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English off-season 13/14
- Thread starter theegyptian
- Start date
I think they'll have the benefit of batting all the way down to #10 again. I mean, last year they had NSW-#7-who-averaged-35-last-season Trent Copeland at 11 for quite a bit of his stint.
Watson33
U19 12th Man
First division could be quite interesting next year. Durham will push close again, as will Warwks, Yorks, Middlesex and I think Somerset will bounce back from a disappointing season and do well. Especially with Petersen coming back and Compton seemingly not in Englands plans at the moment.
theegyptian
International Vice-Captain
Tough to predict yes.
Durham are interesting. They ran very well in terms of injuries relative to other counties this past season with basically none for key players. They used as few players as any other county this past year(21 with Kent) and the fewest in the championship(18). They also had breakout/anomaly seasons by Borthwick and Stoneman with the bat which was hard to predict. The squad is thin but wasn't exposed this past season but the squad will roughly be the same kind of strength next, maybe a little weaker. ( They've Lost Will Smith who played 36/39 games but Benkenstein should be back. Couple of seamers gone but replaced by good academy players Arshad and Harrison.)
Their advantage is their seam bowling and the wicket at CLS. Onions and Rushworth if they are fit and available will win plenty of games over a season + good backup. The CLS wicket will nearly always produce a result and the point system rewards positive results. How they do is dependent on the availability of the seamers (who if fit are as good as it gets in county cricket) and whether two or three of the batsmen can cobble together a good season.
I'd still back Warwickshire for next season. They had an insane number of injuries this past year and still finished 4th. Players like Woakes and Chopra are gold mines because they aren't quite good enough for England yet dominate county cricket. They have others like Barker, Wright and Clarke who are very good county cricketers. Jeetan Patel is available for the whole season and is one of the better spinners. Javid and Evans have improved a lot.
Notts have said today they're gonna release Hales, Patel and probably Lumb for the IPL should they get a top tier ($400K+) bid. Their bowling isn't good enough to win the championship and Andre Adams is getting old and injury prone.
Middlesex and Lancashire are the two other teams with Durham and Warwickshire capable of winning the championship imo. Middlesex have good depth of bowlers and all relatively young even if their batting is questionable. Lancashire strengthened by Buttler and Jarvis have nice combo of old and young and good bowling depth and options.
Somerset are in transistion and have problems. Their older players (Tres, Kirby, Thomas) were average last year and the batting in particular is thin in places. Some very talented young allrounders/bowlers in C Overton, Meschede, Gregory, J Overton, Leach, Dockrell who will be good in the future but a bit too young and injury prone at present to be consistent.
My guess would be something like
Warwickshire, Durham, Lancashire, Middlesex, Yorkshire for the top 5 and tougher to judge the bottom four.
Durham are interesting. They ran very well in terms of injuries relative to other counties this past season with basically none for key players. They used as few players as any other county this past year(21 with Kent) and the fewest in the championship(18). They also had breakout/anomaly seasons by Borthwick and Stoneman with the bat which was hard to predict. The squad is thin but wasn't exposed this past season but the squad will roughly be the same kind of strength next, maybe a little weaker. ( They've Lost Will Smith who played 36/39 games but Benkenstein should be back. Couple of seamers gone but replaced by good academy players Arshad and Harrison.)
Their advantage is their seam bowling and the wicket at CLS. Onions and Rushworth if they are fit and available will win plenty of games over a season + good backup. The CLS wicket will nearly always produce a result and the point system rewards positive results. How they do is dependent on the availability of the seamers (who if fit are as good as it gets in county cricket) and whether two or three of the batsmen can cobble together a good season.
I'd still back Warwickshire for next season. They had an insane number of injuries this past year and still finished 4th. Players like Woakes and Chopra are gold mines because they aren't quite good enough for England yet dominate county cricket. They have others like Barker, Wright and Clarke who are very good county cricketers. Jeetan Patel is available for the whole season and is one of the better spinners. Javid and Evans have improved a lot.
Notts have said today they're gonna release Hales, Patel and probably Lumb for the IPL should they get a top tier ($400K+) bid. Their bowling isn't good enough to win the championship and Andre Adams is getting old and injury prone.
Middlesex and Lancashire are the two other teams with Durham and Warwickshire capable of winning the championship imo. Middlesex have good depth of bowlers and all relatively young even if their batting is questionable. Lancashire strengthened by Buttler and Jarvis have nice combo of old and young and good bowling depth and options.
