Story Behind Enemy Lines - An Ashes Cricket Story

[Rumple43]

Ashes 2019 - 14 AUGUST 2019

2019 Ashes, 2nd Test - Lords, London.

Lunch Day 1​

Spoiler

England v Australia, Australia lead 1-0

England 1st innings - 32-4, 13.0 overs, J.Denly 9, M.Starc 7-2-11-2

​

Jonathan Agnew: “Well you hate to be the one to say it, but that was a fairly miserable 50 or so minutes for England. We’ve reached the lunch break here on Day 1 at Lords and England are already reeling after the loss of 4 wickets in pretty quick time. I’ve got two Englishmen with me who look about as glum as the London skyline did when we got to the ground this morning, Geoffrey Boycott and Phil Tufnell.”

Geoffrey Boycott: "There's something fundamentally wrong with this England side. You can't stand there Jonathan and tell me these are the best 11 players we have in this country, I wouldn't believe you. They're basic errors. And what's worse, we keep coming back to them time and again. It sounds like I'm picking on him, but Starc has got Denly again. That foot is planted on middle stump and he can't adjust to the ball as it moves. No, not good. They're going to get another hiding here if they're not careful."

Phil Tufnell: “And let’s not forget that that it could have been even worse! Very close to an LBW before lunch for Dawid Malan, but even though Australia reviewed it, it was a cracker of a decision from the umpire who saw the little tickle off the inside edge. England have been poor, but Starc and Hazelwood have got the most out of this pitch and the new ball.”

JA: "It was only a short session but there was plenty in it. Let's take a look back at play so far this morning."

JA: "Well, where would you like to start chaps? There's more than enough for you to go on after that!"

GB: “I’ve already mentioned Denly, he looks to have a flaw in his technique that Australia are going to expose time and again. I think we might have seen the last of Rory Burns as well. He needs to do something serious when he bats in the 2nd innings. He was comprehensively beaten by Starc, stumps and bails flying everywhere, he looks over matched. He made 11 runs at Edgbaston, total, 7 here this morning. He has some promise and its nothing against him, but maybe he needs to go back down a level and work a little bit more.”

PT: “Wrong line, wasn't it for Burns? He was on Bakerloo, the ball was on Jubilee! For me, one of the danger signs for England is that two of their heavy hitters, two of the guys who have managed to do a bit when others have folded, Root and Bairstow, they’re both back in the hutch. You have to feel sorry for Joe as he keeps getting some absolute jaffers, but it is what it is. He’s got to play at it as it’s going to knock down off stump, but then it goes away from the right hander down the slope, takes the edge. Bairstow might want to ask himself what he was doing trying to drive the very first ball he saw though.”

JA: "Aren't you being a little bit harsh on Denly, Geoffrey? Looking at the Hawkeye, Joe should have reviewed it as the ball pitched outside leg."

GB: “Well he was out, the man at the other end with the jacket on put his finger up! We’re not here to win any popularity contests, this is international cricket. These are Test matches. They’re meant to be a test. To pit you against the very best and see who comes out on top. At the moment, there’s only ever going to be one winner with some of these players and it's the man with the ball, not the bat. Like I say, it’s nothing personal, but the proof is in the puddling. Look up at that score board, it doesn’t lie.”

PT: “It’s hard to argue with after watching that morning session. It’s a good job it wasn’t a full two hours or England might have been all out by now! Dire straits really, there’s an awful lot of pressure on Stokes, Buttler and Ali from here. The ball is only 13 overs old, fresh bowlers after lunch, Australia haven’t even turned to Pat Cummins yet and he was excellent at Edgbaston. Hmmmm, not good at all really!”

JA: “Well, the players are heading back through the Long Room so we’d better vacate gentlemen. Thanks for your input during the lunch break. Bad morning for England, can they do anything to turn the tide?”

