Story My Career Diary - Chapter 46

[Gaurav_7]

Nice solid update, Brendon. Loved the way you described the whole day. Good you're striking it well and I'm pleased it was Tait whom you took on. Best Luck in coming matches.

 

[just_cricket]

Great update mate - really enjoyable to read.

Tbh I think what makes this story very good is that it is obvious you actually know a little bit about cricket. The way you describe playing Tait was very interesting.
KUTGW!

 

[hedger_14]

Well I'm trying to make it sound like I'm inexperienced and not knowing everything even though I don't know everything myself.

 

[Aditya]

Hedger you just need to win few matches for Australia A make sure you bat well and I'm sure your coach will give you and your whole team a big party. Nice update anyway.

 

[hedger_14]

Sorry there has been no updates for a few weeks. Just haven't found the time. I'll be busy this weekend but I should be fine after that and should get in an update by next weekend at latest.

 

[hedger_14]

Chapter 34 ~ Starting XI Announced​

We had another training session the next day and the starting XI was going to be announced after it. Some fielding training came first where I worked on my arm strength and accuracy before having some bowling practice in the nets. I was pretty consistent during the session, reluctant to try anything fancy so I just stuck to the basics with a few well directed bouncers. I bowled Shaun out twice and he edged behind once as well. I was pretty happy with my performance in the nets and I was in some good form at the moment. As training came to a close, we went over to the coach, ready for him to announce the starting XI for the four day match on tomorrow.

I was nervous and really wanted to be chosen, ?Good training session again today. Seems like all of you guys are giving 100% so that is pleasing. I?ll be announcing the starting XI for tomorrows 4 day match now.? We were all ready to hear the line up. ?Ok. Our 2 openers will be Shaun Marsh and Tim Paine who will keep. Captain and number 3 batsman will be George Bailey. Adam Voges will come in at #4. Dan Christian will come in at #5. Moises Henriques will come in at #6.? I still wondered whether James or I would be chosen or whether both of us would play and only 3 bowlers would be chosen. ?I?ve decided to try out a less experienced player so James won?t play.? I now had smiled because I had assumed I would be selected. James looked slightly disappointed. ?So Brendon Hedger will come in at #7. Brett Geeves will come in at #8, Ben Laughlin at #9, Jon Holland will be at #10 and Josh will be the last player in the starting eleven.? I was happy that I was chosen but I didn?t know whether I would get much of a bowl as 7 bowlers were being used while Adam could also bowl some part time spinners. ?Sorry John and James that you were not selected but you will get your chance in the One Day series. Have a good nights sleep and be ready for tomorrows match against New Zealand.? I sure was as I wanted to be fresh for the match. Could I prove my abilities though, or would I fail miserably? I didn?t want to think the latter but anything can happen and I hope I get lucky.



Sorry about not a very interesting update with no screens or anything and definately not a months work in it considering that's how long it's been since my last update. Next update will be the game so you don't have to worry about it being another training session or something.

 

[hedger_14]

Chapter 35 (Part A) ~ Day 1. Session 1​

I got a good nights sleeps, mainly because I was worn out the previous day and I really felt refreshed. I had a shower and brushed my teeth before heading down for some breakfast before we left to the stadium on the team bus. It was 9:30am when we arrived at Eden Park where we were playing. We had some fielding practice on the field as the pitch was set up. George, Adam and I had some slips catches training so I thought I would probably be fielding in the slips. After some practice on the field, we headed up to the pavilion. George had a look at the pitch before, “Looking at the pitch. It looks pretty hard so we’ll have a bat if we win the toss cause it could be a long day in the field.” As 10:30 approached, George got ready to head down for the toss. He went down to the field. We waited before George came back up. “We’re batting first guys.” Shaun replied, “What. You win the toss?” “Actually. I didn’t. Dan chose to bowl first. Anyway, you and Tim go pad up. We’re going out to bat at 11.” I just put the feet up as I wouldn’t be in for a while. The New Zealand line up was:

