County Cricket

Sky tv are covering the Lancashire Kent game. More of a surprise is that the have started on time & are still playing, less surprising Butcher is being his usual arrogant & obnoxious self.

I'll do my review of the day for Yorkshire v Glamorgan as there's little chance of any more play today.
Billed as Root v Root, this is only the 4th time that the brothers have faced each other in county cricket & it didn't disappoint in terms of incident, Joe put a catch down at 1st slip before Billy got into his innings, he made the most of his reprieve by compiling a half century which contained 6 fours.
Having won the toss on a warn wicket which had been used for 2 & a half day in the Derbyshire fixture Glamorgan elected to bat despite the overhead conditions, & Yorkshire brought spin into the attack early in the shape of Moriarty, having opted to play a 2 seam 2 spin attack with the addition of allrounder Revis. Coad was his usual miserly self, rewarded with the 1st breakthrough as he won an lbw appeal against Byrom.
It was a long wait before any more success & Bess played his part with his 1st over bowled in timely fashion, enabling Moriarty to sneak the final, & decisive over of the session as he took the wicket of Root caught at short leg, although there was some doubt, at least in the mind of Billy, whether the ball had taken the edge.
As is often the case, batters adopt a different approach towards the end of a session, instead of playing ever ball on it's merit & look to score, Root was guilty of trying, & failing to block the over out.

EDIT : 9 more overs of play were possible with Glamorgan reduced to 109-4 (41 overs)

Headingley is not the place to bowl spin, proven by the fact that the last time Yorkshire fielded 2 specialist spinners was 11 year ago when Rashid & Rafiq paired up, this time round Moriarty & Bess took 4 wickets each as Glamorgan posted 221.
Lyth set the tone when Yorkshire replied with a quickfire 20, all made in boundaries. Masood followed suite with a run a ball 34 before an unbroken stand of 214 between Bean (140) & Root (92) before play was called off early due to bad light.

Don't know about you Booms but I was surprised by the 'debate' around whether Kent would send the Lankys in again?? Seemed like a no brainer to me, given the fragility of the camp in terms of confidence, and the manner of their collapse in the first Innings (underpinned by 3 for 3 in the 2nd). Kent did all they could to keep the red rose in touch however, with some horrendous dismissals themselves - not least Crawley (what the hell was that??) who seemed to be trying to prep for the upcoming test summer with more of his 'Bazball' approach. He should have been mindful that he was playing in an important championship match For Kent, and the context of the innings??

I agree fully re Butcher et al! I saw no need for them to take up space on the stream from the usual 'in house' comms team at all. Taking the stream rather than putting in place their own production was telling enough!

^^ Agree, the follow-on was a non-debate, they only bowled 30 overs. Crawley is infuriating, he has bags of talent, but hasn't progressed much as a player, he really should be shining at County level, yet still has a modest record. Regardless of his style & tempo of play, how much he attacks, he doesn't strike me a a thinking cricketer, which is worry when he is one who has been in the thinking for the 50 over England captaincy. He gives the impression of not having a plan, or how to construct an innings, going up & down the gears when required, it always looks like a series of shots, a bit like a highlights package. Lucky to have been afforded the opportunities at International level, when offers heve not.

Straight forward in the end for Kent, never in any trouble really! Lancashire seem well short, with batting worries the main priority for the coaching staff! It also struck me, that K Jennings has a lot of homework ahead of him in his learning of captaincy fundamentals!

Elsewhere, draws all around, save for the match at Derbyshire! Complete capitulation again, with zero fight! Mickey Arthur tried to keep a lid on his frustration at the post match in - house interview, but it is crystal he knows that things may get worse before they get better, particularly as he seemed to be saying that players appeared to not be able to make the right decisions. If you can't do at least that, and make the opposition earn what they get by at least knowing what the right option(s) are to take, the technical aspect is of little use!

Another round of CC begins tomorrow! My pick is Kent V Worcestershire. Next to each other in the division One table! Elsewhere, Hants V Durham, Nottinghamshire V Lancashire (on paper a stand out match although with Lancashire looking fragile perhaps not) and Surrey V Warwickshire.

Only two games in Div Two?? Glamorgan V Sussex and N'Hants V Gloucestershire! Certainly can't see the Daffys getting much change from Sussex. Then again, cricket - arguably more than any other sport - doesn't always go as 'forecast'

Fixtures are bizarre, I accept that 7 rounds of matches crammed into as many weeks will put strain on players despite pre-season training, but with just 8 teams in Div 2 it seams daft to have half of them out of action, surely spread it out & build in a rest week from week 3-6, simple.

Not sour grapes, but after losing the equivalent of 5 four day matches last season it has been no better for Yorkshire this time, the Glamorgan game was robbed of more than 2 sessions, ample time to force a victory. Ironic with the weather set fair this round with no game.

Can anyone explain why Australian Daniel Worrall doesn't qualify to play International Cricket for England until next summer, yet he is classed as a local player due to holding a British passport & therefore not included as one of the 2 allowed overseas player, the others being Roach & Abbott.
My question is he must surely be one or the other, as it stands they are using a different criteria for County & Country eligibility.