English Domestic Season 2018

Last-knockings-of-the-season surrealism, on the last day of the last CC match this year at the Oval.


What about this for a turnaround?

Surrey
67 & 541

Essex
477/8d & 97/7 * (target 132)

Re: Beamer's post.

Notts did indeed slip the noose by the width of a gnat's nodger:

i.e. by a margin of no points at all - just on wins achieved.

But if they barely deserved to stay up - Lancs didn't.

Three wins out of 14. The third gained when already relegated.

Not good enough.

The curious thing (well, slightly curious) is that the Red Rose county didn't do too badly on bonus points, particularly bowling bonus points. You have to feel sorry especially for Tom Bailey, who bowled his heart out and took lots of wickets. Bunny also fitted in well, with his guile and craft, and took 50 or so.

But that point about bonus points reveals the problem. (To explain to anyone not knowing, bonus points in the CC are all gained on first innings.) Lancs were too often ahead in the first part of matches - including a number of first-innings leads - and fell asunder like so much soft, rotted wood from a winning position in the second knock.

Demoralising for the team - especially for the bowlers, and the followers, powerless to do much but tear their hair and swear.

So what's the problem with Lancashire - one of the biggest clubs in the land, among the most members (or mugs, as they feel currently) and best resources, assisted by sponsorships left, right and centre?

Many reasons why, is always the answer.

But to clarify something I indicated above. I wasn't saying - speed of my fingers might have given that impression - it's bad to sign up overseas players, bad to sign up players from other counties.

I mentioned that various counties in the last decade have won the CC (Div 1, that is) with a squad largely comprising their own resources, academy- and locally-sourced players. I mentioned Durham, Yorks, Lancs themselves (under Chapple) in that context. Also, to an extent, Sussex.

But those are perhaps extreme examples.

There's nothing wrong with signing good overseas players, and despite the moral unpleasantness of "poaching" - esp if there is no or insufficient recompense to the "smaller" counties (Div2 counties usually), to encourage them to keep finding, keep growing, keep bringing on new talent - that is always going to happen with a two-division system where elites are urged, and top players at "top" counties paid much better than your "average" county pro. ...

Sangakkara was a terrific acquisition for Surrey. In his three-year stay (three years, that's part of it - no fly-by-night quick fix, captured for a couple of matches and gone .... Shiv at Lancs has the parody of that, signed & re-signed into his 60s it seemed!), he passed on great batting skills, generously, with great intelligence, as well as the positive spirit of playing for the team and playing always to win.

Despite my misgivings - and despite the fact that 12 months later, he's now about to play back at a level he thought he'd escaped - I think Graham Onions has been a shrewd signing for Lancs, in spite of this season's flop. For reasons similar to those I praised in Sanga above. Bailey will have benefited. Promising newish guys Mahmood, Bohannon presumably too. J Clark as well - saying thank you and off to the Oval! - will have gained from the experience of the crafty, seasoned, skilful veteran.

But the problem is when you sign on lesser talents, or passing talents, out of greed or at best in miscalculation, just because you can.

Ok, Vilas has scored big - once this season, massive - when he scored. And he ended up wearing the gauntlets and captaining the team by the end of the season, too. Not the worst. And not for want of trying. But he failed a lot. Single figures.

Shiv already mentioned. Not his fault.

After suddenly losing Jarvis to Zimbabwe (unlucky), in came Joe Mennie - yes, was okay, disappeared, later they signed up Maharaj for two games, he did pretty well.

Unlucky perhaps in signing up Jennings, at a time he seemed unlikely to play for England again in the near future - he made a couple of scores, and was lost to Lancs for the rest of the year. Buttler another such phantom presence.

And yes, unlucky too to lose new captain Livingstone injured in the meat of the season. Had generally misfired with the bat earlier in the season, bearing the new responsibilities, and unusually decided to switch from legbreaks to offspin, also pretty disruptive. ... Returned just in time to be relegated.

You may have noticed in that lot there was a lot of coming and going. An unsettled squad. Some unfortunate, but not helped by some dubious signing & selection decisions (though Lancs are thankfully not signing up the Whites and Bucks and the dullest possible of West Indies quicks these days ...!!!).

You need a concentrated, well-knitting, spirited & mutually supportive, mutually chivvying squad to win things. That has not been evident with Lancs this season. The reverse.

