I guess we'll be seeing Jake Lintott make his Championship debut on Sunday. As Danny B is with England, Jake is the only specialist spinner in the squad. He has also has been drafted in for the 2nd's in their (current) 4 day game against Lancs at Portland Road, presumably to get some red ball bowling action in Lancs 2nd innings today.

I see Jake Lintott has been drafted in for the last two days of this game (final day today), in place of Ethan B. He's down to bat at 6, so might see him batting. More importantly, I guess he's there to get some red ball bowling practice in Lancs 2nd innings today. Almost certainly, he'll be playing for the 1st's in the Worcester Championship game on Sunday, as Briggs is with England ?

The_Lickey_Banker wrote:

I see Jordan Bulpitt is bowling well today in his first game for the 2nds (4 for 44 off 17 overs so far). He's a 24 year old left arm seamer from Staffordshire (who has played for Staffs and Cambridge MCCU). Does anyone know if he's any relation to Neville Bulpitt (a good chance, with such a rare name as that !) ? I remember Neville (from Cov), who played a couple of One Day games for us in the 70's.

Jordan finished on a '5 fer' - (21 overs, 5 for 49) - a great performance. He's got to be set for a long runout for the 2nd's - and we desparately need another left arm seamer to replace Barker. Other wicket takers in Lancs 284, were Ethan B (1 for 43 - before joining the 1st's), Johal (2 for 49), Bethell (1 for 13) and Tazeem Ali (1 for 27, off 13 overs, with his leg spin). Another failure for George Garrett (0 for 48 off 19 overs - when every other seamer is getting wickets). I'm sure he won't be with us next season

We're on 173 for 3 at Lunch today - McGladdery, 27; Shaikh, 19; Amir Khan, 23; Roshan Balaji, 47 NO and Chris Benjamin, 31 NO.

I see Jordan Bulpitt is bowling well today in his first game for the 2nds (4 for 44 off 17 overs so far). He's a 24 year old left arm seamer from Staffordshire (who has played for Staffs and Cambridge MCCU). Does anyone know if he's any relation to Neville Bulpitt (a good chance, with such a rare name as that !) ? I remember Neville (from Cov), who played a couple of One Day games for us in the 70's.

Sibley out for a duck - again! Given his form for us recently (and for the 2nds in red ball) and England, he has a lot to do in the remaining 3 CC innings before India Test selection?!

Highveld wrote:

Ethan Brookes is captain today according to the live scores link.

Ah, OK. The Twitter feed said it was Benjamin - but that was an hour or so before the match started.

The team for the Lancs 2nd's game is mostly made up of youngsters, plus Tyler McGladdery given another go:-

McGladdery, Shaikh, Bethell, Ethan Brookes, Benjamin (Captain again), Roshan Balaji, Amir Khan, Garrett, Johal, Awais Mohammed, Bulpitt and Ali.

We won the toss and chose to bowl. As with the 1st team, today is likely to be the only full days play in the game, so we need to make the most of it. I guess the fact that we chose to bowl, is because the batting is a bit short, the muggy conditions would help seam - and to give the young bowlers a bit of a testing!

We lost fairly convincingly in the end. The Tykes finished on 214 for 3. The only wicket takers were Norwell (2 for 24 off 8) and Yates (1 for 40 off 11). Ryan S (11 overs for 18 runs) and Manraj Johal (11 for 19) bowled very economically, but the rest were comprehensively despatched - Garrett (12 for 46) and Roshan Balaji (10 for 55).

Over the 2 innings, the only batters who came out with any glory were Yates (97) & Malan (62) in the 2nd innings and to a lesser extent in the match, Chris Benjamin (22 & 28) & Tyler McGladdery (21 & 34). As I said, Kelley, did get some runs at last, in the 2nd innings (35) - but I fear that may be too late for his future with us. With a Summer contract now for Benjamin, he has already lost his keeping job.

