Round 6 match team previews and match reports

[NZTailender]

Post your team previews, match reports and anything else in this thread. This is for both First Class and One Day round 6 matches.

We expect at least 1 piece of writing from each manager...

 

[Coach_Pearson]

Victoria today named their 4 day 1st XI team, with Brad Hodge still suspended and Kale out injured the batting bolsterered with 2nd XI players Durrant (for the 2nd week in a row) and Rikki Clarke for his 1st senior match this season.

The 2nd XI will name their lineup later in the week, but are rumoured to include Madanagopal and Moss again.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Good idea!

 

[vic_orthdox]

Changes Abound at WP

Western Province have welcomed back Shane Watson to the fold, and he will regain the captaincy upon his return to the 1st XI side to take on Auckland.

Watson was dropped for a combination of reasons - qualms over his captaincy, lack of batting form, and personal reasons amongst them - but scored a delightful 100 for the 2nd XI last week and, in combination with some inconsistent batting form from the WP top order, has earned himself a recall. Watson takes the place of Pradesh Abid Ali, who has struggled at the top of the order aside from a couple of 50's, and Gautam Gambhir will move up from number 3 to open the batting.

To further enhance the batting, Andy Puttick has returned from injury, and will provide some much needed stability from number 7.

Neil McKenzie will get a chance at number 3. The side will be taking on Auckland, who gave WP a good touch-up in both divisions just last week in the OD competition, so the motivation should be high amongst the players.

The team for Round 6 FC: Morley, Gambhir, McKenzie, Hammett, Funston, Watson*, Puttick+, Porter, Ballard, Clarke, Tate

 

[NZTailender]

'Last chance' for struggling players
Greg Thomas today announced the first class side to take on Surrey.
Again there were no changes to the XI apart from another batting reshuffle.
"I feel the lower order is probably our weakest link at the moment. Mahela (Jayawardene) and Pete (Marsden) aren't in good form at the moment. I've decided to give Marsden a chance ahead of Mahela who will bat at six for the first time this season.
I'm also giving Roy Silva a chance to show his batting prowess by batting him one place up the order." he said.
He then confirmed that this round will be the last for the struggling players to prove themselves.
"I've been discussing with Nick (Hancock, 2nd XI manager) changes to the team and we're in agreement. After round 6 is completed, we will make a decision on dropping and promoting players. At the moment, Jayawardene, Marsden and Silva are under the microscope in the FC side while Anup Dave and W Robertson will need a big performance with either bat or ball in the next One Day match. Z Saeed & F Yashpal have been pushing for a spot in the FC 1st XI with a string of good performances and P Laker is the front runner for a spot in the One Day side."

Yorkshire XI to play Surrey (in batting order): K Agnew, M Dawn (c), M Love, W Tendulkar, P Marsden, M Jayawardene, R Silva, L Vincent (wk), F Evans, P Laker, D Kaneria (vc)

 

[chaminda_00]

Mission RC

After the surprise call up to the Vics first XI for English superstud Rikki Clarke, the Colts management team have develop Mission RC. A plan to stop the Victorian all rounder who can win you a game with one hand and loss you a game in the other hand. Mission RC has been centred around former WCC Yorkshire fast bowler Jason Lewry, who has dismissed Clarke a total of 12 times in previous meeting betweeen the two players in English county cricket, during his playing days for Sussex. Lewry call up to the first caught everyone by surprise, with many expecting either Omar Cope or Andrew Tweedie to take the last bowling spot. But after both failed to take oppurtunities during their 1st XI debuts, the Colts management opted for man who has Clarke number.

With Lewry selection in the first XI, its expected that Colts may play a three man spin attack in the 2nds lead by Omar Cope. It is yet to be decided whether the 2nds will opt of the 2nd seamer in Farhan Abbasi, who hasn't set world on fire in grade cricket or the extra batsmen in Salman Butt, who has scored two hundreds this season in grade cricket.

 

[cricketboy29]

The Queensland Board admitted to sorely missing Gibbs, but said they could get through this tough period without one of their stalwart openers. As well as this, Manager Gaurav Nayak reminded his players that wanted 100% commitment from his players out in the middle, and to try and draw strength from their od victories, and translate that into fc form as well.

