Got venting elsewhere so thought I'd vent here too where a reasonable discussion might form.
Hughes and McDonald (to bowl, as well) are in on Monday as is Trent Lawford, who's replacing Mennie who's injured. No idea who the batsmen dropped for Hughes/McDonald are but I'd assume it's Raphael and quite possibly Head (that is unless Coops is playing the 20/20 for the dutch and has already gone, I know Ben Cooper left yesterday so perhaps - if that's the case it's only Raphael but given how they've gone about it all season even if Coops were available I've no doubt they'd still do it). ****s me to tears to see someone like Trav Head or even Raphael miss out for an extra bowler when we're playing 5 genuine bowlers + McDonald who quite possibly is the best 5th bowler playing shield cricket let alone 6th bowler. I mean why bother with the 4 bowlers + botha (who'd be playing even if he couldn't bat) + mcdonald strategy. Ludeman's ****, definitely the worst of the 6 states' glovemen which makes having a long tail even worse too. If the 4 bowlers were like Sayers/Richo/Putland/Mennie I'd kind of understand but it's ****ing Trent Lawford - who admittedly hit 265 in grade cricket but he's a #8/9 at Shield level so whatever - he's not much with the ball. We'd be far better off with a bowling attack of 3 of Sayers/Putland/Mennie/Richo + Botha + McDonald and Head/Raphael playing as a bat than the 6 bowlers all playing.
If they're playing Zampa on Monday it'll suck, too. Bloke's a muppet. Kind of get why blokes like Raphael get games when the only blokes averaging above 45 in A grade are proven failures (Plant), former bowlers who now think they can bat (Bailey, Weeks), blokes who just aren't very good (Davey, Weaver) and then Alex Ross/Jake Lehmann who still need to work on a good bit. But when we've got tonnes of bowlers in A grade who actually can bowl i.e. Munting, George, Worrall, Benton, Winter how a bloke like Zampa gets games I don't know. I mean why isn't Jake Brown in the setup anyway. He's probably a better bowler than the ones listed anyway and he's good enough on his batting alone.
/rant.