Story England v/s West Indies a one off Test match

[crick4life]

This is being played to test the Test cricket patch V 1.0. There will be no flashy write ups but only scorecards and possibly some videos on how the patch is behaving. I am playing as West Indies against England with varied pitch and weather conditions to ensure the patch is tested on all kinds of pitches.

Day 1 1st session Damp Sunny Cold
2nd Session Green Sunny Mild
3rd session Green Grey Mild
Day 2 1st session Green Sunny Warm
2nd Session Normal Sunny Warm
3rd session Normal Overcast Cool
Day 3 1st Session Normal Sunny Warm
2nd Session Normal Sunny Warm
3rd session Normal Sunny Warm
Day 4 1st Session Hard Sunny Warm
2nd Session Hard Sunny Warm
3rd session Dry Grey Cold
Day 5 1st Session Dry Sunny Hot
2nd Session Dusty Sunny Hot
3rd session Dusty Sunny Hot

England lost the toss and WI decided to quite rightly bowl. The WI opening bowlers kept it tight until about 12 overs. The ball was keeping low not coming on to the bat and shot making at its worse. England openers kept to the task of knocking singles and couples when ever possible in the first few overs. The patch allows the batsmen to play pretty much all the shots even early in their inning. A good enough packed inner ring of fielders are good to keep the score reasonable. A widish third man was the only fielder outside the ring to stop the cut shots and the sq drives.

WI decided to introduce spin from one end in the form of O.Banks to see if they can pick some quick wickets. Normally on a pitch as this it is fairly easy to get the CPU out by bowling spin with no pace at all. Unfortunately for WI but fortunately for me this ploy didnt work very well and in fact England openers tore apart the first two overs bowled by Banks. There were all kind of shots, the advance on drive, the straight drive, the cover drive, sweep and behold even a perfectly executed reverse sweep by Strauss for four.

So far the pitch has tested very well although it presented less opportunities for taking wickets. With the ball not seaming at all and given the sunny conditions edges were not coming by so it was a reasonable bowing opportunity I feel. Now the game moves on to the 2nd session on a green pitch where the ball is definitely going to seam. It will be interesting how England will cope in the 2nd and the 3rd session when the weather is going to get murky. Attahced is the match details, notice how the batsmen were able to score all around the wicket.

 

[msamina]

Seems to be working well, Ravi. England seem to have batted very sensibly. Good job.

 

[crick4life]

Yes Murali, it is working extremely well. There is controlled aggression and none of the batter threw their wicket away by going aerial. The only gripe I have is CPU not going over the infield when I kept it very tight for a good duration. Maybe a little to tweak otherwise it is very challenging bowling out an opponenet. Also some of the bowlers with very high averages in the WI team probably didnt help my cause. Hopefully playing as Australia may get you cheap wickets. Cant imagine how we can bowl to Australia or India with that kind of batting lineup: ?

To sum up for the first day England did very well through out the day although they last 3 wickets in the last session. Tresco was the first to go in the morning session adjudged LBW trying to pull Banks. He got carried away after having scored some quick runs but this one was plum in front. Strauss and Key batted very sensibly scoring in singles (not that they could have helped anyway, with the slow outfield). They didnt lose any wickets in the entire 2nd session but the WI bowlers did a good containing job by only conceeding 69 runs off 28 overs. Strauss was far a bit unfortunate not being able to find the gaps although was hitting the ball very well. Key had to settle down in that session and he ended up scoring 43(103) in the 2nd session.

Strauss and Key started to show a bit more urgency post tea session to put around 50 odd quick runs. O.Banks was then introduced knowing fully well the settle batsmen will go after him. That was the ploy anyway atleast that way WI had a chance to get a wicket. Strauss should consider himself unfortunate for having ruled out LBW when he was trying to sweep a ball outside leg. The decision was a rank bad one but what the heck even the international umpires are that bad these days anyway.

