Uncapped England

[FineLegatron]

Going to try an England save where you can't pick players who have existing international caps. I'll be going off in-game stats so if somebody gets a call to face West Indies next month, they don't count and I'm free to use them in future. Starting this game on the 30/6 for reference and I think I have the latest version. I picked v.easy as I'm not too good at the game and can imagine us getting smashed each game if not - although that isn't to say we're likely not to get smashed on v.easy!

Not one for the story-like introductions so we're called Coachy McCoachFace and this is what our home summer looks like:

3 Tests v West Indies
3 T20's v Australia
3 ODI's v Australia
3 Tests v Pakistan
3 T20's v Pakistan
3 ODI's v Ireland

Strange summer but here we go

Squad for First Test v West Indies

Few tough calls and indecision over what we want the team to look like. Decided on a safe five bats, all rounder, keeper, three pace and a spinner. Taking along an extra bat and pace bowler to judge conditions on the day. Can't see it turning much but you never know.

C.Dent gets a call up after being comfortably one of the most underrated players of the last few years. He'll open with V.Chopra, who is in great CC form in game. S.Hain, for obvious reasons will be in the middle order with S.Northeast and D.Lawrence. As a big Kent fan, Northeast being picked after leaving for a Test ground is a killer but he's a top player. Lawrence looks set to play in real life, so he has to play. J.Clarke edges out J.Bracey to keep, couldn't think of too many alternatives to them two? Dent also an option, will see who the comp picks. G.Harte is the outside shot at forcing an all rounder in, picked ahead of B.Raine and D.Douthwaite. Pace bowlers are O.Robinson, B.Coad and J.Porter, easily the three stand outs in county cricket recently. D.Payne is in for the hell of it and A.Virdi is the spinner. It's naturally painful picking a Surrey player too, but whatever, this simulated cricket game won't win itself and it was him or Matt Parkinson's brother. P.Salt is also there in case we want to put an extra bat in.

[FineLegatron]

We line up
C.Dent (wk)
V.Chopra (c)
D.Lawrence
S.Hain
S.Northeast
J.Clarke
G.Harte
O.Robinson
B.Coad
A.Virdi
J.Porter

Didn't decide on an extra bat/pace and thought an all rounder will add balance. Needs to be a quality all rounder though, so the jury is out on our boy Harte. Clarke was put that low by the AI.

West Indies
K.Braithwaite
J.Campbell
S.Brooks
S.Hope
J.Blackwood
S.Ambris
S.Dowrich
J.Holder
A.Joseph
K.Roach
S.Gabriel

Shai Hope and that bowling attack are the main worries in that line up.

We win the toss and bat

DAY ONE - LUNCH
England 95-3
Lost Chopra (12) early, Lawrence (11) shortly after as Joseph and Gabriel caused problems. Dent looked good but fell just before lunch for 47, LBW to Joseph. Hain (18*) and Northeast (9*) with it all to do in the afternoon.

DAY ONE - TEA
England 195-5
Exactly 100-2 that session and one of them two wickets was Clarke (22) the over before lunch, much like Dent in the morning. Hain (41) fell to Gabriel but Northeast (54*) was aggressive throughout and made the first England 50 of the new age.
Hopefully 290-7 at the end of the day.

DAY ONE - CLOSE
England 292-8
We'll take that. Harte battled but got ran out in a huge mix up for 9. Robinson (14) and Coad (2) threatened to ruin our day but Virdi (11*) helped Northeast reach his milestone, 112* at close and looking to get us to 350ish tomorrow morning. He was dropped on 99* and snuck a single out of it. That was a nice quirk for the computer to throw in.

West Indies have Joseph to sing about, 3-86 for him, and Gabriel 3-57 too.

DAY TWO - INNINGS CHANGE
England 312-10
Northeast ran out of partners after Roach got his second wicket and Holder his first to clean us up for 312. Northeast ended 130* as he began to throw the bat but Porter just couldn't hang around for him to go full send up to 150 territory.

We'll see if 312 is a good score or not.

DAY TWO - LUNCH
West Indies 54-1
Braithwaite the only man to fall, edging Porter to slip for 6. Campbell (31*) and Brooks (16*) making it look easy so far, although hardly scoring as freely as we were.