Somerset are in transistion and have problems. Their older players (Tres, Kirby, Thomas) were average last year and the batting in particular is thin in places. Some very talented young allrounders/bowlers in C Overton, Meschede, Gregory, J Overton, Leach, Dockrell who will be good in the future but a bit too young and injury prone at present to be consistent.
My guess would be something like
Warwickshire, Durham, Lancashire, Middlesex, Yorkshire for the top 5 and tougher to judge the bottom four.
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Howe_zat
Audio File
theegyptian
International Vice-Captain
Nottinghamshire have signed Peter Siddle as their overseas player for next year. NCCC News : Nottinghamshire Sign Peter Siddle For 2014 Season
And changes to the domestic season next year - ECB announce rule changes for 2014 | England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) - The Official Website of the ECB
Guess most signficant is that draws in the championship are now 5 instead of 3 points and that the use of the heavy roller is at the discretion of the home team(they choose whether it is available or not) and it can only be used once per match per team.
And changes to the domestic season next year - ECB announce rule changes for 2014 | England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) - The Official Website of the ECB
Guess most signficant is that draws in the championship are now 5 instead of 3 points and that the use of the heavy roller is at the discretion of the home team(they choose whether it is available or not) and it can only be used once per match per team.
Cricket ace Simon Katich kicks goal with switch to AFL club GWS
Katich got a job no Lanc.
Katich got a job no Lanc.
SeamUp
International Coach
Onions was alright for the Dolphins with the white ball. A bit erratic though, too many bad balls (short and wide) mixed in with a few of his good'uns that he can produce.
Red ball cricket more his stuff though starting next week. Be interesting to see how he goes with Abbott and Aelxander.
Red ball cricket more his stuff though starting next week. Be interesting to see how he goes with Abbott and Aelxander.
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Viscount Tom
International Debutant
"Most famous cricket player in the world"
The comments section "Not even the most famous opening batsman at Somerset"
Burn XD.
theegyptian
International Vice-Captain
Yes this is a lot of my impression of onions these days. Tends to try and bowl wickettaking deliveries almost too much. Bowls very full and with a few bouncers in there. In English conditions against average batsmen who aren't going to punish him for his attacking lines and lengths he is lethal. Never was that brilliant and played that much one day cricket though.
Now for some spiel that probably won't interest you seamup but is more for the english contingent.
Don't get me wrong though he is unfortunate not to be on the ashes tour. None of Tremlett, Finn or Rankin really deserve it on form but England have to look at the conditions of test cricket. I'm guessing they just don't think Onions is suited as a third seamer. He doesn't keep the runscoring down(Bresnan, Tremlett) and doesn't offer the other qualities that are useful on relatively flat wickets(Pace, Bounce- Finn, Rankin). It's a shame because before his injury during that series to SA although he never kept the runscoring that tight he was more of a threat for longer as he had greater pace to go with his attacking lines. Now I think he's had it that easy playing at durham and 1/2 the other grounds against average batting that he rarely encounters test similiar conditions and getting the ball down at 80 or 81mph is rarely gonna do it at international level if you're as aggresive as Onions now is with the ball.
And you could just as easily write paragraphs on Tremlett, Finn, Rankin or Bresnan with reasons why they shouldn't have been selected. Just illustrates that apart from Anderson and Broad, England are actually desperately short of a viable 3rd seamer right now.
Onions is a little overrated imo. People see his statistics and assume he is a world class bowler the equal to Anderson. He is a goldmine in countycricket because he bowls full at good pace(by county standard) and moves the ball. He is the best in county cricket and I'd select him over Anderson or Broad as a straight up 4 day county player. His bowling is honed to county cricket but unfortunately that doesn't really translate to test cricket. Changes that are actually beneficial to his country cricket are actually detrimental to his test game. Bad habits grow that are capitalised on at international level. Chester Le Street itself lends to attacking the stumps as it seams all the time plus variable bounce + about 3/8 of the other 1st division county wickets are helpful(Derby, Lords, Trent Bridge). It really isn't a great wicket to produce finished cricketers ready for test cricket. It's too easy for fast bowlers and too hard for batsmen. Other wickets give plenty but they'll generally have some flatter matches and days.
And again I'll say he probably should have been in the ashes squad but I really don't think he would have been the saviour or is currently an international class test seamer(not that any of the rest of the potential 3rd seamers are this right now).
Cliffs - Onions quality county bowler but traits that are vital to his success in county cricket don't really translate to the job he is pushing towards in the England lineup.