 

[superkingdave]

Shape up or Ship out, Lancs boss gets em told



Whilst Lancashire boss Dave Richards kept faith with the team which failed to defeat ACT in the last round, he unleashed a vitriolic attack on the 'undercurrent of mediocrity coarsing through the squad' condemning the 'diabolical fitness levels and Blackwellesque work ethic.' Richards continued his assualt for a full 5 minutes before finishing up with 'a lot of the squad seem pretty comfortable with lazing around, well they'll be doing that on the dole next year if they're not careful'

Lancashire sit mid table in both forms of the game but face table topping Tamil Nadu this week and could be dragged into the relegation dogfight.

 

[Jamee999]

Surrey ****.

 

[Jamee999]

Bennett promoted!

Jason Bennett, Surrey Second XI captain, has been given a shot at the big leagues. The West Indian fast bowler was promoted to be part of the first xi bowling attack, with young Kevin Straw dropping into the Second XI.

William Denny will take over Second XI captaincy for this week.

 

[cometer]

Leicestershire to tackle ACT at Manuka infront of the Leicestershire manager's home town during the offseason is on paper shaping to be a fairly comfortable victory to the hosts. However, funnier things have happened and I will certainly be hoping it is a fairly competitive match despite what really should be an ACT victory. Considering Leicestershire were in division 5 in FC in season 6 it is an achievement to the team to be up near the top of the division 1 table despite having played the majority of the bottom placed sides. Certainly, coming away with a result would be an astonishing achievement but realistically ACT seem too strong. The manager has told his players not to worry about the outcome and just go out there and show the rest of the WCC community and fans that they can play cricket and deserve to stay in division 1 for next season (which baring a huge mid-season to end of season collapse, should be obtainable). Will Vaughan continue with his big run hitting or will someone else stand up like E Sellars or F Platt (who i'm sure will be looking forward to playing against his former side). Only time will tell but I believe that Vaughan will be targetted by ACT as one of the key wickets to get. My prediction is an ACT victory by 7 wickets. The lineup is follows:

T Marston
K Slater
E Sellars
F Platt
C Vaughan
C Rogers
I de Saram (wk)
T Mughal
I Gallage
U Sammels
R Ezard

 

[tadeusz]

I assume 2nd xi stuff goes here too?

 

[Simon]

I assume 2nd xi stuff goes here too?

yeh mate..

 

[lord_of_darkness]

wow good win against warwicks!! that too an outright ...superb!.. Shelley put my faith back in him with 11 wickets in the match was top effort! and graham.. well beautiful to see him play like how he used to orginially when he stepped into wcc with a crafty 242* N.O! we really needed this win to stay off the bottom in div 1 and hopefully this good run carries on for us , we really need it.. disappointed Jewell didnt have a bowl at all again... he really could have wrecked things up with Shelley

 

[tadeusz]

Recently appointed WA 2nd XI manager Thad Bochat has made two changes to the round 5 team that drew with Hampshire.
R Uthappa has been dropped for M Vandort, while the decision to play three pace bowlers and one spinner on the WACA sees F Milligan come in for M Hossain Jr

 

[Cloete]

sigh...why am I so ****ing dumb. I'm just struggling to remember it for some reason.

 

[Simon]

sigh...why am I so ****ing dumb. I'm just struggling to remember it for some reason.

that would be 2 strikers andrew, skating on thin ice...

 

[Magrat Garlick]

South Australia Brush Aside Guyana
Adelaide Crowd Elated

A special victory over Guyana was completed today, as the much-vaunted top-of-the-table clash turned into a complete rout. South Australia's bowlers were on top from the beginning, making full use of the cloud cover as Eddie Graham struck twice in the opening over, and Guyana never threatened to recover.

Graham bowled a ferocious spell on the first morning, as his quick deliveries found plenty of movement in the air, but was denied two more wickets by poor fielding. After a marathon 10-over spell, he was finally taken off for Trevor Binny, who removed two Rudolphs in one over after lunch. A fifty partnership did develop, before Binny and Mooney cleaned up Guyana, who crashed from 119 for five to 131 all out against spin and pace.

