Thank god this wretched campaign has come to an end. Bar the Leicester game we've pretty much been hammered out of sight, our squad is just so weak with very little quality in it. Big changes needed for next season because this side just isn't strong enough to compete.
Perhaps easier to say than do, Mark. Finances are tight and 'big changes' cost money that we perhaps don't have.
A couple of good overseas, in the absence of Kolpaks, would make a difference. When your opponents have 2 and most of the rest are internationals, you can't really benchmark against them.
Like Yorks fans moaning tonight. Half of their best side was out, so losing as they did was no real surprise
The defeat wasn't any big surprise. Have to accept player for player Nottinghamshire are better in all departments and their ability to field two overseas players alongside imports like Clarke and Duckett gives them a competitive advantage. Let's not write the season off though. From a bowling perspective, I'm encouraged by Cohen and Melton - haven't seen enough of Aitchison to judge but with the addition of Abbott next year, the attack will have a stronger look. The loss of Rampaul shows how important he was. In the T20 games I've seen, I've been more disappointed in the batting; the top four were terrific last year but have been poor this time. Hard to understand why. Guest looks to be worth persevering with.
Tonight was always going be tough and being 28-3 in the powerplay with 3 of our top four back in the pavilion made it even harder to post a competitive total. We tried everyone with the ball but other than some tight bowling from Hughes and McKiernan we never had enough runs on the board to create any pressure. There was some poor decisions in some of our stroke play, I didn't see all of our innings so I cannot comment on all of the dismissals. I am glad that we had Wayne opening and hope that we continue with this as I think that it has merit.
It all happened as expected when a side with several internationals in their number meet a side with four players whose first team T20 appearances are in single figures. I don't think Notts have forgotten the Bob Willis Trophy game either and have been especially keen to exact revenge on us in both games.
Looking ahead to next year, having the two overseas players will be a big boost, and we have missed Fynn Hudson-Prentice who made some good contributions last season. Making the presumption that Cohen, Melton, Conners and Aitchison will all be here next season, hopefully they will be able to further develop their shorter form skills. It is always useful to have some variations in your locker and we have missed Ravi Rampaul very much in this respect. Maybe some specialist sessions with someone like Azhar Mahmood would be of benefit to them.
Presumably Corky has tactics for each T20 game, but, judging by our performances, it seems like the players forget them once they get out on the pitch. This was another painful performance to watch, from the moment Madsen was out first ball. We repeated the same mistakes made in previous games, and ended up with a total that made it hard for the bowlers to defend. Yet again there was no place for Tom Wood. I just do not get why he's not been given an opportunity. Hopefully lessons will have been learned from this abysmal T20 campaign and applied to next season. I'd like to think we'll end the campaign with a flourish against Yorkshire on Sunday. But to do that we will need to bat aggressively, field cleanly, and bowl with more imagination.
Having competed well and given Notts a bit of a shock in the first match, it's no particular surprise that we couldn't repeat it against a side that is pretty much sweeping everyone before them - and damned well should be having looted some of the best one-day players in the country and hired 2 overseas when most are doing with one or none. Still, the ease of it was embarrassing and dispiriting after much improved performances in the last two games.
We knew that there were going to be problems with a very inexperienced bowling side, lacking an overseas bowler, then Rampaul and Hudson-Prentice. That’s been compounded by neither Reece nor Hughes matching their economy from last season, but the real shock has been the decline in the batting.
It's hard to recall that this time last year, we were worrying that the strength and reliability of our top 4 meant that the middle order had barely batted. This year, Godleman, Reece, Madsen and du Plooy are all averaging half of their 2019 performances, accompanied by much poorer scoring rates by Reece and Godleman, who have both dropped by 30 runs per 100 balls. Even with last year’s bowling, this wouldn’t have got us near finals day.
There are plenty of reasons why this may be the case. None were in prime form in the 4 day matches anyway, and T20 isn’t the best format for out-of-touch batsmen to regain form. There was minimal preparation and transition time with their focus in the early matches still being on red ball cricket. Opponents will be better prepared to counter their methods and exploit weaknesses. Even so, we can’t go into next year quite so relaxed and confident about the top-order strength, and (if we have overseas players) this may be where we need to strengthen as much as the bowling.
In terms of the Notts game, one of the few encouraging features from last night was the busy, calm batting of Guest and Dal. They batted with a fluency and discipline that none of the earlier batsmen managed, I’d like to see both promoted in the order to bolster our struggling top 4, with Guest perhaps opening with Godleman and Dal at 5. Reece might be the one to miss out, as he looks pretty much shot after his gigantic efforts in the BWT. Neither Critchley nor Hughes would suffer from dropping a place in the order, both having been constrained from playing to their natural strengths by having to rebuild after poor starts.
