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Gloucestershire look very useful indeed. Decent bowling attack and a decent batting line up. James Bracey has just played two knocks that will do everything to push the door open with England particularly with Sibley crocked, Burns in uncertain nick, and Crawley in no real form either. Pope's nailed on his Test spot with big runs so he's a certain starter. I should have paid attention to a friend of mine who said Gloucs were good outsiders for the CC title.
Somerset have a lot of questions to answer now. The bowlers have long gotten the batsmen out of the mire over recent seasons and did so in the first round against Middlesex. The younger ones have to step up. Tom Banton's been overexposed and needs to figure out if he wants to wander around T20 franchises or actually play first-class cricket, Tom Lammonby is on one of those horror runs you sometimes get after a stellar first proper season (happened to Tresco and Thorpe) so the England rumours will go away and he can get his game back, and George Bartlett should move up the order and take responsibility.
Top marks to Lancashire and so nice to see a turning wicket so early in the season. Warwickshire look like pulling off an absolute heist against Nottinghamshire, Surrey can't beat Leicestershire, and Ollie Robinson is still the best seamer in county cricket who can't get a game for England.
Spare a thought for two guys. One is Dominic Bess whose figures for the season after tow games read 66.4 overs, 15 maidens, 195 runs, 0 wickets. Bowling spin at Headingley is tough even when you're chock full of confidence. The other is James Weighell. Released by Durham twice in his career, Glamorgan gave him a two-year contract at the start of the month based on pre-season form. A pair of ducks with the bat and 0/96 at 6 an over and 0/27 (disappearing for 6 an over in both innings) is one of the toughest county debuts for quite some time.
Went off for some league cricket viewing today and spoke to a couple of bowlers between innings. They and I can't recall the last time pre-league wickets were so dry. The comparative lack of rain and the wind/breeze has done a lot to dry the top surface out around here. Not much pace at times but you do get some turn out there.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/56822502
https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/england-cricket-ed-smith-s-tenure-ends-as-national-selector-as-role-is-made-redundant-1260049
https://i.imgur.com/Pc3bmKB.png
Still Lancs or Somerset for the title, for me. Wonder if Craig Overton has done enough to get back into the Test reckoning.
On the Test front, I hope Cove doesn't get picked because Somerset need him. Ollie Robinson is the absolute man we need to get in there and test out.
Archer ain't fit and Stone's got a dodgy toe so is 50-50. Woakes won't be match fit. Going by the words of Giles the other day, we will have some new faces in there. James Bracey and Robinson are the obvious two on county form and Robinson... 275 wickets in 64 FC games at 21 simply can't be ignored any longer.
With Stokes gone, go for a bowling all-rounder. With the quality of NZ's batting, we're unlikely to bat them out of the game. If we're to win, it'll be through the bowlers.
So a side?
Burns
Bracey
Crawley
Root
Pope
Foakes
Woakes
Curran
Wood/Stone
Robinson
Leach
Yep, I'd play neither of the old boys. We know what we're gonna get from them. Keep 'em for later in the summer. Right now it's time to make some other people attack leaders. Woakes and Robinson to open, Curran and Wood at either end offers a nice little mixture, Leach doing what he does.
Crawley should be our number three and his county think so as well, hence him being there and not opening with Daniel Bell-Drummond. Obviously early days in his career but he averages 20 as an opener in 7 Tests and 59 in 5 Tests batting 3 downwards.
Poor old Hasib. Tons in both innings the other week, loads of write ups, talk of England calling... you just knew he'd get a duck next time out. I don't think he's ready to come back to England but I do think he will be part of the touring party this winter. The likelihood is that we'll have a larger party than normal because of Covid bubbles so something similar to the 20 or so players India have picked for the WTC and England games. Certainly won't be like the bad old days where we'd go to Australia, get injuries, and practically play people who'd just landed. Graeme Hick got that one series, straight off the plane into the Test team on a zipper Perth track...
Coad's a good bowler for sure. Payne's finally getting the consistency together and is turning into an attack leader at last.
Sussex really do look awful. Pull SVZ and Head out of that batting lineup and it looks very poor indeed, albeit with the success thus far of the two openers. The bowling... yeah. Robbo will be a huge loss for them. Spinner does look very useful though.
If Crawley is a 3 that’s fine, as we need one. But a 3 needs to have an openers mindset and technique as you are often in early.
