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

Durhamfootman wrote:I found it an interesting exercise to go back to the start of this thread, just to see just how utterly delusional we all were 10 months ago

almost as delusional as thinking that because Australia had a fairly poor batting line up, that England had a half decent chance of winning an ashes match down under

Yeah! I suppose in hindsight our bowling had been on the decline for a while but I don't think anyone could have predicted it'd be so useless against div 2 lineups. I certainly thought the 48 point deduction was the only thing that would prevent promotion - and that there was a realistic chance we would overcome it in any case.
Even after FTECB withdrew Stokes from the Ashes I still thought we had a chance!

Wood picked up by CSK for £167k in the IPL auction second round.
Is his participation a sign he thinks his test days are over? If he seriously wanted to push for a recall I'd have thought he'd have needed to prove his fitness in first class cricket.
Or maybe it's financial - there's a good chance his career will be cut short given his injury record so he may as well take a big payday whilst also putting himself in the shop window for the other global T20 tournaments.

captaincolly wrote:Wood picked up by CSK for £167k in the IPL auction second round.
Is his participation a sign he thinks his test days are over? If he seriously wanted to push for a recall I'd have thought he'd have needed to prove his fitness in first class cricket.
Or maybe it's financial - there's a good chance his career will be cut short given his injury record so he may as well take a big payday whilst also putting himself in the shop window for the other global T20 tournaments.

IPL is a no brainer for any player. Forget about him for Durham afaic. Best news is Tom Latham has been left unsold so at present available for Durham all season.

westoelad wrote:

captaincolly wrote:Wood picked up by CSK for £167k in the IPL auction second round.
Is his participation a sign he thinks his test days are over? If he seriously wanted to push for a recall I'd have thought he'd have needed to prove his fitness in first class cricket.
Or maybe it's financial - there's a good chance his career will be cut short given his injury record so he may as well take a big payday whilst also putting himself in the shop window for the other global T20 tournaments.

IPL is a no brainer for any player. Forget about him for Durham afaic. Best news is Tom Latham has been left unsold so at present available for Durham all season.

Yep. I suppose my dislike of the IPL makes me forget it's an option any player would take. Excellent news about Latham -although he won't see it that way!

England are positively encouraging players to play in the IPL.... although a fair old chunk of them didn't interest anyone including both England captains.... so I don't think it represents any thoughts of a curtailed test career. Perhaps not even the money, because whilst £167k would delight us, it's pin money compared to a full England contract.... Buy him a very fancy new car, I suppose.

He may not play very much... at that price he'll be a back up option only... unless he gets an early break and does well, of course.

I see the IPL reassured franchises, before the bidding process started, that they would be allowed to replace Stokes if he ended up being unavailable for the whole competition

English players at IPL auction | Sold and unsold
Ben Stokes - £1.39m to Rajasthan Royals

Chris Woakes - £822,000 to Royal Challengers Bangalore

Jos Buttler - £444,000 to Rajasthan Royals

Moeen Ali - £189,000 to Royal Challengers Bangalore

Mark Wood - £166,000 to Chennai Super Kings

Jason Roy - £166,000 to Delhi Daredevils

Sam Billing - £111,000 to Chennai Super Kings

Chris Jordan - £111,000 to Sunrisers Hyderabad

David Willey – UNSOLD

Tymal Mills – UNSOLD

Alex Hales – UNSOLD

Eoin Morgan – UNSOLD

Jonny Bairstow – UNSOLD

Joe Root – UNSOLD

Liam Plunkett - UNSOLD

Adil Rashid - UNSOLD

Tom Helm - UNSOLD

Joe Denly - UNSOLD
No Yorkies involved in IPL so that'll make them pretty strong for 1st part of CC campaign.

Some interesting prices there and some surprising names have missed out. I suppose the limited number of overseas slots and finite budgets are a big factor.
Other slightly odd thing is why did Kent appoint Billings as their new captain rather than someone who was likely to be there for the full season.

also FTECB told the IPL that next year the England boys would be pulled out of the IPL extra early to prepare for the WC, so that probably made lesser England players, like the 2 captains, much less desirable. Whilst players like Stokes were still worth having even if it meant they would miss extra matches next year, Root and Morgan would only ever have been squad players, so there wasn't much point in signing them. Same goes to YJB, Hales, and so on

Durhamfootman wrote:also FTECB told the IPL that next year the England boys would be pulled out of the IPL extra early to prepare for the WC, so that probably made lesser England players, like the 2 captains, much less desirable. Whilst players like Stokes were still worth having even if it meant they would miss extra matches next year, Root and Morgan would only ever have been squad players, so there wasn't much point in signing them. Same goes to YJB, Hales, and so on

Ah yes. I'd forgotten about the World Cup.

