You guys were very lucky the other night to only win by nearly 100 runs! Well done on that but my, Middlesex must have the worst set up of any county for both T20 and the 50 over game at the moment. I am surprised their members are not openly demanding that heads should role at an executive level. This was a county that in the past was successful across both limited overs and the county game. It must be down to player recruitment - perhaps the club have a reluctance to seek out those of an Afro-Caribbean heritage or South Asian, despite large numbers being on the club's doorstep.
That 20 run over was the key. Before that over came we needed over 15 runs per over for the last 3 overs. Then it came down to 12 per over off the last 2. 2 a ball is manageable at that stage so well done Fuller and well done Joe.
That being said Kent will be furious at losing that. In both innings they got off to great starts before losing their way towards the end. They left about 20 runs out there when they batted and had us in trouble when we batted until the 17th over.
Just got home. That wasn't the ideal way to pace a chase, but fortunately Fuller got us out of a hole. We had three really bad overs with the ball (albeit all in the powerplay) - I think they collectively went for a massive 48 runs - but our other 17 overs were solid indeed. Thankfully the match wasn't decided by those extra four runs which we sportingly enabled Kent to score off their last ball.
Yeah, but there's a reason why Ellis is at the world t20 and Neser isn't. Not to mention of number of other Aussie seamers playing in the Blast this year. Ellis is on another level. He's the only one who has been able to force his way along the big three of Cummins, Starc and Hazelwood. We were always likely to suffer without him this year. Fortunately Howell and Wood were excellent, and Dawson and Fuller weren't far behind.
Good figures for Mason today, I see. My general nature is to favour as much batting as possible. So ideally I'd continue with Gubbins in the XI. But if he fails in both of our next, say, two games, then I'd seriously consider recalling Mason. We don't need a seventh bowling option. A ninth batting option (as we would have in a full strength team) is far more sensible. But if Gubbins can't prove himself to be one of those batting options, then selecting someone like Mason makes more sense than essentially picking a specialist fielder.
Yes thought the same regarding to “extra” 4. I was sorta hoping Kent would have just blocked to last ball as a thank you. Also, rather disappointed in Billings overly “slow it up” tactics during the last 3 overs. Good that the crowd gave him a bit back.
