*Official* English Domestic Season (2004)

[Richard]

Be nice to see Dravid down there again!
Imagine... Dravid for part of the season, Symonds for the rest...
Wonder how many India matches are scheduled for next winter... Symonds will be available from early July (?) onwards, and in April and May, too.
He always seemed to fit in really well down there to me.
It would be a great shame to see Ed Smith leave, as it was with Ealhie (even though the green seamers of Trent Bridge are rather better from his POV than the grassless belters of the St.Lawrence ground, and you might disagree Rich but IMO Gallian has used him better in one-day-cricket than Fleming ever did) because, if you were to get Symonds for most of the season, you'd have a pretty sold top-six (O'Brien looked pretty good to me last season - no, I never actually saw him bat).
Anyway, just be greatful your finances are in a better state than ours! That's the most important thing - however successful, keep a functioning club at the end of it.

 

[Rich2001]

Be nice to see Dravid down there again!
Imagine... Dravid for part of the season, Symonds for the rest...
Wonder how many India matches are scheduled for next winter... Symonds will be available from early July (?) onwards, and in April and May, too.
He always seemed to fit in really well down there to me.

I would love to see Dravid back, that's what I was trying to get arcoss to Neil in my previous post with the batting so thin on the ground we really really need a batsman we can relie on to score runs, with a Hogg IMO you don't know what you will get ok he scored runs this season but would you put money on him to score 600+ runs again next season?

The only two problems with Dravid are:-

1/ The Indian cricket board, never seem to allow their players to come and play unless they are returing from a injury and they want them to get match fitness... ummm Tendulkar I would forgive the board a tiny bit then

2/ The International load, there are hardly any internationals during our summer in 2005, but the players will all want that 6 months break because they have worked to hard in over the winter... Dravid only played for Scotland because it was only 18 games or so instead of 18 games in 20 days type thing with a county.

It would be a great shame to see Ed Smith leave, as it was with Ealhie (even though the green seamers of Trent Bridge are rather better from his POV than the grassless belters of the St.Lawrence ground, and you might disagree Rich but IMO Gallian has used him better in one-day-cricket than Fleming ever did).

Certianly would, there is something seriously wrong at Kent at the momment and the club as ever are hiding it, iam sorry but for half your team to just want to up and leave in 2 years isn't right.

I have serious doubts that Smithy will stay now, the longer it has gone the less chance IMO the club have done nothing to update their members, ie we are still in talks but a few slight problem have come up etc it's all been closed lipped and today they announced a few out going players and a few who have been offered a new contract and all they said about Smith was there will be an announcment sometime this week, doesn't sound good to me.

LOL agree about the green pitches, TBH I haven't really followed how Notts have used him but have followed his figures and from what I've seen he is still bowling first change etc but the spells might be different.

I think his role has changed though, at Kent he was very much a econ bowler who created pressure for the likes of Saggers etc to take advantage of, at Notts in fairness the bowling isn't as strong so I think he has become a more attacking bowler now.

because, if you were to get Symonds for most of the season, you'd have a pretty sold top-six (O'Brien looked pretty good to me last season - no, I never actually saw him bat).

Iam wondering if Symo isn't the problem myself, we haven't tied him down already for next season claiming the Ashes are in town, yet Symo will only play the One Dayers and to be fair they are all crampped into a short period so it's not like he will be out for long and its an advantage for him to be playing well should an injury occur etc, and lets face it Kent have been one of the many counties to swap and swap their overseas players Afridi was here for like 2 weeks and he was gone again!.

I heard it was Symo that lead the problems at Worcs, but like I say nothing is said anywhere so will just have to believe the rumors for now.

O'Brien is a very handy batter actually, he is much more dig in type player than Jones, still attacks but has a very solid defence... Certianly does the job very well of what I've seen so far.

Anyway, just be greatful your finances are in a better state than ours! That's the most important thing - however successful, keep a functioning club at the end of it.

I wouldn't say the finances are fantastic but we do pretty well to our heads above water compared to all our fellow non international grounds friends around the country, but the money could be used so much better like I said above we are now appointing a 4th director or something silly why? we only need one, it makes decisions so much harder and who knows who picks the team and we run/maintain 4 grounds now

The club is functioning but they are starting to get very very close to annoying the people who are most important the fans, we are the mugs that paid all the money into the club and they go around and treat our best players like dirt and force them to leave, I honestly felt last season we had a real quality team and we won more games than the Champions and if our start to the season han't been affected by the rain where we kept declaring our 1st inngs for 0 we could have taken them oh and not forgetting Saggers was out half the season.

This season we could have been a real force, Loudon/O'Brien/Dennington/Ferley/Carberry etc all very promsing with games now under their belts and now iam looking at a squad where if Smith does leave we basically wasted a season and next season will just be showing new youth players the first team or forcing players to do roles they aren't there for. Matthew Dennington for example is a handy looking "All Rounder" iam not comfortable with the tag yet but he has the making of yet next season he could be up about 5 where he is expected to score big runs.


