County Cricket 2022

[wpdavid]

Hard to compete with Surrey when they scoop up talent from less affluent counties as well as having their own pretty decent production like. Certainly, I'd prefer any team other than Surrey (except Lancashire, obvs) win the CC.

I don't think the FC team has scooped up much talent from less affluent counties. Overton the obvious exception. Jordon Clark came from Lancashire, I think, but I don't know whether he was doing much up there anyway. All of the top 6 apart from Amla are home grown. Worrall has been flown in from Australia, but he's hardly a household name. Ditto the young all-rounder who batted well at Scarborough yesterday. I may have forgotten someone of course; it wouldn't be unusual. Thinking about it, Foakes may have come from Essex tbf, but he wasn't a household name at the time either. My gripe for a long time has been that our production line of bowlers isn't nearly as good as it should be from a county with our resources and catchment area.

Our Twenty20 team is another matter tbf.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Foakes came from Essex and he’d been identified as a talent but signed for Surrey as he was behind Foster. He was getting game time at Essex though, and it was quite the blow to lose him at the time, having also just lost Adam Wheater to Hants. This was despite Surrey having Wilson and Davies at the time. The talk at the time was that he’d have more of a chance of playing for England at Surrey, as it has always been the case.

Of course, Reece Topley is on Surrey’s books as well. Can’t say I’m sure why.

 

[Blenkinsop]

Didn't Topley have quite a public falling-out with Essex before he left?

Quite a few of the signings that Surrey have made have been older players who were presumably either free agents or not much in demand by other counties. Liam Plunkett and Rikki Clarke spring to mind. By contrast Notts have spent years poaching good youngish players that smaller counties have developed -- Joe Clarke, Ben Duckett, Zak Chappell, Ben Slater etc.

 

[wpdavid]

Foakes came from Essex and he’d been identified as a talent but signed for Surrey as he was behind Foster. He was getting game time at Essex though, and it was quite the blow to lose him at the time, having also just lost Adam Wheater to Hants. This was despite Surrey having Wilson and Davies at the time. The talk at the time was that he’d have more of a chance of playing for England at Surrey, as it has always been the case.

Of course, Reece Topley is on Surrey’s books as well. Can’t say I’m sure why.

Yeah, Topley's one of the guys I was thinking of when I mentioned the T20 side. tbf I think he's played one or two CC games too.

 

[Tom Flint]

Foakes came from Essex and he’d been identified as a talent but signed for Surrey as he was behind Foster. He was getting game time at Essex though, and it was quite the blow to lose him at the time, having also just lost Adam Wheater to Hants. This was despite Surrey having Wilson and Davies at the time. The talk at the time was that he’d have more of a chance of playing for England at Surrey, as it has always been the case.

Of course, Reece Topley is on Surrey’s books as well. Can’t say I’m sure why.

Back then Essex may have had cook and Westley in England side so Essex players were given a chance

 

[wpdavid]

Didn't Topley have quite a public falling-out with Essex before he left?

Quite a few of the signings that Surrey have made have been older players who were presumably either free agents or not much in demand by other counties. Liam Plunkett and Rikki Clarke spring to mind. By contrast Notts have spent years poaching good youngish players that smaller counties have developed -- Joe Clarke, Ben Duckett, Zak Chappell, Ben Slater etc.

Plus Hameed of course, although his career had stalled at Lancashire.
Plunkett was one of those signings that slightly irritated me. Good player in his time, but we were never going to get much out of him, and I wanted to see one of our younger players developed instead. Clarke was a bit different as he was really good when we won the title in 2018. And he was originally one of our own.

 

[Blenkinsop]

Yeah I give Notts a pass on Hameed, they took quite a gamble in signing him.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Back then Essex may have had cook and Westley in England side so Essex players were given a chance

Foakes signed for Surrey in 2014. Westley played for England in 2017. Cook would have played for England regardless of which County he played for

 

[GoodAreasShane]

good...

Zak Chappell

These words do not belong in the same sentence

 

[Tom Flint]

Foakes signed for Surrey in 2014. Westley played for England in 2017. Cook would have played for England regardless of which County he played for

My point is that Essex players do get given a chance. Lawrence another in recent years.

 

[Pothas]

Definitely not giving up on Hampshire winning the title just yet. Have won 6 matches already this season, batting is a little suspect but the bowling is the best in the country and there is no danger of any international calls. Can't see Surrey actually losing a game but they could draw a few. I keep forgetting about this lopsided format because it really feels like Hampshire and Surrey should be playing each other again.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

My point is that Essex players do get given a chance. Lawrence another in recent years.

