*Official* England\UK off-season 2008/09 \ build-up to 2009 season thread

[BoyBrumby]

Hmm. Jaik Mickleburgh sounds a suspiciously yarpish name to me...

Anyway, Ali Brown ends a couple of decades at The Oval by signing a two year deal with Notts. From The Guardian.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Hmm. Jaik Mickleburgh sounds a suspiciously yarpish name to me...

Born in Norwich.

 

[fredfertang]

Sad that we can't provide any members of the U19 squad these days, well you can't really expect much when you have a policy against youth like Watkinson had.

... indeed, and I see that Leicester, whose Kolpak policy I certainly sneer at, provide three - I shall be more careful with what I say next season ....

 

[Pothas]

Good to see Dawson leading the side and two other Hampshire players in the squad, don't know much about Chris Wood but have high hopes for Hamza Riazuddin.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Born in Norwich.

Good show. Two heads are better than one, after all.

/throwing stones from glass houses.

 

[Manee]

... indeed, and I see that Leicester, whose Kolpak policy I certainly sneer at, provide three - I shall be more careful with what I say next season ....

Was reading a recent cricket magazine (could have been Spin, All Out Cricket or Wisden, not too sure) which had an interview with a Leicester higher up who feels very strongly about the Kolpak policy in ensuring that youth are brought up in a strong environment. Certainly interesting reading from anyone suggesting that the policy is a show of laziness.

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

Interested in seeing how Scott Borthwick goes, he was very impressive on debut against Lancashire in the Twenty20 last year.

 

[Richard]

England U19's are currently touring South Africa...

England squad

Scott Borthwick (Durham), Nathan Buck (Leicestershire), Joshua Cobb (Leicestershire), Liam Dawson (Hampshire, captain), Jaik Mickleburgh (Essex), Sam Northeast (Kent), Thomas Poynton (Derbyshire), Azeem Rafiq (Yorkshire), Daniel Redfern (Derbyshire), Hamza Riazuddin (Hampshire), Atif Sheikh (Derbyshire), James Taylor (Leicestershire), Adam Wheater (Essex), Chris Wood (Hampshire).

James Harris (Glamorgan) and Ben Stokes (Durham) withdrew from the squad due to injury.

Fixtures

Tour Match v South Africa Under-19s Invitation XI at Cape Town - Jan 9, 2009
South Africa Under-19s Invitation XI won by 7 wickets (with 26 balls remaining)
England Under-19s 201 (Redfern 44, Cobb 40, Nofal 3/18); South Africa Under-19s Invitation XI 204/3 (Ackerman 84*, Richards 62, Redfern 1/14)

Tour Match v South Africa Under-17s Invitation XI at Cape Town - Jan 11, 2009

1st Youth ODI v South Africa Under-19s at Cape Town - Jan 13, 2009

2nd Youth ODI v South Africa Under-19s at Paarl - Jan 14, 2009

3rd Youth ODI v South Africa Under-19s at Paarl - Jan 16, 2009

4th Youth ODI v South Africa Under-19s at Paarl - Jan 17, 2009

5th Youth ODI v South Africa Under-19s at Cape Town - Jan 19, 2009

1st Youth Twenty20 International v South Africa Under-19s at Cape Town - Jan 21, 2009

2nd Youth Twenty20 International v South Africa Under-19s at Paarl - Jan 22, 2009

Tour Match v University Sports South Africa XI at Johannesburg - Jan 26-28, 2009

Only Youth Test v South Africa Under-19s at Benoni - Jan 31-Feb 3, 2009

South African squad...
Jonathan Vandiar (Lions, captain) Andrea Agathagelou (Northwest), Clayton August (Border), Themba Bavuma (Lions), Dale Deeb (Gauteng), Thomas Kaber (Northerns), Rilee Rossouw (Eagles), Mangaliso Mosehle (Easterns), Bokang Mosena (Free State), Siya Ntshona (Eastern Province), Oubus Pienaar (Free State), Stephen Smit (Free State), Kelly Smuts (Eastern Province), Reece Williams (Griqualand West).

Vandiar and Rossouw may be withdrawn as they are important members of their franchises.

It is a strong looking squad selected by England.

Haven't even heard of half those players - Cobb and Redfern have made promising starts to their county careers, especially given their very young ages, and Dawson of course is a well-known name. Jaik Mickleburgh I seem to recall did decently in his precious few chances last season, but I thought he was 20 for some reason. Both the wicketkeepers (Poynton and Wheater) seem so far to have precious little batting ability of note.

