Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

andy wrote:no suprise there, think he had said all along he wanted to play IPL.

Appears as though no entries for Rossouw or Bailey however! For those that haven't noticed Rossouw's played 2 games in the PSL so far getting man of the match in both of them.

Not all that surprising, there are plenty of batsmen in India and internationals with more name value, not too many pace bowlers.

Not suprised Roussow isn't wanted in IPL, but i am suprised about the lack of intrest in George Bailey..

If we're at full strength come the start of the championship how do people see us lining up out of interest? Looks like selection could be awkward.

Hampshire wrote:If we're at full strength come the start of the championship how do people see us lining up out of interest? Looks like selection could be awkward.

I'm really struggling. (Which is a good thing! I'm not sure we've ever had this many options before!)

Ideally I think we would want (maybe in a slightly different batting order):

Adams/Alsop
Carberry
Vince
Bailey
Ervine
Roussow
Dawson
McManus
Abott
Topley/Berg
Fidel

But unfortunately that lacks a 4th bowler. Dawson is only good enough to be part of a five man attack; Ervine is only good enough to support a bowling attack rather than be part of it. So rather than Topley or Berg, it needs to be both really. Or Wheal for when Topley is rested/injured. Or Crane for when the pitch dictates two spinners. And in that case, we have to drop a batter.

The weakest one I think is quite clearly McManus. But having let Wheater go (a big, big loss across all three formats), I can't see them ditching McManus already (if Alsop opened ahead of Adams, he could keep - it's not like McManus is our only keeper). So he starts the season. And we're not going to be leaving out Vince, Bailey or Dawson. So what options then... Maybe open with Dawson, and leave out one of the openers? Maybe "manage" Ervine's workload across all three formats this season? Maybe focus more on limited overs for Roussow? I don't know.

Still waiting to see who we sign as our second overseas player. But we the t20s starting later this season (early July), we have ages yet to make an announcement on that front. I still think it might be Watson.

st_brendy wrote:

Hampshire wrote:If we're at full strength come the start of the championship how do people see us lining up out of interest? Looks like selection could be awkward.

I'm really struggling. (Which is a good thing! I'm not sure we've ever had this many options before!)

Ideally I think we would want (maybe in a slightly different batting order):

Adams/Alsop
Carberry
Vince
Bailey
Ervine
Roussow
Dawson
McManus
Abott
Topley/Berg
Fidel

But unfortunately that lacks a 4th bowler. Dawson is only good enough to be part of a five man attack; Ervine is only good enough to support a bowling attack rather than be part of it. So rather than Topley or Berg, it needs to be both really. Or Wheal for when Topley is rested/injured. Or Crane for when the pitch dictates two spinners. And in that case, we have to drop a batter.

The weakest one I think is quite clearly McManus. But having let Wheater go (a big, big loss across all three formats), I can't see them ditching McManus already (if Alsop opened ahead of Adams, he could keep - it's not like McManus is our only keeper). So he starts the season. And we're not going to be leaving out Vince, Bailey or Dawson. So what options then... Maybe open with Dawson, and leave out one of the openers? Maybe "manage" Ervine's workload across all three formats this season? Maybe focus more on limited overs for Roussow? I don't know.

Still waiting to see who we sign as our second overseas player. But we the t20s starting later this season (early July), we have ages yet to make an announcement on that front. I still think it might be Watson.

With Alsop stating he'd given up on keeping last season it would be interesting to see if he'd take up the gloves again if McManus was for example to get injured. Does anyone know who our next available keeper actually is now if McManus suddenly got injured and Alsop didn't want to step in? Who was doing it for the 2nds at the end of last season?

If everyones fit come the start of the season then it's going to have to be a very tough call on at least one of the batsmen, quite possibly 2. IPL auction is very early tomorrow morning so we'll be seeing if Abbott will be disappearing for the start of the season. Expect he will be most likely which will make picking the seamers a bit easier, would like to see Crane really given a run at some point however given his performances down under. Watson seems to have been our next signing on the cards for the last 4 or 5 years now .

On a side note I also noticed Rossouw bowling an over of part time spin in the PSL the other day! Don't know how useful it is but he got Morgan out and only went for 8 runs in it.

Edit : And just remembered we haven't even mentioned Smith yet!

Also do we need another T20 overseas? I just wrote out the first possible top 8 that came to mind :

Carberry
Alsop
Vince
Rossouw
Bailey
Ervine
Dawson
McManus

And then realised we'd still have to drop 1 of them at least (again presumably not McManus) already to accomodate enough bowlers.

Abbott unsold in the ipl auction.

Hampshire wrote:Also do we need another T20 overseas? I just wrote out the first possible top 8 that came to mind :

Carberry
Alsop
Vince
Rossouw
Bailey
Ervine
Dawson
McManus

And then realised we'd still have to drop 1 of them at least (again presumably not McManus) already to accomodate enough bowlers.

Last year was only his first full season, so I'm maybe being harsh, but whilst Alsop took to 50 over cricket like a duck to water and was solid enough in four day cricket, he looked a little out of his depth in t20 cricket. And I think we're crying out for an allrounder (we're two down on last year don't forget, with no Afridi and no McLaren/Sammy).

Vince
Carberry
Rossouw
Ervine
Bailey
Watson
Dawson
McManus
Wood
Abbott
Topley

Looks like one hell of a t20 team. Possibly the best top seven in the country (with a half decent tail to follow it). Options at the start and end of the innings with the ball. Five proper bowling options, with Ervine in support. Still missing someone like Briggs (or Afridi last season) in the middle of the innings, but that's about it. (To be honest, getting Afridi back, rather than Watson, would leave me equally happy)

The two year contract that Topley initially signed has effectively been restarted, with him signing on for another 12 months until the end of next season. Given that injury prevented him from a bowling a single ball for us last year (which may well be why he was happy to sign the contract - loyalty and all that), his (minimum) two year stint with us will start this season instead.

Dawson doing his standard thing in one-day cricket these days. 80-odd off 60-odd balls, having initially started out knocking the ball around for a run-a-ball 40. And now 1-18 off 5 overs (when everyone else is going around the park).

The guy is dynamite in one day cricket now.