English county season 2008 (III)

Hey Gus, how are Notts doing in their FP Trophy Quarter-Final?

Who did they lose to last, I suppose would be a less roundabout way of phrasing the question...

Never did understand the Derbys/Notts rivalry.

Aren't you both basically midlander scum?

JKLever wrote:

Dello wrote:
Shah and Bopara won't both play. It'll be one or the other. Cook and Bell are undroppable, Collingwood's captain, Pietersen's the best batsmen. Luke's Sussex.

Leaves one place - down in the biffers - for one of those number threes.

Sad, but true.

Cook
Wright
Bell
Pietersen
Collingwood
Shah/Bopara
Ambrose +
Swann
Broad
Sidebottom
Anderson

There's your team. You know it and I know it.

Fark, that's depressing really. It's not as if there's a world cup around the corner - if we can't experiment now, when can we?

Apart from Cook and Bell who shouldn't really be playing ODIs, it looks a half decent team to me. Whatever we all think of Anderson in Tests, he's a good ODI bowler.

I'm struggling to think of another Englishman in recent years who has managed to build a reputation like Luke Wright has on doing absolutely nothing. He's an average lower-order biffer and an inaccurate/raw seamer. He's 23 years old and doesn't seem to be progressing rapidly by any stretch of the imagination.

People say he's bowling with fire now, but he still isn't taking wickets and his batting isn't setting the world alight. County Cricket might be shit but you could probably name at least a dozen players with better records than him.

JKLever wrote:Never did understand the Derbys/Notts rivalry.

Aren't you both basically midlander scum?

Oi! watch your language!

Basil wrote:

JKLever wrote:Never did understand the Derbys/Notts rivalry.

Aren't you both basically midlander scum?

Oi! watch your language!

East midlander scum then...

Lara Lara Laughs wrote:Hey Gus, how are Notts doing in their FP Trophy Quarter-Final?

Who did they lose to last, I suppose would be a less roundabout way of phrasing the question...

You can't win all the time. I suppose the opposite motto, that you cannot lose all of the time, is what gives you poor Derbyshire fans hope.

Anyway, no shame in having a decent side that ran last year's winners right down to the wire. Unlucky lads, there's always next year.

Augustus wrote:I'm struggling to think of another Englishman in recent years who has managed to build a reputation like Luke Wright has on doing absolutely nothing. He's an average lower-order biffer and an inaccurate/raw seamer. He's 23 years old and doesn't seem to be progressing rapidly by any stretch of the imagination.

People say he's bowling with fire now, but he still isn't taking wickets and his batting isn't setting the world alight. County Cricket might be shit but you could probably name at least a dozen players with better records than him.

It's difficult to make a case against that argument looking at the stats.

list A batting avg 20, bowling avg 40

Augustus wrote:

Lara Lara Laughs wrote:Hey Gus, how are Notts doing in their FP Trophy Quarter-Final?

Who did they lose to last, I suppose would be a less roundabout way of phrasing the question...

You can't win all the time. I suppose the opposite motto, that you cannot lose all of the time, is what gives you poor Derbyshire fans hope.

Anyway, no shame in having a decent side that ran last year's winners right down to the wire. Unlucky lads, there's always next year.

Yeah, must be nice, being rich enough to poach all your players from other counties.

JKLever wrote:

Augustus wrote:I'm struggling to think of another Englishman in recent years who has managed to build a reputation like Luke Wright has on doing absolutely nothing. He's an average lower-order biffer and an inaccurate/raw seamer. He's 23 years old and doesn't seem to be progressing rapidly by any stretch of the imagination.

People say he's bowling with fire now, but he still isn't taking wickets and his batting isn't setting the world alight. County Cricket might be shit but you could probably name at least a dozen players with better records than him.

It's difficult to make a case against that argument looking at the stats.

list A batting avg 20, bowling avg 40

An unbeaten hundred against the Lions at the start of the season, a hundred against the touring NZers where the best fringe batsmen in the country couldn't pass fifty.

To suggest he's not progressing - as a batsman at least - is ridiculous. A year ago he couldn't bat for toffee, he was a trundler who could slog a few down the order.

But he's got a great eye and is a clean striker of the ball and has, in a short period of time, built on those attributes to become quite an exciting batting prospect. I'm personally interested in seeing how he progresses over the next couple of seasons. He's got a bit about him - which you can't really say about many of the current England side.

Incredibly fast hands. Incredibly fast hands.

Aye, but Augustus makes a fair point - we aren't selecting him as an allrounder, and there are far better batsmen than Wright out there.

Guess it's his style of play which has got him the nod.

don't quite follow how Mustard = hacker and Wright = great eye/clean striker either.... !!

He scored a couple of hundreds but has done little else since (averages 40, plummeting down from 100-odd to 70-odd and now to this latest nadir). Who hasn't had a purple patch where people have taken notice for a while?

If any Sussex player deserves to be in the side as specialist batsman it's Matt Prior. Aggressive and classy. Ideal ODI middle-order batsman. Ruthlessly pigeon-holed as a pinch-hitter when that's not his game.

JKLever wrote:
don't quite follow how Mustard = hacker and Wright = great eye/clean striker either.... !!

One can bat properly and has a rising FC average above 30. One can't and doesn't.

Augustus wrote:Ruthlessly pigeon-holed as a pinch-hitter when that's not his game.

That's the role he'd choose for himself - been opening the batting for Sussex in one-dayers for years.

Oh well.... at least we made a game of it

Looks like Sky picked the wrong match

PearlJ wrote:Oh well.... at least we made a game of it

Chin up lad, there's no shame in losing to the eventual winners of the competition.

Geoffrey Trueman wrote:

PearlJ wrote:Oh well.... at least we made a game of it

Chin up lad, there's no shame in losing to the eventual winners of the competition.

I think I want Essex to win now. I like that little Bopara guy......

JKLever wrote:

Basil wrote:

JKLever wrote:Never did understand the Derbys/Notts rivalry.

Aren't you both basically midlander scum?

Oi! watch your language!

East midlander scum then...

Oi!

Bleedin' Jockish Essex Chav.

Dello wrote:

JKLever wrote:Cook just isn't an ODI player - don't know what England see in him.

Not sure about Ravi opening but 3 or 4 sure..

Agree - Shah & Bops are not biffers despite todays knock.

It's time we gave them a decent run up the order

Shah and Bopara won't both play. It'll be one or the other. Cook and Bell are undroppable, Collingwood's captain, Pietersen's the best batsmen. Luke's Sussex.

Yeah... Luke is f*cking Sussex... ro sham-******-bo...

PearlJ wrote:

Geoffrey Trueman wrote:

PearlJ wrote:Oh well.... at least we made a game of it

Chin up lad, there's no shame in losing to the eventual winners of the competition.

I think I want Essex to win now. I like that little Bopara guy......

Top man

JKLever wrote:
Top man

F*ck's sake... Nevil is almost likely a bird. You won't get any 'hot dogs'..

Ah, suck it up you Saffie wannabes

Brass Monkey wrote:

JKLever wrote:
Top man

F*ck's sake... Nevil is almost likely a bird. You won't get any 'hot dogs'..

I'm all man.

Geoffrey Trueman wrote:

PearlJ wrote:Oh well.... at least we made a game of it

Chin up lad, there's no shame in losing to the eventual winners of the competition.

Poor, PJ... Rmm which one did you turn into, Ant or Dec? I forget.

'Nice' pic of Tiny Tim, Geoffrey.