Nz 20/20 wc

[bryce]

Thought i'd try and go hard out and try my best to win a 20/20 WC with NZ(though i'm not 100% which players are actually any good or not, lol)
Anyway, squad I picked(my preferred XI for first match):
1.How
2.Guptill
3.Williamson
4.B.McCullum+
5.Taylor
6.Ryder
7.Oram
8.Vettori*
9.Mills
10.Southee
11.Bond

12.Franklin
13.N.McCullum
14.O'Brien
15.Styris

My tactics(to begin with anyway) will be to bowl against batsman's preferences and I am going to use Mills and Southee to open the bowling, with Bond hopefully as a wicket-taker through the middle overs.

1st match vs Scotland

 

[bryce]

A turning track meant Nate McCullum came in for the unlucky Timmy Southee, and it turned out he would make all the difference against the hugley powerful South Africans. NZ were in deep trouble at 47/5 before he and Oram came together and rescued the innings. He also bowled the final over which South Africa needed 13 runs from - and had Smith stumped off his final ball - still 8 runs short of reaching the somewhat meagre total.

 

[bryce]

dp

 

[bryce]

McCullum made way for Southee for the Super 8 match against the Irish. An indisciplined bowling performance from both Bond(0/37 off 4) and Oram(1/46 off 3) with four no-balls between them meant the Irish escaped to a supreme total. We needed 15 off the last Boyd Rankin over - but once Ryder hit the first ball straight back to him for a simple caught and bowled the chances of an NZ win vanished. Bowling training was promptly handed to Oram, lol

 

[bryce]

Another turning track meant N.McCullum came back in for Southee. The NZ batsman limped along to a respectable total, Guptill top-scoring with a run-a-ball 39. Oram and Bond's fortune's completed a u-turn and together with the consistent Mills and Vettori cut through the English.

More to come l8r

 

[bryce]

Southee back in for N.McCullum. Bond was absolutely unbelievable bowling at first change and had 5 wickets after 3 overs. Only once he was taken out of the attack were Aussie able to score via Haddin and Johnson, but then Bond was brought back to bowl his final over and promptly removed Johnson - capturing his 6th wicket. The NZ batsmen fell at regular intervals but the Australian target was eventually succeeded.
Semi-final vs South Africa to come

 

[bryce]

Unchanged line-up. Bond carried on from where he left off in cloudy conditions and it meant another sub-120 score to chase. In response How(65* off 46) and Williamson(41* off 33) were outstanding - cruising home with 31 balls remaining.
Final vs Pakistan to come.

 

[bryce]

Teams & conditions

 

[bryce]

Mills(1/25) & Southee(2/21) both struck early and both bowled out to have Pakistan 46/3 after 8 overs in deteriorating conditions. Misbah was dropped at slip on 30 in Bond's first over, but in his next over Taylor redeemed himself at slip catching him out for a well made 40 off 31 balls - and then Akmal was caught at short leg the very next ball for a golden duck. Bond also got the settled Shazaib in his next over for 47 off 52 balls - leaving Pakistan 115/6 with 11 balls remaining. Afridi smacked 19 off 11 balls before Oram had him caught in his only over(the last one) because it was felt Ryder's medium pace suited the conditions better. Pakistan finished 135/9 with Oram taking an incredible 3/0.

Guptill went ealry, but the in-form How and Williamson quickly took ascendancy with NZ requiring 100 from the final 15 overs at 6.6 and over. They carried on until Williamson was LBW Tanvir for a run-a-ball 25. McCullum raced to 13 off 6 balls leaving NZ 79/2 with 57 required off the last 10 overs. McCullum then hit his second six off the spinners but then How was also LBW to Tanvir for 35 off 29 balls, then two balls later out of form Ross Taylor was given an unlucky decision caught down the legside. NZ 92/4 after 12 needing 44 runs to win at 5.5 an over. McCullum & Ryder pushed the spinners around and eventually the equation was 14 off the final two overs to be bowled by Gul and then Arafat.
18.1 Gul to Ryder - LBW decision - NOT OUT
18.2 Gul to Ryder - Play and miss
18.3 Gul to Ryder - Single to third-man
18.4 Gul to McCullum - Single to mid-off
18.5 Gul to Ryder - Single to deep cover
19.6 Gul to McCullum - Over mid-offs head. FOUR!

7 required off the final Arafat over, Ryder to face.

19.1 Arafat to Ryder - Single to deep point - 6 TO WIN
19.2 Arafat to McCullum - Single to deep cover - 5 TO WIN
19.3 Arafat to Ryder - Full toss, single to third man - 4 TO WIN
19.4 Arafat to McCullum - Single to mid-off - 3 TO WIN
19.5 Arafat to Ryder - Brilliant stop at short cover, no run. 3 TO WIN OFF LAST BALL
19.6 Arafat to Ryder - Full on leg, single through square - lose by 1 run
McCullum 41*(off 36) Ryder 24*(24)
It looked like they could have run 2 soz but oh well lol that's that.

 

[_Ed_]

Gutted. So close.

 

[Somerset]

Agonising finish there in the final. Read through your whole story tonight, some interesting performances with a loss to Ireland but a Bond-inspired victory over Australia!

 

[inbox24]

Exact same thing happened to me playing as Australia against Pakistan. Maybe they programmed it in?

 

[bryce]

Yeah haha very indifferent performances. There do seem to be an awful lot of closer games in T20 in this version.

Played the season on a bit and since this T20WC Bond has done absolutely nothing in every form, McCullum & especially Taylor have been garbage, Oram's batting good but bowling not - and the biggest suprise for me is quite a few Test runs for McIntosh

 

[Flem274*]

I'd boycott the game for the simple fact they've made McIntosh good.