The pitch was still fine, though, and with the sun bearing down on Guyana's fast bowlers, they found no help against Asif Mujtaba and Olly Foot. The 50 partnership was up inside 10 overs, and Mujtaba closed the day on a faultless 72*; the only wicket to fall was Foot's, after a blinder of a catch by Jacques Rudolph.

South Australia were already leading, and spent the second day easing to runs. Mujtaba played his finest knock for South Australia yet, batting past lunch to make 129, and with Rick Stratton contributing quick runs (until he hit 37*; then he was dropped thrice and made 15 runs in 60 balls), South Australia eased to 361.

With 230 to avoid the innings defeat, Guyana knew they were up against it - and though there were only light clouds around the Adelaide Oval, Graham's pace still claimed the wicket of Donald. Powar paced himself well for 37, but was run out on the stroke of lunch, and when Binny's last two overs before tea claimed three more wickets, Guyana truly stared down the barrel. Graham hit the final blows, taking the wickets of Satti and Zulch amid dropped catches, and Guyana were bowled out for a paltry 193 to lose by an innings and 37. South Australia earned 17 points from the game, to Guyana's zero, and appear to be of a different class to the other teams so far this season.

Man of the Match: Eddie Graham

 

[NZTailender]

Jayawardene century sets up big win for Yorkshire
The first class campaign for Yorkshire thus far hasn't been easy going or great to watch. While there have been stand out performances by some players, there have been a lot of batting collapses and long periods in the field without success.
This week, all eyes were on two struggling players - Mahela Jaywardene and Roy Silva. Two Sri Lankans trying to live up to the big expectations of the Yorkshire fans as they took on Surrey in round 6.
Surrey hadn't won or lost a match in the previous 5 rounds of First Class cricket, so they were due a decisive result and Yorks were wary of their opponent.
Batting first, proceedings started smoothly for the tourists. Another solid 50 run opening partnership was followed by 5 quick wickets shared between Mohammed and Anjum which left Yorkshire on the backfoot. At the crease were two players under an extreme amount of pressure to perform.
Luckily, they didn't follow the form of their team mates as Jayawardene and Silva piled on 170 runs for the 6th wicket, a Yorkshire record.
Roy Silva was cautious, as reflected by his strike rate of 38, playing anchor to Jaywardene (SR of 50) who took to the Surrey bowlers in a low-order fightback.
As the innings wore on, both players were visably relaxed compared to the start of their knocks. After Jayawardene passed 100, he took off his helmet and grinned from ear to ear as he saluted the cheering crowd. He had just walloped the monkey on his back.
After Silva was out, he managed to add another 90 runs with the tailenders.

Jayawardene salutes the crowd after his pressure relieving century.

Though he posted his second 50 of the season, Silva needed wickets to stay in the team as an all-rounder. He didn't dissappoint.
He and Evans ripped through the Surrey batting line up, claiming four wickets each. Mohammed and Sunny were the only resisters, both hitting half centuries.

In Yorks second innings, Surrey bowlers took advantage of the deteriorating pitch to bundle out the Yorkshire batsman for just 173. Tendulkar, Love and Marsden the only batsmen to pass 30. Tully took 5-37 in a great effort to dismantle the line up.

By the time it got to Surrey's second innings, the pitch was well and truly in favour of the bowler. Sensing victory, Roy Silva backed up his first bowling effort with another 4 wickets, also well supported by Kaneria.
Surrey were all out for 172 and suffered their first defeat of the season. Yorkshire were jubilant, especially Jayawardene and MOTM Roy Silva, for his all-round performance.

Yorkshire A/O 358
M Jayawardene 136, R Silva 57
Mohammed 4-44, Anjum 2-29

Surrey A/O 251
A Mohammed 78, A Sunny 67*
Silva 4-58, Evans 4-62

Yorkshire A/O 173
W Tendulkar 40, M Love 38
Tully 5-37, Bennett 2-22

Surrey A/O 172
U Chandana 46, A Mohammed 33
R Silva 4-57, D Kaneria 3-42

Yorkshire won by 108 runs.
MOTM: Roy Silva

Yorkshire MVP points
3. R Silva
2. M Jayawardene
1. D Kaneria

 

[lord_of_darkness]

Boy did we whoop Warwickshire 1st and 2nd XI>> Partys up!