Very, very pleased with that signing. Hopefully a cracking pair of overseas players. Weatherley, Albert, Currie and Baker will all be in the mix too - Currie for example was a regular in the 100 last year. It's great to have such squad depth in t20 this year.
Yeah, Currie and Baker will get plenty of chances. Wood will need to be rested at times and Turner's form is a bit iffy to say the least.
Good article here about Baker. Sonny Baker: ‘I want to be the guy where people are coming out of the bar to watch you bowl’ | County Championship | The Guardian
Subject to whether we manage to replace Edwards before Friday (which is highly unlikely I would suggest), I assume that our line-up here vs Sussex is what we intend to select against Yorkshire.
Well we have replaced Edwards then. But whether Hampton arrives in time to play on Friday, I don't know. I've never heard of Hampton before, which would be because he doesn't appear to have ever played outside of NZ. His career record looks alright, but it's hard to judge how that will translate to the Championship. I'm therefore open-minded - but I do fear that we're going to regret letting Abbas go.
Enjoyable (but long) read: How 'Happy Hampshire' came to be part of a multi-million dollar international cricket franchise
So listening to the fans forum: Hampton has arrived and will play against Yorkshire. Penciled in to bat at no.8, which is lower than he bats in NZ. Barker will miss the start of the season. Will hopefully be available from about the midway point. We initially planned for Neser to come back permanently this season. But Cricket Australia didn't allow it, which is why we turned to Edwards (and then Hampton). Four seamers plus Dawson is the plan for the season. Bat as deep as possible to try and cover for the loss of Vince's runs.
And I'm pretty sure I read that neither of their overseas bowlers will join up with them for this week either. Given that they've lost Fisher to Surrey, they could be pretty light on the bowling front.
I think the consensus from every other county in Division One is that Surrey should be abolished and divided up between us.
What about imposing a 200 run tariff on all Surrey innings? They've got to get 200 runs before it counts. They'd still probably win...
Right, squad news is in and no great surprises. Ali Orr misses out with Stoneman and Middleton to open. Personally I'd leave out Turner and Wheal from the 13 but would understand if they left out Turner and Fuller with Abbott up to 9 - Wheal seems to be back in favour at the moment.
Looking at the squad named for tomorrow, presumably Albert and one of Turner and Wheal will miss out (probably Turner).
