County Cricket

Really pleased to see my team Worcestershire claim a fine away win over Derbyshire by 8 wickets in division two. Jake Libby helped the Pears over the line with a century in the second innings.

Good start to the season .

Some four days up and down the country to start the season! Cricket as it should be, with contests throughout the four days, first one side seemed to be in the ascendency, only for the match to switch back and forth. Not least at Lords where it was back and forth throughout - Essex ultimately - having appeared to be toast - coming through! What about Leicestershire also?? what a match, and the kind of finish that only cricket can provide over and over again! The foxes have come up trumps with Handscomb (can't have come cheap either btw), and he may be the difference between a reasonable season (for as long as he is there) and propping the rest up once more! the rest in the line - up, however, have to back him up and play responsibly in their own roles - I get that the run rate was near 7 plus today, but some of the ways his playing partners got themselves out was kamikaze stuff. Still a win, and maybe the catalyst for helping Paul Nixon to prove the naysayers wrong!

County Cricket a problem?? Maybe need to look for a different scapegoat??

Division Two is gonna be some battle this season I think. So many teams in with a shout of getting promotion.

(09-04-2023 19:45 )hornball Wrote:  What about Leicestershire also?? what a match, and the kind of finish that only cricket can provide over and over again! The foxes have come up trumps with Handscomb (can't have come cheap either btw), and he may be the difference between a reasonable season (for as long as he is there) and propping the rest up once more! the rest in the line - up, however, have to back him up and play responsibly in their own roles - I get that the run rate was near 7 plus today, but some of the ways his playing partners got themselves out was kamikaze stuff. Still a win, and maybe the catalyst for helping Paul Nixon to prove the naysayers wrong!

County Cricket a problem?? Maybe need to look for a different scapegoat??

A Historic win for the Foxes, the first at Headingley since 1910

May I add some context to this victory. Played out on a dead, slow surface, very little seam movement, & hardly a ball offered to swing all match.
If there was ever a situation where a Leicestershire team could producea win then this was it. No disrespect to them but I expect them to return to their winless ways that has prevailed for countless seasons. Such is their reputation for an inability to get over the line that many Yorkshire fans had been calling for a declaration before stumps on day 3. I was not one o them, what I saw was a medium-paced attack with only a handful of ball creeping above 80mph, & an unresponsive pitch. I was looking at a 450 target with the ability to keep attacking fields for longer, but not really a realistic chance of forcing a win. Many were surprised that the Foxes opted to bowl first on what appeared to be a surfaced that would produce runs, I suspect that they were hoping for the gifted declaration that they received even at that stage. Leicestershire's captain Lewis Hill almost cost his own team a chance of victory with his blatant timewasting on the final morning, as it took 50 minutes to bowl 7 overs before the declaration came. He didn't believe they could win himself. The Yorkshire fielders were having difficulty sighting the ball in the closing stages, the light was marginal, & there would have been no arguments if the umpires had taken the players off before the match could be completed. Yorkshire drove the whole game, up until the declaration. Hill let the over-rate slip to -5 in the first season on day one. After 3 hour rain delay, Yorkshire pushed on in the final season, & into day 2, sacrificing wickets as they scored at a healthy 5 runs an over.

After a promising start in Div 1 last year, Yorkshire did a great impression of Leicestershire, in their inability to win.
I will count Yorkshire out of the running for promotion. The only benefit I can see is for young batters, Hill, Bean & Wharton to gain experience against weaker bowling attacks, although the negative would be on poorer pitches.
Whilst Yorkshire have continued to supply England with batters, I have a concern that the standard of bowlers coming through is not looking good.

Middlesex were 4-4 replying to a modest 1st innings Essex total, there can't be many cases of the top 4 in the order all making ducks.

Second round of County Championship matches tomorrow, although it looks like rain will intervene again at points along the way, and maybe to a greater extent than last week!

DIV 1
ESSEX V LANCASHIRE
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE V MIDDLESEX
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE V SOMERSET
SURREY V HAMPSHIRE
WARWICKSHIRE V KENT

DIV 2
DURHAM V WORCESTERSHIRE
GLOUCESTERSHIRE V YORKSHIRE
LEICESTERSHIRE V DERBYSHIRE

Don't know yet where I will settle down to watch?? I don't want to be a walking cliche, by always following DIV 1 and/or the perceived 'big names' Essex and Middlesex are out as I watched their battle last week against each other - epic start - so I am not sure! Unlike in Football, - as I said in another post - you cannot determine as easily (although not easy in football either or the football pools jackpot would be won every week) where the probable winners will be in cricket, so every match has an equal attraction in that sense (unless you just want to follow the bigger player 'names) Leicestershire - especially to see if they can follow up last weeks performance - against Derbyshire (can they show more promise than their start suggests) looks inviting though!

Gloucestershire v Yorkshire - Bristol - No Play Thursday due to wet outfield.

(13-04-2023 09:58 )Boomerangutangangbang Wrote:  Gloucestershire v Yorkshire - Bristol - No Play Thursday due to wet outfield.

^ Yeah Booms, still waiting for Leic v Der also!! Thankfully Durham v Worcestershire filling the void!! A little frustrating to hear of the number of players pulled from games by England - particularly on the back of 'franchise appearances' and the associated 'workload'. That is nonsense as far as I am concerned!

^^ Anderson & Broad are getting a run out, & the current England openers. Pope plays, yet Foakes hasn't been able to continue his current early season form, unless there's an injury that hasn't been mentioned, this must be a workoad issue, as the Ashes are crammed into 5 weeks, which is madness.

(13-04-2023 11:32 )Boomerangutangangbang Wrote:  ^^ Anderson & Broad are getting a run out, & the current England openers. Pope plays, yet Foakes hasn't been able to continue his current early season form, unless there's an injury that hasn't been mentioned, this must be a workoad issue, as the Ashes are crammed into 5 weeks, which is madness.

For Foakes - if - as should be the case - he is the keeper pick for the summer - surely he too needs a run out?? I am steeped in the history of the Ashes, but I have to say that I am getting weary of the fixation/artificial hype that blows up every time Australia is in town - surely England (or someone in England) sees the bigger picture?? |The one bright light - at this point at least - is Stokes saying that England's approach won't change Good if it holds true, but - and I only caught a brief few seconds of it - during his SKY interview - it seemed like he was being pushed to say that England would be more circumspect if necessary, as it was the Ashes, and therefore 'more important'