Often the wrong sort of competitiveness is: out you go, sink or swim. But that's the way it's looked. The Mick Vaughan school of psychology. "What's your problem, mate?" - as he called out to a young James Anderson, on the field.

Young players may not be good enough, of course. Lancs has had those. Some have then thrived at other counties, some not. But hard to tell how good they might be/become, if they are in and out. RP Jones, for example, must be tearing himself apart. Shiv comes back again, out he goes, for matches on end. Returns, a bag of nerves, bags two or three low scores, and out is whipped the boathook again ...

And then the biggest riddle of all: Hameed. What the hell has happened to him?

All I can say is there seems a pattern here. Lancs players coming up quickly - hitting a reef (or broken finger and playing on, in Hameed's case), and sinking like a stone (Kerrigan another stunning example!), brought in and out of the team every few matches, as if to give him another chance. The very worst way to treat a player struggling with confidence and form, that: to give him another last chance.

The specialist that Lancs need to sign up next is .... a decent psychologist. Or is it psychotherapist? Or a Brearley.

Lancs fans - I don't mean the prawn-cocktail set (with thanks to Roy Keane) who are there mainly for the drink, negotiation & corporate presence, I don't mean the terminally belligerent (the Brexit-inclined, so to speak) - but the rest of long-suffering Lancs fans could do with some shrewd psychological counselling, too. ...

Me, I'm French & Irish.

Sorry about that ( ^ )


Back on Planet Earth: Essex squeak home on their last wicket!

Great season for Surrey. Well done also Hampshire, one of the less fancied sides. Just to stay up, with a game or two to spare.

So what is wrong with Hameed? He averaged less than 10 this season, you may as well open the batting with the Burnley Lara

What have been the major issues with his game, i.e. how has he typically been getting out? Has he tried to become more aggressive (possibly influenced by the England regime...) and forgotten his natural game, or is it the opposite, he’s totally gone into his shell and bats two hours for his 10? Technical or mental? I know there’s plenty of time for him, but a talented young player losing his way this badly has to be very rare, he’s risking ending up in minor counties by the time he’s 25.

Pears relegated, no great surprise I suppose but I was greatly saddened by the abject display we put up in our final few games.

We have lost Joe Clarke to Notts. Good luck with trying to stop him acting like a complete knob when in the company of Ben Duckett. 

We have, I regret to say, signed a Kolpak - namely Wayne Parnell. I am still in head scratching mode.

Still, we won the T20 Blast when most pundits thought we were there to make up the numbers.

Congrats to Surrey and Warks as winners of Div 1 and 2 respectively.

So that's it for the English season??

skully wrote:Congrats to Surrey and Warks as winners of Div 1 and 2 respectively.

So that's it for the English season??

All done and dusted.

Basil wrote:Pears relegated, no great surprise I suppose but I was greatly saddened by the abject display we put up in our final few games.

We have lost Joe Clarke to Notts. Good luck with trying to stop him acting like a complete knob when in the company of Ben Duckett. 

We have, I regret to say, signed a Kolpak - namely Wayne Parnell. I am still in head scratching mode.

Still, we won the T20 Blast when most pundits thought we were there to make up the numbers.

Good luck with Wayne Parnell.

beamer wrote:So what is wrong with Hameed? He averaged less than 10 this season, you may as well open the batting with the Burnley Lara

What have been the major issues with his game, i.e. how has he typically been getting out? Has he tried to become more aggressive (possibly influenced by the England regime...) and forgotten his natural game, or is it the opposite, he’s totally gone into his shell and bats two hours for his 10? Technical or mental? I know there’s plenty of time for him, but a talented young player losing his way this badly has to be very rare, he’s risking ending up in minor counties by the time he’s 25.

A quick tot-up reveals (approximately):

In the 17 innings I could find:

5x bowled (I'm pretty sure a couple of those were dragged on?)
4x LBW
6x caught behind
2x (I think, not sure) caught at slip

All but one (as you would expect from an opener, or going in at 3 with the first wicket down quickly) to seamers.

In other words, the whole variety of getting beaten by the delivery.

So, certainly not someone overconfident and getting slogged. Or even misjudging a run (or being sold short by his batting partner) and getting run out.

Rather, a suggestion of nerves shredded, if not atomised.