 

[Rumple43]

Ashes 2019 - 14 AUGUST 2019

2019 Ashes, 2nd Test - Lords, London.

Tea Day 1​

Spoiler

England v Australia, Australia lead 1-0

England 1st innings - 111-9, 45.0 overs, B.Stokes 47, P.Cummins 16-5-38-4

​

Jonathan Agnew: "England hanging on at the tea break then, they're 9 down it's been another fairly lacklustre session. Australia are exploiting the conditions, the ball is moving around, it's tough going for England. We've got one man who would have hated these conditions in Michael Vaughan, and another who would have loved them in Graeme Swann."

Michael Vaughan: "Sometimes as an international batsman you do get taken out of your comfort zone, but you have to prepare for that and be ready to counter. Buckle down, put up the walls, siege mentality. I’m not going to get myself out. You’re going to have to get me out. There’s not been enough of that from England and Australia have rightly taken advantage.”

Graeme Swann: “Credit to Ben Stokes, he’s batted well but he’s been a one-man band. There was a glimmer for England early this afternoon when Stokes and Buttler came together and looked like they were going to try and salvage something. Then Pat Cummins came along and put an end to things. He’s so good, very impressive indeed.”

JA: “It’s tough to be the pick of the bowlers when you’ve got the other team at 111-9, but let’s take a look back at those wickets from Pat Cummins.”

JA: “So what is it that Cummins does so well that is causing England so many problems this series?”

MV: “Well for one, he’s been ruthlessly accurate. He is putting the ball where the England batsmen don’t want it. He’s testing that off stump to 4th or 5th stump line and he’s doing it time and again. And what’s more, he’s doing it at 92 or 93mph. All it takes is a little something off the pitch, or using the slope here at Lords, or even a little bit of swing, and that is a very difficult combination to solve.”

GS: “You generally knew the right end of the bat to hold when you were playing skipper, how would you solve him?”

MV: “Just survive, I think! You’re not going to get masses of bad balls to score off, but he will drift over to the pads from time to time if he’s searching for those stumps. But he also can’t bowl all day. Australia don’t have a deep bowling attack and we’ve discussed that before. Lyon and Stoinis haven’t even bowled today and England are 9 down. You’ve just got to be patient and hope you don’t get one with your name on it.”

JA: “One thing to consider of course is that we don’t know how this pitch will play tomorrow, and we don’t know what England will be able to do when they get the ball in their hand. They’re always important questions to ask.”

MV: “There’s no doubt that it’s going to keep moving around but after this effort, England are going to need something very special indeed. It’s not a dangerous wicket, or something that is going to do something that blows you away. It’s a 250 wicket, and England are going to be about 130 runs shy of par. If Australia can just play the course as it were, they’ll be in the driver’s seat once again.”

GS: “It looks like we’re forecast for a bit of a slow start tomorrow morning just like we had today, so there’s every chance that England could take advantage of that just as Australia have. We don’t want to write our boys off just yet, but they’re not giving us much to work with at the moment!”

JA: “Well before we get ahead of ourselves, Australia still need to dismiss either Stuart Broad or Jimmy Anderson, so maybe we’ll have some more fireworks from that pair just as we did at Edgbaston. England need all the runs they can get, so let’s see what they can do.”

 

[Rumple43]

Ashes 2019 - 14 AUGUST 2019

2019 Ashes, 2nd Test - Lords, London.

Close Day 1​

Spoiler

England v Australia, Australia lead 1-0

England 1st innings - 119, 48.3 overs, B.Stokes 47, P.Cummins 18-5-42-4

Australia 1st innings - 85-0, 25.0 overs, M.Renshaw 52*, S.Curran 4-2-7-0

​

Jonathan Agnew: "That day couldn’t have gone much better for Australia. England were bowled out for a measly 119 and Australia are closing in on the total with all their wickets still intact. Matt Renshaw has looked solid in his first innings of the series, ending the day on 52 not out to help Australia to 85-0. Here to dissect England, or more likely crucify them, are Geoffrey Boycott and Phil Tufnell.”

Phil Tufnell: “Well now Jonathan, let’s not be too hasty. Game of two halves and all that! Only kidding, they’ve been rotten. Rotten day for England. They won the toss this morning and although the rain came in, they really haven’t done much of anything. The knives will be out in the papers tomorrow morning, it might even convince me to look at something other than the crossword!”

