English Domestic Cricket

[Aislabie]

What a humiliating night to be a Northants fan

 

[wasteyouryouth]

What a humiliating night to be a Northants fan

Getting wrecked by England's best spinners.

 

[Aislabie]

Getting wrecked by England's best spinners.

I'm not sure whether the worst thing is that Northants finished the game with a Net Run Rate of -7.813, or that that side is genuinely somewhere near Northants' best T20 XI. If I were to try to pick one from the entire squad, I don't know that I could go much different. The only definite first-choice players missing were Ricardo Vasconcelos (presumably not fully fit or something) and Jimmy Neesham (evidently not in the country). Graeme White too probably, but one can see why Heldreich was picked over him.

Spoiler: I got a bit sidetracked

If I were to try to turn that Northants team into a decent T20 XI, I'd need to do some recruitment.

1. Chris Lynn - yeah, he can stay
2. Ricardo Vasconcelos - should definitely be playing as an accumulator, but for whatever reason he isn't
3. TBC
4. TBC
5. Josh Cobb - very useful powerplay stock spinner, probably nosebleed territory at number three though
6. Jimmy Neesham - performs best in a late-overs hitting role; can bowl too of course
7. Rob Keogh - an excellent middle-overs stock spinner and the best fielder in county cricket. Can bat a bit
8. Luke Procter - tore up 2nd XI T20 last year but has a poor record in the Blast. Might be good in a firefighter role, and his tricky variations with the ball can be handy
9. TBC
10. Graeme White or Freddie Heldreich - depends what kind of bowler you want in your side; the risky wicket-taker or the experienced stock bowler
11. Ben Sanderson - a very handy top-and-tail bowler; he's accurate and his low arm-slot makes it difficult to pick up his lengths

Those three TBCs are obviously issues, and I think the quickest way to deal with it would be to look for loan or summer signings. The shortlist for players I'd try to go after would be:

• 
  Number Three - powerplay hitter
• Dan Lincoln - highly rated as a big hitter, but has never quite cracked county cricket yet. Try him with a summer contract
• George Munsey - one of the best hitters in the world, but not from a fashionable nation; he's also been around the Northants setup before
  
  Number Four - dynamic accumulator/crisis man
• Josh Bohannon (loan) - this is quite left-field given how poor his T20 record is, but I'd be considering him as a crisis man at number four
• Rory Burns (loan) - another poor T20 record, but if he's good enough to score Test hundreds surely he also squeeze in at number four
  
  Attacking fast bowler - ideally with more pace than anyone else Northants has
• Tom Barber - he's done the rounds of county second teams, but how many free agent bowlers can send down his kind of left-arm gas?
• Richard Gleeson - he offers real pace, and is familiar with the environment at Northants

 

[wasteyouryouth]

I'm not sure whether the worst thing is that Northants finished the game with a Net Run Rate of -7.813, or that that side is genuinely somewhere near Northants' best T20 XI. If I were to try to pick one from the entire squad, I don't know that I could go much different. The only definite first-choice players missing were Ricardo Vasconcelos (presumably not fully fit or something) and Jimmy Neesham (evidently not in the country). Graeme White too probably, but one can see why Heldreich was picked over him.

Spoiler: I got a bit sidetracked

If I were to try to turn that Northants team into a decent T20 XI, I'd need to do some recruitment.

1. Chris Lynn - yeah, he can stay
2. Ricardo Vasconcelos - should definitely be playing as an accumulator, but for whatever reason he isn't
3. TBC
4. TBC
5. Josh Cobb - very useful powerplay stock spinner, probably nosebleed territory at number three though
6. Jimmy Neesham - performs best in a late-overs hitting role; can bowl too of course
7. Rob Keogh - an excellent middle-overs stock spinner and the best fielder in county cricket. Can bat a bit
8. Luke Procter - tore up 2nd XI T20 last year but has a poor record in the Blast. Might be good in a firefighter role, and his tricky variations with the ball can be handy
9. TBC
10. Graeme White or Freddie Heldreich - depends what kind of bowler you want in your side; the risky wicket-taker or the experienced stock bowler
11. Ben Sanderson - a very handy top-and-tail bowler; he's accurate and his low arm-slot makes it difficult to pick up his lengths

Those three TBCs are obviously issues, and I think the quickest way to deal with it would be to look for loan or summer signings. The shortlist for players I'd try to go after would be:

