Glamorgan 550-5
Derbyshire 253 and 273 (Madsen 77, du Plooy 66, Godleman 40 Harris 3-40, van der Gugten 3-59
Glamorgan won by an innings and 24 runs
There was resistance, as there was the first time around. The overnight batsmen, Madsen and du Plooy did well for a while, but once the latter was dismissed, there was little to entertain hopes of survival thereafter.
Dal once again lent best support, but seemed unimpressed by the decision to give him out for the second time in the game. Those three players did well, but the challenge for another season is to get more of the team contributing than happened here.
Being honest, there are players who, while obviously being good cricketers to play at this level, are short of the standard required to push us on. My concern is that a good number of players have progressed this year, but the overall progress of the side has been limited by the fact that some just don't have that extra 10% to give.
That being the case, I don't expect next season to be substantially different to this one. There does not appear to be a substantial budget to change things around and most of the squad is already contracted until the end of 2023. This year we also had a stellar overseas player in Shan Masood, who will be difficult to replace.
I won't say much more at this stage, as my end of season review will give my thoughts in detail. But as in every organisation across the world, there are those who are very good at what they do, those who work hard but don't deliver quite the same results.
So we have one more match to go, against Leicestershire at home, in which to send supporters into the winter with a smile on their faces. We needn't be too despondent, because the signs of progress are there in a number of individuals. It is only when we are able to add to those players with others of similar talent and mindset that we will get to where Mickey Arthur undoubtedly wants us to be.
Our second innings mirrored our first, to an extent. We collapsed after the Came/Dal partnership and we did pretty much the same after the Madsen/du Plooy one. Overall, it was a disappointing performance.
ReplyDeleteWe need to be able to bat deeper. Thomson showed promise with the bat in the early part of the season, scoring two 50s, but in the latter part he hasn't shined. So far, Aitchison hasn't proved he can get runs (no criticism in this game, though, because of his ankle injury). We need a number eight who can be relied on to score runs on a regular basis. McKiernan has proved he can bat, with a century and a 71 this season, in just a handful of games, so he would be a good candidate for eight. Or maybe we play Reece primarily as a seamer and have him at eight. We can't go into games with our batting effectively ending at seven with Dal.
Yet still we've only won three out of thirteen matches Peakfan. There are signs of improvement with certain individuals Guest and Dal the two standout performers, but sadly there are quite a few players that aren't up to the required standard. I'd love there to be a big overhaul this summer, but like you say I don't think there will be much change at all. Six out of ten season for me
ReplyDeleteYes I agree with your comments. My concern is that a large profit was declared last year which obviously sounds good but is it ? Surely this should be invested into the playing budget as we exist ( I hope ) to be as successful as we can ON the pitch!
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ReplyDeleteI'm afraid Thomson had an awful game. 1-174 and a pair - it couldn't be much worse. Mattie Mc Keirnan might be a better bet at number 8. As regards the future captaincy, some players thrive on the extra responsibility - the obvious example being Kim Barnett. Therefore I think Dal should be made captain. It would be a fitting reward for an outstanding season. 1 match to go. Surely time for experimentation.
ReplyDeletePlayer of the year …Anuj Dal ….I was worried when we lost Critchley and Hudson Prentice . As of today he’s some 500 runs and 13 wickets ahead of Critchley in 4 day cricket . We need to do the right thing and release Billy and use the budget to firm up the top order as a priority . Well done to Wayne Madsen second highest run scorer
ReplyDeleteThe pivotal point of the season came when Pakistan (as is their right) picked Shan for the Sri Lanka tour. It’s pointless saying that he didn’t play, because he could have and that is the prerogative of the Pakistan selectors. But he was such a short-lived talisman that I am unsurprised that shoulders, collectively speaking, dropped.
ReplyDeleteThen there was Taunton. Regardless of how much you want to put that down as a one-off, a bad day at the office, call it what you will, it was a complete evisceration carried unfortunately out under the full glare of the Sky TV arc lights/ and things were never quite the same after.
All of that said, there has been real progress from 2021 and on that alone MA and the team deserve great credit. To be theoretically in with a promotion chance as late as 19 September, well, who wouldn’t have settled for that in April?
Agreed 100%!
DeleteA game to forget but most frustrating that it was mainly self inflicted after we won the toss...
ReplyDeleteI like Thomson but he definitely performed poorly here, although he did have Lloyd dropped, a straight forward enough catch too.
Dal has simply been a revelation. Not convinced we should be lumbering him with the added burden of captaincy just yet though. Player of the season, even if he gets a pair next week!
Isn’t Billy contracted for next season as well? Even if you wanted to release him then you’d have to pay up his contract anyway so you may as well have him in the squad. I’m sure we haven’t enough cash to just be releasing players early from their contract. I wouldn’t burden Dal with the captaincy. I’d be tempted to give it to Du Plooy. He’s only got a one year contract so try and tempt him to a longer stay and improve further by adding the captaincy. Agree the season hasn’t been the same since the Somerset debacle.
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