Monday 22 April 2019

Monday musings

I don't think that there is any need for a major inquest, after our defeat yesterday.

By and large we acquitted ourselves well. The absence of Rampaul was a factor, though I don't think his presence would have changed the result. I hope Ravi is recovered in time for the Leicestershire game on Wednesday.

The only change that I would make to the eleven would be Ravi coming in at the expense of Mark Watt. Someone has to give way and it would be silly to omit Alfie Gleadall, after an impressive list A debut.

Having come into the squad late, Mark doesn't look as fit as the rest of the team and can work on that ahead of the T20. Madsen and Critchley offer a spin option, as does du Plooy if needed. Matt McKiernan would surely be in the side, but for his stress fracture.

We just need to capitalise on a good start and break down the innings into segments. If you reach 150 in thirty overs, with plenty of wickets in hand, the rest of it becomes a T20 mindset, where a par score is now around 180.

That would have given us 330, probably still not enough on this occasion, but challenging against lesser opposition.

It is little things like this that Dave Houghton referred to pre-season, improving by ten per cent. Thirty extra runs is a lot in a one day game and Billy took 25 balls to move from 95 to his final 116. I admire and respect the man completely, but on this occasion it was too slow and put additional pressure on the new batsmen coming in, with the bowlers allowed to dominate.

Little things to work on, but as the old song goes, little things mean a lot.

More from me tomorrow, when the squads are announced.

1 comment:

  1. He batted too slow against Northants as well Peakfan, but got away with it that time. Let's see how Billy fares against Leicester, has to step it up and open the bat a bit more. He'll probably be out for a duck now.

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