Australia: The Story

[SirBloody Idiot]

Starting a story with Australia starting from the start of the game.

ACB Name 18 Man Squad

The Australian Cricket Board today named an 18 Man Swuad for the three test and one dayer tour of Pakistan. The tour which will see them play not only the international games, but two first class games against Pakistani sides Karachi White and Rawalpindi.

One new face to the Australian touring party has been added, as 27 year old Victorian Brad Hodge comes in. Averaging 37 in both the ING and Pura Cups, the Victorian was thrilled to here the announcement.

'Yeah, its a big thing for me. Also to be in there with (Shane) Warney, another Victorian, is a big mental thing for me.'

All rounder Shane Watson was also thrilled to be named for the second time.

'I've had a good season, and to be named on an important tour is a nice thing to go with my season.'

The squad is as follows;

Ricky Ponting*, Adam Gilchrist+, Bradley Haddin+, Justin Langer, Matthew Hayden, Damien Martyn, Darren Lehmann, Simon Katich, Andrew Symonds, Brad Hodge, Shane Watson, Ian Harvey, Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespe, Brett Lee, Stuart MacGill, Michael Kasprowicz

West Australian Part Time Keeper/Opener, Michael Hussey and Nathan Bracken have been named as backups.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

I'm going to do this in the format of the first Australian story by Mr Mxyzptlk.

Karachi Whites v. Australia
Four Day Friendly

Teams
Karachi: Hameed (FC Debut), Mujtaba*, Raza, Naumanullah, Masroor, Hanif, Bin nasir, Atiq-uz-zaman+, Laeeq, Sami, Kaneria
Australia: Langer*, Katich, Hodge, Lehmann, Symonds, Watson, Haddin+, Lee, Warne, Gillespe, McGrath

Karachi win the toss and elect to bowl

Day 1 Pitch Condition:- Some help for seamers; Some turn for spinners
Day 1 Weather Conditions:- Sunny all day long
Day 1 Score:- Pakistan - 1st Innings 319/8 off 106 (Masroor 87, Hanif 83, Gillespe 4/58)

Day 2 Pitch Condition:- Difficult against the seamers; Good for spinners
Day 2 Weather Conditions:- Cloudy all day long
Day 2 Score:- Pakistan -1st Innings 333 a/o off 120 ov. (Masroor 87, Hanif 83, Gillespe 5/62)
Australia - 1st Innings 311/3 off 90 ov. (Langer 154, Katich 132, Lehmann 8*, Symonds 0*, Kaneria 2/108)

Day 3 Pitch Condition:- Difficult against the seamers; Good for spinners
Day 3 Weather Conditions:- Very sunny all day long
Day 3 Score:- Australia - 1st Innings 433 a/o off 148 ov. (Langer 154, Katich 132, Haddin 60, Kaneria 5/139)
Pakistan - 2nd Innings 168/9 off 62 (Naumanullah 70, Atiq-ul-zaman 33, Gillespe 6/44, Lee 3/84)

Day 4 Pitch Condition:- Difficult against the seamers; Excellent for spinners
Day 4 Weather Conditions:- Unsettled then sunny
Day 4 Score:- Pakistan - 2nd Innings 168 a/o off 65 (Naumanullah 70, Atiq-ul-zaman 33, Gillespe 6/44, Lee 3/84, Warne 1/11)
Australia - 2nd Innings 69/1 off 25 ov. (Hodge 30*, Katich 29*, Hanif 1/20)

Australia win by 9 wickets
Man of the Match: J Gillespe
Comments: 1./ Well done Langer and Katto, brilliant innings 2./ Dizzy, what a game! 3./ Poor Yasir Hameed, ****house debut!

Scorecard

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Rawalpindi v. Australia
Four Day Friendly

Teams
Rawalpindi: Hussain (FC Debut), Saeed (FC Debut), Ul-Haq*, Nazir, Wasim, Anwar, Mujtaba (FC Debut), Arafat, Ashraf+ (FC Debut), Naved-ul-Hasan (FC Debut), M Akram
Australia: Langer*, Katich, Hodge, Lehmann, Symonds, Watson, Haddin+, Kasprowicz, Warne, Gillespe, MacGill

Rawalpindi win the toss and elect to bat.

