2015 Hampshire Thread

[Making_Splinters]

It speaks volumes about the state of the modern game when one of the best glovemen England has produced in the last decade can't even get a bearth in a County side.

But is also says a lot about Bates' batting. Unless he has had offers but turned them down (eg personal reasons, not wanting to move up north etc), then that's 18 counties who have looked at his batting and said no.

That's the point I am making. These days all teams would rather have a decent batsman whoc can roughly keep than a quality gloveman who can roughly bat. I've wanted for a while to keep a record of how many runs dropped catches by keepers cost the side as I'd wager that it's more than the keepers score with the bat.

[st_brendy]

It speaks volumes about the state of the modern game when one of the best glovemen England has produced in the last decade can't even get a bearth in a County side.

But is also says a lot about Bates' batting. Unless he has had offers but turned them down (eg personal reasons, not wanting to move up north etc), then that's 18 counties who have looked at his batting and said no.

That's the point I am making. These days all teams would rather have a decent batsman whoc can roughly keep than a quality gloveman who can roughly bat. I've wanted for a while to keep a record of how many runs dropped catches by keepers cost the side as I'd wager that it's more than the keepers score with the bat.

Go through all 18 counties. I'm not convinced you'll find 18 decent batsmen who can roughly keep.

Bates' batting is so poor, that I'd seriously struggle to put him into the "who can roughly bat" category.

[budgetmeansbudget]

It speaks volumes about the state of the modern game when one of the best glovemen England has produced in the last decade can't even get a bearth in a County side.

But is also says a lot about Bates' batting. Unless he has had offers but turned them down (eg personal reasons, not wanting to move up north etc), then that's 18 counties who have looked at his batting and said no.

That's the point I am making. These days all teams would rather have a decent batsman whoc can roughly keep than a quality gloveman who can roughly bat. I've wanted for a while to keep a record of how many runs dropped catches by keepers cost the side as I'd wager that it's more than the keepers score with the bat.

Go through all 18 counties. I'm not convinced you'll find 18 decent batsmen who can roughly keep.

Bates' batting is so poor, that I'd seriously struggle to put him into the "who can roughly bat" category.

A bit harsh, he's a fair bat in CC, nothing special. Obviously in limited overs where batting ability is more important he isn't good enough for the modern way the game is played.

[st_brendy]

And limited overs cricket represents more than 50% of the season, in terms of number of matches.

I'd suggest that a lot of counties can't afford (literally) the luxury of having a four day keeper and, separately, a limited overs keeper on their payroll. If your the number one keeper for a county then, by and large, you play in all formats.

[Making_Splinters]

It speaks volumes about the state of the modern game when one of the best glovemen England has produced in the last decade can't even get a bearth in a County side.

But is also says a lot about Bates' batting. Unless he has had offers but turned them down (eg personal reasons, not wanting to move up north etc), then that's 18 counties who have looked at his batting and said no.

That's the point I am making. These days all teams would rather have a decent batsman whoc can roughly keep than a quality gloveman who can roughly bat. I've wanted for a while to keep a record of how many runs dropped catches by keepers cost the side as I'd wager that it's more than the keepers score with the bat.

Go through all 18 counties. I'm not convinced you'll find 18 decent batsmen who can roughly keep.

Bates' batting is so poor, that I'd seriously struggle to put him into the "who can roughly bat" category.

The point is more, when I started following the game Bates would have been snapped up by almost every County because the art of glovemanship was a respected one. These days providing you'll take a decent number of catches behind the stumps you'll get by on the willow rather than the gloves. If there was a convenient way of doing so I'd be very interested in tracking the net runs lost through drops by a keeper versus their net runs with the bat. I'd wager for most keepers in the country they'll come out as scoring less than their keeping costs the side.

[st_brendy]

Three day friendly match (which was more like two days, due to all the rain yesterday) has just been shaken as a draw.

Across the 2.5 innings that were played: Carberry 146, Smith 89, Vince 140, Dawson 58*, Adams 98, Wheater 45, Wood 52*, Tomlinson 2-24, Briggs 2-12, Dawson 3-3.

Only downsides were that Ervine and Berg didn't get much time in the middle (neither batted in the first innings, and second time round they only made 10 and 2 respectively), and 22 overs combined from Wood and Berg only brought one wicket each.

[SaintPowelly]

As far as friendlies go, that was as close to perfect as possible.

[st_brendy]

SkyBet currently has us 7th favourites for the County Championship (so just avoiding relegation) at 9/1. Middlesex and Worcs are both put below us, whilst Sussex, Somerset and Durham are all very marginally ahead of us.

They put us 6th favourites in the one day cup (at 10/1) and joint favourites with Yorkshire and Notts for the t20 (at 6/1). It will be interesting how badly hit those two are by international call ups (England and Australia) during the t20 season.

[st_brendy]

Squad for tomorrow's final friendly (two day game vs Kent of all teams - Coles) has been announced.

13 players named - Carberry and Vince drop out (strange, but presumably both are happy with the amount of time they've had in the middle); Alsop, Wheal, Bird and Andre Adams all come in.

[captaincolly]

Good luck to you all for the season. I tweeted Will Smith a good luck message and he replied:
@WillSmith_2: @mbutler1974 Thanks, looking forward to the title decider in early September!

[budgetmeansbudget]

Good luck to you all for the season. I tweeted Will Smith a good luck message and he replied:
@WillSmith_2: @mbutler1974 Thanks, looking forward to the title decider in early September!

Does that mean you're 40 years old Mr Butler, I haven't a clue what @ and hashtags mean!

[captaincolly]

Good luck to you all for the season. I tweeted Will Smith a good luck message and he replied:
@WillSmith_2: @mbutler1974 Thanks, looking forward to the title decider in early September!

Does that mean you're 40 years old Mr Butler, I haven't a clue what @ and hashtags mean!

No, I just had to pick a number for the Twitter address. My parents got married in 1974 so I picked that!

[budgetmeansbudget]

Good luck to you all for the season. I tweeted Will Smith a good luck message and he replied:
@WillSmith_2: @mbutler1974 Thanks, looking forward to the title decider in early September!

Does that mean you're 40 years old Mr Butler, I haven't a clue what @ and hashtags mean!

No, I just had to pick a number for the Twitter address. My parents got married in 1974 so I picked that!

So that probably means you haven't reached the big four zero yet, a mere youngster.

[captaincolly]

Good luck to you all for the season. I tweeted Will Smith a good luck message and he replied:
@WillSmith_2: @mbutler1974 Thanks, looking forward to the title decider in early September!

Does that mean you're 40 years old Mr Butler, I haven't a clue what @ and hashtags mean!

No, I just had to pick a number for the Twitter address. My parents got married in 1974 so I picked that!

So that probably means you haven't reached the big four zero yet, a mere youngster.

I feel about 70 most days lol

[budgetmeansbudget]

The use of the expression lol tells me you're a youngster in age and spirit!