• 
  Number Three - powerplay hitter
• Dan Lincoln - highly rated as a big hitter, but has never quite cracked county cricket yet. Try him with a summer contract
• George Munsey - one of the best hitters in the world, but not from a fashionable nation; he's also been around the Northants setup before
  
  Number Four - dynamic accumulator/crisis man
• Josh Bohannon (loan) - this is quite left-field given how poor his T20 record is, but I'd be considering him as a crisis man at number four
• Rory Burns (loan) - another poor T20 record, but if he's good enough to score Test hundreds surely he also squeeze in at number four
  
  Attacking fast bowler - ideally with more pace than anyone else Northants has
• Tom Barber - he's done the rounds of county second teams, but how many free agent bowlers can send down his kind of left-arm gas?
• Richard Gleeson - he offers real pace, and is familiar with the environment at Northants

I'm surprised Munsey doesn't get picked up more often especially as he'd be classed as a local player. Although, I've just checked and he's probably in the US for World Cricket League with Scotland against the US which starts tomorrow.

I wouldn't want to sign Burns or Bohannon to be honest. I'd rather have players to hit me out of a crisis.

 

[Aislabie]

I'm surprised Munsey doesn't get picked up more often especially as he'd be classed as a local player. Although, I've just checked and he's probably in the US for World Cricket League with Scotland against the US which starts tomorrow.

Ah well that explains this year then. Still baffling the rest of the time

I wouldn't want to sign Burns or Bohannon to be honest. I'd rather have players to hit me out of a crisis.

Nor would I normally but if we're looking for short term loan signings options are very limited

 

[Rumple43]

Yorkshire continue to fall over themselves to be rubbish in the Blast. They literally can't help themselves at this point.

A team with Joe Root, Dawid Malan, Harry Brook, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Shadab Khan, Adil Rashid, Dom Bess and Harris Rauf has managed to win just one game from three so far, including a loss to Leicestershire, who hadn't won a game in any format until beating Yorkshire yesterday.

 

[wasteyouryouth]

After missing the First Class XI match with a stiff back, Ollie Robinson now has covid.

Add that to the infected tooth and food poisoning he had a fortnight ago.

 

[Rumple43]

After missing the First Class XI match with a stiff back, Ollie Robinson now has covid.

Add that to the infected tooth and food poisoning he had a fortnight ago.

Ha! I put this in the England thread earlier, feel free to delete it and we'll mock him here instead.

 

[Aislabie]

Kieron Pollard is supposed to be in next. He is currently on comms with his pads on. What a lad.

 

[Aislabie]

The T20 Blast is still my favourite Twenty20 competition, and though I'm pining for a ship that has sailed, I can't help but imagine how good it could have been if rather than rolling out the Hundred, they had instead gone with making a nation-wide T20 league out of the Blast.

I'm imagining something like this:

Spoiler: T20 League Structure

Premier Division
Cambridgeshire (NCCA T20 runner-up)
Derbyshire Falcons
Durham
Essex Eagles
Glamorgan
Gloucestershire
Hampshire Hawks
Kent Spitfires
Lancashire Lightning
Leicestershire Foxes
Middlesex
Northants Steelbacks
Notts Outlaws
Oxfordshire (NCCA T20 champions)
Somerset
Surrey
Sussex Sharks
Warwickshire Birmingham Bears (sigh)
Worcestershire Rapids
Yorkshire Vikings

Top four teams progress to Finals Day
Bottom two teams are automatically relegated; third-bottom has a playoff game against third place in Div 2.

National Division
Bedfordshire
Berkshire [Royals]
Buckinghamshire
Cheshire [Cats]
Cornwall
Cumbria
Devon
Dorset
England Under-19s
Herefordshire
Herts
Lincolnshire
MCC Universities
Norfolk
Northumberland
Shropshire
Staffordshire
Suffolk
Welsh [Dragons] NCC
Wiltshire

Could have it with two overseas players per team, and a third allowed if they are either under 20 years old or from an associate nation. Every game either on TV or streamed on YouTube. Finals Day on free to air TV.

 

[wasteyouryouth]

Buttler and Salt opening up for Lancashire in a run chase.

 

[Bevab]

Buttler and Salt opening up for Lancashire in a run chase.

Predictably enough, Mo’s Rapids trump ‘em.

 

[wasteyouryouth]

Royal London Cup is probably gonna get bigger global viewership than The Hundred if they keep adding Indian players.

 

[wasteyouryouth]

 

[Bevab]

View attachment 268069

Move over Zak, the Keaton v3.0 is back in business.