There is so much you can do with motivational skills, but the current squad is short of quality seamers, especially for this format.
Batting is our stronger suit, but last night was so pedestrian. To get the best from Shan Masood he should be able to anchor the innings, but early frailties have meant he has to try to up the tempo, as the runs aren't coming at the necessary rate.
I applaud the idea of Hayden Kerr going in higher, but not if it means that Madsen doesn't get in until five. Why not try Kerr opening, as Luis Reece isn't really firing this season after a long winter lay off. Madsen could then go three, Du Plooy at four, or vice versa, depending who was out first.
The placement and running was missing last night and I don't sense an intuition between Luis and Shan at the top of the order. It will doubtless occupy Arthur's thoughts between now and Thursday.
I also feel sorry for Sam Conners. He has played little T20 - only six matches before this season - and in an ideal world would learn that craft in the second team equivalent. But there is literally no other fit and/or in form seamer, so he is having to learn those skills the hard way.
But like I have said all along, this is a free hit season for the Head of Cricket and you can't make silk purses from sow's ears. Of course these are good cricketers, as they have reached the penultimate level of the game. But are they good enough, in all cases, to be regular match winners? Can they sustain a level of performance to enable the side to win regularly?
To win more of these games than you lose you need five fairly tight bowlers. McKiernan, Watt and Scrimshaw are all going for eight or nine, but that's only three. Similarly in six matches our highest score is 59, so no one is playing a match-defining innings.
So improvement is needed all round. We can't ring the changes, as the only players outside the group named for the next two games are Thomson, Godleman, Potts and Cohen. Good cricketers all, but unlikely to improve the playing fortunes in this format.
We are missing Tom Wood, as we are missing Ben Aitchison. But as I have written before, winter recruitment is essential to take us on to the next level.
The next two games could get us back on track and both Leicestershire and Worcestershire are beatable. Win them and we will be smiling, but we need to bat and bowl as a unit, every run and every dot ball precious.
For what it is worth, my team tomorrow, in batting order, would go:
Masood, Kerr, Madsen, du Plooy, Reece, Guest, Hughes, McKiernan, Watt, Scrimshaw, Conners.
There's a case for Dal to play ahead of Conners, if only to give Sam a breather before we return to four-day cricket.
But we will see, soon enough.
And you can hear my thoughts on the season so far on North Derbyshire Radio's Friday night sports programme between 6pm and 7pm (online or app)
Very fair assessment PF. I can’t see that just getting in a clubber with arms like Popeye is the answer. Might come off on occasion but what we need is a slow medium trickster who can mix up a theatrical 65 mph bouncer with a slower one, an off- cutter and then with a low trajectory yorker.
ReplyDeleteGreat analysis, Steve, as always. Masood and Reece as an opening partnership isn't working. They're just not communicating clearly with each other. I'd drop Reece down the order to six. Kerr might be the answer as an opener or Came or Guest.
ReplyDeleteAfter six games we have five half centuries, and, as you say, no one going above 59. Someone has to produce 80 or 90, and in quick time. Reece, Madsen, and du Plooy have, in the past, shown that they can go big, and Kerr might also be able to. Masood doesn't smash the ball about, but he scores 4s with ease.
Agree, MA can only work with what he's got. I have total confidence in him, despite the dip in recent form. Eddie Barlow inherited the same situation, and did wonders. Alan Hill, for example, became a different player.