Soon be Feb and time to unveil the DBTR thread for the new season. I'll post it at the weekend, to give everyone time to wrap up any discussions on this one.

Not as prolific a thread as it was this time last year, but then again, we haven't been completely shafted by FTECB in the last 12 months, and the thick end of 1500 posts is a solid return for one half of the Durham threads.

Thanks to all contributors

onwards and upwards

FTECB

Durhamfootman wrote:Soon be Feb and time to unveil the DBTR thread for the new season. I'll post it at the weekend, to give everyone time to wrap up any discussions on this one.

Not as prolific a thread as it was this time last year, but then again, we haven't been completely shafted by FTECB in the last 12 months, and the thick end of 1500 posts is a solid return for one half of the Durham threads.

Thanks to all contributors

onwards and upwards

FTECB

Yep!

Durhamfootman wrote:Soon be Feb and time to unveil the DBTR thread for the new season. I'll post it at the weekend, to give everyone time to wrap up any discussions on this one.

Not as prolific a thread as it was this time last year, but then again, we haven't been completely shafted by FTECB in the last 12 months, and the thick end of 1500 posts is a solid return for one half of the Durham threads.

Thanks to all contributors

onwards and upwards

FTECB

And thanks to you DF. The thread has certainly provided much interesting debate during what has certainly been the most controversial year in our 1st class history. The key question before this thread is withdrawn is whether DCCC are in a stronger position now than 12 months ago?

Financially. Most certainly and with a sell out ODI in prospect.

Playing strength. We've lost Jennings(jury out) Bunny(past it) P. Coughlin(injury prone) and Steel, Clark and Potts proved themselves. Additionally we've recruited Smith, Rimmington, Harte and Jones.

Playing prospects. We're already 48 pts better off than last season.

So it's onwards, upwards and continue to FTECB.

westoelad wrote:

Durhamfootman wrote:Soon be Feb and time to unveil the DBTR thread for the new season. I'll post it at the weekend, to give everyone time to wrap up any discussions on this one.

Not as prolific a thread as it was this time last year, but then again, we haven't been completely shafted by FTECB in the last 12 months, and the thick end of 1500 posts is a solid return for one half of the Durham threads.

Thanks to all contributors

onwards and upwards

FTECB

And thanks to you DF. The thread has certainly provided much interesting debate during what has certainly been the most controversial year in our 1st class history. The key question before this thread is withdrawn is whether DCCC are in a stronger position now than 12 months ago?

Financially. Most certainly and with a sell out ODI in prospect.

Playing strength. We've lost Jennings(jury out) Bunny(past it) P. Coughlin(injury prone) and Steel, Clark and Potts proved themselves. Additionally we've recruited Smith, Rimmington, Harte and Jones.

Playing prospects. We're already 48 pts better off than last season.

So it's onwards, upwards and continue to FTECB.

I agree about the key question. Going by his record the chances are that Coughlin will spend more time injured than on the field for Notts and until/unless Jennings has another prolific season his miracle year will have been a fluke. Was it Robin Weston who performed modestly at Durham and then had a season ( at Middlesex or was it Derby ) where he scored a load of runs before reverting to type?

Jury is out for me on the new arrivals, not sure if they will score the runs /take the wickets required to ensure we have a productive season but they may do it. Other uncertainty is if any of those younger fast bowlers can stay fit and really kick on and if Rushy's apparent decline can be reversed - I suspect not but we will find out!

The Cricket Paper interview with Onions is available online. https://www.thecricketpaper.com/feature ... ancashire/

A watered down version online to what originally appeared in the paper " They will need A bit more direction from certain leaders in the squad" is omitted and that could only be a criticism aimed at Colly. Can't believe that was an accidental omission.

captaincolly wrote:Jury is out for me on the new arrivals, not sure if they will score the runs /take the wickets required to ensure we have a productive season but they may do it. Other uncertainty is if any of those younger fast bowlers can stay fit and really kick on and if Rushy's apparent decline can be reversed - I suspect not but we will find out!

my hope is that the arrival of Rimmington will take a lot of the workload (and pressure) of Rushy, and that he may then have a better season, than he has had of late, as a result.

I confess, though, that I'm pinning most of my hopes on Latham, Steel and Clark (Clark? 2 years ago I'd have laughed at that). Richo needs to pull his socks up this year, but if the top order do their job, I'm hoping that Richo may be able to play with more freedom/fluidity than he did last year when he was often coming in in 'backs to the wall' mode.

We could have done with having Stokes around for the first month of the season, but there you go