And my point is that Surrey players get more of a chance than other counties. Would Ian Salisbury have got so many opportunities if selectors had to drive to Derbyshire to see him?

 

[wpdavid]

Definitely not giving up on Hampshire winning the title just yet. Have won 6 matches already this season, batting is a little suspect but the bowling is the best in the country and there is no danger of any international calls. Can't see Surrey actually losing a game but they could draw a few. I keep forgetting about this lopsided format because it really feels like Hampshire and Surrey should be playing each other again.

Absolutely right. There have been a couple of games where Surrey have amassed huge totals but failed to bowl out their opponents, whereas Hampshire's attack would have probably finished the job in those situations. From memory, those games were against Gloucestershire and Kent, who are hardly the strongest batting sides. And it almost happened against Yorkshire's weakened batting line-up too. Picking up on your point about international call-ups, I can see JOverton being picked again if he manages to consistently get his length right like he did in Yorkshires' second innings. The other factor is that Surrey's spin attack isn't the strongest given their policy of playing Will Jacks as the sole spinner, which I still think could hurt us, especially given the unusually hot weather.

 

[Blenkinsop]

Hampshire don't play a specialist spinner any more either, they seem to rely on Organ and Dawson. Probably fine for most situations but they got turned over by Harmer at Chelmsford.

 

[wpdavid]

Hampshire don't play a specialist spinner any more either, they seem to rely on Organ and Dawson. Probably fine for most situations but they got turned over by Harmer at Chelmsford.

Fair point, but I think Dawson's probably a better bet than Jacks. I don't know much about Organ tbf. After my previous post, I wondered whether Dawson might be a long shot for a test call-up if England want a spinner who knows which end of the bat to hold. Perhaps it's less important to Hampshire given the quality of their quicker bowlers.

All that being said, I'd rather be 15 points ahead than 15 points behind.

 

[wpdavid]

And my point is that Surrey players get more of a chance than other counties. Would Ian Salisbury have got so many opportunities if selectors had to drive to Derbyshire to see him?

If I may go into pedant mode for a moment, I'm pretty sure that Geoff Miller was a selector for a while, so he wouldn't have had to drive too far. Ditto Illingworth and Lloyd when they were in charge during the mid/late 1990s. No idea where Duncan Fletcher was based in the early 2000s.

Salisbury's test career was a shame. Obviously at Sussex when first called up in 1992, and had his moments against Pakistan. And from 1997 he was able to benefit from the pitches that Surrey produced to support him and Saqlain but struggled horribly at test level. Maybe a mental thing? Not justifying his repeated selection, just musing. And England were desperate for a leggie in the aftermath of Warne's arrival; sufficiently so to even give Schofield a couple of games.

Some other Surrey players were lucky to play test cricket of course. Tom Curran springs to mind. Jason Roy. Ian Ward and the Hollioakes. But I'll maintain that the worst case of bias was towards Essex players in the early 1990s when Keith Fletcher and Gooch were in charge. You're probably aware of the tannoy announcement at one of the counties when the latest test squad was announced during the 1993 Ashes, presuming that Trevor Bailey must have been unavailable for selection.


EDIT
Actually Miller was a selector years after Salisbury's time in the side, so scrap that bit.

 

[Daemon]

They need to bat Tim David higher tonight if they want to have a shot at chasing this

 

[Pothas]

Fair point, but I think Dawson's probably a better bet than Jacks. I don't know much about Organ tbf. After my previous post, I wondered whether Dawson might be a long shot for a test call-up if England want a spinner who knows which end of the bat to hold. Perhaps it's less important to Hampshire given the quality of their quicker bowlers.

All that being said, I'd rather be 15 points ahead than 15 points behind.

Yeah Dawson is definitely not a part time bowler, very much plays a holding role but bowls plenty of overs and actually took a ton of wickets in that Essex match. He would still be in the side if he couldn't bat. I expect Moeen will be back for the Pakistan series but if he is not then Dawson is probably a decent chance.

Hampshire have this weird thing in essentially having two makeshift openers who can both be really useful with the ball in the right circumstances. Even Fuller is not far off being a part timer with the ball and a specialist bat at 9. Is all about the 3 main seamers and the rest just fit around them when needed.

 

[superkingdave]

Didn't think we would get anywhere near. Hopefully we don't throw it away.

 

[GIMH]

It’s been devoid of drama really