The Cricket Thread

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As disappointing as it was to get ourselves in this mess in the first place, what a brilliant defensive rearguard performance today. Vince has done himself no harm for the Winter either.
 
Saints_Alive said:
We desperately need Rilee to come good next season.
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Absolutely.

I know Holland, Berg and Abbott can all hold the bat (as proved today), but I do think that we are a batter light. So Rilee coming into the side effectively only readdresses that balance. It still leaves us with the under-performing batters. In particular, given their ages, Adams and Ervine are the biggest concerns. And that is across all three formats (Ervine can't buy a white ball run, and Adams doesn't even get into the teams now).

That is two batters that we need to recruit over the winter, at a minimum. And even then, we'd still be risking carrying Alsop and Dawson (although I think both have underperformed this season, and can do better, so would not want to discard either yet - especially not Dawson, with his allround ability).

And that's before even considering the possibility of Vince doing well for England over winter, and us therefore not seeing much of him next summer.

Carberry and Smith are both off the wage bill, so room has been made available.
 
Great afternoons radio cricket. Had to drive back from Stevenage. Got in the car & after a few mins Vince was out. Switched the radio off, then back on, then off again, all within a few mins & then finally back on & listened intently to every ball, until I got to Bitterne & we'd "won". Wow !! <party>
 
Am I reading the BBC correctly ? They seem to suggest Somerset could still get a points decision , if the review of the pitch tomorrow results in it being downgraded ?
 
Number 1 Jasper said:
Am I reading the BBC correctly ? They seem to suggest Somerset could still get a points decision , if the review of the pitch tomorrow results in it being downgraded ?
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Could. But by all accounts, it is exceptionally unlikely. I have never known a reviewer pitch liaison officer apply a penalty after the original pitch liaison officer decided against a penalty.
 
End of season stats (not the best reading)

BATTING

Vince 626 runs @ 32.9 (passed 50 three times)
Bailey 610 runs @ 38.1 (passed 50 five times)
Ervine 572 runs @ 28.6 (passed 50 three times)
Berg 568 runs @ 31.6 (passed 50 two times)
Adams 558 runs @ 32.8 (passed 50 three times)
Abbott 418 runs @ 29.9 (passed 50 two times)
Dawson 334 runs @ 20.9 (passed 50 two times)
McManus 285 runs @ 23.8 (never passed 50)
Carberry 272 runs @ 24.7 (passed 50 two times)
Rossouw 253 runs @ 19.5 (passed 50 one time)
Holland 233 runs @ 33.3 (passed 50 two times)
Alsop 118 runs @ 16.9 (never passed 50)
Crane 66 runs @ 13.2 (never passed 50)
Weatherley 45 runs @ 11.3 (never passed 50)

BOWLING

Abbott 60 wickets @ 18.2 (four five-wicket hauls)
Berg 37 wickets @ 26.7 (no five-wicket hauls)
Dawson 31 wickets @ 26.1 (no five-wicket hauls)
Fidel 30 wickets @ 25.7 (two five-wicket hauls)
Holland 19 wickets @ 18.5 (no five-wicket hauls)
Crane 16 wickets @ 44.7 (one five-wicket haul)
Wheal 11 wickets @ 32.0(no five-wicket hauls)
Ervine 6 wickets @ 55.2 (no five-wicket hauls)
 
Number 1 Jasper said:
Thanks .

I don't want it to happen , just wondered .
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I suppose there is slightly more chance of it happening now that we've stayed up. The reviewer will speak to both captains, which includes Adam Voges for Middlesex. Had Middlesex stayed up, Voges might not have cared as much. But he clearly has a vested interest now, and might seek to pursue this as far as he can.

But no doubt he'd have already tried that with the original officer. And that failed. As I say, I can't see it making any difference.

From a purely selfish point of view, I would rather Middlesex got relegated anyway. For me, they are stronger than Somerset or Yorkshire on paper, and thus could be a bigger threat to us next season if they were still in D1. Somerset and Yorks, like us, cannot bat. Somerset in particular are very poor, hence why they were heading down to D2 at the half way stage, until the sun came out and they could finally prepare pitches more commonly seen in the sub-continent. Their spinners kept them up, simple as that.
 
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Well I'm old Mr Smuggy from Smugsville tonight. My adopted county, Worcester, have won Division 2. More than that, they've done it with a lot of their academy players. I particularly enjoy seeing the name B.D'Oliveira in their batting line up.

An odd thing about the way Test cricket is now set up is that Worcester's best player is virtually unavailable to them. When I lived in the area in the 60's seeing Basil D'Oliveira and Tom Graveney return from saving England in a Test match to play in a County game was a real buzz. Of course, Moeen is still "ours" but it doesn't feel like it. Not sure we've got the balance right. As a Saints fan, I'm delighted to see one of our players play for his international team - albeit scared about injury. In cricket you rather hope that your better players don't get noticed.
 
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st_brendy said:
I suppose there is slightly more chance of it happening now that we've stayed up. The reviewer will speak to both captains, which includes Adam Voges for Middlesex. Had Middlesex stayed up, Voges might not have cared as much. But he clearly has a vested interest now, and might seek to pursue this as far as he can.

But no doubt he'd have already tried that with the original officer. And that failed. As I say, I can't see it making any difference.

From a purely selfish point of view, I would rather Middlesex got relegated anyway. For me, they are stronger than Somerset or Yorkshire on paper, and thus could be a bigger threat to us next season if they were still in D1. Somerset and Yorks, like us, cannot bat. Somerset in particular are very poor, hence why they were heading down to D2 at the half way stage, until the sun came out and they could finally prepare pitches more commonly seen in the sub-continent. Their spinners kept them up, simple as that.
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Middlesex's batsmen couldn'tcope at all, or just didn't want to try. England's batsmen struggled in Dubai against the wiles of Pakistan's spinners. Maybe the time has come where England needs to develop more spinners, and its batsmen learn how to cope with the viciously turning ball.

Just how good Somerset's spinners actually are, I have no idea. Maybe they need helpful pitches, however I remember Suussex recruited Mushtaq Ahmed to their team, and because he has so much class, he could get batsmen out through his craft if the pitch gave him nothing. Have we seen the same with Harmer of Essex, as I am sure the Chelmsford wickets are normally very good for batting on, at least for Essex?
 
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