A Bristol quarter final awaits

An unexpected turn of events last night saw our quarter final destination switch from Hove to Bristol, as Worcestershire forgot their lines against bottom of the table Northamptonshire, while Nottinghamshire again imploded against Durham.

Northamptonshire lifted themselves two places from bottom, leaving Warwickshire and Leicestershire occupying the last two places in the section. Frustratingly, we lost to both, which shows the enigma that is Derbyshire. We had some extraordinary wins this year, a tribute to all concerned, but as soon as we take our foot from the gas, we are penalised.

Still, that switch of opponent will serve us better, though Gloucestershire are a fine side, well led by Michael Klinger in his final season. He finished top of the batting averages, with 35 an innings, but their strength, like ours, has been a genuine team effort. Eight players averaged over 20 with the bat, while six bowlers went for under eight an over. Only Klinger exceeded 300 runs, his 350 comfortably ahead of Miles Hammond's 291.

Compare to Derbyshire, where Madsen and Godleman each scored over 400 runs and Reece, with du Plooy, were close to 300. That top four is an obvious strength, as no one else reached, or had the time at the crease to reach a hundred runs in the group matches. Similarly only Ravi Rampaul, Matt Critchley and Alex Hughes went for under eight an over. though another three were under nine.

The game will make for excellent Saturday night viewing on Sky, unless you live closer and can get down there to cheer the boys on in person.

We now have a week of T20 work, after the game finishes today, to prepare for the game and it offers us another opportunity to make finals day, after messing things up against Hampshire a couple of years ago. I think we will be better prepared for any late curve balls thrown by the opposition, though don't see any major change to the home side's game plan. Nor ours, because in recent games we have formulated one that seems to work.

One thing that has caught my eye this year is the number of overseas signings who have contributed relatively little, at one assumes is considerable cost. The asterisk alongside the name is a player who played less than four games

                                                       Batting Av               Wkts         Bowling rpo                     

Derbyshire - van Beek                         9                         9                   8.25                       

Durham - Short                                   43.9                     13                  7.88                       
                 Handscomb                        34.33

Essex  - Zampa                                     8                         12                  8.02                       
              Amir *                                    1                          10                 7.44                       

Glamorgan - Ingram                           26.1                      0                    8.66                         
                     Zaman*                          16.5                      1                   4.33                       
                     Marsh                             21.5                      0                    -                             

Gloucs - Klinger                                  35                          0                   -                           
               Tye                                        15                          13               7.38                         

Hants -  Morris                                    14.33                     12                7.88                         
             Shamsi*                                    -                            3                  9.40                         

Kent - Nabi                                          18.37                    8                   7.22                       
           Viljoen                                      7.16                     18                   7.83                       
           Du Plessis*                               46                         -                      -                             

Lancs - Maxwell                                  41.57                    5                   6.61                       
             Faulkner                                  23.33                  11                  7.68                         

Leics - NONE

Middlesex - de Villiers                        84.25                    -                      -                             
                    Mujeeb*                            0                          7                     6.88                       
                    Hafeez*                           28.75                   2                     8.64                       

Northants - Pretorius                           25                        6                     8.4                           
                   Ashraf                               7.2                       11                   8.1                             

Notts -  Christian                                42                         7                     8.37                         
             Wasim                                    13                        8                      6.42                       

Somerset - Azam                                52.54                   -                        -                                                         

Surrey -       Finch                              36.18                 0                       9.5                               
                   Tahir                                8.5                     19                   8.19                   

Sussex -    Rashid                             6.83                   7                        7.4                             
                 Behrendorff*                       -                       0                       8.25                       

Warwicks  - Agar                              31.66                   3                       7.43                         
                    Patel                              5                          11                     7.26                         

Worcs -  Guptill                                 32.37                   -                         -                               
               Ferguson                             18.42                   -                         -                           
               Rutherford*                        16.5                    -                         -                               

Yorks  -    Pooran*                             40.66                    -                         -                               
                Maharaj*                              -                          2                       6.3   


You can make up your own mind on those figures, but it confirms that a good overseas input doesn't guarantee progression - see Durham and Surrey - but if you can afford a very good one, it just might (Middlesex). Likewise, while there are a few players with solid figures, the ones that produced regular match-winning performances are in single digits.

For me, however, one figure is worthy of consideration.

Had we signed an overseas player, pre-tournament, then Fynn Hudson-Prentice may not have played much, if at all.   

As it was, he averaged 23.25 with the bat, and took nine wickets at a runs per over rate of 8.67. That compares favourably to a lot of bigger names on that list.

A lesson that a few counties might care to learn from, another year.