Geoffrey Boycott: “They wouldn’t even get a bat for the Dog & Duck some of this lot, it’s embarrassing. You can say what you like about the weather and the conditions, but we used to play back in the days of uncovered pitches, you and I. You had to have your wits about you were batting on those. You had to apply yourself, work hard and dig in. These boys have got fancy hover covers and you hardly get a spot of rain on the surface. I’m not having it. You can blame the conditions Philip but England would have got skittled here regardless. Poor.”

JA: “I doubt that's the last we've heard from Geoffrey but first let's take a look at the evening's play."

JA: “We'll leave Geoffrey to simmer a bit longer as we're delighted to be joined by Pat Cummins. Welcome to TMS!”

Pat Cummins: “Thanks for having me Aggers. Proud moment, TMS is well known down under and I'm pleased to be able to come and chat to you."

JA: “I'd imagine the conversation is a lot more free flowing and easy to do when you've just had a day like you've have today?"

PC: “Yeah, we’re pleased with that for sure. I’m not sure what we’d have done if we’d won the toss but we ended up bowling and the conditions were a dream, especially this morning. Mitch and Josh both did great and we’re delighted. I think the only person who’s not happy is Nath Lyon. He can’t get his hands on the ball at the moment!”

JA: “That’s hardly surprising. You have been in some sparkling form so far this summer. You caused England all sorts of problems at Edgbaston and you’ve carried it on here at Lords. What’s the secret?”

PC: “We all know about the bowler friendly conditions over here, it’s been good to bowl so far for sure. I think with the slow start this morning, that helped as well and although things brightened up I think England were still reeling a bit at that point. I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing, keep my pace up and keep hitting those spots. It’s certainly going well at the moment.”

JA: “Well thank you Pat, always great to speak to you and we appreciate your time. We’ll have a word with Geoffrey and Phil before we wrap things up. The skies over Lords are going gloomy once again as we’re expecting some overnight rain that may linger into the morning."

GB: “It’s going to take something special. Even if England can come out tomorrow and do to Australia what Australia did to them this morning, they’ve already spotted them an 85 run head start. You never know with cricket, it can be a funny old game and we’ve all seen a thing or two over the years but one day down and England already look to be heading for 2-0.”

PT: “Yeah, bit like kicking someone when they’re down. We don’t like to pile on anybody but England have failed with the bat collectively, and now they’re looking to be failing with the ball as well if tonight is anything to go on. Who knows, maybe it rains cats and dogs and something magical happens tomorrow. We just don’t know. All you can say is England have been way below par today, plain and simple.

JA: “I can already see the rain starting to land on the commentary box window so perhaps you’ll be right Tuffers. We’ll be on air from 10:30am tomorrow morning with coverage of Day 2 of this 2nd Ashes Test from Lords. England have been badly beaten today, but they'll be hoping this game isn’t over yet. Goodnight!”

 

[Rumple43]

England were absolutely dire on Day 1. It was brilliant haha It was just like watching real cricket, I thought I was going to get a wicket with every ball! Very rarely experienced that on Ashes before, but it was good fun.

 

[Rumple43]

Ashes 2019 - 14 AUGUST 2019

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Spoiler

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[Rumple43]

Ashes 2019 - 15 AUGUST 2019

2019 Ashes, 2nd Test - Lords, London.

Lunch Day 2​

Spoiler

England v Australia, Australia lead 1-0

England 1st innings - 119, 48.3 overs, B.Stokes 47, P.Cummins 18-5-42-4

Australia 1st innings - 127-3, 39.0 overs, M.Renshaw 72, M.Ali 12-1-35-3

​

Jonathan Agnew: "14 overs for England this morning then once the rain had rolled away, Moeen Ali bowled 7 of them and took three wickets. Game on for England you feel if they can keep that pace going after lunch. I've got TMS regular Charles Dagnall with me, and Shane Warne has popped in to speak to us as well."