DAY TWO - TEA
West Indies 162-5 (51 overs)
Robinson removed Campbell for 36 early on in the session, and Porter broke a troubling partnership by getting rid of Brooks (57) and Hope (26) in quick succession. Blackwood (12) fell to Coad just before tea leaving Ambris (19*) and Dowrich (1*) 150 runs behind with it all to do. Virdi and Harte wicketless.

DAY TWO - CLOSE
West Indies 254-8 (82 overs)
90-3 in the evening session as Dowrich (7) fell early to Coad, his second wicket of his Test career. Holder hung around for a worrying partnership with Dowrich, but in an effort to give the seamers a break, fell to Lawrence's offspin just before the new ball. Once we took that, Porter removed Joseph (1) leaving Ambris, who batted the session on 67* and Roach 0*. Trail by 58. Porter on four wickets, looking for his fifth tomorrow.

Hopefully wrap this up with a lead of 50 in the first half hour. Bat the day and get a good 300/350 ahead.

DAY THREE - INNINGS CHANGE
West Indies 338-10 (96.4 overs)
Well that went wrong. Roach battered a quick 43 as nothing I tried worked. Ambris made his century before Harte pinned him LBW for 105. As Robinson was the man to remove Roach, it left Porter on four wickets (and a slightly sore economy after taking the brunt of Roach's runs)
Bowling figures:
Coad 25-7-59-2
Porter 27-4-108-4
Robinson 15-0-50-2
Harte 9.4-0-42-1
Virdi 16-1-58-0
Lawrence 4-0-19-1

Harte expensive as expected, not sure what value he adds. Everything else went largely as expected except Porter getting hammered at the end.

Alright knock off the 26 run deficit and hopefully make the close with recognized batsmen still about.

DAY THREE - LUNCH
England 38-0
Dent had a red bull and put some boundaries away early. Chopra put some of his own away although mainly off his edge. Happy they're still there and we're now ahead.

DAY THREE - TEA
England 121-2 (40 overs)
Chopra fell right away to Holder for 16, put out of his misery in a way. Dent shortly after, bowled by Holder for 23. Lawrence (43*) and Hain (29*) still in there. Lead by 95. It's all in the balance now. Lots of time left in the game, so just need to eek towards setting them at least 300.

DAY THREE - CLOSE
England 210-3
We'll take that. Leading by 184 with seven wickets in hand is a good place to be. Lawrence scraped to 90 before Joseph pinned him LBW. Hain (65*) and Northeast (7*) defended like hell for the last twenty minutes to come back again tomorrow, which they will.

After seeing Roach's fireworks in the first innings, I'm not sure what is a safe total here. 300 sounds nice, but 120 runs seems a long way off with the amount of playing and missing going on. We'll see how they go first thing and may have to ramp the aggression up and go down swinging. Always the smart choice. There's a new ball on the horizon too.

DAY FOUR - LUNCH
England 294-3 (101 overs)
Getting closer to our 300 lead target without much alarm. Hain and Northeast batted the session with relative ease. There was some edging and missing but they're still there. Hain 103* scoring England's second century of the new age and Northeast 52*, carrying on his form from the first innings.

DAY FOUR - TEA
England 370-8 (130 overs)
Bit of a random one that. Northeast fell straight away and Hain shortly after, 52 and 106 respectively so not really adding to their scores. Much rested on Clarke to guide us upwards and he did, making 45 before being caught and bowled by Joseph. Harte (4) and Robinson (6) didn't last long and we go into the evening session with Coad and Virdi at the crease with full license to have a swing. 344 ahead, more than we wanted, so nothing to lose.

DAY FOUR - INNINGS CHANGE
England 439-10 (150 overs)
20 overs into the session and it was all done. Coad (35) and Virdi (39) were positive, though steady, and got us up to 439. A real big lead of 413.
Holder picked up four, Roach three and Joseph two. Gabiral was expensive for one wicket and Campbell bowled a few overs which were so forgettable I was tempted to leave them out.

Okay so 414 to win, not even Harte can screw this up, and we have a day and 22 minutes to bowl them out.

DAY FOUR - CLOSE
West Indies 39-1 (8 overs)
Expensive in search of wickets, I reckon. Porter copped the most but was taken off for Virdi to bowl the final over of the day, where he nicked off Campbell for 20 to leave us only nine wickets to get tomorrow. West Indies need 375 runs. Perhaps I was being far too negative by not declaring.