Thank god this wretched campaign has come to an end. Bar the Leicester game we've pretty much been hammered out of sight, our squad is just so weak with very little quality in it. Big changes needed for next season because this side just isn't strong enough to compete.
ReplyDeletePerhaps easier to say than do, Mark. Finances are tight and 'big changes' cost money that we perhaps don't have.
DeleteA couple of good overseas, in the absence of Kolpaks, would make a difference. When your opponents have 2 and most of the rest are internationals, you can't really benchmark against them.
Like Yorks fans moaning tonight. Half of their best side was out, so losing as they did was no real surprise
The defeat wasn't any big surprise. Have to accept player for player Nottinghamshire are better in all departments and their ability to field two overseas players alongside imports like Clarke and Duckett gives them a competitive advantage.
DeleteLet's not write the season off though. From a bowling perspective, I'm encouraged by Cohen and Melton - haven't seen enough of Aitchison to judge but with the addition of Abbott next year, the attack will have a stronger look. The loss of Rampaul shows how important he was.
In the T20 games I've seen, I've been more disappointed in the batting; the top four were terrific last year but have been poor this time. Hard to understand why. Guest looks to be worth persevering with.
Tonight was always going be tough and being 28-3 in the powerplay with 3 of our top four back in the pavilion made it even harder to post a competitive total. We tried everyone with the ball but other than some tight bowling from Hughes and McKiernan we never had enough runs on the board to create any pressure. There was some poor decisions in some of our stroke play, I didn't see all of our innings so I cannot comment on all of the dismissals. I am glad that we had Wayne opening and hope that we continue with this as I think that it has merit.
ReplyDeleteIt all happened as expected when a side with several internationals in their number meet a side with four players whose first team T20 appearances are in single figures. I don't think Notts have forgotten the Bob Willis Trophy game either and have been especially keen to exact revenge on us in both games.
Looking ahead to next year, having the two overseas players will be a big boost, and we have missed Fynn Hudson-Prentice who made some good contributions last season. Making the presumption that Cohen, Melton, Conners and Aitchison will all be here next season, hopefully they will be able to further develop their shorter form skills. It is always useful to have some variations in your locker and we have missed Ravi Rampaul very much in this respect. Maybe some specialist sessions with someone like Azhar Mahmood would be of benefit to them.
Interesting comments Adam, as always. Thank you!
DeletePresumably Corky has tactics for each T20 game, but, judging by our performances, it seems like the players forget them once they get out on the pitch. This was another painful performance to watch, from the moment Madsen was out first ball. We repeated the same mistakes made in previous games, and ended up with a total that made it hard for the bowlers to defend. Yet again there was no place for Tom Wood. I just do not get why he's not been given an opportunity. Hopefully lessons will have been learned from this abysmal T20 campaign and applied to next season. I'd like to think we'll end the campaign with a flourish against Yorkshire on Sunday. But to do that we will need to bat aggressively, field cleanly, and bowl with more imagination.
ReplyDeleteHaving competed well and given Notts a bit of a shock in the first match, it's no particular surprise that we couldn't repeat it against a side that is pretty much sweeping everyone before them - and damned well should be having looted some of the best one-day players in the country and hired 2 overseas when most are doing with one or none. Still, the ease of it was embarrassing and dispiriting after much improved performances in the last two games.
ReplyDeleteWe knew that there were going to be problems with a very inexperienced bowling side, lacking an overseas bowler, then Rampaul and Hudson-Prentice. That’s been compounded by neither Reece nor Hughes matching their economy from last season, but the real shock has been the decline in the batting.
It's hard to recall that this time last year, we were worrying that the strength and reliability of our top 4 meant that the middle order had barely batted. This year, Godleman, Reece, Madsen and du Plooy are all averaging half of their 2019 performances, accompanied by much poorer scoring rates by Reece and Godleman, who have both dropped by 30 runs per 100 balls. Even with last year’s bowling, this wouldn’t have got us near finals day.
There are plenty of reasons why this may be the case. None were in prime form in the 4 day matches anyway, and T20 isn’t the best format for out-of-touch batsmen to regain form. There was minimal preparation and transition time with their focus in the early matches still being on red ball cricket. Opponents will be better prepared to counter their methods and exploit weaknesses. Even so, we can’t go into next year quite so relaxed and confident about the top-order strength, and (if we have overseas players) this may be where we need to strengthen as much as the bowling.
In terms of the Notts game, one of the few encouraging features from last night was the busy, calm batting of Guest and Dal. They batted with a fluency and discipline that none of the earlier batsmen managed, I’d like to see both promoted in the order to bolster our struggling top 4, with Guest perhaps opening with Godleman and Dal at 5. Reece might be the one to miss out, as he looks pretty much shot after his gigantic efforts in the BWT. Neither Critchley nor Hughes would suffer from dropping a place in the order, both having been constrained from playing to their natural strengths by having to rebuild after poor starts.