Story Living with India

[Skater]

For realism, I have increased my age by 10 years in this story.

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Novice appointed as national coach

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has appointed a novice from England as the coach of the national team.

Lee Payne, a 25 year old from the east of England, will take charge of all of the side's Test matches, One Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals with immediate effect. It will be his first job in cricket coaching.

President of the BCCI, Sharad Pawar, said: "Although Mr. Payne has not coached a cricket team in the past, he has outstanding cricket knowledge and the scouts believe he has what it takes to get India to the best team in the world."

There have been mixed reactions to the appointment from the media. Some parts of it have remained open minded, while other parts have been outraged at the decision to bring in a novice as coach so close to an important tour of England.

"I understand that India is one of the toughest countries to coach in," said Payne at a press conference.

"All I can do is promise to do my best to all the fans. I will prove my critics wrong."

Readers - what do you think of Lee Payne being appointed as India coach? Leave your opinions now!​

 

[Ollie_H]

Not a good idea, India should have picked a coach with more experience.

prove me wrong

 

[surendar]

An interesting idea to coach India without any prior experience.. Good luck for the hard and tough job ahead

 

[freddiw]

good idea although i agree you have to prove us you are the right man for the job

 

[Jit]

wow great idea but i think thats not the right guy a 25year old

 

[Cricketman]

We have effigies ready, Mr. Payne! Once you lose a match, we will burn them!

 

[silvanski]

Good luck from one novice to another!

 

[Skater]

Not a good idea, India should have picked a coach with more experience.

prove me wrong

An interesting idea to coach India without any prior experience.. Good luck for the hard and tough job ahead

good idea although i agree you have to prove us you are the right man for the job

wow great idea but i think thats not the right guy a 25year old

We have effigies ready, Mr. Payne! Once you lose a match, we will burn them!

Good luck from one novice to another!

It's going to be a tough job! I can see the pressure I am under already from the Indian fans.

Due to a technical problem, the story will now be played with Cricket Coach 2007.

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Payne to return to his homeland​

Lee Payne, the novice coach of the Indian national cricket team, will return to his native England for his first matches in charge.

India will play 3 tour matches, 4 Test matches and 5 One Day Internationals against the Ashes winners of 2005.

Payne said: "It will be strange going home so soon after moving away and competing against my own country,"

He ensured the fans that home ties would not get in the way of his ambition to achieve success in his role.

"I am still entirely committed to helping India win everything they play on the tour, sentiments will go out of the window."

The BCCI are expected to make an announcement about the squad for the tour later.

Fixtures

Worcestershire, 3 day match, New Road, Worcester
England, 1st Test, Lord's, London
Northamptonshire, 3 day match, County Ground, Northampton
England, 2nd Test, Edgbaston, Birmingham
England, 3rd Test, The Oval, London
Kent, 3 day match, St Lawrence Ground, Canterbury
England, 4th Test, Headingley, Leeds
England, 1st ODI, Lord's, London
England, 2nd ODI, Edgbaston, Birmingham
England, 3rd ODI, The Oval, London
England, 4th ODI, Headingley, Leeds
England, 5th ODI, Old Trafford, Manchester

Readers - who do you think should be in the squad for the tour of England? Leave your opinions now!​

 

[freddiw]

the obvious...include Pragyan Ojha....
sachin, sourav, dravid V.V.S etc etc

 

[surendar]

We have effigies ready, Mr. Payne! Once you lose a match, we will burn them!

haha :laugh

Well, regarding the team selection, its going to be tricky As long as Sachin is in the squad, India will do fine.

 

[SciD]

I think coach can play if any player gets injured

There will opening headaces and I propose Sehwag+Gambhir combination. Rest batting order is predictable. Irfan, Zaheer and Ishant shpuld handle fast bowling.

Whosz ur captain?

 

[Skater]

the obvious...include Pragyan Ojha....
sachin, sourav, dravid V.V.S etc etc

Ojha looks to be a good player. I will take your advice!

haha :laugh

Well, regarding the team selection, its going to be tricky As long as Sachin is in the squad, India will do fine.

There was no doubt he was going to be in the squad!

I think coach can play if any player gets injured

There will opening headaces and I propose Sehwag+Gambhir combination. Rest batting order is predictable. Irfan, Zaheer and Ishant shpuld handle fast bowling.

Whosz ur captain?

Thanks for your suggestions. The captain is revealed now!

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Ganguly left out of India squad

The BCCI have revealed the national squad that will tour England.

President Sharad Pawar said the selectors consulted new coach Lee Payne heavily during the process of finalising the party.

Pawar said: "Our selectors had many talks with Mr. Payne about his ideas for the squad."

The most notable exclusion is Sourav Ganguly, who did not make the 16 man touring party. It is reported Payne said he 'is not the player he used to be' and that 'he needs to realise national selection is not automatic'.

20 year old spin bowler Pragyan Ohja of Hyderabad has earned a call up for his country, and could feature in the Test series instead of Harbhajan Singh.

Wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been named as captain of the team in all forms of the game.

Squad

M. Dhoni (captain, wicket keeper)
R. Dravid
G. Gambhir
W. Jaffer
Z. Khan
A. Kumble
V. Laxman
P. Ohja
I. Pathan
V. Sehwag
I. Sharma
Y. Singh
H. Singh
S. Sreesanth
S. Tendulkar
R. Uthappa

Readers - what do you think of the squad for the tour of England? Leave your opinions now!​

​

 

[gamerkid22]

Great start and interesting idea. But i am not happy with Ganguly left out of the squad and JIt won't be happy either . What are you going to do with out of form Yuvraj?

Great start and Fantastic presentation

 

[freddiw]

awesome start maybe a mistke to leave out sourav
ojha in is good lets hope the coach and selectors prove the fans wrong a bout sourav

 

[Karachi Xpress]

Nice start to the story. I think thats a bad decision to drop Ganguly...