiled an unusually aggressive 61* from just 80 balls in the evening, including four fours from Kumble's first over to him. Stumps on day 2 came with the score on a healthy 162/2.

Ballich was steadier on the following morning, and an hour in had added 22 to his overninght score when he was bowled by Kumble. Riley (39) edged to slip after putting on 34 with Spark, who lasted to the lunch break along with Dharan.

Spark and Dharan's fifties pushed their side ahead of the game in the afternoon. The pair passed the 300 mark, followed by the 350 and 400. Dharan departed for 85 just on the stroke of tea, but at 406/5 CW were well placed to build a lead.

Spark soon got to his hundred and from there looked to get after the bowling. Winne (17) and Corrin (0) were unable to join him for long, however, and when he fell for 129 the lead was still only 26. Dean's cameo of 29 - including his first six - pushed the score up to 497/9 at the close on day 3, which then became 499 all out when Capone was stumped in the first few overs in the morning.

Despite the deteriorating surface, the CWers were only able to convert their lead of 66 into one wicket. The Indian openers put on 50 before CW brought on the spinners, and Dean had Sehwag out for 24. They only led by 1 run, however, when Tendulkar was lbw, again to Dean. When Dravid nicked Corrin behind just before lunch, India were in trouble at 78/3, a lead of just 12.

The CW spinners continued to cause all sorts of problems, and Dean claimed his third wicket of Rowland when the opener edged him behind. When Laxman was caught bad-pad off Corrin, India had lost 5-54.

The recovery came from Kambli and Deshpande, which while edgy and chancy still lasted for 124 runs, and until the middle of the evening session. With CW delaying the new ball, Deshpande was out for 64 to give Dean his fourth wicket. Harbhajan followed - a bat-pad catch off Corrin - and stumps were called with a lead of 172/7.

Taking the new ball in the morning, Phlegm bowled Kumble for 7, but Kambli was the big wicket. He made 96 before hitting Capone straight to square leg, and from there CW could see the win. Dean was brought on with a chance at his ten-for, and claimed it when he took Paul's outside edge. CW were set 206 to win in two and a half sessions, but on a pitch that was going to need every effort to negotiate.

Heads played and missed to his first ball, and an over later survived a good lbw appeal, but was still there at lunch with the score reading 30/0. The CW openers compiled their second 50 partnership of the match, and the target started to look more and more straightforward. Heads brought up the hundred stand by tonking Kumble down the ground for four, and both he and Narang had raised fifties by tea.

Heads was out for 76 when he was bowled by a Paul inswinger, but nothing was stopping Narang reaching his unbeaten hundred by the time the winning runs were knocked off.

CW won by 9 wickets

MotM - Mark Dean
 

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smash84

The Tiger King
Awesome match report Jake. Had me completely absorbed in the match. I felt like the match was unfolding right before my eyes :thumbup:

heck....the placid indian pitches :@
 

Howe_zat

Audio File
I'm thinking I might as well play all three spinners in the next game. Hing still yet to do much with the bat, but then Winne hasn't really batted well in Tests for a while.
 

Howe_zat

Audio File
All the batsmen are more or less safe, because the only other I've got is REMOVED and he's never failed to be a bit useless. Thinking of dropping Winne and Phlegm from the test team.
 
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MW1304

Cricketer Of The Year
You should probably drop me for a series in the subcontinent, yeah. I've done pretty well in other places, though, I think.
 

Howe_zat

Audio File
2nd Test vs India

CW brought in SS Dong for Phlegm and made full use of their spinners as Hing replaced Winne. The wicket was spin friendly but knowing it would only get worse, CW elected to bat.

Heads and Narang started steadily but solidly as they put up their third fifty partnership in a row on the first morning. Narang's innings was slower than he would have liked, and he could only manage 25 from 85 before being bowled by Harbhajan shortly before the lunch break.

The offspinner provided a constant threat on the dry surface and managed to snare both set batsmen after the break. CW had slipped to 83/3, which then became 109/4 when Spark nicked one behind. Dharan and Riley attempted to consolidate, but their slow 17-run partnership was ended by Kumble just before tea.