DAY FIVE - LUNCH
West Indies 125-2 (38 overs)
Lack of penetration a worry. Braithwaite (42*) has handled everything, while Coad was the only wicket taker when he sent back Brooks (13). Hope (40*) at the other end and both these guys look set. 289 to win, so runs aren't an issue. You'd think?

DAY FIVE - TEA
West Indies 229-4
I think they'll hang on pretty easily. Robinson picked up Braithwaite (51) and Virdi bowled Blackwood (18) but there isn't even that much playing and missing going on to keep us interested. Harte is causing the most problems, which is a worry. They need 185, so the draw is safe, but six wickets is a long way off to force a win.

DAY FIVE - CLOSE
West Indies 321-4
Nothing happened. 300 wasn't defendable so it was nice to justify the choice to stay out. Hope (130*) sealed the deal and Ambris looks in form with 63* to back up his first innings century. Joe Clarke even bowled an over.
Coad 17-3-41-1
Porter 19-1-89-0 (got some stick but had a very aggressive field for a bit)
Virdi 31-7-83-2
Robinson 18-1-64-1
Harte 9-2-21-0
Lawrence 5-1-8-0
Clarke 1-0-1-0

Northeast was selected for man of the match which is fair for us but Ambris scored more runs.

MATCH DRAWN

Disappointing start. We seem to lack that key bowler, kind of like a James Anderson, who you could just turn to to make something happen. We'll likely stay the same for the second Test, although Virdi hardly caused the problems we want him too. May be forced out for David Payne. Not sure if left arm adds value in game?






That's the start of this story. I'll hopefully take this save to the next world cup and possibly the Ashes afterwards.

Is there anybody you think will make a decent selection? Can't have played any previous international cricket, not even the one cap wonders. Hildreth still didn't get a game but his form was rubbish (ave 20 in CC). Looking for a strike bowler.

[Dhruv]

We line up
C.Dent (wk)
V.Chopra (c)
D.Lawrence
S.Hain
S.Northeast
J.Clarke
G.Harte
O.Robinson
B.Coad
A.Virdi
J.Porter

Didn't decide on an extra bat/pace and thought an all rounder will add balance. Needs to be a quality all rounder though, so the jury is out on our boy Harte. Clarke was put that low by the AI.

West Indies
K.Braithwaite
J.Campbell
S.Brooks
S.Hope
J.Blackwood
S.Ambris
S.Dowrich
J.Holder
A.Joseph
K.Roach
S.Gabriel

Shai Hope and that bowling attack are the main worries in that line up.

We win the toss and bat

DAY ONE - LUNCH
England 95-3
Lost Chopra (12) early, Lawrence (11) shortly after as Joseph and Gabriel caused problems. Dent looked good but fell just before lunch for 47, LBW to Joseph. Hain (18*) and Northeast (9*) with it all to do in the afternoon.

DAY ONE - TEA
England 195-5
Exactly 100-2 that session and one of them two wickets was Clarke (22) the over before lunch, much like Dent in the morning. Hain (41) fell to Gabriel but Northeast (54*) was aggressive throughout and made the first England 50 of the new age.
Hopefully 290-7 at the end of the day.

DAY ONE - CLOSE
England 292-8
We'll take that. Harte battled but got ran out in a huge mix up for 9. Robinson (14) and Coad (2) threatened to ruin our day but Virdi (11*) helped Northeast reach his milestone, 112* at close and looking to get us to 350ish tomorrow morning. He was dropped on 99* and snuck a single out of it. That was a nice quirk for the computer to throw in.

West Indies have Joseph to sing about, 3-86 for him, and Gabriel 3-57 too.

DAY TWO - INNINGS CHANGE
England 312-10
Northeast ran out of partners after Roach got his second wicket and Holder his first to clean us up for 312. Northeast ended 130* as he began to throw the bat but Porter just couldn't hang around for him to go full send up to 150 territory.

We'll see if 312 is a good score or not.

DAY TWO - LUNCH
West Indies 54-1
Braithwaite the only man to fall, edging Porter to slip for 6. Campbell (31*) and Brooks (16*) making it look easy so far, although hardly scoring as freely as we were.

