On to Ireland

We travelled to Ireland for the weekend fixture against their national side, before heading back to Australia for the pre-season tournament in Darwin. There have been no after effects from the Arundel game, apart from severe stiffness with the bowlers, and we can pick from a full squad for the game. The next report will come after the Irish match.

Andrew Downton reflects on first Tour Match

Bowling coach Andrew Downton comments on the performance of the boys over the last couple of days.

'I thought it was not too bad for a first outing. We did not have any practice time before the game because of the weather, so Wednesday was really the first hit outdoors for the batsmen. The pitch was better than we expected, but it was still a little slow and not easy for shot making. I thought Dawson and Jonathan Wells played nicely, and got some good middle time under their belts. Some of the shots played were loose but rustiness is to be expected at this stage.

'On the first evening I was impressed with the bowling of Adam and Nathan in particular, who bowled genuinely quick and hurried the batsmen on more than one occasion. With the injury to Damien Wright, and with Hilfy being at the Twenty20 World Cup, we are looking hard at the pace bowling resources. Having said that, the bowling on Thursday was not of the required standard, Xavier apart, and generally we bowled too short. The ball did not swing much at all, despite the cloud cover, but we should not need to rely on that, and they scored far too quickly. Both du Plessis and Shankar were comfortable on the back foot and we fed them there. Having said that, they both payed exceptionally well, and they look like fine players. They had the better of the conditions on Thursday, but you have to give them credit. But it was a good experience for the younger guys to play with the more experienced members of the squad.

'I think by the time of the next game we will be in better shape thanks to a long day in the field. It has got some valuable playing time in, especially for the bowlers ahead of a long Pura Cup season.'

Match summary from Arundel

After winning the toss, we chose to bat on what looked like an excellent pitch in the beautiful surrounds of Arundel Castle. Two quick wickets fell to the bowling of Charlie Freeston, before Jonathan Wells and David Dawson put together a solid partnership. Jonathan fell for 55, an encouraging start on his first visit to the crease. More wickets fell as we were tied down by the slow left arm bowling of Hampshire spinner Chris Morgan, but Dawson was joined by Greg Ward in an excellent stand, with Dawson bringing up his hundred off 173 balls. Ward finished with a rapid half century, and we decided to decare with an hour left in the day to have some overs at the MCC batsmen before the close.

Adam Griffith and Nathan Wegman opened up at a lively pace, and Griffith struck early, removing Derbyshire batsmen Gary Ballance with a lifting delivery. Coming on earlier than usual, Xavier Doherty had England U19 batsman Ben Wright bowled off his first delivery. Despite some uncomfortable moments, particularly off the pacey bowling of Wegman, Ali and Shankar saw the home side through to the close, finishing the day on 43-2.

Thursday was an entirely different affair, with brighter weather and a faster outfield. Moeen Ali played some magnificent shots in his half century, before a harsh lbw decision ended his innings. That was the last joy we were to have for a while, as Francois du Plessis joined Shankar in a fourth wicket stand of 265. Both batted very well, and Adrian Shankar brought up his century off 183 balls with a huge hook shot off Luke Butterworth. du Plessis followed suit shortly after, and when Shankar was stumped off the bowling of Doherty, Jacques du Toit added a savage 42 from 21 balls with some big hitting. du Plessis fell short of his double hundred, and the MCC side declared on 502 for 8. Just as the openers were walking out for the second innings, the heavens opened and the remaining time in the match was washed out. The match was a good early workout for the boys, with the bowlers getting a lot of overs in their legs.

MCC Emerging Players v Tasmania Academy

Played at Arundel Castle, Sussex on 22 and 23 August 2007 (Two day tour match)

Tasmania Academy 1st innings R (B 4s 6s)

A Doolan b Freeston 6 (10 1 0)
TD Paine* c Shankar b Freeston 13 (22 1 0)
J Wells lbw b Freeston 55 (79 8 0)
D Dawson c Wright b Morgan 121 (207 16 1)
D Anderson+ c Evans b Jones 0 ( 3 0 0)
P Lancing b Morgan 18 (42 3 0)
G Ward not out 79 (88 7 6)
L Butterworth not out 33 (74 4 0)
N Wegman
X Doherty
A Griffith
Extras (b 22, lb 13, nb 6, w 6) 47
Total (6 wkts, 87.5 overs) 372

FOW: 1-8 (Doolan), 2-26 (Paine), 3-127 (Wells), 4-127 (Anderson), 5-152 (Lancing),
6-297 (Dawson)



Bowling O M R W
C Freeston 16 3 52 3
R Jones 14 2 79 1
H Waters 18 2 86 0
C Morgan 23.5 1 81 2
B Wright 9 0 48 0
F du Plessis 5 2 7 0
A Shankar 2 0 4 0






MCC Emerging Players 1st innings R (B 4s 6s)

M Ali* lbw b Griffith 56 (88 10 1)
G Ballance c Paine b Wegman 2 (7 0 0)
B Wright b Doherty 0 (1 0 0)
A Shankar st Anderson b Doherty 177 (263 27 3)
F du Plessis c Anderson b Griffith 195 (284 31 2)
J du Toit lbw b Doherty 41 (23 4 5)
J Evans+ b Wegman 3 (14 0 0)
C Morgan c Anderson b Butterworth 0 (4 0 0)
C Freeston not out 1 (2 0 0)
R Jones
H Waters
Extras (b 6, lb 5, nb 4, w 12) 27
Total ( 8 wkts, 114 overs) 502


FOW: 1-4 (Ballance), 2-7 (Wright), 3- 102 (Ali), 4-367 (Shankar), 5-448 (du Toit),
6- 496 (du Plessis), 7-499 (Evans), 8-502 (Morgan)




Bowling O M R W
A Griffith 19 1 72 2
N Wegman 21.3 3 115 2
X Doherty 34.3 2 143 3
L Butterworth 18 0 94 1
G Ward 8 0 39 0
P Lancing 5 1 21 0
J Wells 8 2 15 0



Toss: Tasmania won the toss and elected to bat


Umpires: D Enniss and J Kipworth

Welcome

Welcome to the blog of the Tasmania Cricket Association Academy Tour 2007.

It was decided that this would be a good way of keeping everyone abreast of developments on the field, as well as allowing tour members to add their own personal touches for the benefit of friends and family back home.

We arrived in the UK on Sunday evening, and have started preparartions for the first tour match against MCC Emerging Players on Wednesday (22nd August). The next update will be from Arundel in Sussex.

LD