Corrin was in much earlier than he would have liked. The allrounder did well to block out the spinners in his 18 from 48, but Shib Paul fetched him out with the new ball. Hing lasted until stumps, when Riley's 67* was the only bright point on a poor day for the visitors. 193/6 was the score.

The pair kept going during the entire morning session. Though scoring became difficult, Riley's defence was resolute and he eventually raised his bat for the hundred off more than 300 deliveries. The spinner gave him fine support, and the pair had put on 124 when Riley was out lbw to a shooter from Paul. Riley had made his 135 from 442 balls, and taken the score past 300.

Hing missed out on a fifty when India took the third new ball and had him out for 47. Cameos from Capone and Dean (both 27) lifted CW up to a total of 366 all out, a very good score given the pitch.

Dong started with a maiden and found Sehwag's edge twice, but both edges ran away to third man for four. Dean was brought on as first change and had the opener bowled in his second over for 17. India closed day two on 44/1.

Tendulkar departed early in the morning when a flighted delivery by Dean had him stumped. Hing made his entrance by finding Dravid's outside edge, and in the next over Kambli was dropped by the same fielder. Rowland meanwhile had made his way to 50, bring up India's 100 at the same time.

Kambli was out late in the morning for 27, with Dharan taking a fabulous catch off Corrin. Dong trapped Laxman lbw with the final ball of the session, and India went to lunch on 163/5.

Rowland however was still there, and was soon able to raise his hundred in the afternoon. With Deshpande he found a working partner, and the pair batted throughout the afternoon session to eat away into the CWers' lead. Deshpande had reached 53 by the time he hit Capone straight to square leg, and by the time Rowland was caught and bowled against Hing, he had made 140. The score was 285/7.

Harbhajan and Kumble took the score past 300, but Hing and Corrin were able to finish off the tail and gained CW a lead of 39, Hing finishing with four wickets. Their side's openers made it to stumps on 10 without loss.

Narang completed a disappointing match when he was out for 11 early on the fourth day, and Ballich only made 28 before being stumped. Instead the morning session saw a fine 50 from Heads as CW's lead went into triple figures. He was run out just after lunch, with the score now 116/3.

The visitors had been looking to accelerate, but when Kumble and Harbhajan removed Spark for 4 (stumped) and Riley for 18 (caught at slip), they were forced to stage a recovery once more. Corrin and Dharan's fifty partnership saw CW to tea with a lead of 216.

Corrin became Harbhajan's third victim when he was bowled for 43, and Hing's lbw shortly after got Gagandeep his second with the new ball. Shib Paul had also taken the new ball and made his way through the final few wickets, with Dharan the last man out for 40. The away side had subsided to 237 all out, but still had a lead of 276 to work with, and half an hour remaining on day four.

A wicket was not taken until the following morning, when Dean came on and had Rowland lbw for 17, the opening partnership being worth 28. Soon, however, India began to look well in control, with Tendulkar styling his way to 50 while Sehwag bludgeoned - Hing's opening spell of 4 overs was pummelled for 32. India reached 100/1 at the lunch break.

That was when Dean came on for his second spell, and once Capone had got rid of Sehwag - the opener trying one shot too many and chipping to mid-off - the offspinner struck twice in one over to dismiss both Tendulkar and Dravid. In a mesmerising spell, he had Laxman bowled for a duck and suddenly the Indians were 139/5.

Kambli and Deshpande brought the game back to India. It was up to a reversing spell from Dong to remove both of them - Deshpande for 28 and Kambli for 53, both bowled. By this stage the Indians had gone well past 200, and needed 39 runs for victory. CW needed three wickets.

As the match entered its final session, that became 23 runs and two wickets when Kumble edged Corrin to slip. Dean returned and claimed his fifth as he had Gagandeep lbw, and with almost every man on the pitch crowding the bat, Paul was bowled by Corrin as the CWers claimed a memorable win.

CW won by 16 runs

MotM - Alisdair Riley

MotS - Mark Dean
 

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