English Domestic Season 2011

[Woodster]

Interesting (and quite pleasing) to see Bopara has reportedly turned down an IPL contract to try and win the spot in the Test line-up.

Would be absolutely delighted with his attitude if that is true. He was offered a rumoured £150,000 to replace Paul Collingwood at the Rajasthan Royals, yet is supposed to have turned it down to try and nail Collingwood's spot in the Test team.

Although Morgan will have a much healthier bank balance after his spell in the IPL, Bopara is giving himself the best possible chance to get back into the Test team ahead of Morgan. Good luck to him, hope he has a great start to the season.

 

[TT Boy]

Meaker is gun barrel like fellow Surrey team-mate, Chris Jordan yet Meaker also shares the waywardness of Jade Dernbach. If he bowled 5mph slower he wouldn’t be playing professionally.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Interesting (and quite pleasing) to see Bopara has reportedly turned down an IPL contract to try and win the spot in the Test line-up.

Good on him, still don't want him anywhere near the test side though. Rather give Hildreth or Taylor a chance ahead of him.

 

[Woodster]

Meaker is gun barrel like fellow Surrey team-mate, Chris Jordan yet Meaker also shares the waywardness of Jade Dernbach. If he bowled 5mph slower he wouldn’t be playing professionally.

Meaker is a young lad, at 22, and has the rare ability of being able to bowl consistently over 90mph, if he had metronomic accuracy and moved the ball around, pretty sure he'd be rated as one of the very best bowlers in the world!! He is far from the finished article, I don't think anyone's suggesting he is, but he has unique skills that are worth nurturing.

 

[superkingdave]

A few uni games started today.Cook and Bopara both out cheaply for Essex. Solanki nearing his ton for Worcs. Lancs shockingly 80-0.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

So is Peter Turnbull better than the Aussie test attack then?

 

[Neil Pickup]

Chilton batted well - looked in complete control and swept very well against the spinners until picking out deep backward square with a pull shot.

 

[fredfertang]

What did the openers look like Neil - particularly Karl Brown?

 

[Neil Pickup]

Unfortunately didn't get down there until mid-afternoon: enforced socialising at school with ex-pupils.

 

[grecian]

I went to have a bet on the mighty Somerset (knowing we'll be unencumbered by pesky England call-ups) thinking I'll get a nice e-way bet on, and found out we're ****ing favorites, WTF. Has this ever happened before?

 

[TT Boy]

Duck for former RSA U19 opening batsman, Andrea Agathagelou on Lancashire debut. I believe Andrea is on a 2 year contract (was a regular for Lancs second XI last year) and is playing on a Cypriot/EU passport. Interested to see how he gets on, though he didn't break into franchise cricket with the Lions he is rated.

 

[TT Boy]

Meaker is a young lad, at 22, and has the rare ability of being able to bowl consistently over 90mph, if he had metronomic accuracy and moved the ball around, pretty sure he'd be rated as one of the very best bowlers in the world!! He is far from the finished article, I don't think anyone's suggesting he is, but he has unique skills that are worth nurturing.

He isn't though. Bout the same pace as Mark Turner. To Meaker's advantage he is a couple of inches taller than Mark and is still relatively young but he is extremely overrated at this point. You would think he is Brett Lee quick i.e. a legit quick if you hear Charlie Boy or Ian Ward talk about Meaker.

Good thing for Meaker is that there isn't a huge burden on him, now with Tremlett at the club, Dernbach impressing in the Windies and Chris Jordan returning back from serious injury.

 

[Jarquis]

Billy Godleman is an awful player for somebody who had quite a bit of a reputation when he first came onto the scene.
Bopara managed a few poles when bowling, it is a definite advantage he has over some of the other competitors for Collingwood's spot.

Good start for Saj Mahmood and the Agathegolou bloke TT Boy mentioned has been bumped up to open in the second innings and is 13*.

Mark Davies not playing for Durham, left out or injured? I know he had a horror last year but he's still a better bet than Rushworth at least. I'm hoping for a good year from Borthwick this season. Have followed him ever since James Foster took him to the cleaners.
IIRC last year in a FC game Durham were skittled for not very many but Borthwick made a few and finished not out. When asked to follow on the just told Borthwick to keep his pads on and sent him out to open, which he's done again in this match. He got a golden duck mind, but good to see nonetheless.

 

[superkingdave]

Davies has a foot injury

 

[Howe_zat]

Alistar Cook's just scored 120 from 128 balls for Essex, 15 fours and a six.

Put on a partnership of 96 with Bopara, who's 50*.

 

[superkingdave]

Cardiff UCCE all out for 46 in their second innnings Waters 8-4-6-5. Pitch musn't be that great.

Good to see Karl Brown scoring a few.

 

[fredfertang]

... and more runs for Mark Chilton - just checked out his record on Cricketarchive - two seasons where he's averaged over 50 and the other ten he hasn't got above 35 - a consistent year from him would be much appreciated!

 

[Woodster]

He isn't though. Bout the same pace as Mark Turner. To Meaker's advantage he is a couple of inches taller than Mark and is still relatively young but he is extremely overrated at this point. You would think he is Brett Lee quick i.e. a legit quick if you hear Charlie Boy or Ian Ward talk about Meaker.

Good thing for Meaker is that there isn't a huge burden on him, now with Tremlett at the club, Dernbach impressing in the Windies and Chris Jordan returning back from serious injury.

He has been consistently above 90 mph in the games I've seen him play in on TV, admittedly they were one-day matches, but the pace from what I've seen is certainly there. Would like to see him in a CC match though to get a bigger picture of his potential.

They can, as you say, afford to be patient with him with the bowlers at the Oval, using him in short bursts, not being too worried about him conceding a few and use him as an attacking option.

 

[Howe_zat]

Alastair Cook's had an interview with cricinfo on his training and the upcoming season. This excerpt I found particularly hilarious:

Along with Mark Pettini, his former housemate and county captain, Cook has been rising at 6am to take part in a training regime called "The Triangle", which involves lugging bricks through the woods near Gooch's house in Chelmsford.

"There's three sides to the triangle so you run one, jog one, run one and keep going," Cook said. "We were carrying bricks because he [Gooch] thought it was fun and he was on his bike with the speedo telling us how fast to go and, if we slowed, telling us to speed up. He enjoyed it, but I don't think we did. He wouldn't even let us in the house for breakfast afterwards -- he set the dogs on us. Thankfully, he went off to the World Cup."

 

[Jacknife]

He has been consistently above 90 mph in the games I've seen him play in on TV, admittedly they were one-day matches, but the pace from what I've seen is certainly there. Would like to see him in a CC match though to get a bigger picture of his potential.

They can, as you say, afford to be patient with him with the bowlers at the Oval, using him in short bursts, not being too worried about him conceding a few and use him as an attacking option.

Yes, Meaker the last year or so, has been consistently in the 89-91mph area, whereas when I've watched Mark Turner he can get the odd ball around 90mph, but he's more the 85-87mph range.
No doubt, Meaker has potential if he can stay fit , but he needs to improve all round to make that next step up. He's the same age as Finn and no where near as developed as what Finn is, but he hasn't played the amount of games that Finn has either. I'll be interested to see how he goes this year, in first class cricket and to see if he shows improvements.