That got the England captain at the crease and then the flurry or runs started. He may have gotten bored after having watched these two batsmen not being able to score quickly. There also seemed he instructed Key to also show some urgency in scoring. Both the batsmen then started to find the boundary alarmingly. This one session was being looked forward by the WI as the conditons were good for bowling. Grey clouds, green pitch but WI failed to capitalize although the ball had gone old and we had no reverse swing tricks up the sleeve After having tried and tested every other bowler Lara decided to bring on Banks again along with the part timer Sarwan. As expected both the batsmen started to look for scoring opportunities and Vaughan played few very good looking shots on the off side while Key prefered straight and leg side. Key should blame himself for trying to play cheeky cricket to drag the ball from around outside off stump to crash on middle stump. One bad shot and he lost the opportunity to make a well deserved hundred. By around 78th over WI took the new ball and P.Collins bowled a fiery spell to beat both the batsmen's bat. Towards the end of the day Thrope was ran out by a bad call for 2 by Vaughan leaving Flintoff to walk in late in the day to probably face 3-4 overs. Flintoff went after the bowling right away and pulled one for four to reach 7 by stumps. Vaughan on 45(66) and Flintoff 7(7) are at the crease in a punishing mood. WI should thank the stars for having made a somewhat comeback into the game with 3 wickets in the last session. They will though not be very happy to have realise they gave away 142 runs in the last session alone in just 29 overs i.e almost 5 rpo

If WI can get a couple of wickets in the first session on day 2, they can probably enjoy the best of batting conditions on day 2 and day 3 if they can last that long

All in all a very satisfying to see the patch did work very well and almost clinical in the way the inning has gone. I would have liked the CPU to have left few balls but that will invite lot of trouble in stupid LBWs on damp, wet and green pitches. Also would have liked CPU to go over the top but again if it did once too often then WI may have wrapped up England innings by tea: , you never know. If at all CPU can last till the end of 2nd day we can probably have a good enough test on different type of pitches.

Attached are the score cards at the end of session 2 and one at the end of the day 1.

 

[crick4life]

Score card by stumps on day 1

 

[crick4life]

Players spiders and Key's 50. Key next 41 runs came off some 50 balls.

 

[msamina]

Looking good. So, you managed to get a runout with Sam's no runout exe?

Let us see how much England score in the end.

 

[jonah]

Yeah, looking good Ravi, especially the cpu losing only 4 wickets on damp then green wickets, in bowler friendly conditions. I'll watch this match in eager anticipation of the patch being released.

 

[crick4life]

Day 2 Session 1

England batting falls apart

Who would have thought WI could make a comeback on day 2 1st session although the tinge of green on the pitch was promising? The England batters Vaughan and Flintoff were in punishing mood early on. Vaughan was the pick of the two sending whatever bowled at him to all parts of the ground. Flintoff got off to a good start too finding ropes quite easily. WI bowlers on day 2 showed lot of commitment and discipline. They struck to the task of bowling in one area even when being hit around. Collins who bowled really well late on Day 1 was used first up and he consistently beat the bat although was proving a little costly. Lara persisted with him and the gamble paid off very well. Collins produced a beautiful slower one climbing on Flintoff just on off stump. Flintoff shaped to play the back foot cover drive feather touched to the keeper. Flintoff suggested he wasn?t too happy with the umpire?s decision but he had to go. Encouraged by the result Lara introduced Collymore from the other end and it set up for what was some absolutely stunning bowling display by Collins and Collymore. First to go was G.Jones edging one to gully where Lawson gleefully accepted the offer with good hands. G.Jones somehow didn?t look very comfortable during his stay at the crease. Giles and Hoggard had no answer to Collin?s superb bowling. They were on their way out both edging to WK R.Jacobs. By now Vaughan sensed he had to score quick runs to both get to a hundred as well as take the final tally to as much as possible. He continued to dominate the bowling and hit some scintillating shots all around the park. Anderson played a good inning although couldn?t open his account lending hand to marauding Vaughan. Collymore then produced an excellent bouncer which Vaughan tried to hook only to hit a little wide off Jacobs who brought a quick catch over his head. It took couple of minutes for WI team to realize the ball sticked to Jacobs? gloves but then once realized they were ecstatic. Harmison as expected didn?t do much with the bat and soon gave a timid catch to Lawson at 2nd slip. England will be utterly disappointed with their dismal batting performance barring Vaughan on day 2. If any one of the lower order batsman could have hung on Vaughan could have taken them to a soaring total. It was not to be and this was another instance of the glorious uncertainties of the great sport. It did a world of good to the WI bowlers for having bowled the way they did on day 2 and will carry lot of confidence to the 2nd inning. In case England had got through the first session WI knew very well they were out of the game. They produced the needed performance just when needed.

