All Pretty Vacant, Down by the Riverside

[Durhamfootman]

Rimmo should be consigned to the white ball squads, imo

unless we think we might need his batting, of course

Yes. Hopeless bowling in the 4 day game. When he started I wondered if he was carrying an injury and that was why he looked innocuous. Turned out not to be the case.

Apparently it was pressure from our new chairman to sign him and understandably no one wished to contradict him- obviously going on an out of date judgement.

if it was pressure from ITB, then the info would certainly be out of date..... and almost certainly based on his BBL stats from about 3 years ago.

all makes sense now, though.

he took 11 wickets in 7 matches at 50something in helpful early season conditions....... hopeless.

yet no-one took more than his 9 wickets in a dreadful 50 over campaign, and no-one came close to his 22 wickets in a very good T20 campaign

so he's worth having as long as no-one is daft enough to throw him a red ball

[captaincolly]

Rimmo should be consigned to the white ball squads, imo

unless we think we might need his batting, of course

Yes. Hopeless bowling in the 4 day game. When he started I wondered if he was carrying an injury and that was why he looked innocuous. Turned out not to be the case.

Apparently it was pressure from our new chairman to sign him and understandably no one wished to contradict him- obviously going on an out of date judgement.

Yep. Maybe they were hoping he'd be another Callum Thorp. Very useful in the one day stuff so I suppose he has his merits.

Weighell will be an asset if he can stay fit. He seemed well suited to early season conditions with both ball and bat until he got crocked

Harte averaged 25 last season, which wouldn't be good enough normally, but he did score 2 hundreds to Will Smith's 2 fifties, so I'd say he gets the number 5 slot, after all 25 ave is practically test standard these days. There is a chance Smith might get the captaincy, of course, which might scupper that, so then it comes down to how many bowlers we are likely to need. Rushy, Salisbury, Raine plus 1 offers us another batting slot. Trouble is, last year, the bowlers scored all the runs in the early season matches as well, so perhaps we can't have too many bowlers in the starting XI

It seems to be the same story every year- there's a group of good bowlers but none of them stay fit enough. Colly said Carse could be an international player but he's even more injury prone than the rest of them. There were even rumours last year that his career was under threat. I think it's make or break ( perhaps an unfortunate choice of word.) for a few of them this year. No point in having talented players if they're not able to actually play.

[Durhamfootman]

might not be all their fault......... cough cough wor nige cough cough

not the players careers that should be under a make or break threat, imo

[captaincolly]

might not be all their fault......... cough cough wor nige cough cough

not the players careers that should be under a make or break threat, imo

Yes! I agree. Whoever is captain will have their work cut out too because unless it's Rushy- and I'm not usually in favour of bowlers captaining - whoever gets the job will be someone who is still trying to establish themselves as a player. The jury is still out on most of them. It's why I'd have been looking to bring someone in - probably would have to have been a Kolpak -who had a track record of prolific run scoring in FC cricket to take on the captaincy as well as strengthen the batting.

[Durhamfootman]

that's the reason I'd give it to Bancroft..... with Steel as vice captain

I wouldn't want to burden Rushy or Raine with it, and nobody else is certain to play.... except, perhaps, Poynter... and the less said about that, the better

[Durhamfootman]

Smith is the candidate with the most obvious captaincy experience, but he is by no means a certain starter, and that ought to be top priority

[captaincolly]

that's the reason I'd give it to Bancroft..... with Steel as vice captain

I wouldn't want to burden Rushy or Raine with it, and nobody else is certain to play.... except, perhaps, Poynter... and the less said about that, the better

Smith is the candidate with the most obvious captaincy experience, but he is by no means a certain starter, and that ought to be top priority

I agree. Bancroft would be my choice too.

[Durhamfootman]

perhaps he could be persuaded to be our lead batting consultant too?

might as well get our money's worth

[captaincolly]

perhaps he could be persuaded to be our lead batting consultant too?

might as well get our money's worth

And he could also offer some tips on reverse swing bowling!

[westoelad]

Bancroft will have enough on his plate adjusting to Riverside conditions plus he'll only arrive a few days before the season starts and doesn't know the players. Rushy knows the players and conditions better than anyone else and I don't think being a bowler is a major obstacle to captaincy for such an experienced player.

Also Bancroft will be otherwise engaged doing promotional work for our new sponsor...B&Q!

[Durhamfootman]

it isn't an obstacle being a bowler, but some players are best left alone to get on with the things they do best, imo and I think Rushy is one of those players...... like his cousin Phil Mustard was

[Arthur Crabtree]

no-one came close to his (Rimmington) 22 wickets in a very good T20 campaign

More than Tahir?

[westoelad]

no-one came close to his (Rimmington) 22 wickets in a very good T20 campaign

More than Tahir?

No, but Tahir played far fewer games.

[Durhamfootman]

15 for Tahir, I think.... although as WL rightly points out, he tittled off to the CPL just as things were getting interesting

[captaincolly]

According to The Mail on Sunday , the post-Bayliss plan is likely to be his replacement as head coach assisted by Colly and Chris Silverwood - one will work on red ball cricket and the other will do white ball cricket. Don't know if the journalist is just guessing or has been tipped off.