We're at least on a par with them with our attack I would say - our seam attack takes some beating and Briggs and Dawson are experienced T20 spinners.
Don't get me wrong, I love our bowling attack. And the two of us are ahead of the other six teams (by some distance, in many cases). But Oval have wrist spin and mystery spin. And serious, serious depth - Mahmood for example only bowled five balls today. It's very, very, very close - and Jofra potentially be available for the whole competition could swing it over the coming weeks - but by a whisker I have Oval just ahead right now.
I also rate our batting more than theirs. I can see de Kock being one of the leading run scorers in the competition despite us picking Warner over him - twice! Vince enters in cracking form and then we've got Davies, CDG, Dawson and Conway.
Even Carlos Brathwaite had no idea how to play Sunil Narine. You’re right, with the two Currans plus Mahmood and Topley, and then the spinners, they are formidable. I loved that super-slow ball Sam Curran was using, very clever.
Yeah, I'd take all three of our overseas signings over Ingram. Whilst there's no doubt he's been incredibly destructive in the past, he has barely played for two years (largely because of the pandemic). And, when you throw in his age too, that has really shown for Glamorgan this season where he's looked rusty as anything. Evans is a solid striker of the ball at county level. But so too is Davies. The Currans and Narine are capable of hitting quick runs when it's their day. But they're not consistent, and CDG and Rawlins are equally as capable. Roy and Jacks are serious players, and could win games by themselves. But so too can Vince, QDK and Conway. A stronger overseas batter than Ingram, and I'd have us neck-and-neck on the batting. But as it is, I have us just in front. Assisted by Vince's current golden patch.
Possibly the biggest thing in our favour is that we don't lose anyone to the first two tests of the India series. Not only do six of the other seven teams lose their designated test player(s), but most also lose at least one other player too (eg Lawrence, Bairstow). And whilst, yes, those other ("non-test") players can be temporarily replaced, no-one in county cricket will come close to filling their boots. We avoided losing Vince, Overton etc, whilst getting the bonus of retaining Archer.
I too was confused by the lack of Alsop from the team today, could have played instead of Scriven (nothing against him in particular). A decent effort with a patched up side but just fell a little short in all 3 departments. Don't forget that Prest dropped Westley at mid-wicket fairly early on in his innings, would have made a big difference. I think it was a mistake bringing Fuller back for a second spell, I'd have been tempted to give Felix 'golden arm' Organ another go. However, it wasn't just Fuller - Currie and Turner both then started leaking too many runs as well. Fuller has this annoying habit of insisting on banging a half-tracker in virtually every over and then it gets belted for 6, normally over deep mid-wicket. He never seems to learn! I like him and really want him to succeed, but it's going to have to be more in a limited overs batting capacity I feel, rather than getting through too many overs. If he hadn't got out lbw to ten Doeschate when he did, I reckon we could have made 300, that partnership was just starting to motor along. It was the story of our day, 50 and out, just when we were about to try to cut loose, the partnership was broken. Gubbins looked good again but I do hope they bring Alsop back soon as can't afford to have him getting annoyed at a lack of game time and want to move away as well.
I see that the lower order dug (a strong) Lancs side out of a massive hole against (a weak) Sussex side.
London Spirit Men (No Mason or Brad in tonight but Chris Wood is in, He wasn't listed on the BBC squad list, a Mark Wood was) Zak Crawley. Josh Inglis(wk). Dan Lawrence. Eoin Morgan(c). Joe Denly. Ravi Bopara. Mohammad Nabi. Roelof van der Merwe. Blake Cullen. Chris Wood. Mohammad Amir.