Charles Dagnall: “The first thing you’d probably ask is if Ali can bowl for the whole innings! He’s looked pretty much on the money this morning and it’s exactly what England needed. It had to be quick wickets and in honesty they’ve also done a decent job keeping runs off the board. There was a danger Australia might bat themselves into a really strong position just like they did at Edgbaston, but maybe those thoughts were a little premature.”

Shane Warne: “Watching about 4 sessions on this pitch now, it looks to be a pretty balanced strip. I don’t think either team is going to rip big runs. It’s all about making sure you get in, knuckle down and put the hard yards in. England were under par, but I think Australia will still be happy with 300 from here. It could be tough going.”

JA: "Let's take a look back at Moeen spinning some magic from this morning's session then."

JA: "Firstly, a word on Matt Renshaw after his first knock of the series."

CD: "He looked good, didn't he? He'll be as disappointed as anyone not to have made it to triple digits but you feel 70+ on this track is still a pretty good effort. Bad news for England if he hits the ground running with that kind of form and keeps his place the rest of the series."

JA: "It looks like we had a bit of an issue with the video feed for his wicket, but he fell to a tidy piece of work behind the stumps from Jonny Bairstow after an inside edge. Still, that's a good score. And Shane, we can't escape talking about Moeen.

SW: "I'm always a fan of the spinners, you know me Aggers! Perhaps not so much the English ones given the present circumstances, but Ali has been solid. He's put the ball in the right areas and this Lords pitch can be a big help for spinners. It gets a lot of chat for the slope helping seamers, but if you can get it right and bowl from the end you need, you can get a good bit of turn and Moeen has certainly done what was needed for his side this morning."

CD: "You certainly knew a thing or two about bowling here, so I'll take your word for it!"

SW: "Haha! Thanks Daggers, it's a unique ground and everyone wants to get their name up on that honours board. Another couple of wickets this afternoon for Moeen and he'll do just that. You wouldn't bet against it the way he's bowled this morning."

JA: "Right, we're set us up perfectly for this afternoon's session, so thanks to Shane for doing my job for me. Also thanks to Charles Dagnall for his input, let's get back to the action here at Lords."

 

[Rumple43]

Apologies for the delay, I’m currently on leave from work (which is when I tend to do most of my stuff) for a few weeks, got family visiting.

Normal service will resume at the start of June. Thanks to anyone that is still following along!

 

[Mitchell]

Apologies for the delay, I’m currently on leave from work (which is when I tend to do most of my stuff) for a few weeks, got family visiting.

Normal service will resume at the start of June. Thanks to anyone that is still following along!

will you flick over to cricket 19?

 

[Rumple43]

will you flick over to cricket 19?

At the moment, I will certainly be finishing this Ashes series on Ashes 17. I don't like to start things and then not see them through, or to a logical break point. If people are going to invest the time to read my stuff, I as a minimum feel I need to repay that.

There are other tours I have planned that I could explore (based on the ICC Test Championship schedule) but if I do that in Ashes, or 19, or do something completely new, or not do anything at all, I haven't decided.

I think that by the time I've played all 5 Tests and enjoyed putting the narrative around them on here, Cricket 19 will have been out long enough to have been ironed out with any bugs, user content made etc. Plus the price point will no doubt be slashed as well.

At that stage I may straw poll the people who do read this thread to see what they'd find enjoyable. I'm generally open to most ideas, I just enjoy writing more than anything. Generally any ideas are heavily shaped by what a game can do, customisation, game modes, flexibility etc. so that'd be a factor to. I had loads of ideas for angles and stories I wanted to do with Ashes, only to find the game couldn't support them or the workaround to make something viable was too cumbersome.

So in short, TBC but you'll be getting the rest of this series on Ashes.

 

[rishabh9627]

What is your AI difficulty for this ashes series?

 

[Rumple43]

What is your AI difficulty for this ashes series?

It's set to Legend at the moment.

 

[rishabh9627]

It's set to Legend at the moment.

