*Official* English Domestic Season (2004)

[Craig]

I'd back the selectors' judgement over yours one hundred times out of one hundred.

Even when they brought back Martin Bicknell after ten years out of the Test arena?

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Even when they brought back Martin Saggers after ten years out of the Test arena?

Dont you mean Martin Bicknell?

 

[Craig]

Edited previous post.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Even when they brought back Martin Bicknell after ten years out of the Test arena?

Rather him than David Leatherdale!

 

[chris.hinton]

I back it over neil and Marc who dont play the game much yet think they are experts

 

[Langeveldt]

I back it over neil and Marc who dont play the game much yet think they are experts

Whats that supposed to mean?

Im sure a level two (?) qualified coach knows what he is talking about...

 

[Neil Pickup]

I do remind you, Chris, that playing the game is absolutely no indicator of understanding, reading or analysing it to a high standard.

I also remind you who the two most hard-line defenders of a certain Durham fast bowler were as others claimed that he had absolutely no chance of ever being any kind of success at Test level.

It's very, very rare that something Marc and I agree on turns out to be wrong.

 

[Tom Halsey]

Yes, but when you don't...remember your scathing opinion on Butcher a while back?

I wasn't a member back then, but I followed someone's link to that thread, and how wrong you turned out to be!

 

[Neil Pickup]

Yes, but when you don't...remember your scathing opinion on Butcher a while back?

I wasn't a member back then, but I followed someone's link to that thread, and how wrong you turned out to be!

That's in the past

And notably, me and Marc didn't agree, so you can't use that to counter-argue the point above!

 

[Tom Halsey]

I'd back the selectors' judgement over yours one hundred times out of one hundred.

So would I.

But I still think he is a talent, unfortunately the only one in the Worcestershire side.

 

[Tom Halsey]

That's in the past

And notably, me and Marc didn't agree, so you can't use that to counter-argue the point above!

The fact that you didn't agree is the first thing I stated.

 

[Craig]

Rather him than David Leatherdale!

Surely the stocks weren't that barren last year v South Africa to bring back Bicknell or call up Leatherdale.

 

[chris.hinton]

Fair Enough I liked Harmy as well. so i claim that too. Level 2 means nothing about Knowledge of Cricket Information becasue i know a Level 2 coach and he knows Nought about the game

 

[Neil Pickup]

You missed the tongue being rather resolutely in cheek, there. Given him or Kabir last summer, I'd go with the veteran.

I find it difficult to believe that someone can pass all the Level 2 exams without knowing anything about the game.

 

[chris.hinton]

you be surprised Neil?

 

[Neil Pickup]

you be surprised Neil?

Have you taken the exams (and obviously I mean the recent exams with the whole line of argument)?

And define "knowing about cricket".

 

[chris.hinton]

good question

 

[Langeveldt]

i know a Level 2 coach and he knows Nought about the game

Let me guess....
Actually, no I wont even say anything at all...

 

[superkingdave]

Lancs getting battered again.... Hooper has broken finger, Dinesh Mongia in to replace him

 

[badgerhair]

[Kabir Ali]
But I still think he is a talent, unfortunately the only one in the Worcestershire side.

Though this talent isn't all that evident yet. Still, he's only 23, so he's got time to develop it.

He looked completely harmless at Lord's today, although the Middx batsmen didn't score off him particularly freely. But then, they didn't score freely off anyone except Gareth Batty, who was apparently just the diet Weekes and Dalrymple felt like tucking into. For the hour he was on either side of lunch, Middlesex were romping along, but until Cook and Bloomfield had a cheery ninth-wicket partnership at the end, it all seemed a rather pointless meander otherwise. Hall bustled nicely and induced Joyce to bottom-edge to the keeper, Bichel was utterly ineffectual, and Mason steady.

Worcs's destroyer came in the unlikely form of Solanki, who bowled 14 overs of loopy off-spin which Dalrymple, Weekes, Scott, Klusener and Cook all got out to, Dalrymple, Cook and Klusener all connecting with mighty heaves to mid-wicket where they were caught, Weekes and Scott winding themselves up for similar shots and missing, being respectively bowled and lbw.

5-40 was Solanki's best ever innings analysis, beating his 5-69 on the same ground against the same opponents in 1996. (His other two five-fers were in a match against Lancashire earlier in 1996.)

The pitch is easy-paced, and neither Kabir nor Mason was able to get anything out of it. But when Worcs batted, although Cook was just bowling steady stuff as Mason had before, Chad Keegan charged in with some serious aggression and an even sillier haircut than the one he had at the beginning of the season which was already comical enough.

Middlesex will have to play very well indeed to win this game, which looks odds-on for a draw already, but they look to have done enough not to lose - which will at least mean new skipper Joyce starts off doing better than the sacked Shah had been managing.

Cheers,

Mike