1. BJ Watling
2. Aaron Redmond
3. Martin Guptill
4. Jesse Ryder
5. Neil Broom
6. Grant Elliott
7. Brendon McCullum (WK) (VC)
8. Daniel Vettori (C)
9. Kyle Mills
10. Daryl Tuffey
11. Tim Southee

At 11:00am, Tim and Shaun headed out onto the field to open the batting. There were around 1000 people in the crowd watching this game which was pretty good. Kyle Mills was opening the bowling. Shaun was facing to start off with and he got himself ready before Kyle Mills came in to bowl. Marsh defended the first ball but went at his second ball, cover driving a full ball but it took the edge and Redmond fielding at second slip reached above him but put it down and Shaun was given a life, and he was breathing a sigh of relief. Shaun went back to defending after that though and played the over out for a maiden as Southee opened the bowling from the other end. The first runs of the day came when Southee bowled a no ball as Paine defended it out towards cover and the batsman showed good awareness to sneak through for the single and Paine was off the mark. Marsh was really struggling though as he was failing to connect with the ball as he was still on nought after 10 balls. Paine meanwhile scored the first boundary of the day with an edge off Mills which went along the ground through third slip and the outfield was very quick so it raced away to the boundary. Marsh got himself off the mark while Paine was looking edgy early on with yet another edge which flew through a vacant 3rd-4th slip region and away for his second boundary. Paine definitely didn’t look comfortable at the crease and finally went, edging Mills and Redmond at second slip pulled off an unbelievable catch diving way to his right and catching it in his outstretched right hand and held onto it as he hit the ground and Paine walked disappointedly back to the pavilion kicking himself at getting out. He was out for 12 and we were 19/1, the skipper making his way to the crease.

Daniel Vettori was an early change as he was brought on to replace Southee who had only bowled 4 overs. Bailey tried a hook shot off Mills but mistimed it although it fell safely into the outfield and the batsman got around for 2. The runs came by at a steady rate but we were unable to score boundaries so working it into the gaps was the best option. Bailey however got going though with 2 fours in 2 overs, the first hitting Vettori through cover with the spin the second cutting a short ball from Mills over cover point for 4 and we all gave the skipper a cheer. Marsh had struggled to get going though with 15 off 50 deliveries and finally went, missing a straight ball that he was trying to drive as it crashed into the offstump and Marsh reluctantly looked around to see the bails flying and made the slow trudge back to the pavilion. Adam made his way out of the crease putting on the helmet and the gloves as I gave him a pat on the back and wished him luck. Marsh just sat down and chucked off the pads. ‘What was that?’ I asked him. ‘Not sure. Just some advice. Don’t miss the ball when it’s on the stumps.’ I laughed at that as I looked back down at the cricket going on. 43/2 and we were in a bit of trouble.

Voges and Bailey got us through to 50 as we went into the final 35 minutes of the session with the match probably slightly in favour of New Zealand at this time. Voges got his first boundary after coming down the wicket and playing Vettori back past him for 4. Bailey got another boundary next over although not where he would have liked as he tried to defend off the back foot but it just flew through the slip region for his third boundary. The batsman were fighting hard though and Vettori decided to give the ball to his other paceman, Daryl Tuffey in hope for a breakthrough late in the session with only about 5 overs left in the session. It wasn’t the best over though, Bailey hitting him for 7 including a beautiful cover drive which raced away to the boundary for 4. Tuffey’s next over was better, only conceding 1 run as they went into the final over of the day, with Southee brought back into attack for the final over. He couldn’t take a late wicket though as we went into the lunch break at 86/2, Bailey 36* and Voges 22*.

Short Scoreboard:

Day 1 - Lunch

Australia A - 86/2 (28.0 over’s)

G. Bailey - 34* (62)
A. Voges - 22* (34)

T. Southee 1/15 (6)
D. Tuffey 0/8 (2)

 

[CG123]

Nice restart to the story.