Bracey made his first class debut batting at 3 for Gloucestershire. None of this settle in at 6 approach that many sides do, just straight in there. He has opened for Gloucestershire and he opened last year at the Ageas Bowl for one of the warm up matches. He started the season opening with Chris Dent, century stand for their first knock together against Surrey, and had his standout match against Somerset batting at 3 the game after. I like the way he bats, it seems right for Test cricket.
3 has been a bogey spot for such a long time with us, perhaps even more so than the opening roles as even Root couldn't work it. Crawley got that big score against Pakistan at 3. Like Root, when someone gets a serious score or two in a certain role, stop changing the positions.
Sam Evans is an interesting one as he's a bit of an unheralded bolter this year. I think the fact he's playing on one of the deadest wickets in the country will count against him a little bit but if he and Azad can really get the partnerships going, they'll be calling in the future for selection.
Yes on Coad. He's in that early Woakes position, great county figures but doubts about pace at the top level.
*An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.
Back in the day I'd have agreed on the differences between top and middle order but that distinction has narrowed a great deal. The attacking instincts of a Jayasuriya, Gayle, Sehwag etc have more in common with a 5/6 batsman than a Kirsten or Cook.
Where we have failed in recent years is on the player development front at Test level. Great players don't always come in and secure their slot. The like of Hayden, Langer, and Damian Martyn all got dropped and came back as better players. They went and worked on technique and approach to the game and returned to become superb players. We haven't had that process for some time. Once players got dropped, that was pretty much it and the lack of development was one of the hallmarks of the Bayliss era. For all the gripes about Peter Moores, he could point to player development under him and I don't think it's coincidental that Haseeb Hamid has found a new lease of life at Notts with Moores as head coach.
Whether that development will happen with a truncated first class calendar is debatable.
Ricardo Vasconcelos has had a decent start to the season...
What do you make of George Garton? I don't think I've seen him bowl before and not quite sure what all the hype is about. His tendency to fall away in the delivery stride looks like it might be an issue?
George does have some pace behind him. The last couple of years Sussex have tried to develop his batting a lot more. his action is quite unorthodox but he would fall into the camp of 'Change him at your peril', a bit like Anderson when Troy Cooley started tinkering. When we have so many orthodox cricketers in English cricket, having someone who can be erratic but also unplayable when he gets it right would be an asset. He and Sam Curran as left armers who can change games, score runs, good in the field, they'd be good to have in the selection possibilities.
It's a worry and I wonder how much of it was down to the NZ tour where he took on the ever-stupid enforcer role. A decade ago those in charge a[t the time finally twigged what the average fan had known for a while, namely that Stuart Broad was being wasted by being stuck in the enforcer role.
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/cricket/broad-silences-detractors-after-shaking-enforcer-tag-2342607.html
"To go away and play for Notts and get a five-for pitching the ball up a week before the Test gave me a lot of confidence," he said. "That was how I wanted to bowl in this series but then for it to happen straight away at Lord's, to pick up four wickets and could have potentially had more, that length showed me the way to go."
Archer didn't make his name in county cricket by being the enforcer. Sharp pace, a bit of bounce. That wicket of Crawley last week is Archer through and through in FC cricket. Tall chap, mid to high 80's mph, moves it about off the seam, has a definite quicker one in him, good bouncer, and accurate too. It's one of his attributes seldom talked about but it should be. Not many quicks at his age in England have the control he does. It might sound laughable to some but the guy could do for us in Test cricket what McGrath did because their method of attack isn't that different. Consider these stats after 13 Tests for both guys.
42 wickets at 31.04, SR of 62.1, economy rate of 2.99, 3x 5 wicket hauls.
42 wickets at 31.59, SR of 68.6, economy rate of 2.76, 2x 5 wicket hauls.
Archer is the one above. Not bad company to be keeping. McGrath's cumulative stats are well worth looking at.
https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/6565.html?class=1;template=results;type=bowling;view=cumulative
After his 13th Test in 1995, he came back and you can see the improvement from there. You look at his figures after 8 Tests (19 wickets at 43) and they're unimpressive. Australia saw something in him, allowed him the time to develop, and they were hugely rewarded. When the Test selection news came out and talk was of rotation in the future, I hope to god the like of Overton and Robinson are not rotated. Young guys like that need time to bed into the side. It's why I wouldn't pick both Anderson and Broad for the side. Everyone knows the prize is in the winter, not now.
I was quite impressed by Ethan Bamber in the Middlesex-Hampshire game. He seemed to be bowling at good pace and was very unlucky -- bowled a lot of absolute jaffas that were just too good to get the edge.