Bro how is it even possible to score 500+ runs so easily on legend difficulty and also get England reeling at 32/4 or something like that
It just cant happen
on the same pitch u get England all out for something like 120 and when you bat your scorecard reads 100/0 on legend difficulty?
it cant be that easy
ur batting, bowling nd fielding difficulty might be on legend but AI difficulty cant be on legend man

 

[Rumple43]

Bro how is it even possible to score 500+ runs so easily on legend difficulty and also get England reeling at 32/4 or something like that
It just cant happen
on the same pitch u get England all out for something like 120 and when you bat your scorecard reads 100/0 on legend difficulty?
it cant be that easy
ur batting, bowling nd fielding difficulty might be on legend but AI difficulty cant be on legend man

Well, it wasn't easy! As I said in one of my earlier posts, it's the first time in all the months I've owned the game that I've managed a score like that, even on easier difficulties.

It's been pretty strange that as soon as I documented what I was doing via this story, I had some really interesting sessions, like that big first innings and like the England collapse. I'd not encountered that stuff in all the testing and one off matches I'd played.

My settings are legend AI, then Hardest batting, Hard bowling, Hard fielding. But if you've seen my pitch slider thread from a few months back, I also have a custom setting for pretty much every slider, and the pitch sliders change day to day. If that "masks" the legend AI, for want if a better word, idk. All I know is the settings I've got give me a really solid and varied experience, and that's really useful when writing up those games into an interesting story!

Speaking of which, this next afternoon session was a shocker for me, I've just not had a chance to get on my laptop and post it. Maybe once you saw that session you'd see it's not been as much one way traffic. Sorry for the spoiler!

 

[Rumple43]

Ashes 2019 - 15 AUGUST 2019

2019 Ashes, 2nd Test - Lords, London.

Tea Day 2​

Spoiler

England v Australia, Australia lead 1-0

England 1st innings - 119, 48.3 overs, B.Stokes 47, P.Cummins 18-5-42-4

Australia 1st innings - 237, 69.5 overs, M.Renshaw 72, M.Ali 17-2-44-4

​

Jonathan Agnew: “7 wickets fall in a great session for England as they have Australia all out for 237 right on the stroke of tea. The lead sits at 118 runs and I’ve got Graeme Swann and Geoffrey Boycott alongside me to discuss all the action from what was undoubtedly England’s afternoon.”

Graeme Swann: “Game on Aggers! I think England needed that, things were starting to get a bit grim around these parts but we’re right back in it now. Jimmy Anderson has been back on form after we all worried about him at Edgbaston and boy did England need him. A great all round effort from that bowling attack to back up Moeen’s wickets this morning.”

Geoffrey Boycott: “They didn’t enjoy that, did they? I’ve been bumping into far too many Australians recently that had rather a bit too much to say for themselves. They might still be ahead mind, but England have shown Australia they can get amongst them when they need to. That’s something you always need to put into your opponent’s heads.”

JA: "Let's relive the carnage of that afternoon session, plenty to enjoy from an England perspective."

JA: "He's had to put up with some stick recently, but that was a worldy from Rory Burns at short leg!"

GB: "Let's be honest, he's got to do something to contribute, right? I'm not going to take anything away from the catch, it was a body blow to Australia right after lunch, but I like my openers to make runs more than anything."

GS: "Come on Geoffrey, that's a cracker! The reactions, the dive, straight into the palms. He's only got a few caps to his name and he's still finding his way. Surely a catch like that is something that'll build the confidence!?"

GB: "If you're telling me that catch will be at the front of his mind when Starc and Cummins are steaming in at 95mph after tea, you can pull the other one. Still, he can think about it with pride in the dressing room once they've sent his stumps flying again if he doesn't sort that footwork out."

JA: "What about a return to form for Broad and Anderson?"

GS: "Overdue, certainly. They helped to get Australia wobbling, I think they were 169-8 at one point but the tail wagged with Starc and Lyon putting up a stand. Josh Hazelwood typically threw his hands at everything as well."

GB: "They let Australia off the hook, no doubt about it. Too many loose balls towards the end but this pitch has become very two-paced. Some balls seem to be skidding through because of the moisture from the rain we've had, some are sticking in the surface. Tough to bat on and we saw a number of miscues this afternoon. Australia will be laughing. They might win without needing to bat again if England can't buck their ideas up!"

