I got an e mail this evening asking if I would change my team for Essex in the light of Middlesex's loss to Kent today.
The one word answer is no. We gambled with greater experience against Northamptonshire and got nowhere. For me the next three games are part of a bigger, long term picture. An in form Wayne Madsen would make a huge difference to the batting, but he was outscored by Lineker, Borrington and Siddique against Nottinghamshire and perhaps shouldn't be back at this stage. Mind you, I'd still be happier with him at three than Smith.
Smith played one atrocious shot and one careless one against Northants and gave the impression, rightly or wrongly, that he didn't care. I'm sure that's not the case but you know what I mean.
Finishing third would be an impressive achievement, even if promotion is technically not impossible. I just feel that Krikk needs to have faith in Borrington and Lineker and give them a run while they are in form. If it fails - we've at least seen what they can do. People will be more understanding of defeat having tried something than leaving things alone. I also think that you need to send out the right message to players - score runs and take wickets and I'll play you.
At the end of the day, we all have opinions and the only one that matters is Karl Krikken's. Whichever path he chooses I'm sure we all wish him and the team luck.
Having less than a week ago confidently predicted that Middlesex were out of sight but Northants were vulnerable, I'm not perhaps in the strongest position to offer a definitive analysis of the way forward. The reality is though that Middlesex's seemingly unstoppable momentum has ground to a halt in their last two games, and if this continues, they are just about reachable. A good win against Essex, and a defeat for Middlesex against Northants, and we are almost level on points, though they have a game in hand (and play Leics twice, possibly without James Taylor if he does well against Ireland).
ReplyDeleteSo forget ideas that we can now start to see what the youngsters are capable of. A bad run in the last three games will dump us back into sixth or seventh position, and the efforts of our team deserve better than this as a reflection of their season. Nore importantly, we sacrifice a still live chance of promotion.
I think we got the selection for this match badly wrong. Not because Borrington and Lineker weren't playing, but because the Krikken / Sutton combination made one of their rare bad calls in thinking that batting two out-of-form batters out of position was going to change things. At their best, Hughes is not a 4 day opener, nor Smith a number 3. This left Derbyshire with a dangerously short batting order that depended on Whiteley and Clare continuing a run of form that was already beginning to dry up.
So I'd say that it's still no time for experiments. We need to have a proper opener for Essex - if not the return of Madsen, that means Borrington. Smith would stay - I didn't think his second innings dismissal was careless, and I don't think someone who doesn't care would have put his hand in the way of the return drive from Vaas that nearly decapitated the umpire - and Chelmsford probably needs two spinners. If Lineker plays, he plays instead of Hughes. Either is a gamble - one as an unknown quantity and the other as an out-of-tuch high achiever - but I'd still go with the known quantity of Hughes. Sutton plays if he's fit - with spin likely to play a part in a high-pressure match, it's asking a lot of Poynton to step up, but also leaves us without a captain. I'm not aware of anyone else's captaincy experience in the absence of Sutton and Madsen, but I suspect that Borrington might be the most experienced captain in the side otherwise. I think most of us recognise Sutton's leadership qualities, and I think it's absurd to ignore these in the equation of whether he plays. He could be keeping wicket with one hand, and batting on one leg, but I'd always have him playing in this game. Knight probably has to play given Chelmsford's tendency to help spin, in place of Footitt.
I still think it's extraordinary that we came into the Northants game with everyone baying for wholesale change on the back of what most of us accepted as an outstanding weekend of victory in the championship against Gloucs and CB40 against Yorkshire. As England has found, the power of the collective team spirit often outweighs the fact that individual parts of it may not be functioning particularly well. We ignored that against Northants and unbalanced the batting that had got us to this point - madness to go to the next stage and change more than a third of the personnel.
To coin a phrase, it's not over yet!
Good comment not over yet. To be honest, if I had to pick a number three at present from Hughes, Smith and Madsen I'd still sooner go with Madsen. The team I named is short on experience, but there's not that many options who have that.
ReplyDeleteIf Madsen and Hughes get runs tomorrow, they should play. I'm sadly unconvinced they will though at present... hope I'm wrong!
Sorry Notoveryet,i can,t agree with you. This IS the time to make changes. Those changes are in direct response to three of our frontline batsmen continually failing. The fact that Smith is leaving is only part of the reasoning for dropping him. More important is his woeful form,both with bat and,to a large extent with ball.
ReplyDeleteI write this after the Middlesex game and as a result of that i would possibly relent on dropping Hughes,at least for the next game. Madsen should not return until he has provided far more compelling evidence he may be returning to form.
We have nothing to lose by bringing the likes of Lineker and Borrington into the team and possibly much to gain. As i,ve said before,the fact we are in a reasonable position owes litte to those we are talking about now.
If we lose then fair enough,we lose. As peakfan says,Borrington and Lineker can hardly do worse,can they?.
Come 2013,we will have to play a largely inexperienced team,like it or not,so any experience gained now can only benefit these players. Why should Smith take one of their places?. I can see no good reason. The team will be better without him.We don,t need him.