And obviously Northeast has been a name of renown since the age of 15.

 

[TT Boy]

Azeem Rafiq should be pretty well known to county cricket or Yorkshire fans.

 

[superkingdave]

Azeem Rafiq should be pretty well known to county cricket or Yorkshire fans.

Haha yeah, couldn't miss that story even being in Australia. Yorksihre should have been banned from all competitions for at least a year imo

 

[Richard]

Azeem Rafiq should be pretty well known to county cricket or Yorkshire fans.

Didn't spot the name TBH but as it was only a Twenty20 competition that was involved I wasn't terribly concerned with the whole thing and certainly wasn't following the news enough to have his name ingrained into my head. I know it now you've pointed it out, obviously, but didn't spot it just skim-reading the squad list.

 

[TT Boy]

Two in two for South Africa's U17 Invitation XI against England U19's.

England 123 (Cobb 50, Wheater 32, Kishen 3/21, Wernars 3/25), South Africa 124/4 (Ackerman 77*, Malan 38, Riazuddin 3/19) win by six wickets (77 balls remaining)

The first ODI is on Tuesday at Newlands.

 

[TT Boy]

1st ODI

South Africa U19 259/8 (Bavuma 63*, Agathagelou 52, Mickleburgh 2/33) beat England U19 209 (Redfern 33, Wheater 30, Pienaar 3/33, Smith 4/44) by 50 runs.

Good to see Temba Bavuma in the runs, saw him play for the Lions a couple of weeks ago and he scrapped hard. Must be one of the smallest cricketers going as well, think he was listed as 5'3 on SuperSport.

The second ODI is tomorrow at Paarl which is one of the slowest tracks in South Africa. It really is a terrible surface where you usually have to work very hard for your runs so I wouldn't be surprised if the part-time spinners got through some overs there.

 

[Woodster]

Disappointing chase from England Under 19's considering the top 10 made double figures (no.11 never faced a ball) but no score more than 33. Classic case of players getting in but none of them going on to make a match winning contribution. Still it's all experience for them.

 

[TT Boy]

2 ODI (44 over game...)

South Africa U19s 245 for 5 (Vandiar 75, Rossouw 66) beat England U19s 182 (Northeast 63, Pienaar 3-28, Deeb 3/31) by 63 runs

Impressive total by the South Africans whilst England were out of the game after the first 20 overs, as they limped to 60 odd for 2. Disappointing display by the English spinners as well, Dawson, Rafiq and Borthwick going for well over 100 runs of only 18 overs. One small solace for England is Rossouw is now off to play for his franchise.

The third ODI is on Friday, same ground.

 

[aussie]

Damn, no lancashire blokes have made it this year for real. The lads have really feel back since school & division cricket days..

 

[TT Boy]

England U19’s so far so good today, setting South Africa a really competitive total, who now only have the experience of captain, Jonathan Vandiar to fall back on. Handy knock by bowler, Hamza Riazuddin who came in at three to pinch hit and gave the English innings some early momentum which up until now has been missing.

At the innings break...
England U19 273/9 (Taylor 83, Riazuddin 53, Cobb 49, Pienaar 4/61, Smith 3/55)

 

[TT Boy]

England won and the series is still alive.

South Africa 218 (Agathagelou 68, Mosehle 58, Wood 3/46, 2/31 Buck)

The 4th ODI is tomorrow, same ground.

 

[Pothas]

Encouraging performances from the three Hampshire players in the team, Riazuddin used to bat in the top order for our under 17's so it would seem he has some talent with the bat. Dawson not doing well with the bat so far but picking up a few wickets.

Signed Marcus North yesterday for the first part of the season, shame we can't have Tahir for the whole(always prefer having just the one overseas player for the whole season rather than several different players) but it could work out quite well with him ariving him ariving in June when he is likely to be more efective anyway.

 

[Woodster]

A pleasing win for the under 19's to keep it interesting. Not a bad performance from the Leicestershire trio, Taylor, Cobb and Buck, all showing promising signs.

Good signing for Hampshire, Marcus North, and while I agree with Pothas, it is always nice to have one overseas for the entire season, Tahir arriving in June should give the side a boost especially if he has the same kind of impact as last season, while North's batting and steady bowling may offer more in the opening months.