JA: "The sun is still shining brightly in a blue sky over London, but you'd bet on the fact things will begin to go overcast before we're done for the day. Let's see how this enthralling evening of play unfolds."

 

[Rumple43]

Ashes 2019 - 15 AUGUST 2019

2019 Ashes, 2nd Test - Lords, London.

Close Day 2​

Spoiler

England v Australia, Australia lead 1-0

England 1st innings - 119, 48.3 overs, B.Stokes 47, P.Cummins 18-5-42-4

Australia 1st innings - 237, 69.5 overs, M.Renshaw 72, M.Ali 17-2-44-4

England 2nd innings - 96-3, 29.0 overs, J.Denly 44*, N.Lyon 3-0-1-11

​

Jonathan Agnew: "An extremely compelling day's play here at Lords, a treat to watch and certainly enjoyable for anyone listening at home. England trail by 22 runs with 7 wickets remaining and they'll be hoping that someone can make a big score to set Australia a tricky target when they do get another chance with the bat. Michael, Alastair, your thoughts please?

Michael Vaughan: “Would you say this one is fairly even? Maybe so, certainly more even than Edgbaston. If you’re England, you’re pleased to at least be in this match after that poor 1st innings effort. Australia will be thinking, 3 down, Root already out, no doubt there will be some rain tomorrow morning as well and we’ve seen how wickets have fallen on both mornings so far. Finely poised.”

Alastair Cook: “Yeah, it’s been fairly fun to watch, you have to say. The game has swung Australia’s way, then a bit towards England with the wickets today, and now a lot is going to be riding on the session tomorrow morning. Looking up at the sky, it seems the same as last night. No more blue sky and a little bit darker, it’ll probably rain again so we’ll wait and see.”

JA: "96 runs and 3 wickets in the session, let's have a bit of a recap while we make room for Moeen Ali."

JA: "Success with the ball this morning Moeen, kick starting a bit of an England fightback! Thanks for joining us."

Moeen Ali: “Thank you for having me Jonathan. It was good to get out there bowling this morning. We knew what we needed to do after our performance as a team yesterday so it was good to start making some inroads into that Australian line up. Jimmy and Broady both played their part, it’s great to have them around as always, but we still have work to do if we want to make this series 1-1 going up to Headingley.”

JA: “If you’re going to cause Australia some problems, how many do you think you’ll need to give them as a target? You’ve still got to have a bat yourself, I’m sure you’ll be wanting to contribute as much as possible as well.”

MA: “We saw at Edgbaston that Australia certainly can bat, but this pitch is starting to get very tricky from what I’ve seen. It looks like we might get a bit more rain overnight so there’s that to factor in as well. If we can get them anything towards 250+, that might be difficult but we’ll just do everything we can to keep putting runs on the board tomorrow.”

JA: "Thanks Moeen, best of luck to you tomorrow. Gents, a few quick questions before we wrap up as John the Producer is looking at me and tapping his watch! Is this the last we've seen of Rory Burns?"

MV: "More than likely, sorry to say. He couldn't afford another poor score and that's exactly what he got."

AC: "Yeah, same from me. He's a good player, he'll go away and work hard but that's a likely change for the selectors ahead of Headingley."

JA: "30 from Malan, 44 and counting for Denly. Enough to keep their place?"

MV: "For me, yes. At least for 1 more Test. Denly, we'll see how many more he gets. Malan has looked positive, so the manner of his innings helps, plus he's only just come back in."

AC: "I'd have faith in both I think, so a yes from me."

JA: "And last question before we go. One word, who have you got from here, England or Australia?"

MV: "Tough one! Wait, one word? Australia. Just!"

AC: "Australia. I think batting will be tough tomorrow morning."

JA: "Clearly neither Michael Vaughan or Alastair Cook are able to keep their answers on the short side, but we appreciate their input nevertheless! Big day on the cards tomorrow, you wouldn't want to miss it. Goodnight!"