The Vitality Blast is back!
Injury and circumstance have not been kind to the club this year and the available squad is cut down accordingly.
I understand that the likely replacement for Suranga Lakmal, who looks set to miss the remainder of the season, may well come from Australia, at least for the T20 Blast. A number of their players have now returned home from IPL duty and of course, Mickey Arthur's contacts book is around the size of a volume of Encyclopedia Britannica.
There are plenty of players who would fit the bill from that country, of course, but a bowler or bowling all rounder would seem a likely target, as the greater need of the side.
The challenge, of course, would be getting someone in for the weekend and we may need to start the campaign with only one overseas.
I still don't think that Billy Godleman will skipper or play this format, so my expectation is that Shan Masood will be announced skipper before the weekend.
From the players and the form that we have seen, my guess is this side, unless something happens very quickly:
Masood
Reece
Madsen
Du Plooy
Came
Guest
Hughes
McKiernan
Watt
Scrimshaw
Conners
The only other bowling options are Mikey Cohen and Nick Potts. The former hasn't bowled at his best in the seconds, while Mickey Arthur will be wary of over-bowling the latter at this formative stage of his career.
It may be that Nuj Dal recovers from his ankle injury before then, but they may err on the side of caution and ensure it is fully right before he resumes his key role in the side.
As I have written before, we have the players to do well in this format if they all play to potential. We have a world-class coach too, but I maintain that this year will be a free hit for him until he can reshape the squad as he wants it at season end.
More from me before the game, when we should know a little more!
Looking at the recent 2nd XI T20 games. I'm excluding todays as Leicestershire played their first XI I notice there has been a South African born allrounder called Justin Watson who has decent bowling figures (a couple of 4 wicket hauls). I know it is a different level but I wonder if he may come under consideration as he seemed to bowl well at the end of innings.
ReplyDeleteAlso do we know anything on fitness of Luis Reece after limping off v Notts and having to bat with a runner.
No we don't know David. I hoped in the above team he would be OK. But we don't know just yet.
DeleteThe squad is so small that there is no real slack and we are fast getting to the point where the fit ones play. That may be Billy's route into the side..
I hope over time the board is able to back MA with improving the depth in the squad.
ReplyDeleteQuantity is NEVER a substitute for quality of course but we do look a little short in some areas of the squad. Perhaps two players short of a squad covering all bases.
I think we're OK for batters with Came and Wood in the wings and we've three useful spinners but injuries are testing our pace bowling depth and I think we've been very fortunate in how well Potts has stepped up to the plate so far. Hopefully the answer to questions of depth might lie in the academy. Were Wagstaff to come through strongly for example then batting depth would look very good indeed. Are there any other good bowlers coming through that you're aware of Steve?
That XI looks very vulnerable in the bowling department. I'd be doubtful if Reece will recover in time and if he does play would we risk him bowling? That would give us only 5 bowling options apart from an over or two from Madsen. Overseas incoming hopefully....
ReplyDelete