Morning after thoughts

We have reached the halfway point of the Vitality Blast and we're sitting with three wins and four defeats. It is generally accepted that you can only afford to lose six matches to qualify for the knockouts, so if not yet at 'last chance saloon', we are fast approaching the swinging doors at its entrance. 

I have a few observations based on these seven games. You may agree with them or not, but that's your prerogative.

I don't think we went into this competition having fully thought things out. There have been media- friendly soundbites from Mickey Arthur, saying the team is packed with 'excitement machines' and that we are going to play 'sexy cricket'. I may be in a minority of one, but I don't think such comments do us any favours at all. 

Sometimes you just have to ca canny, as they say in the part of the country in which I reside. It doesn't have to be bish, bash, bosh all the time and sometimes knocking it around, taking ones and twos then taking advantage of a bad ball, can be more effective than trying to hit it into the stratosphere. Look at Birmingham yesterday. They knew what they had to do, knocked it around, tried nothing ambitious and never looked in any trouble.

One of the better one day sides of my salad days was Somerset. They had the brilliance of Viv Richards and the explosive power of Ian Botham, but they succeeded because the rest played their natural game around them. You don't need a top order where everyone is trying to score twenty an over. It is doomed to fail, just as it usually did when Richards and Botham batted together. As the latter admitted in an interview, they just ended up trying to out-hit each other.

It is no real surprise that the three most reliable batters this year have been David Lloyd, Brooke Guest and Aneurin Donald. The first two play their game and don't deviate too far from what comes naturally. Despite being different, so too does Donald, whose approach is not markedly different depending on the game format. 

I applaud the positive way in which Samit Patel has led the team, but he has only scored runs in one innings. Again yesterday, he perished when a shot of greater common sense might have proved beneficial. We had 34 dot balls in our innings, surely far too many for an innings that only gives you 120? 

We have also struggled because there has been a drop in the output of our erstwhile talisman, Wayne Madsen. Again, he's only had one innings of note and frustratingly has been caught down the legside in the last two matches. He has been the focal point of our batting in recent seasons - pretty much since he came to the county - and the decline, hopefully temporary, has had a negative impact on the team. It was always likely to be so. 

Then there is Ross Whiteley. For some reason he seems to be viewed only as a bloke who can come in and slog a few in the last five overs. Might it not have been beneficial to let him come in during the Powerplay and bat when the first wicket falls? Boundaries are boundaries at any time of the innings, but to give him the best opportunity, why not give him the maximum time available in which to do damage? There is a greater chance of a mis-hit falling clear of fielders in the Powerplay, while he could also put an innings out of sight. Could you imagine Ross and Nye batting together for a few overs? There's even a left/right combo there, if it floats your boat.

It isn't fair to criticise someone who only gets in during the closing overs with the expectation of 'slogging it'. The likelihood of consistent success is slim and I don't think his role has been especially well thought out. 

Then again, nor was overseas recruitment, as I have mentioned ad nauseam before. It was clear to me that greater balance in T20, if it was to be the focus of our summer, was in the signing of a player who could hit a long ball and bowl some spin. The stronger suit didn't matter, but the flexibility afforded by such a player was obvious. 

Following the signing of Blair Tickner, I wrote that the second signing would be crucial. As it has turned out, Daryn Dupavillon has bowled well, but we still had two seam bowlers with no pretensions to batting, potentially in the eleven. When Pat Brown and Zak Chappell were always going to play, it left the attack somewhat formulaic, the side unbalanced. It also meant we played the opening games with only one overseas player, when this was seemingly realised too late. 

That we initially played the wrong overseas player, with a lesser record in the format, is also undeniable. 

Cam Fletcher has done okay so far, without setting the world alight. He has looked a decent batter, without yet going on to a big score, he is an asset in the field but he is also a third wicket-keeper. So the role of fifth bowler hasn't been nailed down by anyone, though Mitch Wagstaff has shown potential. Whiteley has been tried, but too often seemingly as an afterthought (where was he at Headingley?) while Thomson must be baffled, in a season of more ins and outs than your average hokey cokey. For the record, I rate Alex as a four-day bowler, but have never seen him as a T20 regular. 

So we approach the mid-season break with a first choice side not yet settled upon. Mohammad Amir will be here soon, apparently, after an international return that was probably ill-advised. But presumably he plays in place of Dupavillon, who has done little wrong since he got into the team. Otherwise we omit Fletcher, who at least offers batting depth to a side that has hardly been consistent in that department. The alternative, of playing Chappell, Amir, Brown and Dupavillon, requires another rejig of the batting, the order and opposition pitches. Because against that attack I would prepare something conducive to spin...

It has all been a bit of a mess. We could still qualify, but clarity of thought process has not been especially obvious along the way. 

Were I a betting man, I wouldn't be putting my pension on our doing so.

It actually hurts to say that, but I am now erring on the side of realism, not optimism.