The match is evenly poised ATM, of course I'm hoping for New Zealand to do well, but hopefully you can get amongst the runs later today.

 

[Aditya]

New Zealanders should be happy with their performance in the first session considering the fact that there were few edges going past the slips from the Australia A batsman's. On other hand, Australia A won't be disappointed with their performance in the 1st batsman, they have lost 2 wickets but Bailey is looking good and Voges has got off to a fine start.

Nice to see this story back. Best of luck for the future updates, Brendon.

 

[hedger_14]

Chapter 35 (Part B) ~ Day 1. Session 2​

After the lunch break, Adam and George made their way back to the crease. I put the feet back up, knowing I wouldn’t be batting for a while yet, and I had full faith in our batsman. Dan and Moises still were to come in before me so I wasn’t going to get padded up just yet. Daryl Tuffey continued to bowl into the second session, and his first ball was wide of the off stump and Voges left it alone, without risk. His first over wasn’t bad conceding 3 runs including a no ball while Vettori decided to bowl himself from the other end. A few runs came in the first half of the over before Bailey beautifully timed one through the covers for a boundary and Bailey moved closer to fifty. Vettori decided to take Tuffey off though and bring Kyle Mills back into the attack and he started off well bringing a play and a miss from Voges first ball before hitting him in the head with a bouncer the next to rattle him up. Adam wasn’t too happy. He would be looking to attack the bowler now. He got off the strike though next ball much to his relief, I’m guessing. Bailey smashed the first six of the game off the bowling of Daniel Vettori. It was on a good line and length but Bailey got well under it and played it back over his head back into the sight screen for 6! We all gave him a cheer as he brought up the 100 for us as well as moving to 47 not out. Voges got Mills back though with a nicely timed drive through the covers for his third boundary of the innings. He backed that up by playing another cover drive, this time very square but another boundary nevertheless and Voges moved into the 30’s with Bailey still 3 runs short of his half century. Vettori continued to bowl. Bailey worked him fine first ball and they came through for an easy 2 for Bailey to move onto 49*. He then brought up his fifty in great fashion, slog sweeping Vettori over square leg for a one bounce four a few balls later and a great fifty for the skipper.

Mills and Vettori bowled back to back maidens after that though but Adam and George were going to be tough to crack, Voges playing some fine defensive shots to Vettori. New Zealand just couldn’t break this partnership and Voges decided to go at Vettori and hammered him over forward square leg for a huge six. He was pleased with that, Vettori walking back to his back not impressed. Voges then smacked another boundary off Mills before hitting a single to move onto 48* and retain the strike. Southee was brought back on though and Adam’s big hitting came to an end as he was sent back by Bailey and was run out for 48, but we were in a very good position at 145/3. Dan made his way to the crease while I took out my kit and started putting the pads on. Adam came in obviously displeased at the captain for sending him back, ‘There was an easy single there!’ he said, making his feelings heard. I just continued to get padded up, ready for my chance.

It didn’t look good early on for Dan though as his first 2 balls beat the bat. I was nervous, very excited but nervous. A good performance in this series could earn me an Australian call up in the near future. I still had heaps of time though so I didn’t really mind. Christian didn’t last long though, playing a One Day cricket stroke to get out. Trying to guide it down to a vacant third man region, all he managed to do was fend it off to Guptill in the gully who ran forward to take a good catch. Christian was out for 2 and now Moises Henriques made his way out to the middle, with now me to come in next. Hopefully these 2 could bat through to lunch. Still nearly an hour to go in the session though so it wasn’t looking good. George Bailey was playing well though as he played Tim Southee beautifully back down the ground for a boundary to move into the 70’s. We needed him to stay there. They worked away at it though and got into the final half an hour of the session as Henriques just played a lovely drive off the back foot to hit his first boundary. On this pitch, it seemed driving was the way to go. Most of the runs had come through the covers or back past the bowler. As Bailey got past 75, the field started to spread although he wasn’t particularly dangerous, just knocking around the singles with the occasional boundary.

