The inclement weather that so often heralds the sight of cricketers throughout the country treading on the green sward once more restricted play at Taunton to just over 21 overs today, though Derbyshire did well in that time to restrict their hosts to 96-3.
Such weather was, of course, the rationale behind the trip to the Caribbean. Derbyshire's players have at least had some time in the middle and it appears that Tim Groenewald reaped the benefits with two wickets today, those of Suppiah and Compton, while Mark Footitt took the prize wicket of Marcus Trescothick, caught at slip by Paul Borrington. Encouraging news...
Elsewhere Albie Morkel has agreed to return to Durham, as I wrote on this blog a couple of weeks ago. He's not had the best of IPL's, to be honest, but yesterday put Shane Warne over the ropes three times from successive balls, the last one out of the ground. Strangely, however, his captain only had him in when the game was effectively lost and they needed 15/16 an over. The same often happens for South Africa and some suggest that Morkel rarely plays a "finisher" innings when he can do anything but slog it. I think he would have been an asset to us, but our search goes on.
Several counties are reporting that they are getting worried about the second player as the ones they are chasing are asking daft money. The ones who have played IPL can afford to, of course. I'm sure we'd all love to see Matthew Hayden, Dave Warner or Yusuf Pathan at Derby, but my guess is that these guys will be way outside the compass of most county sides and certainly our budget. Pathan has increasingly impressed me in the IPL. I still think his hitting, magnificent on its day, is nothing you'd put money on, but if he comes off it is spectacular and he combines it with tight spin and good fielding, a potent mixture. As I've said before though, there's so many uncertainties over player availability at present that we may still have to wait for a while to hear who we can get.
Elsewhere, Yorkshire are now looking to sign Tino Best as their overseas bowler (hmmm...) while Middlesex have signed Pedro Collins, ex-Surrey (double hmmm...) Neither would thrill me unduly, although I think Kent could get better service from Dewald Nel, who has plied his trade here in Scotland for a few years and is a steady bowler. Such signings, decent cricketers though they are, reflect the paucity of genuine stars available for county stints.
I hope we get something a little more inspiring.
Tino Best
ReplyDeletehttp://www.gzyn.com/cmp/contentReadingActions.do?method=readArticle&id=3017&edition=1&title=Tino+not+the+Best
ino Best has proven to be anything but the best after he leaves NSSC premier league side Leek CC in disgrace after less than half the season. The former test star was released before he could appear before a league committee in response to allegations of racial abuse of players and officials and also guilty of bowling deliberate beamers. Leek CC have been banned from having a replacement professional for 6 weeks as punishment for these incidents.
ReplyDeleteThe termination of Tino Best’s rumoured £20,000 contract has interestingly come as no suprise to those who have witnessed him play since he arrived in England in May. "Even in is his first match, he bowled 12 no balls and was bowling bouncers that were so high they wouldn’t have been hitting the top of telegraph poles." a source from Leek CC said. "I think he thought that he would come in and pick up 6 or 7 wickets every match, but when he realised that people in this league could play him, he lost the plot and bowled bouncers or beamers." added another Leek fan. The talking point round Best was also his complete lack of respect for the league’s umpires and officials. Apparently, he would confront the umpire about every front-foot no-ball he delivered and recieved more than one warning for bowling deliberate beamers at batsmen - often overstepping by a long way to deliver this dangerous ball. I asked one Leek supporter what he thought of Tino Best and he said "He was a lovely man off the pitch, but when he crossed that line (onto the pitch) a switch went in his head and he was nasty, nasty character." His lack of form and unacceptable behaviour must have been a huge disappointment for Leek CC who must have had high hopes for the famous West-Indian.
The North Staffordshire & South Chesire league has had its fair share of household names in the past decade including, Mustaq Ahmed, Shahid Afridi, Aakash Chopra, Azhar Mahmood and currently Nathan Astle. Most have enjoyed successful spells without any incidents resembling those which Tino Best has been involved in. It is appalling that an ex-test player whose participation in the league was eagerly anticipated felt he could behave in a manner which led him to be labelled an ’animal’. In his last game for the club Tino Best was reported for using racist abuse towards players and officials, and is believd to have bowled a beamer from 17 yards. He will not look back at his time in the midlands with many fond memories and perhaps he will one day realise how unprofessional he has been in 2008.
Cant see us going up its expecting to much, with sussex and surrey looking strong favouites, if we finish 4th and improve at the one-day format, it will be a good season for me.
ReplyDelete