Day 1 Pitch Condition:- Some help for seamers; Slight turn for spinners
Day 1 Weather Conditions:- Overcast all day long
Day 1 Score:- Pakistan - 1st Innings 260 a/o off 86 ov. (Ul Haq 81, Wasim 62, Kasprowicz 6/59, Warne 2/63)
Australia - 1st Innings 65/2 off 18 ov. (Langer 27*, Lehmann 23*, Arafat 2/16)

Day 2 Pitch Condition:- Some help for seamers; Slight turn for spinners
Day 2 Weather Conditions:- Unsettled early then sunny all day long
Day 2 Score:- Australia - 1st Innings 351/8 off 128 ov. (Langer 150, Symonds 77, Kasprowicz 6*, Gillespe 2*, Arafat 4/93)

Day 3 Pitch Condition:- Some help for seamers; Some turn for spinners
Day 3 Weather Conditions:- Very sunny all day long
Day 3 Score:- Australia - 1st Innings 435 a/o off 162 ov. Langer 150, Symonds 77, Kasprowicz 48*, Akram 5/116)
Pakistan - 2nd Innings 274/3 off 75 ov. (Ul Haq 129*, Nazir 77, Wasim 19*, Gillespe 1/27)

Day 4 Pitch Condition:- Difficult against seamers; Good for spinners
Day 4 Weather Conditions:- Very sunny all day long and unsettled late
Day 4 Score: Pakistan - 2nd Innings 432 a/o off 129 ov. (Ul Haq 129*, Nazir 77, Wasim 19*, Gillespe 4/65)
Australia - 2nd Innings 259/2 of 39 ov. (Hodge 124, Langer 106*, Akram 1/40)

Australia win by 8 wickets
Man of the Match: I Ul Haq
Comments: 1./ Wonderful second innings, even though all we did was slog. 2./Nice bowling again from Dizzy 3./ JL, robbed as man of the match again. Two centuries at an average of 256!

Scorecard

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Pakistan v. Australia
1st Test Match
From Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium

Teams
Pakistan: Anwar, N Khan (Test debut), Ul Haq*, Youhana, Y Khan, Nawaz+ (Test Debut), Wasti, Hussain, Mahmood, A Khan, Raza (Test debut)
Australia: Langer, Hayden, Ponting*, Martyn, Katich, Lehmann, Gilchrist+, Lee, Kasprowicz, Warne, Gillespe

Australia win the toss and elect to bat.

Day 1 Pitch Condition:- Poor for seamers; Slight turn for spinners
Day 1 Weather Conditions:- Sunny and then unsettled late
Day 1 Score: - Australia - 1st Innings 324/6 off 105 ov. (Lehmann 78*, Ponting 67, Martyn 52, Lee 11*, Hussain 3/80)

Day 2 Pitch Condition:- Some help for seamers; Some turn for spinners
Day 2 Weather Conditions:- Sunny early then overcast all day long
Day 2 Score: - Australia - 1st Innings 386 a/o off 139 ov. (Lehmann 78, Ponting 67, Martyn 52, Lee 47, Hussain 6/96)
Pakistan - 1st Innings 170/6 off 66 ov. (Ul Haq 52, Nawaz 28*, Hussain 16*, Warne 3/45)

Day 3 Pitch Condition:- Some help for seamers; Some turn for spinners
Day 3 Weather Conditions:- Sunny and unsettled
Day 3 Score: - Pakistan - 1st Innings 244 a/o off 99 ov. (Nawaz 67*, Ul Haq 52, Warne 4/76, Gillespe 3/55)
Australia - 2nd Innings 162/3 off 65 ov. (Ponting 62*, Langer 59, Katich 6*, Khan 2/45)

Day 4 Pitch Condition:- Some help for seamers; Good for spinners
Day 4 Weather Conditions:- Sunny early then overcast all day long
Day 4 Score: - Australia - 2nd Innings 338/4 dec. off 117 ov. (Ponting 117 Katich 108*, Langer 59, Khan 2/92)
Pakistan - 2nd Innings 127/2 off 45 ov. (Anwar 72*, Youhana 14*, Gillespe 2/33)

Day 5 Pitch Condition:- Difficult against seamers; Good for spinners
Day 5 Weather Conditions:- Very sunny all day long
Day 5 Score: - Pakistan - 2nd Innings 184 a/o off 84 ov. (Anwar 73, Ul Haq 29, Gillespe 6/58, Kasprowicz 2/63)

Australia win by 296 runs
Man of the Match: R Ponting

SCORECARD

 

[kears_falcon_9]

No McGrath arggh lol thats bad.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Kaspa is in better form with bat and ball, had to be picked.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Pakistan v. Australia
2nd Test Match
From Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium

Teams
Pakistan: Anwar, N Khan , Ul Haq*, Youhana, Y Khan, Nawaz+, Wasti, Hussain, Mahmood, Kaneria, Raza
Australia: Langer, Hayden, Ponting*, Martyn, Katich, Lehmann, Gilchrist+, Warne, Gillespe, Kasprowicz, McGrath

Pakistan win the toss and elect to field

Day 1 Pitch Condition:- Very poor for seamers; Slight turn for spinners
Day 1 Weather Conditions:- Sunny all day long
Day 1 Score: - Pakistan - 1st Innings 303/7 off 97 ov. (Youhana 117, N Khan 116, Mahmood 7*, Hussain 3*, Warne 3/76, Gillespe 3/56)

Day 2 Pitch Condition:- Poor for seamers; Slight turn for spinners
Day 2 Weather Conditions:- Sunny and then unsettled late
Day 2 Score: Pakistan - 1st Innings 334 a/o off 104 ov. (Youhana 117, N Khan 116, Gillespe 4/76, Warne 3/76, McGrath 2/73)
Australia - 1st Innings 269/5 off 91 ov. (Martyn 103, Lehmann 68*, Gilchrist 31*, Mahmood 2/42)

Day 3 Pitch Condition:- Poor for seamers; Some turn for spinners
Day 3 Weather Conditions:- Sunny and then unsettled late
Day 3 Score: Australia - 1st Innings 326 a/o off 120 ov. (Martyn 103, Lehmann 72, Gilchrist 52, Kaneria 4/97)
Pakistan - 2nd Innings 215/5 off 64 ov. (Anwar 66, Youhana 44*, Wasti 12*, Warne 3/61)

Day 4 Pitch Condition:- Some help for seamers; Good for spinners
Day 4 Weather Conditions:- Sunny and then unsettled late
Day 4 Score: Pakistan - 2nd Innings 251 a/o off 89 ov. (Anwar 66, Youhana 44, Kasprowicz 3/64)
Australia - 2nd Innings 231/3 off 71 ov. (Hayden 108, Martyn 47*, Katich 8*, Kaneria 2/73)

Day 5 Pitch Condition:- Some help for seamers; Good for spinners
Day 5 Weather Conditions:- Sunny and then unsettled late
Day 5 Score: Australia - 2nd Innings 265/4 off 75 ov. (Hayden 108, Martyn 60*, Lehmann 7*, Hussain 2/71, Kaneria 2/89)

Australia win by 6 wickets
Man of the Match: D Martyn

SCORECARD

 

[Joao_Quinto]

You...you *dropped* Watson for the tests...surely a mistake!

 

[AUST_HiTMaN]

Nice work mate, keep em coming.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Good stuff.

This has inspired me to either resume my Australian story or my Player story during the holidays, time pending.

 

[godonnygo]

Im not keeping track of my story, but at the moment I'm on fire in ACC with the squad I picked.

Here's my team:

1. Elliott - Has played 8 Tests this season and made 1136 runs @71, with 4 50's and 6 100's. He is on fire. Also acting as keeper with Gilchrist in poor form
2. M Hussey - Averaging about 30 this season, struggling a bit.
3. Clarke - Made 3 tons this season
4 Lehmann - Grabbed 11 wickets in 5 Tests, and made 5 50's
5 Martyn - Averaging 45 with 1 ton and 1 50 this season.
6 Hodge - Averages 45 with the bat and 40 with the ball in Tests.
7 Brad Hogg - Consistent. Averages 38 with the ball and 22 with the bat. A good solid performer, better than his figures suggest.
8 Cameron White - Had a slow start to his career, averaging about 5 with the bat and 45 with the ball, but hes on fire now. His career Test ball average is 28, bat 25 (with a couple of 50s). In the ODI's, hes taken 4 5-fers (!), with BB 6/38, at an average of 23.
9 Kasprowicz - Got his career average down to 29 with the ball.
10 Bichel - Grabbed 3 5-fers this season, and was MOM when he made 52*, 54*, and got 5/84 and 2/45.
11 McGrath - Shocking batsman, and struggling a tad with the ball, averaging 38 this season.

Just thought I'd let you know what the real Aussie team is missing out on with no Elliott and Hodge White is an absolute gun as well. Elliott cannot put a foot wrong, while Hodge had a bad patch after getting his average to 60 after 15 matches.