NZ Story (ICC2005)

[pearljammonkey]

graham youve inspired me to try my own story of New Zealand im interested in seeing how my lineups go compared to yours.
i actually dont like nz much haha im an aussie!! just thought i might challenge myself while we wait for the patch, then ill start a game as Aus, and probably Durham.

ok so the same thing as graham, ill try to give midmatch updates, therell be no cheating, and hopefully i can take them to the top... well at least 2nd behind AUS!

My Squad for the Tour of Zimbabwe
S Fleming (c)
L Vincent
M Sinclair
C McMillan
H Marshall
P Fulton
N Astle
B McCullum
C Cairns
S Styris
J Oram
K Mills
J Franklin
D Vettori
B Martin
C Martin
S Bond
D Tuffey

 

[Blaze]

Good luck. You can't do much worse than Graham has done

 

[pearljammonkey]

hehe yeah hes giving the black caps a bad name!

ok for the opening 3-day match ive rested D Tuffey & S Bond, they will be automatic selections for the first test. this gives K Mills & C Martin a chance to push for the 1st XI



im happy with that, batsmen finding form, vettori with a few wickets

heres my lineup for the 1st test, a good balance i feel with Oram being a 5th bowler

 

[Graham]

Good start. I'll be watching your progress with interest, but remember - NO CHEATING!

 

[pearljammonkey]

Goodwin shouldnt even be there!!

 

[pearljammonkey]

3rd Day - so far, so good also forgot to mention Zimbabwe won the toss, chose to bat first



Lucky Goodwin!

 

[pearljammonkey]

 

[pearljammonkey]

a comfortable win there.. i gotta say Zim look pretty weak! Bangladesh are way better than them, most of my batsmen got starts, just didnt go on

 

[_Ed_]

Good win there, and good story so far! Keep it up and good luck with the next test and the nasty SA tour coming up afterwards!

 

[Graham]

Great first up win there mate. Keep it up!

 

[pearljammonkey]

thanks fellas. shouldve shown the inns but Bond got 44* at 10. in the NZ inns lol he didnt get a wicket in the test though!
but im taking the same side that won, Zimbabwe have made a forced change with R Price out injured after S Bond put him out of the series. A Blignaut is in.

 

[pearljammonkey]

a solid first day after we won the toss, gave full respect to H Streak this time around
looking for a big one from the captain

 

[pearljammonkey]

today we smashed them! Astle was fantastic, had him on 5 aggression for most of his innings, the zim bowlers had nothing! the pitch is still flat, we should bat till about lunch. isnt mcmillan an aggressive player, in icc2005 hes defensive?



astles knock -

 

[pearljammonkey]

ok ok, i got greedy the bowling is pathetic, even with the pitch breaking up a bit now
McMillan & Franklin batted ALL DAY! only added 240-odd but now i really wanna score my first ever 300 in icc2005, even if it is against Zimbabwe!!

 

[pearljammonkey]

argh!! i know the series is already wrapped up but i think ive ruined my chance of a 2-0 win. and to fall 4 short of his 300 well... i believe the kiwi record is 299 by M Crowe. hopefully Franklin can be a good bat against the top sides too, to have him and Vettori at 8 & 9 is very handy.

hmm 15 wickets in a day, if theres a team to do it against, im playing them

 

[pearljammonkey]

New Zealand wrap up the Test Series 1-0, with a convincing draw!

the McMillan/Franklin pship of 283 set a new 7th wkt record for NZ
also i found out i declared 20 runs short of the world record team total!



so onto the 3-match ODI series
i wasnt going to play McMillan in the ODIs as he is defensive, and he probably deserves a rest anyway, so heres the team for the 1sat ODI

oh by the way today i had a sicky from work (which is why im here hehe) and i went and bought tickets for days 1,2 & 3 at the SCG - AUS v Rest of the World XI (a six-day test!! which will count as an official test)
in case anyone hasnt heard:
World XI Test squad Graeme Smith (capt), Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid (vc), Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Jacques Kallis, Andrew Flintoff, Shaun Pollock, Mark Boucher, Steve Harmison, Shoaib Akhtar, Muttiah Muralitharan, Daniel Vettori.

theres 13 there so personally i hope vettori and akhtar arent chosen.
the team i chose on cricinfo.com before the official one came out was
Smith (c), Sehwag, Dravid, Lara, Tendulkar, Kallis, Flintoff, Pollock, Sangakarra (wk), Harmison, Murali. the only diff to theirs is the keeper. akhtar isnt reliable enough, imagine if he got injured, it could ruin the contest! i think Harmison & Pollock to open the bowling followed by Flintoff & Murali with Kallis as the 5th option should do. what an amazing match it could be

 

[pearljammonkey]

on a wicket made for pace, i won the toss and chose to bowl first. zims 5th bowling option of T Gripper let them down, a pretty comfortable victory



on a another dodgy wicket, i won the toss and bowled first again
M Goodwin played well again, but Vincent & Sinclair carefully took NZ to victory, with 4 overs to spare.



for the 3rd ODI, ive rested D Tuffey & J Franklin, replacing them will be S Styris & K Mills

again a bad pitch, this time something in it for spin & pace though..
Zim won the toss and chose to bat first, which is what i wanted anyway!
we were cruising until Gripper came on, but still a fairly comfortable victory, needing 4 four runs from the last over, Styris had an all-round good game



next up is the first 'real tour, South Africa! this will be interesting, a lot of my players are in form, so it should hopefully be close.. its just gonna be a matter of bowling out Kallis & co. twice that will be difficult.
S Bond's place in the team is under scrutiny, having figures of 0/216 from the 2 tests v ZIM!!!
he will hopefully grab a bunch in the 3-day tour match up next vs Border, by the way im taking the same squad, provided none are injured

 

[pearljammonkey]

heres the teams, ive rested J Franklin and the captain S Fleming. C Martin will be given another shot, as he could be used in the upcoming tests if Bond doesnt pick up his game. Youngster P Fulton will be tested at no.3, after he went home and hit 113* for Canterbury in-between tours, his only innings this year!



Vettori and Oram (4/20 off 15 overs) were both impressive with the ball, nice start from P Fulton too.
Set exactly 150 from the final session, wickets just kept on falling whenever i upped the aggression, so i had to settle for the draw. unlike most people it seems, i prefer 3-day games as they are more realistic. 2-days would even be fine as long as the AI is modified to make them declare early and stuff like that. i think we have to settle for draws and just get players in form..

 

[pearljammonkey]

heres the test team, unchanged.
its an absolute belter of a wicket, and a very strong South African team. A Hall batting at no.9 gives an indication of the depth they have. Theyve chosen A Puttick to make his test debut in the middle order as well.



South Africa have won the toss and batted of course... could be a long day in the field...

 

[vic_orthdox]

Good luck mate, enjoying following your story. It helps when you join in from the start. There's too much to catch up on with Grahams