Skater
ICC Chairman
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2004
- Profile Flag
- England
England - moving forward
Peter Moores is about to lead England into a fierce examination. They will be expected to comfortably beat New Zealand - anything less will be a failure. South Africa come along next - arguably the best team in the world.
Background
The England cricket team has been the biggest talking point in the sport since it was invented. There is little doubt about it. The batting collapse was what they were famous for in the 1990s, sparking jokes such as "What do you call an Englishman with 100 next to his name?" with the answer "a bowler". Their only consistency was inconsistency and they languished at the bottom of the official Test match rankings and were subject to continued thrashings in the legendary Ashes series against the Australians.
In 1999, Zimbabwean Duncan Fletcher became the coach, an unfancied job, and began his work to take cricket's oldest national team back to where they should be - fighting for the title of the best in the world. Slowly, the batting collapses became less frequent. Wins were becoming more frequent. England were becoming a difficult team to beat.
In the summer of 2004, England won all 7 of their home Tests, against New Zealand and the West Indies. A series win followed in South Africa in the winter. The best was to come in 2005 - taming the mighty Baggy Greens over 5 Tests. England won the Ashes 2-1. They were indisputably 2nd best in the world.
Since then, there has been a decline, culminating in a 5-0 thrashing in the return series against Australia in 2006-07 and an embarrassing World Cup campaign. Fletcher resigned, and academy coach Peter Moores took the hotseat.
The Three Lions are yet to regain their Test form under Moores, but have become a much better One Day team. Series wins over India and Sri Lanka have showcased the good work done by him and captain Paul Collingwood.
2008 is the start of the real test, however. New Zealand and South Africa visit - with the Ashes just a year away. Will England move forward or backwards? Will Moores still be in the job by the end of the Ashes? There is only one place to find out - this thread.
Notes
I will be playing this story with International Cricket Captain 2008 - so obviously there will be little or no in game screenshots. I will try to make it visually pleasing for you with photographs. There will be in-depth statistics available to you via a spreadsheet on each match. You will be able to see it via a link I will post to a Google Documents file.
The story will undoubtedly be more popular if I get you involved. So I will. There will be a number of games, competitions and votes that bring vCash rewards. Look out for them.
Remember - comments are everything to a story. Please comment on the match, and my presentation, when you can. It really gives me a boost.
Coming Up
Peter Moores is about to lead England into a fierce examination. They will be expected to comfortably beat New Zealand - anything less will be a failure. South Africa come along next - arguably the best team in the world.
Background
The England cricket team has been the biggest talking point in the sport since it was invented. There is little doubt about it. The batting collapse was what they were famous for in the 1990s, sparking jokes such as "What do you call an Englishman with 100 next to his name?" with the answer "a bowler". Their only consistency was inconsistency and they languished at the bottom of the official Test match rankings and were subject to continued thrashings in the legendary Ashes series against the Australians.
In 1999, Zimbabwean Duncan Fletcher became the coach, an unfancied job, and began his work to take cricket's oldest national team back to where they should be - fighting for the title of the best in the world. Slowly, the batting collapses became less frequent. Wins were becoming more frequent. England were becoming a difficult team to beat.
In the summer of 2004, England won all 7 of their home Tests, against New Zealand and the West Indies. A series win followed in South Africa in the winter. The best was to come in 2005 - taming the mighty Baggy Greens over 5 Tests. England won the Ashes 2-1. They were indisputably 2nd best in the world.
Since then, there has been a decline, culminating in a 5-0 thrashing in the return series against Australia in 2006-07 and an embarrassing World Cup campaign. Fletcher resigned, and academy coach Peter Moores took the hotseat.
The Three Lions are yet to regain their Test form under Moores, but have become a much better One Day team. Series wins over India and Sri Lanka have showcased the good work done by him and captain Paul Collingwood.
2008 is the start of the real test, however. New Zealand and South Africa visit - with the Ashes just a year away. Will England move forward or backwards? Will Moores still be in the job by the end of the Ashes? There is only one place to find out - this thread.
Notes
I will be playing this story with International Cricket Captain 2008 - so obviously there will be little or no in game screenshots. I will try to make it visually pleasing for you with photographs. There will be in-depth statistics available to you via a spreadsheet on each match. You will be able to see it via a link I will post to a Google Documents file.
The story will undoubtedly be more popular if I get you involved. So I will. There will be a number of games, competitions and votes that bring vCash rewards. Look out for them.
Remember - comments are everything to a story. Please comment on the match, and my presentation, when you can. It really gives me a boost.
Coming Up
- The England squad for the 3 Tests against New Zealand, plus all the fixtures.
- Day by Day highlights of every England match.
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