Here - from yesterday - is some pointer to one possible source of the problem. A double pointer, even.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/45665980

1) Allott has no idea ("complete and utter mystery"). So they haven't got to the root of it. Which at this stage looks abject, not only from the batsman himself.

2) "Haseeb Hameed is a dilemma for us - we gave him more opportunity, probably, than he deserved," Allott said.

"Far too many games, probably, but having said that I've not seen a more talented young opening batsman in my 40-odd years in the game."

Now, the kindest gloss I could put on this is that Allott means that, whenever Hameed got shoved in the Second XI - after his big injury, or whenever dropped again - and made a score (which he did, a 90 and a ton, I think), they shoved him straight back into the First XI immediately.

I fear though it indicates EXACTLY the failure of coaching & management I mentiond in previous post. My sardonic reference to the Mick Vaughan School of Psychology. Basically, "chuck 'em in 'deep end, if they fail, then fck 'em they're fcking useless. Hang on, 'e's made a few in the Second XI, bung 'im in again!" (and repeat).

"We gave him more opportunity than he deserved" are the words of a psychology-free imbecile. If you think that, don't say it to the media, use it, or at worst, sell him on. Don't add further public humiliation to shredded nerves.

Now, don't get me wrong. Players act and react differently. Some respond best to kicks up the arse, some to threats and intimidation, some to an arm round the shoulder, some to friendly chats, some to psychological counselling, many (surely) to careful video reviewing and exchanges of views.

But Lancs don't seem to have done any of that with Hameed (or Kerrigan, or ....). You'd think Allott would also mention it if they had. Nothing. Just sat back and: "Sink or Swim, lad. Failed again? You've let everybody down - especially us."

Note also Allott's use of the past tense. I wouldn't be surprised if they offload him to Leics or Derby or Glamorgan next week. In which case, free of Allott and Co, I'd have to smile a wry smile if he scored 150 against Lancs next year.

So my hunch is, he needed technical but more especially psychological debugging, and hasn't had it.

Nice results for me. Surrey c'ship and Warks promoted. Might pay more than a semi regular interest next year.

taipan wrote:

Basil wrote:Pears relegated, no great surprise I suppose but I was greatly saddened by the abject display we put up in our final few games.

We have lost Joe Clarke to Notts. Good luck with trying to stop him acting like a complete knob when in the company of Ben Duckett. 

We have, I regret to say, signed a Kolpak - namely Wayne Parnell. I am still in head scratching mode.

Still, we won the T20 Blast when most pundits thought we were there to make up the numbers.

Good luck with Wayne Parnell.

It doesn't make sense, we now have eight seamers on the staff when we are crying out for At least one more experienced batsman . As for Parnell, I am underwhelmed by his performances so far.

PeterCS wrote:
But Lancs don't seem to have done any of that with Hameed (or Kerrigan, or ....). You'd think Allott would also mention it if they had. Nothing. Just sat back and: "Sink or Swim, lad. Failed again? You've let everybody down - especially us."

Note also Allott's use of the past tense. I wouldn't be surprised if they offload him to Leics or Derby or Glamorgan next week. In which case, free of Allott and Co, I'd have to smile a wry smile if he scored 150 against Lancs next year.

We'd take him at the Trent Bridge finishing school. We've struggled for openers for a number of years, it could be the making of him. Sending him to one of the minnow counties would just seem to be continuing the downward slope of his career.

I suspect the scheduling of Championship cricket hasn't helped his cause, for a defensive opener it must be hard when you feel there's a ball with your name on it every other over. But that would be a fair enough conclusion if he was averaging 30 as opposed to 10... if you're averaging 30 at the top of the order playing in April and September (in Div 1) then you're probably worth an England call.

You mention Kerrigan, I see he's been released. Perhaps there was no way back after one of the most infamous Test debuts of all time. But his career seemed to decline slowly after that rather than drop off a cliff, he remained around the England squad over the following year or so without being selected to play again. Now at an age when spinners are generally reaching maturity he's potentially out of the game for good. So many young players lose their way for whatever reason - with Hameed it's just surprising given he looked so assured when he came into the England side, certainly more Cook than Lathwell, as raw young openers go... he looked like being there for a decade or more. And the broken finger, well that's an occupational hazard with openers, surprising if that affected his game, it's not like he took one in the face or something like that.