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Hampshire in for Shoaib?

warrioryohannan

U19 Cricketer
Well even when he's injured he's fit enough to play for English clubs:saint: .

Hamshire had approached Akram too, i wonder if Akram has declined the offer? Akhter though should be a hot property for the counties!
 

Rik

Cricketer Of The Year
warrioryohannan said:
Well even when he's injured he's fit enough to play for English clubs:saint: .

Hamshire had approached Akram too, i wonder if Akram has declined the offer? Akhter though should be a hot property for the counties!
There is no record that they had approached Akram. In fact when I heard MB talking about it, it was the 1st I had heard on the matter.
 

Anna

International Vice-Captain
Interesting prospect though, Shoaib in county cricket....very interesting.
 

Rik

Cricketer Of The Year
masterblaster said:
Yeah well Rik, I got the info off Wisden's website
Strange, cause there has been no record of anything in any of the papers or magazines or even Teletext...it was probably just speculation driven up by Wisden.
 

V Reddy

International Debutant
Rik said:
Strange, cause there has been no record of anything in any of the papers or magazines or even Teletext...it was probably just speculation driven up by Wisden.
Seems like there is more coverage for county cricket in India than in England:rolleyes: . I have read in a newspaper here that he was approached by Hampshire and said that he is considering it. It also said that he was approached by some Province teams in Saf but he rejected their offers.
 

Rik

Cricketer Of The Year
vishnureddy said:
Seems like there is more coverage for county cricket in India than in England:rolleyes: . I have read in a newspaper here that he was approached by Hampshire and said that he is considering it. It also said that he was approached by some Province teams in Saf but he rejected their offers.
Well it's very odd because as I said before, there has been nothing mentioned about him. Not even by the Hampshire Website...
 

Bazza

International 12th Man
To be fair, updates to the Hampshire website are infrequent, even during the season.

Shoaib? Well I don't want a chucker but in cricket terms he could be an excellent asset. Then again he could be a waste of space. Fast bowling is not the area we lack strength or depth, and he wil be expensive. Therefore if he does get injured, or underperforms, he will be a waste.
 

Rik

Cricketer Of The Year
I would have thought a spinner would come in handy, that's exactly why they tried to get Warne in the 1st place. Shaun Udal is a decent spinner but rarely destroys lineups. Why does a team with Allan Mullally, Alex Morris, Chris Tremlett, Dimi Mascarenhas and now Ed Giddins need an out and out pacer who will probably wear himself out half way through the season? When Notts tried to sign him I thought that was a good move, I mean big asian population = large attendance, but Hampshire? Nope.

I'd say leaving the spin bowling positions resting on Udal and young Charlie van der Gucht is cutting it a bit fine. Mind you Katich has been bowling quite a bit for NSW even if his batting has been a bit dodgy. He picked up 7-130 last week. Never really done much over here bowling-wise though.

Oh and by the way, on the Hampshire site it says Shoaib has said yes...
 

lord_of_darkness

Cricket Web XI Moderator
Yea thats true hampshire really need a good quality wicket taking spinner , shoaib is quite unreliable he can be extremely good sometimes and extremely bad sometimes , doesnt have consistency and he gets injured a lot too..
 

Bazza

International 12th Man
Well to be honest unless some of our now not so young batsmen really start showing results instead of just promise, I wouldn't mind having 2 batsmen over another fast bowler.

As Rik points out seam bowling is our main strength in fact.

Udal is ok and will probably do a satisfactory job for another year.
Last season he averaged 33 FC and 28 List-A which is acceptable, although having someone like Murali, Saqlain or Warne is preferable!!

We also will need a new wicketkeeper after this season I feel (Flower anyone! ;)), as Aymes can't go on forever!!
 

Rik

Cricketer Of The Year
Bazza said:
We also will need a new wicketkeeper after this season I feel (Flower anyone! ;)), as Aymes can't go on forever!!
I thought he had retired! Anyway Crawley can keep if required and you have Nic Pothas who's an EU national South African and he's a good keeper. It looks like Hampshire did well investing in bringing him over.
 

Rik

Cricketer Of The Year
krkode said:
Didn't Akhtar play a season for Nottinghamshire? Why is this so revolutionary?
It's so revolutionary because he got injured before he could take up his contract and didn't play a game...
 

marc71178

Eyes not spreadsheets
Rik said:
It's so revolutionary because he got injured before he could take up his contract and didn't play a game...
Shoaib injured when there was a risk of him having to do some hard work? I don't believe it!
 

lord_of_darkness

Cricket Web XI Moderator
Yea Pothas aint a bad keeper but the rule i thought was only 2 internationals per team so if shoaib is in maybe we can have some batsmen/keeper eg dravid ?
 

Bazza

International 12th Man
Pothas doesn't count as an overseas player. I forgot about him to be honest. With him we have:

Katich
Crawley
Kendall
Francis
Smith
Pothas
Mascarenhas
Morris
Udal
Mullally
Giddins

We also have Prittipaul and Kenway (he can keep wicket also) in the batting, Tremlett and Hamblin in the bowling, and a handful of youngsters - mostly bowlers.

That is why I feel we need a batsman. Hopefully Smith will be resurgent after dumping the captaincy, but we need Kendall, Francis, Prittipaul, Kenway to have big seasons. They need to make big runs instead of averaging 30-35 and showing promise.

The bowling shouldn't be a problem. OK a world class spinner would be nice, but Mullally and Giddins are two of the most consistent bowlers in English cricket, Morris has been inspired over the last 2-3 years, but just can't seem to stay fit for 5 months, Dimmi is very good also, and Tremlett has made a good start. Hamblin is useful.


I think in conclusion we have more strength and depth in the bowling than in the batting, which is why unless we can attract a truly world class spinner (which we can't), another batsman would be useful, specifically an opener. Of course it might be possible to go down the road of having 2 or 3 players who cover that second spot, depending on international fixtures - what is the availability of like Sehwag, Gayle, Richardson, people like that?
 

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