Story An Australian Summer of Cricket

[MWaugh]

Tourists Arrive in India
The touring one day squads from Australia and Sri Lanka have touched down in India ahead of the triangular series. The series includes two of the international powerhouse nations along with an always dangerous Sri Lankan outfit.

A visibly tired Australian vice-captain Michael Clarke spoke briefly to the media in Delhi. “It’s been a long flight over and unfortunately there isn’t a long turn around until our first game in about 3 days. However we are professionals and we just need to rest up to make sure that we can get up for our first match. It’s great to see the enthusiasm on the faces of the young guys who are here for the first time. It’s a great place to place cricket.”

The Sri Lankan squad appeared at the airport hours after their southern hemisphere opponents, with captain Mahela Jayawardene portraying a confident front ahead of a very challenging series.

“It’s going to be tough but the best way for our young team to improve is to play the best teams and there’s not too many better teams in the world right now than the Indian’s and the Australian’s. I’ve got full confidence in my men and we will represent our nation to the best of our ability”.

Sri Lankan Squad
1. Mahela Jayawardene (c)
2. Tillakaratne Dilshan
3. Dilhara Fernando
4. Sanath Jayasuriya
5. Thilina Kandamby
6. Chamara Kapugedera
7. Nuwan Kulasekara
8. Farveez Maharoof
9. Angelo Mathews
10. Ajantha Mendis
11. Jehan Mubarak
12. Muttiah Muralitharan
13. Kumar Sangakkara
14. Upul Tharanga
16. Latish Malinga

(Latish Malinga will be crucial on the skiddy Indian pitches)

 

[shantanu_rooney]

Strong and experience Sri Lankan squad there. Would be an exciting contest to see Malinga v Tendulkar :cool:. KIU mate its wonderful writing

 

[surendar]

Wow!! WoW!!

• Firstly, I am glad that your player editor problem got solved.
• Secondly, its great to see you back in stories.
• Thirdly, I am sure this is going to be a another MWaugh's Cracking story! :hpraise

Am looking forward to it.. And India would be one of the nations to be tough to beat. Good luck

 

[MWaugh]

Sky Sports Announced As Hosts

English television channel Sky Sports have suprisingly been named as telecast hosts for the upcoming Australian tour of India. The british brand beat international rivals including Star Sports and Zee TV to the rights. Australian programming station Channel 9 chose not to bid for the rights, choosing instead to team with Sky Sports. The move will see the Channel 9 commentary team, lead by Richie Benaud, Mark Nicholas and Michael Slater, commentate live from the sub-continent, while ingame images will be beamed live around the world via the Sky Sports network.

(Richie Benaud and the team will be back for another year leading from the front)

 

[shantanu_rooney]

Nice to see Sky Sports get the telecasting rights. Its gonna be exciting tournament. Looking forward to it :banana2

 

[MWaugh]

Match Introduction and Coin Toss


Welcome to the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in Delhi ahead of the first one day match of the series between the mighty Indians and the touring Australians. Good news for everyone both here and the ground and at home is that we have lovely clear skies which will give us a full day and nights play.

Now lets have a look at the ground here in Delhi. The pitch looks very flat to me, there doesnt appear to be alot of pace in the pitch so while i think it will be difficult to take wickets, I also think that it will hold up, making it difficult to bat on.

News just in is that Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has won the toss and has elected to bat. Coming up on the screen now is a list of the teams for todays first match.



Thats it from me down here at the pitch, we'll take a short break before bringing you the start of the match.

 

[Left_Hander]

Good way to leave heaps of anticipation!

Looking foward to this. The pitch looks like an absolute road! Should be a high scoring game. Hopefully Australia can bowl well and restrict a very strong Indian batting line-up to a chaseable score.

 

[MWaugh]

Teams Take To The Field

Indian openers Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag have made their way to the pitch ahead of the first ball of the Australian international summer. Ricky Ponting has lead his young side onto the Delhi ground with pace duo Mitchell Johnson and Brett Lee appearing to be the men to take the new ball.

 

[surendar]

I think it should be a high scoring game.. And Tendulkar should open He can't bat at any position other than opening slot in ODIs.

Anyways looking forward to the cracking contest :onpc

 

[MWaugh]

Openers Off To Steady Start - India 0/50 (11.2)

Indian openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir have combined to forge an unbeaten 50 run opening stand in Delhi. Gambhir has scored 22 from only 23 balls while Sehwag has scored 27 from 45 balls. It was a cautious start early from both players. Brett Lee has been expensive early conceeding 26 runs from 4 overs while Mitchell Johnson has bowled very well, conceeding only 17 runs from 6 overs.

 

[treva]

A comfortable start for the two openers, and they'll be happy to have not lost any wickets so far. They need to kick it on a bit now to try and get a total of near 300.

 

[Left_Hander]

A good start for India. Sehwag has been as usually agressive as he normally would. A wicket or two for Australia would really put the breaks on India.

 

[MWaugh]

Hilfenhaus Breaks Through - India 1/79 (17.0)

Ben Hilfenhaus claimed the breakthrough wicket of Gautam Gambhir for 45 as India slipped to 1/79 in the 17th over of play. After Nathan Bracken and Michael Clarke combined to tie down the opening pair, Hilfenhaus struck in his first over, drawing Gambhir into a slash outside the off stump. The opener unable to middle the ball, striking it straight to James Hopes at backward point. The dismissal brings to the crease the maestro, Sachin Tendulkar.



(Gambhir falls as a result of poor shot selection and a need to increase the run rate)

 

[Left_Hander]

It looks like the ball was struck high on the bat. Australia needed that wicket. If Sachin fell quickly as well then the momentum would of swung significantly.

 

[just_cricket]

That's a good wicket for Australia to get- Gambhir has really been turning it on lately.
Fantastic start, lots for a 'story rookie' like me to learn from.