Things are all starting to take shape for The Gurs. Friday's win means that we're in 3rd on 24, with 2nd on 28 and 1st on 32 - There's not a lot to pick on NRR between the three of us. I play 1st next up, who actually aren't as good as 2nd, who I play Friday week. I'll PAN this Friday, and GFI next, and if I win both, then the title might just might be on the cards. Of course I also need 2nd to beat 1st, but that's perfectly possible as it happened in the last round. So if history repeats itself then all three of us will be neck and neck, heading for a NRR-gathering romp for the line.
Also still on track for the blind cricket BT Cup, although I have my toughest challenge next up. Blue Roister Cult have the England NT WK/batsman, and a SA NT bowler, but nothing too scary apart from that. So I'm hoping against hope that I can dig the rest of their batting out from around Daniell, Whilst setting Noon and Staveley to Def to try and see out the Boer, keeping Greening in reserve to do some damage to their weaker bowlers.
In recent weeks I've been opening with Rem/Prof Greening and Qual/Prof Staveley and whilst they've had three 150+ opening stands and hit Sup top order along the way, it has meant that I've had three alarming middle-order collapses. So in yesterday's match I changed things around a bit, opening with Greening and Strong/Sup Noon, moving Strong/Resp Patel up to No.3, and inserting Staveley at No.4 to stiffen up the middle-order. It seemed to work quite well, as I chased down 280 in 44 overs, losing just two wickets. But having said all that, I was only facing an all-seam Comp-Rated attack, whereas Friday's opponents have an all-seam Prof attack, but I think there was enough in the performance to suggest that it might be the way forward. That line-up gave me Strong/Resp batting, as opposed to Sup/Comp with the old order - Not sure that it makes all that much difference, but from my experience teams with more rounded batting tend to do better than ones with huge top orders and pathetic middle orders.
And had three very nice pops this morning, along with generally healthy boosts in BTR all round. Staveley hit Strong Conc, Mohammed Feeb Conc and Wilde Comp Cons.
Alton Staveley (374819)
LH Batsman, LM Bowler, superb batting form, superb bowling form, sublime
A cautious player with mediocre leadership skills and feeble experience.
Plays For: Cymru Gurgitaters
Nationality: England
Age: 22 Years Old
Battrick Rating: 22,472 (+422)
Wages: £4,983 p/w
Stamina: competent Wicket Keeping: abysmal
Batting: quality Concentration: strong
Bowling: abysmal Consistency: mediocre
Fielding: feeble
Frank Mohammed (1124565)
LH Batsman, LFM Bowler, feeble batting form, competent bowling form, energetic
A steady player with strong leadership skills and worthless experience.
Plays For: Cymru Gurgitaters
Nationality: New Zealand
Age: 19 Years Old
Battrick Rating: 5,298 (+165)
Wages: £1,074 p/w
*Stamina: feeble Wicket Keeping: worthless
Batting: proficient Concentration: feeble
Bowling: woeful Consistency: woeful
Fielding: mediocre
Jon Wilde (939069)
RH Batsman, RM Bowler, superb batting form, superb bowling form, energetic
A cautious player with proficient leadership skills and worthless experience.
Plays For: Cymru Gurgitaters
Nationality: New Zealand
Age: 18 Years Old
Battrick Rating: 9,045 (+315)
Wages: £944 p/w
*Stamina: mediocre Wicket Keeping: abysmal
Batting: feeble Concentration: feeble
Bowling: proficient Consistency: competent
Fielding: abysmal
Staveley is fast losing the mantle of my primary batsman, as Greening starts to hit his straps and discover a modicum of his true potential, but I think he'll most likely remain in my line-up for the rest of his career. As far as his training goes, he should be Rem some time towards the end of this season/start of next, and I'll keep him on one net until he gets to Wond Bat, (probably another season), by which time he'll have Sup Conc, maybe Qual if I'm lucky.
Mohammed is starting to confuse me. I bought him five weeks ago as a high-Resp/Woe, with the intention of training him up to Strong by the end of the season and flogging him on. But he popped in batting after two weeks on one net, and I gave him a second after pulling the plug on Zonke's training. So he's now Prof+3.6 Wks. Now he's popped in secondaries this week, I don't know whether I should keep hold of him after the end of the season. By his twentieth birthday he'll be bottom-Strong/Feeb with the realistic potential to make Wond/Prof. On the other hand, I could flog a Strong/Feeb for a mill, add that to the six or seven hundred grand I hope to get for Zonke, and buy an 18YO strong with better secondaries, who could go on to be a true gun rather than a talented journeyman? But if I kept Mohammed I'd have some money spare for a bowling trainee!...Decisions Decisions!
Wilde's progress I'm pretty pleased with. He's had two nets for four weeks since popping to Prof, so he should be a little way up Strong by his 19th birthday. Though at some stage I'm going to have to find a fielding net for him if I'm to avoid his bowling getting out of kilter with his Cons.
But in summary, it's all good - Steady and slow - But all good! Half way through my fifth season in charge, I'd say that with a bit of luck I'm still on course to reach Div I by my tenth season, which was my mission statement when I started playing.
Later, Trev
. Anyway, one pop for my second bowling trainee, who is having a frankly rubbish season, being regularly outbowled by a quick with little stamina, and two comp/med fillers. He was ace last season, back when he was a middling competent. Now he's not even economical. Ah well.