Vettori finally struck with his first wicket, although not his best ball. A full ball just outside the leg stump but Henriques tried to defend it but all he managed was an outside edge onto the stumps and he was out for 12, the score 177/4 with 15 minutes left in the session. ’Good luck mate’, Adam said to me as I smiled back and got ready to go out. I put the helmet on and started walking out to the crease, putting the gloves on while walking out to the middle. Finally time for my chance. Vettori was bowling. ‘5 to come in the over, left arm over the wicket,’ the umpire said to me as I asked for centre. I was very nervous, all that was on my mind was playing out the first ball. It was on the stumps, and I came well forward to defend it. I heard it hit the edge and quickly turned around but it had gone straight through the gap between the slip and the keeper. ‘Yes! Yes! Yes!!’ the skipper yelled and I realised that I should be running. I made it easily as the slip ran back to field the ball and I was off the mark. Bailey scored a single next ball and I was on strike again. I played out 2 dots before the final ball was too fall and I hit it before it bounced through midwicket to score my second run as I retained the strike. Tuffey was bowling full and straight and I wasn’t taking any chances as I just defended out the first 3 balls. Tuffey steamed in again. It was a bit wider though but I came forward to defend but heard the nick again. I didn’t look behind me though as I knew it would carry this time. A whole lot of ‘Ooh’ sounds came though from the fielders and I looked around to see the first slip fielder with his hands on his head. ‘What was that? It just went straight through the hands?’ said one of the other fielders. The skipper called me to the middle off the pitch to have a talk to me, ‘Don’t worry about that. You’ve been given a chance. Make the most of it. Put your head back down,’ he said to me, as I only replied with a ‘Yep’ and a nod as he gave me a pat on the back as I turned down to the other end. I played out the rest of the over for a maiden before Bailey hit a single on the second ball of the next over to put me back on strike. I was trying to take the spin out of the equation as much as possible as Vettori was getting some purchase from the wicket and I came down the wicket to hit a full toss through mid wicket and we got 3, as I moved onto 5. I hit my first boundary off Vettori in the last over of the session, although a very thick edge going through backward point which raced away on the quick outfield and now all I had to do was survive until lunch. I scored a single off the final ball of the session so we went into the tea break at 195/5, Bailey still unbeaten on 87 while I was starting to get going on 11 not out. I got a few congrats from the teammates as I walked back into the pavilion but Bailey’s great innings was well acknowledged. I took the pads off to go and get something to eat before I had to bat in the final session.

Short Scoreboard:

Day 1 - Tea

Australia A - 195/5 (57.0 over’s)

G. Bailey 87* (135)
B. Hedger 11* (20)

D. Vettori 1/84 (23)
D. Tuffey 0/25 (7)

 

[Aditya]

Hedger to make century.

 

[Spoobir]

I've just read the last few updates and this story is really great! Love the detail in the writing

 

[hedger_14]

Yeah, I just felt like restarting the story a few days ago so I wrote some updates to see if I was interested in continuing it and did so. I already have the next update finished and already half of the update after that done so I'll post the next update tomorrow probably.

 

[Dutchmen]

Man, how many story will you control? It looks like a mess to control at-leat a story, but you have 3 stories on your pocket, more how many left? anyway, the color of that text in your upgrade should have been in any other one rather than going with little green because it make diffcult to read.

