I recall there being some debate over his performances initially last year. But I think only in the early games Hopefully Archer plays this time! Who was not retained? I don’t have time to do a side by side comparison until later. How does the central contracting thing work? Their wages aren’t put in brackets on the bbc. We only have one so does our budget have to be spread out more? But the difference / risk is they can be called away for England ?
de Kock has loads going for him - he's a top, top keeper, a great batsmen and he's left handed. Yes, he's not going to deliver with the bat all the time but his wicket keeping won us a couple of key matches last year. The centrally contracted players are spread out amongst the franchises. I think their salaries are paid for by the ECB but then yes, they tend to miss a chunk of the tournament on England duty.
Whether a side has one or two centrally contracted players has no bearing on the budget. Given that Anderson and Broad have previously asked not to take part, they aren't enough centrally contracted players for two per team. So purely on head count, the sides with one are at a disadvantage compared to those with two. But to be honest, if the rumours are true about Archer only playing white ball cricket this summer are true, then I'd rather just have Archer than have two players who will be in the test team. Two players for two or three games, or Archer for the whole competition? I'll have the latter please.
Fire have made some excellent domestic signings. But I'm not hugely scared by their overseas signings. And they are lacking a top all-rounder - someone like Zampa could be as high as no.8. Superchargers appear to have forgotten the year is 2022, and have signed a load of almost-40 somethings. Manchester have done some great business - but have taken risks on the availability front. Oval could go either way. Not exactly big name superstars, but enough talent has been signed that could come good. Rockets are basically the same team plus TCK. Munro for Short is like-for-like. (They've got massively lucky at Malan getting a central contract, and then getting dropped. Probably means he'll be available throughout for them, whilst being able to use his slice of the budget to recruit TCK.) Birmingham I would suggest have overspent on Stone and Wade, but nevertheless they still look strong. Failing to replace Tahir could cost them though.
I'm happier to have Stoinis and David rather than Conway and CDG. More power hitting, better fielding, and a more reliable 6th bowling option. But I will miss Stirling. In an ideal world, I'd have wanted us to sign a domestic batter to replace him in the top 3. A middle order 4 to 6 of Davies, Stoinis and David looks just that bit stronger than having them 3 to 5. But having Whiteley at 6 instead is not the end of the world (as he showed in the final!) - it's more just that he lacks consistency. But with our second pick not being until something like the 30th pick of the draft, I appreciate that there was never a realistic chance of getting someone sufficiently good enough to join QDK and Vince. (Although given that we were happy enough to dip into the U19s to sign Ahmed, maybe we could have done that with Bethell instead? He massively impressed me opening the batting. Fire have taken a gamble on him, and he might never play, but it could pay off big time.)
Did Brave get late draft picks due to winning like in American sports ? I must say I do like that system and it is shame there is no possible way of implementing it in football
Yes. And the fact that we retained the maximum amount of players (10), whereas most sides retained far fewer. Hence we barely had any picks to make. In each of the seven rounds (maximum of two picks per round), we always had the last of the first picks.
I see that Banton has broken his figure, so won't feature against us in the season-opener later this week. Good news.
So as a guess: Crawley (Bell-Drummond) Rossington Lawrence (Bopara) Morgan Maxwell Pollard Dawson Thompson M Wood (C Wood/Cullen/Wheal) Crane Meredith Bairstow (Du Plooy/Cobb/Hain) Banton Clarke Duckett Pope Miller Higgins Zampa Payne Shah Ball Buttler (Madsen) Salt Evans Ackermann Lammonby Russell Hasaranga Abbott Robinson (Klassen) Worrall Parkinson Lyth Du Plessis Stokes (Hose) Willey Brook Simpson RVDM Bravo Rashid Riaz Carse Roy Jacks Rossouw S Curran (Leaning/Cox) Narine Cartwright Billings T Curran Briggs Mahmood (Milnes) Topley Hales TCK Malan Root (Cockbain/Carter) Munro Patel Mullaney Moores (Only because they need a keeper - otherwise I'd have said Carter) Khan Gregory De Lange Smeed Wade Livingstone Moeen Benjamin Abell Howell Woakes (Fisher/Van Buuren) Milne Richardson Stone De Kock Vince Davies Stoinis David Whiteley Garton Jordan Archer (Overton) Lintott Mills
Forecast looks ok for the whole 4 days at the Ageas Bowl. Maybe a few minor showers and a bit windy tomorrow but fortunately the rain is coming in the night and early hours of tomorrow morning.
On the Eve of the first class season I would like to wish all who.play the game at whatever level a great summer of action, and for fans great moments to remember. And England will begin to repair their battered reputation with two very competitive test series against NZ and SA.
Is it likely to be a low bounce, as I.would imaginé the bounce is higher once the grounds harden and the earth warms up by mid-summer!
No Overton or Gregory (or Leach or Davey). Somerset being Somerset, that's arguably a bigger blow to their batting than to their bowling. De Lange, RVDM, Brooks and Siddle are no mugs with the bat (and are certainly capable enough with the ball - their bowling depth is unreal), but hopefully there's less chance now of Somerset recovering from 70-5 to make 493.
Yes Siddle, Brooks and De Lange are good bowlers but no Overton, Gregory or Davey is huge. Not only for the batting but Overton missing does weaken their bowling attack.
If the covers are taken off tomorrow morning and the wicket doesn't have the colour of a putting green I will be very surprised.
Looking at the Hants squad it looks like we'll line up: Weatherley Holland Gubbins Vince Brown Dawson Organ Barker Abbott Wheal Abbas I don't think we'll need Crane this early in the season and we'll go with Organ for his batting.
Vince will be missing the 2nd and 3rd sessions tomorrow to attend a funeral so I really hope we win the toss! If we lose and we're put in surely it makes sense for him to open or bat at 3.
