Royal London thingy competition

Aug 27, 2016 18:46:32 GMT warehamgas said:

Yes you are right about the bidding system. It is exactly that, you have to bid. But before the bid you have to have a ground that can be a venue. This has led counties who have aspirations to be new test grounds and counties who are led by money-men who are driven to have a test ground to spend vast amounts of money trying to chase the dream. I suppose it is a very equal and fair system in that any county can do it.... if they develop a suitable ground. But because there are more test grounds than test matches I still think the numbers is the problem.. On top of that you have falling attendances, unless it's an Ashes test, which makes it much harder.

Well that's definitely right as well. There has been an absurd optimism about the number of international cricket venues that can be financially viable in this country. The result is that instead of having 6 venues on basically decent footing - you have 2 on excellent footing (the London grounds) while there are 7-8 that now live with perpetual uncertainty.  I think the ECB's heart was in the right place (originally at least) because I think there was some justification for putting in incentives for counties to develop facilities that had become out of date but the execution has been very poorly thought out.

Back to the Royal London thingy though!  I thought Yorkshire blew it today against Surrey.  Had them in trouble early on and didn't push home the advantage.  Then messed up the run chase several times.  So Surrey get a shot at redemption for last years defeat by Glos.  Not doing anything tomorrow so I was very tempted to take the train down to Edgbaston from Manchester tomorrow to catch the other semi-final and give Somerset some moral support.  I love the idea of Somerset (who do of course have previous with Gareth Batty!) denying Surrey at Lords again.  They will hate the Westcountry! However, a combination of laziness, it being on telly and the fact I am still recovering my own cricketing exploits on Saturday mean the lie-in is of more value to me tomorrow! I am definitely going to Old Trafford next week to watch a couple of days of Lancs v Somerset in the Championship - really looking forward to that.

Aug 30, 2016 17:02:49 GMT warehamgas said:

I thought we bowled well yesterday esp at end. 300 would have been the score I thought we would be chasing, but TBH Bell batted very well and was a class act. He seemed to have that bit of class that we lacked in the end. When we batted I thought we were in it all the way but lost wickets at vital times. I didn't go but watched it on Sky getting more and more jarred off with the commentators! It was probably me but Paul Allott spent his time at the mic showing how much he dislikes Somerset and criticising Jim Allenby. As for Dominic Cork criticising Somerset for not picking Trescothick, blimey he was sat next to him in the box for most of the day and Tres would have told him that he had asked not to play one day cricket this years to prolong his career in 4 day cricket. Cork was mischief making methinks, another one who didn't like Jim Allenby. Patel bowled very well and deserved MOM but I feel that Allenby's and Tregos LBWs were very questionable. (You can probably tell that I was a bit annoyed by the whole day, Sky have got the final they wanted so hey ho) Both those LBWs IMO were missing leg but it was a typical Somerset performance, poor start, a recovery, then a collapse before nearly doing it at the end just to miss out narrowly. Oh well move on to next match Lancashire. If you get there have a good day, let us know what you think about Tom Abell. A player with a really good touch, perhaps too fond of the sweep but see what you think.

Patel definitely bought a couple of LBW's in that game but ho-hum that's the breaks (I'm a spinner I know we never get as many as we should!).

I had a ridiculous day today with everything going wrong so I was only able to see an hour's play but I saw the key bit I think. Trego bought up his 100 and he and Davies turned the screw on Lancs.  Although Lancs are making it look like a pretty flat deck so a draw looks most likely. Old Trafford clearly not being as helpful as usual for spinners - unless that changes as the game evolves I can't see enough wickets being taken.

I did see the first 2 sessions yesterday though and that partnership from Trescothick and Abell was might impressive because it was overcast in the morning and they went off 3 times. Lancs certainly didn't make the use of the conditions they should have done. But they both looked completely comfortable in, what in theory at least, should be some of the toughest batting conditions English Cricket has to offer (ie Overcast rainy morning in Manchester where you don't even get a chance to settle). They then cashed in when the sun came out in the afternoon. Trescothick was completely chanceless and was extremely unlucky/a little bit lax - he absolutely marmalised a pull shot from Clarke but it was just a yard too close to Kerrigan and he pulled of a stunning diving catch plucking it from behind himself.  It was the best catch I've seen this season.  Tres walked off as if he'd just cost his side a Lords final - but he must have been gutted because 100 looked completely in the bag up to that point.

I was impressed with Abell - enough to make me wonder why Somerset felt the need to drop him really. Thoughts were that he was a strong legside player - anything on his legs was put away and he seemed to have a natural tendency to turn straight drives more into on drives which is very stylish (in fact almost Asian in the way he brings his wrists around to leg) but I wonder if it could lead to overbalancing issues at times.  Not yesterday though - he was in almost complete control.  He only gave one chance before lunch - prodding a back foot shot away from his body and giving a catch to the gully that really should have been taken.  What impressed me was how he took on the spinner though - right from the start he didn't let Kerrigan settle.  He bowled with a short boundary to a left-handers so I assumed he'd give Trescothick the strike to deposit a few slog sweeps into the stands. Instead they clearly decided to give Abell the bowling against Kerrigan and he basically knocked him out of the attack in 6 Overs.  Interesting what you said about sweeping - it was the sweeping that did immense damage yesterday and he executed it well although it was clearly his go to shot vs the spinner.  The only thing I would say is that he didn't show much of an offside game v the seamers.  Maybe he's a legside player but I wondered if he'd been out quite a lot playing away from his body in his previous stint and has perhaps been told to adjust/rethought his approach and is now waiting for them to bowl to him so he can score in his strong areas.  Either way it was an impressive innings though I was massively underwhelmed with Lancs bowling.  I think they've mentally checked out for the season - seemed to be going through the motions.  Kerrigan seems to have gone backwards as a cricketer from the player who won them a Championship and was picked for England.  It was a tough ask on an unhelpful pitch to be fair but this was a guy who was one of the best county spinner a few years ago and he looks a shadow of himself.  He couldn't seem to bowl to a set field to tie them down.

