Story [ITC] England in Australia

[Skater]

Using International Test Cricket, England will be touring Australia for the hugely popular Ashes series.

Schedule

TBC: 1st Test at Brisbane
TBC: 2nd Test at Perth
TBC: 3rd Test at Adelaide
TBC: 4th Test at Melbourne
TBC: 5th Test at Sydney

In the squads, Phil Jaques, Brad Hodge, Nathan Bracken and Stuart MacGill replace the retired Justin Langer, Damien Martyn, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne respectively for Australia. England captain Michael Vaughan is injured and will not play any part in the series.

Australia Squad

Phil Jaques
Matthew Hayden
Ricky Ponting (Captain)
Brad Hodge
Michael Hussey
Andrew Symonds
Shane Watson
Adam Gilchrist
Brett Lee
Nathan Bracken
Stuart MacGill
Stuart Clark

England Squad

Andrew Strauss
Alastair Cook
Ian Bell
Paul Collingwood
Kevin Pietersen
Andrew Flintoff (Captain)
Chris Read
Liam Plunkett
Matthew Hoggard
Stephen Harmison
Monty Panesar
Geraint Jones

 

[Pakistani Army]

Good squads looking forward to it mate...

 

[Skater]

Good squads looking forward to it mate...

Thanks. It is good that the squads are reasonably up to date in this game.

The first Ashes test match between Australia and England has started in Brisbane. The pitch was described as "perfect for batting with no visible cracks", but there would be some high bounce for the fast bowlers. The weather was very overcast.

In the teams, Stuart Clark is selected ahead of Nathan Bracken for Australia and Chris Read is selected ahead of Geraint Jones for England.

Australia Team

1. Phil Jacques
2. Matthew Hayden
3. Ricky Ponting (Captain)
4. Brad Hodge
5. Michael Hussey
6. Andrew Symonds
7. Shane Watson
8. Adam Gilchrist (Wicket Keeper)
9. Brett Lee
10. Stuart MacGill
11. Stuart Clark

England Team

1. Andrew Strauss
2. Alastair Cook
3. Ian Bell
4. Paul Collingwood
5. Kevin Pietersen
6. Andrew Flintoff (Captain)
7. Chris Read (Wicket Keeper)
8. Liam Plunkett
9. Matthew Hoggard
10. Stephen Harmison
11. Monty Panesar

At the coin toss, England captain Andrew Flintoff called heads but the coin came down as tails. Australia captain Ricky Ponting elected to bowl first.

It didn't take long for the first wicket to fall, with Andrew Strauss being out leg before wicket off the bowling of Stuart Clark for 8 runs from 15 balls. Ian Bell was caught behind by Adam Gilchrist off the bowling of Brett Lee for four runs in the very next over, and England had not started well.

The heavy cloud above Brisbane began to produce a rain shower after just 5 overs of England's first innings with score on 23-2. Two hours and twelve minutes, or the equivalent of 18 overs, had been lost by the time the players could restart. Kevin Pietersen came in before Paul Collingwood in the order, and was just starting to play well when he was caught out by Stuart Clark off the bowling of replacement Shane Watson for 21, leaving England 55-3 at that point. Alastair Cook was eventually caught out for 29 as England continued to lose wickets at regular intervals. Collingwood was soon bowled by spin bowler Stuart MacGill for 19. Wicket Keeper Chris Read was not in for long, leaving a lot for the lower order to do.

The lower order battled to push England's total up 151 all out after 49.2 overs, less overs than in a One Day International.

There were no stand out performances at all for England, but Stuart Clark too bowling figures of 3-27 and Stuart MacGill took 3-35 for Australia.

England need to bowl out Australia for less than 200 runs to stand any chance of saving this match in the current circumstances.

Australia v England Update

England 1st innings: 151 all out

 

[Skater]

Unfortunately, as I am using an unregistered version of this game, I can't save matches to resume later on. This problem could mean that I am not able to continue with this story thread.

 

[etho11]

Why dont you regsiter it. This is a real disappointment that you can't continue.

 

[Skater]

Why dont you regsiter it. This is a real disappointment that you can't continue.

I haven't got enough money or enough of a motive to pay the registration fee.

I could use a different simulator and just say that the first test match has been washed out or something...