 

[hedger_14]

Chapter 35 (Part C) ~ Day 1. Session 3​

I started to pad up after having something to eat and looked up at the clock. Still 5 minutes before we had to go out. George came over to me, ?We?ve got all afternoon so go out there and have some fun. Just try not to get out.? I smiled while putting my other gear on, ?Yep. I?ll try.? We made our way out to the crease about 4 pm ready for the first ball of the session. I was on strike and ready to face the first ball of the day. Tuffey was bowling it and it was outside off stump so I left it alone. I got my first run of the session the next ball though playing a defensive shot out into the covers and we ran a quick single. Bailey was going for it though hitting it down to fine leg for 2 before playing Tuffey back down the ground off the back foot for a boundary to move into the 90?s. That also brought the 200 up for us. Bailey was given a life though when he edged through to the keeper but the umpire signalled a no ball and Bailey was very lucky. We worked around a few singles as Bailey edged Mills again through the vacant slip region down to third man for a single to move onto 97*. The field was on so any singles would help him. Bailey scored another 2 singles to move onto 99* before I got him back on strike so he had 2 balls off Mills to score one run. It was full and he worked it square. ?Yes!!!? I shouted out and sprinted off. He was also quick to react. The throw was at my end so I put in the dive and got home and George Bailey had his century. He raised his bat and helmet to the crowd as I came over to congratulate him. The job wasn?t done yet though with only 218 runs on the board and 5 wickets down.

I got my second boundary although it was an edge through the slip region and the outfield was like carpet so it easily raced away to the boundary. Runs were coming pretty easily after that as I moved into the 20?s while the field started to spread again for Bailey. I moved to 32 when I cut away Vettori very fine for my third boundary and I hoped that I could go on an make a half century at least. We continued to play well as we brought up the 250 right on 5 o?clock so we still had an hour left to play. I was on 39* so I only needed 11 runs for my fifty. I tried to force the runs by smacking Vettori back over his head but it didn?t come off the middle and we got three for it. Bailey called me over to have a talk, ?Come on. You?re so close to a fifty. We need to survive the day. Just work around the singles and you?ll get your fifty.? I went back to the crease as Bailey faced the next ball. I was getting my boundaries from edges but they were boundaries nevertheless as I moved to 49*. Only one more run until fifty. After playing out 5 dots to finish Mills over and 4 dots over the next over, I finally found the single to bring up the fifty and I was really happy. Now I had to put my head down and go score my second career first class century.

Well George Bailey must have been waiting for my half century cause his next ball was hammered into the crowd for a huge six. He looked pleased with that shot. He backed that up by sweeping Mills for 6 next ball even with a man in the deep. I tried to let Bailey get on strike as much as possible but I had trouble scoring singles over the next 2 over?s. Bailey hammered Vettori though, slog sweeping him over midwicket for his 4th six of the innings. He wasn?t stopping there though as he tried to hook Kyle Mills but got a thick top edge which flew over the McCullum?s head for 6. With just under 20 minutes left in the day, Grant Elliott was brought into the attack. George Bailey brought up his 150 and the 300 for the team with his 13th boundary of the innings, and we now only had 10 minutes to survive an excellent session for us. Bailey was unlucky not to get another boundary but smacked it straight back at the stumps as I dived back into my crease but luckily, the bowler didn?t touch it. Bailey seemed to slow down after that though and we went into the final over the day with Bailey on strike. I had only put on 3 more runs since scoring my half century while Bailey had raced away but that didn?t matter. I was still there and knew I could build on that score tomorrow. He did however hit one boundary with a back foot drive through midwicket before turning the strike over to me for the last 2 balls. I couldn?t get out now. The first ball was short so I just ducked from it. Only one ball to survive. It was down the leg side and I just let it hit my back leg. I finished the day on 53* as we made 312/5, Bailey playing superbly, scoring 159* as we walked off the field knowing he had controlled that final session. I just hoped that I would get the chance to score my century tomorrow. Our teammates congratulated us as I grabbed a drink and took off my gear. ?Great work guys. We?re in a strong position. Let?s continue this tomorrow. Now go have a good night?s sleep? That?s exactly what I was going to do. It was a great day and this fifty really helped my chances at starting in the One Day series.