I may go back tomorrow for the 2nd/3rd sessions although I find Lancashire's Championship batting lineup quite dour and uninspiring so that doesn't appeal to me as much given that they will be trying to bat out a draw this stage.  If Hameed was still there I'd be much more tempted.

Sept 1, 2016 23:22:35 GMT warehamgas said:

Thanks for taking the time to write about it. Much appreciated. Tres would have been upset, two weeks ago v Notts he equalled the Somerset record of 50 first class centuries. He needs one more to overtake Harold Gimblett and it's important to him. I'm glad Abell got his big century because I think he feels the pressure being a local lad and I think he has great touch for someone so young. He's not a great hitter of the ball but he does have good touch and timing. As you say stronger on the leg side but bowl a bad ball on the off and he will punish it.
Was listening to it on Radio Lancashire today to hear if Somerset got the 5 batting points and obviously Trego played very well as did Davies. I'm glad Davies did well. When he came this year from Kent he was only 18 and I think it's hard for a keeper to keep concentration for such a long time in the field when he is so young. It's why I've been so impressed with Gareth Roderick this season, to captain Gloucs and keep wicket is tough esp for a younger player and with Gloucs having a lot of younger players. With Davies, he really is the real thing as a keeper and has impressed me so much. Unfortunately for him he really struggled to get any runs until August. I believe he has a 3 year contract and Somerset have high hopes but his lack of runs has been a worry. When I was at the Aegeas earlier when David Wheater was dropped as a keeper but kept as a batsman the locals were saying that Wheater will leave and perhaps Somerset will be interested, him being a genuine batsman/wicketkeeper. With the problems Somerset have had with keepers I wouldn't have been surprised. All keepers are compared to Jos Buttler and Craig Keisewetter and obviously don't compare so well. Being so young there might have been a temptation to put Davies in to the seconds and bring in a better batsman but so far not. I think having plenty of runs elsewhere in the team he's been allowed a certain leeway and more time than he might have had elsewhere. But this month as a batsman Davies has really saved us on a couple of occasions. Against Durham he got runs in both innings and helped secure a win in low scoring match. Played well in our one day matches in the Royal London and nearly helped us win the semi this week. Being 18/19 is still very young and he has done well. Glad he did well today.
Sounded on the radio as if Lancs had no answers to Trego and Davies. Mind you Lancs openers did well, a 20 and 18 year old, the youngest openers in their history who did very well after a depressing day and a half. Apparently Strauss and Whittaker, the selectors, were there today to see Hameed and would have been impressed I think. I wonder if they were there yesterday to see Abell? Hameed being touted to go as an opener to India, stats warrants a chance but sometimes it's best to let younger players have more time. I always think Robson the Middlesex opener was played too early and has now been unfairly discarded.
Shame for Simon Kerrigan, is he another who was put into the England team too soon? The criticism he received esp from the Sky commentators in his one test match must have destroyed his confidence and he has never recovered IMO. In that test match he wasn't even bowled in the second innings and his name hasn't really come up again. Bowlers need to have the confidence of their captains esp spin bowlers and he seems to have really suffered poor guy.
Think you're right about the draw although Lancs are still a long way behind and they will need to bat well tomorrow to avoid the follow on.

I went back on the Friday but it was a non-event.  The afternoon seemed to grind to a stalemate as both sides knew the weather forecast was dire for Saturday and so a result was never on the cards.

I thought Davies looked solid enough with the bat.  I wonder if he might struggle to fit the template of what people think Wicketkeepers look like in the modern game though.  There seems to be an expectation that keepers are not only batsmen but a certain type of batsmen.   I think the assumption is that a guy coming 6-9 should be something of a power hitter.  Clearly a good keeper though.  Somerset were probably rather frustrated that the late flurry of wickets came 50 runs too late to enforce the follow on (the only vague chance of a result).  Leach stuck it well and certainly outbowled Kerrigan and Gregory showed again that he is a wicket taker and had Somerset made a couple of more inroads the day before it would have been game on because Lancs had a very long tail.  Both teams out of the Championship hunt now - not really sure why Lancs decided to prepare such a flat deck, it isn't normally like that at Old Trafford.  Maybe it was just one of those things but I can't imagine they were particularly pleased about it.

Hameed has had a fantastic debut season but I think asking him to make a debut in India would be a bit of a tough ask.  I see him as the long term replacement for Cook.  I'm sure the selectors will be thinking about Abell as well.  We seem blessed with a few decent young openers - it's the promising middle order batsmen that seem strangely absent.