NT Team Thread

[darkmatter]

It's all good, hopefully he'll serve the nat side well; I usually have decent depth and it'll give more opportunities for Ayala and Burgess to get games for potential future nat players.

Mcclain had the fortune of my inactive years for experience and was effectively in a poorly managed youth farm

[darkmatter]

Nice upset chaps, well played.

[Philly]

Nice upset chaps, well played.

Not sure that could have gone any better if we written the script ourselves.

[spark]

Tour Squad Announcement - Nat One Day Division 3

My club captain Brad Kirk, retired this week from all forms of the game. Captain Kirk has probably gone off to the final frontier to explore strange new worlds and boldly go where no one has gone before. Unfortunately, he must have messed about with the timeline in some way as young senior players get picked for U20 national teams and this tour squad announcement appears to have been announced after the tour has already started. I never noticed it when he was focussing on cricket but that Captain Kirk is a bit of a troublemaker, isn't he? Anyway, here is the squad:

Batsmen
Francis Graves (rogue mercenaries)
Eric Beasley (Allmänna Idrottsklubben)
Matthew Simpson (Rusterren)
Roberto Ellison (Central Coast Wombats)
Johnny Richardson (Central Coast Wombats)
Tristan McClain (Woodchester XI)
Everett Harrison (Superbia in Proelia)

Keepers
Alfredo Bowers (Ruff Royals)
Ronald Burton (Philly_Bluenose)

Bowlers
Seth Garcia (Allmänna Idrottsklubben)

Clinton Gallegos (Mohammedan Sports Club)
Alfredo Diaz (Ruff Royals)

Karl Estrada (Minor Mashervania)

Jeffrey Vaughn (Chudley Cannons)
Phillip Rivera (SSP Rockers)
Franklin Harrision (Rostrevor XI)
Spencer Delgado (Flaming Moles)
Adam Nixon (Relegation Reprobates)

This tour it's a case of a passage to India. Maybe a passage to division 2 awaits if things go our way. Many people will tell you that division 1 is the most difficult league but all USA fans realise that division 3 is the place to be if you want a cutthroat league which takes no prisoners.

The side that did so well in the T20s has more or less been retained. Batsman Richardson does come back in as does RFM Gallegos. Also Alfredo Diaz gets a chance to show what he can do and something tells me that he's going to take 3-32 in his first game.

Pitches
Crumbling v Scotland
Crumbling v Zimbabwe
Dry v India
Dry v Pakistan
Dry v UAE

The matches start on 04:30am FTP time from September 28th so please feel welcome to follow and comment on the USA's divison 3 battle.

[bura]

The crowd here chanted Delgado, Delgado, Vaughn, Vaughn until 3am on a Sunday night!!! They may have found their much waited spin bowling and AR heros in Delgado and Vaughn. Some even heard saying screw NFL, cricket is best!!!

Bravo boys! You have earned this! Respect!

[spark]

Let's bask in the glory of being top while it lasts after another good win today.

All the bowlers did well but the victory was set up by a nice total of 201 in crumbling/windy conditions. Burton hit 59 which was more like a century on this kind of pitch and Estrada was 37 not out. Our allrounders are having a good start to the tour so far.

[spark]

It just didn't go our way and those 5 quick wickets at the end of our innings against the UAE was a killer blow really. 189 not quite enough to defend. Generally, our allrounders did pretty great with the bat. One or two other batsmen chipped in every now and again but in the last 3 games we normally didn't set a total that was quite good enough and gave our bowlers a little too much to do.

[darkmatter]

It just didn't go our way and those 5 quick wickets at the end of our innings against the UAE was a killer blow really. 189 not quite enough to defend. Generally, our allrounders did pretty great with the bat. One or two other batsmen chipped in every now and again but in the last 3 games we normally didn't set a total that was quite good enough and gave our bowlers a little too much to do.

I must confess as I was scrolling through the commentary, I thought the lads had timed themselves nicely going into the last 10. That collapse ended all chances.

Another one for the Bridesmaids

In all seriousness, two 3rd places in tours and 2nd in the 1st Div T20 isn't a bad showing.

[Philly]

Not bad, but we do want to get out of OD3.

Still, time to plan for the T20 World Cup.

[bura]

Very disappointing especially when all we needed was 1 win from last 3 matches.

Batting failures coupled with inability to take top order wickets have cost us dearly.

[spark]

It's the T20 World Cup Tour Squad Announcement!

Here we find ourselves in the wonderful country of Zimbabwe which, as we all know, is home to the critically endangered Black Rhinocerous. Also critically endangered in recent years is USA appearances at World Cup's. Now that we have qualified, I'm sure the players feel they must make the most of it and have been busily unpacking their rather old-fashioned looking suitcases. Here is the squad:

Batsmen
Francis Graves (rogue mercenaries)
Eric Beasley (Allmänna Idrottsklubben)
Matthew Simpson (Rusterren)
Roberto Ellison (Central Coast Wombats)
Alfredo Brock (rogue mercenaries)
Tristan McClain (Woodchester XI)
Everett Harrison (Superbia in Proelia)

Keepers
Alfredo Bowers (Ruff Royals)
Ronald Burton (Philly_Bluenose)

Bowlers
Seth Garcia (Allmänna Idrottsklubben)

Clinton Gallegos (Central Coast Wombats)
Alfredo Diaz (Ruff Royals)

Karl Estrada (Minor Mashervania)
Leonard Faried (SteamTeam)

Jeffrey Vaughn (Chudley Cannons)
Phillip Rivera (Cupar Cardinals)

Spencer Delgado (Flaming Moles)
Adam Nixon (Relegation Reprobates)

There was only one real shock in the squad with Leonard Faried finding himself back in the team after being unceremoniously dumped early in bura's tenure. He has worked hard in training though and that doesn't go unnoticed in the USA management team, nor does a lack of form of certain players who could have made it with a bit of luck. Let's hope he repays the faith that has been shown in him and he grabs a comically large hatful of wickets.

Pitches
Dry v India
Dry v Australia
Slow v Canada
Flat v Netherlands
Hard v Pakistan

Our Group 2 matches start at 13:00 FTP time on 2nd November so please feel welcome to follow and comment on the USA's T20 World Cup cavalcade.

[darkmatter]

Good luck, and here's hoping lady luck is on our side!

[Philly]

Bowling first against India in sunny/dry conditions.
A double strike by Nixon, and India are 94/5 after 14.2 overs. Not too bad.

[Philly]

A great win to start our campaign. It got a bit nervy when we lost our 5th wicket, but an unbroken 44 run 6th wicket partnership brought us home.

Australia up next, who beat The Netherlands in their opening game.

[Philly]

Two wins from two, as we dispatch the Aussies despite being out-rated by 17k.

Tomorrow we face our, "Neighbors to the North", the perfidious Canucks!