DAY TWO - TEA
West Indies 162-5 (51 overs)
Robinson removed Campbell for 36 early on in the session, and Porter broke a troubling partnership by getting rid of Brooks (57) and Hope (26) in quick succession. Blackwood (12) fell to Coad just before tea leaving Ambris (19*) and Dowrich (1*) 150 runs behind with it all to do. Virdi and Harte wicketless.

DAY TWO - CLOSE
West Indies 254-8 (82 overs)
90-3 in the evening session as Dowrich (7) fell early to Coad, his second wicket of his Test career. Holder hung around for a worrying partnership with Dowrich, but in an effort to give the seamers a break, fell to Lawrence's offspin just before the new ball. Once we took that, Porter removed Joseph (1) leaving Ambris, who batted the session on 67* and Roach 0*. Trail by 58. Porter on four wickets, looking for his fifth tomorrow.

Hopefully wrap this up with a lead of 50 in the first half hour. Bat the day and get a good 300/350 ahead.

DAY THREE - INNINGS CHANGE
West Indies 338-10 (96.4 overs)
Well that went wrong. Roach battered a quick 43 as nothing I tried worked. Ambris made his century before Harte pinned him LBW for 105. As Robinson was the man to remove Roach, it left Porter on four wickets (and a slightly sore economy after taking the brunt of Roach's runs)
Bowling figures:
Coad 25-7-59-2
Porter 27-4-108-4
Robinson 15-0-50-2
Harte 9.4-0-42-1
Virdi 16-1-58-0
Lawrence 4-0-19-1

Harte expensive as expected, not sure what value he adds. Everything else went largely as expected except Porter getting hammered at the end.

Alright knock off the 26 run deficit and hopefully make the close with recognized batsmen still about.

DAY THREE - LUNCH
England 38-0
Dent had a red bull and put some boundaries away early. Chopra put some of his own away although mainly off his edge. Happy they're still there and we're now ahead.

DAY THREE - TEA
England 121-2 (40 overs)
Chopra fell right away to Holder for 16, put out of his misery in a way. Dent shortly after, bowled by Holder for 23. Lawrence (43*) and Hain (29*) still in there. Lead by 95. It's all in the balance now. Lots of time left in the game, so just need to eek towards setting them at least 300.

DAY THREE - CLOSE
England 210-3
We'll take that. Leading by 184 with seven wickets in hand is a good place to be. Lawrence scraped to 90 before Joseph pinned him LBW. Hain (65*) and Northeast (7*) defended like hell for the last twenty minutes to come back again tomorrow, which they will.

After seeing Roach's fireworks in the first innings, I'm not sure what is a safe total here. 300 sounds nice, but 120 runs seems a long way off with the amount of playing and missing going on. We'll see how they go first thing and may have to ramp the aggression up and go down swinging. Always the smart choice. There's a new ball on the horizon too.

DAY FOUR - LUNCH
England 294-3 (101 overs)
Getting closer to our 300 lead target without much alarm. Hain and Northeast batted the session with relative ease. There was some edging and missing but they're still there. Hain 103* scoring England's second century of the new age and Northeast 52*, carrying on his form from the first innings.

DAY FOUR - TEA
England 370-8 (130 overs)
Bit of a random one that. Northeast fell straight away and Hain shortly after, 52 and 106 respectively so not really adding to their scores. Much rested on Clarke to guide us upwards and he did, making 45 before being caught and bowled by Joseph. Harte (4) and Robinson (6) didn't last long and we go into the evening session with Coad and Virdi at the crease with full license to have a swing. 344 ahead, more than we wanted, so nothing to lose.

DAY FOUR - INNINGS CHANGE
England 439-10 (150 overs)
20 overs into the session and it was all done. Coad (35) and Virdi (39) were positive, though steady, and got us up to 439. A real big lead of 413.
Holder picked up four, Roach three and Joseph two. Gabiral was expensive for one wicket and Campbell bowled a few overs which were so forgettable I was tempted to leave them out.

Okay so 414 to win, not even Harte can screw this up, and we have a day and 22 minutes to bowl them out.

DAY FOUR - CLOSE
West Indies 39-1 (8 overs)
Expensive in search of wickets, I reckon. Porter copped the most but was taken off for Virdi to bowl the final over of the day, where he nicked off Campbell for 20 to leave us only nine wickets to get tomorrow. West Indies need 375 runs. Perhaps I was being far too negative by not declaring.