Oh well could all be nothing maybe the bosses have a masterplan we don't know about, but iam highly concernced by the fact that every player we bring in is a mid of the road pace bowler, it's like oh the opening batsman has left oh hang on theres that bowler he'll be the perfect replacment.

We also don't seem to be able to bring in any real quality to the club but we are quite happy to lose it all.

 

[Richard]

LOL agree about the green pitches, TBH I haven't really followed how Notts have used him but have followed his figures and from what I've seen he is still bowling first change etc but the spells might be different.

I think his role has changed though, at Kent he was very much a econ bowler who created pressure for the likes of Saggers etc to take advantage of, at Notts in fairness the bowling isn't as strong so I think he has become a more attacking bowler now.

Well, I was referring mainly to one-day-cricket - Ealhie has mainly opened the bowling there, has bowled 6 or 7 at the start and has come back for 2 or 3 in maybe the 30th over or so. Not surprisingly, he's been very economical and always picked wickets (averaged about 15 in Nat Lg).
I always thought Fleming should have used him with the new-ball rather more in one-day-cricket than he did. He's hard enough to get away with the ball not swinging; when it is swinging, he's almost impossible. As demonstrated by his opening salvo at the fastest-scoring excuse-for-a-county-ground in the country in the final Nat Lg game of last season.
In the First-Class-game he's still got Smith, Franks (back to somewhere near his best for the first half of last season) and Sidebottom to bowl alongside. Not a weak attack! Wasn't outstanding from what I could tell, but played his part.
Rich, your knoweldge of KCCC is amazing!

 

[Rich2001]

In the First-Class-game he's still got Smith, Franks (back to somewhere near his best for the first half of last season) and Sidebottom to bowl alongside. Not a weak attack! Wasn't outstanding from what I could tell, but played his part.

Sorry wasn't being horrible about the attack it is good, was just saying that on paper the Kent attack looks stronger so batsman always felt that when he came on with his lesser pace to target him more which with his annoying line and lenght and movement on certian days wasn't always the brightest of ideas

Rich, your knoweldge of KCCC is amazing!

Thanks! - Your probley be surprised (or maybe not ) that I actually didn't follow cricket until quite recently 1998/9ish - The season before the England World Cup was the first season/game I went to see, so obviously picked it up quite well

I need your help though because Iam lost now... as you may or may not have noticed on the forums, I support a player and increase his profile in the Cricket Web community first I took Robert Key under my wings and saw him through to the England team, I then had Saggers and saw him through to England and I've also picked Smith and Jones and taken them all the way to Lord's! (noticing a trend )

But now iam lost who do I take now Loudon's gone? Iam thinking James Tredwell or David Stiff. However we have so many damn bowlers now that I don't know who will play! (maybe I should try and guess the team) we have three spinners who have all played a high percentage of last season and the fast bowlers have been chopping and changing so much I forget who most of them are

 

[Richard]

Sorry wasn't being horrible about the attack it is good, was just saying that on paper the Kent attack looks stronger so batsman always felt that when he came on with his lesser pace to target him more which with his annoying line and lenght and movement on certian days wasn't always the brightest of ideas

Oh, I wasn't saying you were! Personally I always thought there were plenty worse bowlers in the Kent First-Class attack than Ealham (Trott, Sheriyar...)

Thanks! - Your probley be surprised (or maybe not ) that I actually didn't follow cricket until quite recently 1998/9ish - The season before the England World Cup was the first season/game I went to see, so obviously picked it up quite well

Yeah, I'm in a very similar boat.
Always used to watch cricket whenever the home Tests were on, didn't really know that much about it and certainly didn't watch it ball-by-ball, just whenever I didn't have much else to do (which was quite often ). Then came 1998 and that thrilling South Africa series, with one of the most unthinkable comebacks of all-time. Then WC99, easily the best of the WCs IMO, then the South Africa tour, then 2000 and a brilliant summer, and it all sort of magnified from there... I became interested in the World game and I started learning at about the rate we all learn at now.

I need your help though because Iam lost now... as you may or may not have noticed on the forums, I support a player and increase his profile in the Cricket Web community first I took Robert Key under my wings and saw him through to the England team, I then had Saggers and saw him through to England and I've also picked Smith and Jones and taken them all the way to Lord's! (noticing a trend )

But now iam lost who do I take now Loudon's gone? Iam thinking James Tredwell or David Stiff. However we have so many damn bowlers now that I don't know who will play! (maybe I should try and guess the team) we have three spinners who have all played a high percentage of last season and the fast bowlers have been chopping and changing so much I forget who most of them are

Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't really rate Tredwell or Ferley much. Stiff, however, is another matter. He looks surprisingly accurate for one so young, but until he can stop bowling 50 no-balls a spell he's not going to amount to anything.
Not too sure about Dennington or Cusden, either.
Personally I'd play it safe and go for the young Irishman. Never seen him bat, had huge shoes (and gloves) to fill, but clearly did a very impressive job last season.
Of course I don't think he's going to be as good as Geirant Jones, but if Jones is going to be playing 7 Test-matches a summer (and possibly a month of ODIs, too - though presently I'd still go for Read every time) you need a good man to do the job in the meantime (like Jonathan Batty - eventually - turned into). O'Brien looks like he's got the goods to me.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Thanks! - Your probley be surprised (or maybe not ) that I actually didn't follow cricket until quite recently 1998/9ish - The season before the England World Cup was the first season/game I went to see, so obviously picked it up quite well

I started up on it around that time too. My first memories of actually watching a cricket match are of the whitewash in South Africa. Before that the only cricket memory I have (outside of playing it every once in a while) was having my primary school class stopped due the news of Lara's 375.

 

[Richard]

And they told us cricket in West Indies was dying!
Even for major football-matches, classes here are only stopped in about half the schools around the country.

 

[Richard]

Also interesting that all three of us, within three years of each other (birthdays), started watching cricket closely at almost exactly the same time. Maybe a reflection of an age at which cricket becomes appealing. And, of course, a reflection on Worldwide broadcasts of matches.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

And they told us cricket in West Indies was dying!
Even for major football-matches, classes here are only stopped in about half the schools around the country.

I don't know about other schools. All I know is that there was a 5-10 minute stoppage to listen in to the record moment. Then back to work. I didn't particularly dwell on it at the time.

 

[marc71178]

anyway Iam assuming that Hogg "might" get back with the Aussies as why would Warwickshire sump him for Loudon otherwise if Hogg has had such a good season.

Hogg was expecting a new contract.

He just didn't do it with the ball (to the extent that Wagh and Troughton bowled a lot this summer)

 

[Richard]

And Surrey sign Azhar Mahmood (again) and Mohammad Akram for the new season!
What on Earth do they want to sign Mohammad Akram for?
Why not wait until Saqlain's had his operation, see how his career's going, then if it's going well again sign him up again?
For crying out loud, he's not been bowling properly either of these last 2 seasons, and they seem to have totally ditched one of their favourite sons.
First Stewart, now Saqlain.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

And Surrey sign Azhar Mahmood (again) and Mohammad Akram for the new season!
What on Earth do they want to sign Mohammad Akram for?
Why not wait until Saqlain's had his operation, see how his career's going, then if it's going well again sign him up again?
For crying out loud, he's not been bowling properly either of these last 2 seasons, and they seem to have totally ditched one of their favourite sons.
First Stewart, now Saqlain.

Also making Butcher captain when they know he'll probably miss 90% of the summer on England duty was a REALLY weird thing to do.

 

[Richard]

Hmm, I don't know about that.
Butcher will be available for pre-season, the first month of playing and most of June and the early part of July. As well as the last couple of weeks if Duncan lets him.
I can't really think of a better captain. I'd certainly prefer him than Thorpe.
This coming winter is one of the best we've had for a while - the cricket finishes long before pre-season starts, so all the players can come home, have a break, then start pre-season and play the early-season games. It's not going to be like some recent ones where by the time you've had half the break you really want the playing's already beginning.

 

[chris.hinton]

I think warwick have made a good signing in Alex Loudon as he is a Spinner and warwickshire need back up to Giles and Wagh as there are no young spinners come though Warwickshire ranks

 

[chris.hinton]

I also dont Understand that the 2005 c and g tophy has been Shortened again, no there have gone back to the 1997 days of Minor Counties Qualification? ok the First Class Counties always thrash them but it good to see the Minor Counties (all20 of them) plus Minor Counties and County Boards

What have the ECB been up to

 

[Richard]

I don't, personally, see why they couldn't keep The C&G as it was in 2000, 2001 and 2002.

 

[Rich2001]

Farwell Smithy, whatever the reasons and goings on at Kent and to say you will be missed is a massive understatment!

Well Fulton, Carberry and Walkers I don't want to put you under any pressure or anything but it's all down to you guys there isn't another batsman in the squad anymore, as much as it pains me to say it if the EBC would be so kind to send Key and Jones back I am not going to complain to much.

I hope there is some massive signings (no more medium pacers for the love of god though!) to be made in the comming weeks/months because otherwise next season is going to make us a bunch of laughing stocks!

 

[superkingdave]

Congratulations to Mark Chilton - the new Lancashire captain, i'm sure he'll do a great job.

And he went to my school

Also congrats to Stuey Law, Vice Captain and soon to be adopted Englishman

With Murali and rumours also suggest Brad Hodge will sign, if we can just sign Peitersen well do alright next year

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Pieterson to Surrey i reckon

 

[marc71178]

He wants to move South somewhere.