Best team in the world?

[alex.scargill]

Good to see the computer failing to keep its pacemen fresh for the new ball. I thought only I made that mistake.

We cannot compare human brains with computer,since we will always be better.

[ab5ides1]

We cannot compare human brains with computer,since we will always be better.

What about the singularity?

[Clifford]

2nd test
taibu is still injured and i decide to pick chakabva, a young wicket keeper who has made some apperacnes for the one day side to go behind the stumps as taylor leaked a few byes (he hasen't kept wicket for quite a few years now). chakabva replaces the out of form raza. enlgand brought in tremlett to try and avoid the new ball issues they had in the last test. again, there was no or little cloud but the pitch offered far less to the bowlers this time. i lost the toss and had to bowl first.
line ups: http://www.flickr.com/photos/5723953...in/photostream

day 1
our new ball attack gave strauss and cook no worries as they cruised to 93/0 at lunch. just after lunch strauss was bowled by utseya for 48, 98/1 and just after bell was dropped! the score came to 138/2 when cook was caught behind off waller for 64. at tea england had recovered to 186/2. trott was caught in the slips off rainsford for 21 and we then took the new ball, with an hour till the close and the score on 231/3. the new ball got us the wickets of first morgan and then 2 balls later, prior for a duck, both to meth, leaving the score at 289/5 at the close, although bell was still there on 105.

[Clifford]

day 2
england started well on day 2 but bell got himself run out on 125. both broad and blakely then got 50s and the score was 425/6 at lunch. early in the sfternoon waller got broad lbw and blakely was bowled by utseya for 92, the score was 454/8. the tail offered some resistance, before meth and price took a wicket apiece to get england all out for 495. at tea we were 2/0 in response. taylor fell to tremlett for just 13 and at the end of the day we were 53/1, still 442 behind.

[Clifford]

day 3
ervine fell almost immediatly to broad for 18. williams dug in and got well set before he depated, bowled by anderson for 32. this left us 114/3 at lunch, still 381 runs adrift. just after lunch the score was 118/4 as waller was caught in the slips off anderson. later in the afternoon masakadza finally reached his half century, off 209 balls, the slowest ive ever seen! not long after he went, swann's first victim. the score was 151/5 and we were still 344 behind. the next over england took the new ball but we saw the session out without further losses. chakabva scored an unimpressive 10 on his test debut but chigumbura got his 50 soon after, off 162 deliveries. just before the close we lost chigumbura, clean bowled by broad for 66. this meant we were 238/7 at the close of play, needing 57 more to avoid the follow on.

[Clifford]

day 4
the tail did their best to steer us away from following on, with meth getting 39, but our last wicket fell with only 14 needed. we finished on 281 all out, still 214 behind and were asked to follow on. we reached lunch on 12/0. immediatley after lunch masakadza fell to anderson, bowled for 8. taylor was dropped in the slips for 13, an increasingly common occurance with england! ervine was anderson's second wicket, he made an unimpressive 7 and we were in real trouble on 29/2. we managed to get to tea without losing any more wickets, on 68/2, still 146 behind. 2 balls into the session williams was bowled for 14, however we got to the close on 113/3, without losing anymore wickets and taylor had his 50 (which had taken 173 balls). we again would face a difficult challenge in seeing off the final day with 7 wickets in hand.

[Clifford]

day 5
the morning went well, we reached lunch on 173/3, waller having got his first test 50 off 172 balls. taylor reached his second test hundred of the series and his career, off 328 balls, once again he had done a magnificant job in helping see us through to a draw. however, that draw was not garunteed, and nerves began to jitter when talyor was caught off tremlett for 107, the score at 245/4. before tea, waller reached his first test 100, slighlty quciker than taylor, coming off 261 deliveries. at tea we looked secure, on 274/4, 60 ahead. it wasen't long before security deserted us as waller fell, clean bowled by anderson for 111. after a 40-50 minute period of resistance, we collapsed, chakabva, chigumbura and meth departing in quick succesion. however we were safe, moving to 338/8 at the end of the match, 124 ahead! a great result, and once agian my batsmen had shown real grit to see off several days and to score more in the second innings than in the first yet again. 0-0 series draw, but unfortunatley no more points in the world rankings as the last english tour (in 1994) had the same result.
score:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/57239530@N04/6004550111/in/photostream

[Clifford]

Now for the 3 odis and 2 t20s. i was far less hopeful of any positive results in these series!
1st odi
knowing i would lose i decided to experiment, giving brain vitori, the young left arm seamer, his international debut as well as giving several second string players a go. the game was an absolute disaster as i expected, we managed just 197/7, and the score only got this high thanks to some resistance in the tail from cremer and price. england won by 5 wickets with 6.1 over remaining. vitori took 2 wickets but was expensive and we did take a fair few wickets but our bowlers all leaked too many runs.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/57239530@N04/6004550183/in/photostream

2nd odi
i named an unchanged side and once agian batted first. we did marginally better, getting to 200/5, mainly thanks to a big opening partnership. england won even easier this time, and although vitori took a few wickets again all our bowlers were expensive once again.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/57239530@N04/6004550245/in/photostream

3rd odi
the side remained unchanged despite everything but the 3rd and final game of the series was the worst of all for us! i won the toss and decide to try my luck at bowling first. england hit us all over the park, meth was good but the next best was part timer waller! we had to bat agressivly to chase down england's imposing total of 303 and this resulted in us collapsing to a dismal 101 all out. taylor top scored with 26!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/57239530@N04/6004550333/in/photostream

[Clifford]

so the odis were a disaster and i wasen't hoping for much more in the t20s, and my fears proved justified...

1st t20
we batted first and got a decent total in my opinon of 142, although none of the batsmen did that well. england, mainly thanks to cook, reached the target with ease.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/57239530@N04/6005096102/in/photostream

2nd t20
we batted first yet agian and were again poor, scoring just 115, mainly thanks to a hard hitting rear guard action from meth. once again, our bowlers were expensive and failed to take wickets, england safely securing a 8 wicket win.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/57239530@N04/6004550499/in/photostream

[Clifford]

so, overall, a satisfactory result from that tour, the test series was my main focus and we got the results we wanted. i didn't expect much from the limited overs series and we didn't get much! it'll be more of the same in the south africa tour, before we look to win the series in all forms of the game against bangladesh. anyway i am going on holiday tommorow so the story wont be updated for a couple of weeks. thanks again to everyone who is reading and commenting! cheers

[alex.scargill]

What about the singularity?

That's were all difference really is

[Berkley]

We cannot compare human brains with computer,since we will always be better.

humans created things cannot be compared with their master lol.