DAY FIVE - LUNCH
West Indies 125-2 (38 overs)
Lack of penetration a worry. Braithwaite (42*) has handled everything, while Coad was the only wicket taker when he sent back Brooks (13). Hope (40*) at the other end and both these guys look set. 289 to win, so runs aren't an issue. You'd think?

DAY FIVE - TEA
West Indies 229-4
I think they'll hang on pretty easily. Robinson picked up Braithwaite (51) and Virdi bowled Blackwood (18) but there isn't even that much playing and missing going on to keep us interested. Harte is causing the most problems, which is a worry. They need 185, so the draw is safe, but six wickets is a long way off to force a win.

DAY FIVE - CLOSE
West Indies 321-4
Nothing happened. 300 wasn't defendable so it was nice to justify the choice to stay out. Hope (130*) sealed the deal and Ambris looks in form with 63* to back up his first innings century. Joe Clarke even bowled an over.
Coad 17-3-41-1
Porter 19-1-89-0 (got some stick but had a very aggressive field for a bit)
Virdi 31-7-83-2
Robinson 18-1-64-1
Harte 9-2-21-0
Lawrence 5-1-8-0
Clarke 1-0-1-0

Northeast was selected for man of the match which is fair for us but Ambris scored more runs.

MATCH DRAWN

Disappointing start. We seem to lack that key bowler, kind of like a James Anderson, who you could just turn to to make something happen. We'll likely stay the same for the second Test, although Virdi hardly caused the problems we want him too. May be forced out for David Payne. Not sure if left arm adds value in game?






That's the start of this story. I'll hopefully take this save to the next world cup and possibly the Ashes afterwards.

Is there anybody you think will make a decent selection? Can't have played any previous international cricket, not even the one cap wonders. Hildreth still didn't get a game but his form was rubbish (ave 20 in CC). Looking for a strike bowler.

I think instead of writing this long, you should probably add the final summary scorecard (where all the innings are shown) , and then write something about the match at the end.

[FineLegatron]

Yeah, it did get pretty long. Did it in a notepad alongside the windowed version. The next few games are played, I'll likely do a weekly upload with little summaries of key performances or else this way will ruin my life.

[Lynx54321]

Bracey is superb both in game and real life so I'd get him involved! Payne is useful but not sure he will be the strike bowler you need, get him involved with the white ball though.

In that all rounder slot it could be worth giving Ryan Higgins a go, very useful bowler especially if it's turning and a good bat. Tom Abell is a good opening batsman worth a look and can send down the odd over.

Coad and Porter have always been great for me in game so I'm struggling to think of a better pace bowler. Jamie Overton is uncapped I think but I've not found him anywhere near as good in red ball cricket compared to white ball.

[FineLegatron]

I have realised the error of my ways a bit when considering this is meant to be an 'uncapped England' save, the majority of players I had in mind to do this with have been capped over the winter (Banton, Mahmood, Parkinson etc) and therefore aren't eligible. When I tried this on CC19 it was pretty cool because these guys were about. There are players with one or two caps which would improve the squad no doubt.

But rules are rules.

Soon, I'll upload how the rest of the series v West Indies went (not good) as well as the T20/ODI white ball series v Australia (waiting and seeing...)

[TheOneWhoBlocksFullTosses]

Have you considered bringing a few veteran players into your side? Darren Stevens took 55 wickets @20 for me in the first season of a domestic save, and also averaged 24 with the bat.
Other options would be players like Hildreth, Rushworth, Nick Browne, Ben Brown (average of 40 for a keeper), and Ben Sanderson (264 wickets @20).

This series is a great idea though and I'm glad to see someone making an original and interesting story!

[FineLegatron]

Have you considered bringing a few veteran players into your side? Darren Stevens took 55 wickets @20 for me in the first season of a domestic save, and also averaged 24 with the bat.
Other options would be players like Hildreth, Rushworth, Nick Browne, Ben Brown (average of 40 for a keeper), and Ben Sanderson (264 wickets @20).

This series is a great idea though and I'm glad to see someone making an original and interesting story!

I haven't been great at uploading (mainly because I'm incredibly terrible at the game and waiting for some sort of solid results), but thank you for the feedback!

The old guys have yet to really appear, mainly because they're all having average seasons in game and therefore in terrible form. Hildreth averaging mid 20's in FC so didn't make the test side. As a Kent boy, I might have to get Stevo in there!