Mickey Arthur has named a thirteen-man squad for the season opener at Oxford, with Shan Masood set to make his debut. Logic suggests Harry Came will miss out, as may Alex Hughes, the former especially unlucky after looking good against Nottinghamshire.
Runs on the board will do batting confidence the world of good, while the three seamers will aim to start well to stake a claim for Lord's. Realistically, Dusty Melton won't play many games until English - qualified, and with Ben Aitchison and George Scrimshaw injured, the Head of Cricket will hope Sam Conners makes a quick recovery from Covid.
Likely eleven:
Godleman
Masood
Guest
Madsen
du Plooy
Reece
Dal
Thomson
Cohen
Melton
Potts
(plus Came and Hughes)
The start of a new summer is always exciting and this will be my 55th as a county supporter.
There will be trials and tribulations along the way, but I also expect bright, purposeful cricket.
Bring it on!
I worry for Guest if he plays 3. He averaged 25 last season, take away his ton against an abject Leicestershire bowling unit and he'd have only been scraping 20 with a single 50 from 19 innings.
ReplyDeleteI know that's if and but and it was a good knock but I'm a believer your best batter plays 3 and Guest just isn't an accomplished batter when looking at his record. Yet.
Given he's our only keeper he's effectively undroppable so it's a lot of pressure on him if he's batting in the top order too. What if he averages only 20 over the first few games? OK we drop him down the order. What if he's dropping catches too? He'll be under massive pressure and we'll have no way to take him out the firing line.
I'd bat him at 7 and let him focus on his keeping and pitching in down the order with useful runs. Move Reece to 3 until he's bowling again. He's a senior player and an accomplished batter who can play the new ball and whilst not bowling he can focus on runs, runs, runs at 3.
It is a big ask for both and batting 3 exposes Guest to a hard new ball and additional risk of finger injury. As our only keeper that is a sizeable risk.
DeleteI'm inclined to agree with you again with Reece's greater experience. Though IF the top order go well and you have Reece coming in for the second new ball... :)