The confidence of bowling carried to batting although they lost first of their wicket Smith edging one to first slip off Hoggard. There were plenty of edges but unfortunately for England either none carried or went over the head of slip fielders. WI battled to 49/1 off 12 overs at lunch with Hoggard claiming the only wicket to fall.

 

[crick4life]

WI scorecard at then end of session 1 day 2.

 

[crick4life]

Originally posted by msamina
Looking good. So, you managed to get a runout with Sam's no runout exe?

Let us see how much England score in the end.

Yes Murali, the run out happened for the second run. It was a pretty close call hence accepted it. I think a very rare run outs can be allowed otherwise we will be taking away one way of getting out.

 

[msamina]

Yes Ravi. Run outs are perfectly acceptable if it is very rare and very close.

 

[crick4life]

Day 2 session 2 & 3

WI continued their good show with the ball for the day into their batting. They are somewhat happy with how the test has gone so far after having pushed to the back foot after day 1 by England. WI have been lucky in some of the edges not carrying and also not being granted the crucial wicket of Chanderpaul when he was caught out sweeping to Giles only for it to rain and the game had to be abandoned. Otherwise it was a fruitful day for WI, their batters struck to their task. Everyone got starts; it was Sarwan & Chanderpaul who used it to post good scores at the end of the day. As for England bowlers the stats may not make full justice but there were moments when they should have had the wickets column filled. The fortune was on the WI side and the game is now very well poised with some good batting conditions to come. The batting conditions were very good although not too many boundaries there were lots of singles and couples for offer. The last one hour of the game was lost when it rained (that is after having rain struck 2 to 3 times). Gayle was the first to go in the 2nd session cutting the ball straight to Vaughan at point. Gayle rode his luck and made a good 48. Sarwan looked in great form right from the word go and he was very unlucky to miss out on a well deserved hundred. He tried to glance on the back foot but was caught brilliantly by Hoggard at short mid wicket. Lara looked in great form hooking once for four and then a good back foot drive for four but he was caught very well by Vaughan at gully off Anderson. Giles was the pick of the bowlers; he bowled economically as well as picked couple of crucial wickets. Harmison was hot and cold probably the high average in Cricket 2004 contributing his non showing. Chanderpaul has been batting very well and has now 70 against his name. On day 3, WI trial by 137 runs with another 6 wickets in hand. Unless the day 2?s bowling fortune of WI is repeated by England WI should feel pleased with the way day 2 has gone for them. It was a bit hard to time the ball for first up but once the batsman crosses 50 it becomes so easy to score with the field well spread. Pretty much you can pick gaps at will and score singles.

 

[crick4life]

New updates as of Day 3 with another 1 1/2 session to go

 

[crick4life]

England has an upper hand again at the end of Day 3

England has made a strong bid to the one off test match against West Indies. They scored runs in double quick runs only losing couple of wickets. Pretty much all the batsmen on show contributed to the good looking total and in particular R.Key produced an unbeaten quick fire 76(86). Vaughan looks in great form as he did in the first inning and unless there is another collapse on day 4 like in the first inning England look in a very commanding position. None of the WI bowlers were able to either trouble the England batsmen nor could contain them in spite of the field being spread well enough. First to go was Strauss padding up to a Collymore delivery that pitched in line and kept straight when the score was on 58. Tresco and Strauss then kept the scorecard ticking big time with excellent all around the wicket. Tresco finally missed a sweep shot against O.Banks and was ruled out LBW when the score was on 136. Vaughan came on to the crease and then has shown great intent on getting quick runs on the board thereby putting lot of strain on the WI side. WI on the other hand has produced brilliant form with the ball in lnly one session so far and more or less failed to bowl wicket taking deliveries consistently to the top order in both the inning. WI will definitely know day 4 is another day and a wicket or two in the first session may open the flood gates for yet another good bowling peformance after an insipid day. The pitch is predicted to help shot making in the first couple of sessions and then aiding the spinner in the last 4 sessions. Grey clouds are predicted in the last session so a full day's play may not be possible at all.

 

[crick4life]

After such a marathon game and a lot of detail I have to unfortunately call off this test match owing to having saved a new game over this one. This has happened to me twice the other one being the SA v/s England ODI.