- Still unlucky not to go on ashes tour. England have a load of seamers but Anderson and Broad apart none are good international standard.
theegyptian
International Vice-Captain
Worcestershire sign Ajmal for the season. County news : Saeed Ajmal returns to Worcestershire | Cricket News | England Domestic Season 2014 | ESPN Cricinfo
Great signing although the Pakistan board is always liable to not allow him to play or call him back at whatever inopportune time. Can't believe a first division club haven't signed him really. Worcestershire aren't exactly the most well off county. A load of counties in the first division could do with Ajmal.
Great signing although the Pakistan board is always liable to not allow him to play or call him back at whatever inopportune time. Can't believe a first division club haven't signed him really. Worcestershire aren't exactly the most well off county. A load of counties in the first division could do with Ajmal.
Howe_zat
Audio File
Howe_zat
Audio File
Viscount Tom
International Debutant
They really need to get off season hobbies these Southron cricketers.
theegyptian
International Vice-Captain
Good day had by our boys in the Dhaka premier division. Hundreds for Cobb and Crook, plus 98 from Bopara, 61 for Malan, 86 and 3 for 25 for Samit Patel. Ravi the maestro even captaining his team and has been opening the bowling (although not today).Eoin Morgan has even turned up to play a few games.
Machan and Taylor both doing well for Scottland today.
Onions' average spell with the dolphins continuing. Hardly won a game since he arrived (dunno if they won many before)
Machan and Taylor both doing well for Scottland today.
Onions' average spell with the dolphins continuing. Hardly won a game since he arrived (dunno if they won many before)
theegyptian
International Vice-Captain
County fixtures released tomorrow for next season.
David Willey gone home from the EPP with a back problem. Presumably miss out on the NZ T20 which he had signed up for which is a shame. Was excited to see how he would do in the competition.
Definitely fancy Warwickshire for the championship if Trott plays the whole season as he may well do now.
David Willey gone home from the EPP with a back problem. Presumably miss out on the NZ T20 which he had signed up for which is a shame. Was excited to see how he would do in the competition.
Definitely fancy Warwickshire for the championship if Trott plays the whole season as he may well do now.
Woodster
International Captain
Interesting changes at Derbyshire with probably more action to come as they look to last season's relegation disappointment around and present a good case for a swift return to the top table. Dan Redfern is a highly promising cricketer and was seemingly highly rated at Derby despite a rather barren season in Division One, and so it seems a strange decision for the club to release the player, who still had more than two years left on his contract, by mutual consent.
Loss of form and injury disrupted his 2013 season, and it seems his issues extended to off the field also judging by the comments from coach Karl Krikken. So there may be other reasons apart from the cricketing ones to release Redfern for a new challenge, but having already released another young hopeful in Ross Whiteley during the season it is not ideal for the club to lose such talent. David Houghton has also been released from his role as specialist batting coach so it will be interesting to see the further developments at the County Ground over the remainder of the winter.
On a positive note, they retained the services of seamer Mark Footitt and the major boost was a contract extension for skipper and leading batsman Wayne Madsen despite interest from several other counties. He was one of the few Derby players whose reputation grew after the 2013 season, scoring well over 1,000 runs and leading the side very well under trying circumstances.
Other County news in brief - Matthew Maynard is expected to return to Glamorgan, his role has not yet been specified, but the batting coach position seems likely. They of course have a new Head Coach in Toby Radford, who replaced Aussie Matthew Mott, and Hugh Morris is also returning to his county as CEO, following his excellent period spent with the ECB.
Stephen Peters has signed a new two-year contract with Northants after leading the side to promotion last season.
Loss of form and injury disrupted his 2013 season, and it seems his issues extended to off the field also judging by the comments from coach Karl Krikken. So there may be other reasons apart from the cricketing ones to release Redfern for a new challenge, but having already released another young hopeful in Ross Whiteley during the season it is not ideal for the club to lose such talent. David Houghton has also been released from his role as specialist batting coach so it will be interesting to see the further developments at the County Ground over the remainder of the winter.
On a positive note, they retained the services of seamer Mark Footitt and the major boost was a contract extension for skipper and leading batsman Wayne Madsen despite interest from several other counties. He was one of the few Derby players whose reputation grew after the 2013 season, scoring well over 1,000 runs and leading the side very well under trying circumstances.
Other County news in brief - Matthew Maynard is expected to return to Glamorgan, his role has not yet been specified, but the batting coach position seems likely. They of course have a new Head Coach in Toby Radford, who replaced Aussie Matthew Mott, and Hugh Morris is also returning to his county as CEO, following his excellent period spent with the ECB.
Stephen Peters has signed a new two-year contract with Northants after leading the side to promotion last season.