The Cricket Thread

****

 

NOOO

 

So bloody close. That's gutting.

 

Too many people on here saying we had lost before the game was over. Typical Saints!

 

The annoying thing is we should have won that.

 

So many regrets. Most our own fault, but not all. Team selection (eg why Wheal), shot selection (eg Vince and Donald trying to cut Harmer), dropped catches (eg Browne), poor umpire decisions (eg Brown and Donald in the first innings), letting Essex off the hook in both innings, taking too long to come up with a semi-successful plan against Harmer, not relegating the left-handed Gubbins further down the order, odd bowling selections in the first innings (eg no Fuller and only one over for Organ).

It's very difficult to not be incredibly proud of close we got. That was a superb attempt at a run chase. But we'll be kicking ourselves for a while now, and it's tempting to say that a county champion does win that match.

 

Certainly can't fault the run chase but Snater's innings really hurt us in the grand scheme of things. Poor umpiring calls happen in most games so can't really use that as an excuse. The way we bowled to Snater (in particular Wheal) lost us the match.

 

Next round of CC fixtures are vital. We've got Warks at the Bowl and Surrey are away to Yorkshire.

 

Clashes with the end of the t20 series, and start of the ODI series, vs India. So Brook, Pope, Foakes and Overton will presumably all be available - but potentially not Root, Bairstow, Malan, Willey, Roy, Curran, Topley. Overall that hurts Yorkshire more than Surrey, annoyingly.

Us and Warks presumably at full strength (subject to injuries and assuming that Abbas returns for those three CC games).

 

TBH it won't be the end of the world if Surrey beat Kent. They'd only get 8 more points.

 

You can tell that Vince is livid about the ball change (score was 113-1 at the time).

It was a very long discussion about which ball to pick. And I can't ever seeing recall coaches coming onto the field to be part of those discussions, as was the case there.

Solid, if unspectacular, start by Kent.

 

Michael Vaughn is stepping back from his duties at the BBC .

I hope it’s HIS choice !

He was a victim of a witch hunt .

 

Given he's been charged by the ECB with bringing the game into disrepute I think it's the right call.

 

If he’s found to be innocent , they will have him back I hope . He is still under contract to the BBC .

 

Vince didn't pull many punches there is his post-match interview, did he?! To be honest, there is a danger that he'll start to sound like a bit of a sore loser as far as the rest of the county fans are concerned which won't do much to enhance our reputation! He was also very animated about the decisions in the Yorkshire game, I hope he doesn't start to get penalty points on his record or anything.

I think we all agree with his sentiments though, from a Hampshire point of view, and it's very easy to think of all the things which could have gone differently when you're on the wrong end of a close result.

As stated above, we should have bowled Essex out more cheaply in both innings, particularly the first and it would have helped if Brown and Donald had not been given out incorrectly for us.

So frustrating, but on to the next one. Come on Kent!

 

The 100 domestic wildcards get announced soon (it might even be next week), so with one weekend of the Blast left, I thought I'd have a scan through those at the top of the charts who don't yet have a 100 contract:

Top five run scorers: Croft (421), Denly (416), Pepper (386), Northeast (380), Eskinazi (361) [The top two overall are Vince (543) and Masood (516)]

Top five strike rates (min 100 balls faced): Pepper (169), Yates (161), Eskinazi (161), Trevaskis (159), Orr (159) [The top two overall are J Overton (200) and Allen (197)]

Top five wicket takers: Gleeson (20), Scrimshaw (20), Hogan (19), Andersson (17), Fuller (15) [The top two overall are Ul-Haq (23) and Gleeson/Scrimshaw (20)]

Top five economies (min 10 overs bowled): Raine (7.1), Bess (7.2), Salter (7.3), Rawlins (7.3), Wells (7.3) [The top two overall are Narine (5.9) and Harmer (6.4)]

I'd suggest that Pepper and Gleeson are certainties to get a wildcard. Eskinazi and Scrimshaw both have very strong chances. And the likes of Raine, Yates, Andersson and Fuller will probably be in the mix. But depending on what type of player each side is looking for, other players not listed above could get drafted. For example, I presume that Brave will either be looking for a seamer (no Archer, and doubts over Overton and Garton) or a middle order batter (neither Whiteley nor Weatherley have set the world alight in the Blast this summer - and right now, one of them will have to bat in the top six.)

 

New ball for Surrey. Now or never surely.

 

All three games drawn today.

 

I see that Rilee is back in SA's t20 squad. Good for him.

He won't miss any Somerset matches, but he will miss Oval's opening 100 match (in the same way that De Kock will for Brave). But whereas Allen is a direct replacement for De Kock, Hasnain is the total opposite of a replacement for Rilee.

 

As rumoured, Ed Barnard goes to Warwickshire from 2023. That's a shame, he's a player I'd have quite liked at Hampshire, his batting in particular has really improved in the last couple of years. Having said that, I guess he'd have been in direct competition for Barker's spot at number 8, unless we'd have had him instead of Abbas and an overseas batter in the top order or something.

There are quite a few players out of contract this winter, so hopefully we will be able to pick up someone exciting. That elusive solid experienced English-qualified county opener would be a good starting point! I think Adam Lyth might be available (if he chooses to leave) and Malan if he's unsettled at Yorkshire, although he's not really an opener.