Of the bowlers, only the two experienced guys, Norwell (5 for 59) and Sidebottom (4 for 60) came out of it well. George Garrett must be getting worried for next season - 0 wickets again, in 25 overs (for 92 runs).

Highveld wrote:

Kelley isn't getting any runs in the B'ham league, despite being allowed to bat in the top 5 for his club.

A back up keeper and asome back up for Briggs have to be a priority over the winter.

Kelley has actually batted quite well this afternoon. He's made a game of this. We were struggling at 256 for 8, a lead of only 127, but he made 35 NO and took the target to 213. At least we have a chance now.

The Yorkies got a 1st innings lead of 131 in the end. Only our experienced bowlers made much of a mark - Sidebottom, 4 for 42 (off 21) and Norwell, 3 for 35 (off 19.3). Yates, Johal and Roshan Balaji did pick up a wicket each though.

In our 2nd Innings, at last, Yates and Malan got their act together, putting on 71 for the 2nd wicket (so far !); Yates, 36 and Malan, 31. Dom S failed again though - just 2 !

The_Lickey_Banker wrote:

We won the toss and chose to bat.

Currently, we're 34 for 3. Yates, Malan and Ethan B, all out in single figures! Sibley, hanging around, as he can - and McGladdery in.

We made 135 (in 60 overs !) - mainly due to 31 from Sibley and 20's from McGladdery, Benjamin and Roshan Balaji. Kelley struggled to get a duck (from 12 balls), adding to a major lack of scores in his time in the 2nd's - clearly he can't fulfill the batsman role (and he has lost the keeping job), so I guess he won't with us next season ? Malan also only got 1 and has a lot to do now, to prove his signing was worthwhile.

As Highveld says, the Yorkies are on 14 for 2 (off 13 overs), so it is obviously a bowling wicket. It should be interesting to see if they can overtake our score today.

We won the toss and chose to bat.

Currently, we're 34 for 3. Yates, Malan and Ethan B, all out in single figures! Sibley, hanging around, as he can - and McGladdery in.

Yates is back from injury - opening with Sibley. Benjamin stays as Captain and Keeper, Kelley in just as a batter.

The_Lickey_Banker wrote:

Looks like we're going to win this - fairly easily. Great batting by Montgomery, great bowling by George Garrett (at long last).

Yep, won by 54 runs. 2nd's T20 CHAMPIONS !

Montgomery 60, Ethan B 25 and KVV 28 NO were top scorers. GG 5 for 19, Sidebottom 2 for 16, KVV 1 for 11, OHD 1 for 12 and Johal 1 for 15.

Sussex didn't have their top batters in the Final, but it was still a first class win. A great all round performance - on a difficult wicket by all accounts.

On the basis of this match, Matt Montgomery has to be given more 2nd's opportunities. And after some wonderful displays over the last few weeks, KVV (as an all rounder) and Chris Benjamin (as Captain, Batsman and Keeper) fully deserve a contract of some sort. But I think Dan Lincoln's time with us is up and on todays performance, we remember why Andy Umeed was released. As for Dom S, where IS he going ?!

Looks like we're going to win this - fairly easily. Great batting by Montgomery, great bowling by George Garrett (at long last).

As we expected, we are playing Sussex in the Final - they stuffed Yorkshire by 9 wickets.

We won the toss and chose to bat. Same team as the Semi. 54 for 2 off 8. Sibley out early again (3) and Captain Benjamin (11). Montgomery and Andy U pushing it on a bit now.

The_Lickey_Banker wrote:

Highveld wrote:

Matt Mongomery is a former South Africa U19 captain, whos spent the summer with Notts 2nd team.

That's 3 South African born players in the team today - Montgomery, van Vollenhoven and Chris Benjamin (who I see is Captaining again - and taken 3 catches behind, so far). KVV and Benjamin have UK passports though, so that helps if we decide to offer them a contract (I hope we do); I'm not sure about the status of Montgomery.

We made 155 for 7 in our 20 - top score for Montgomery (66), double figures for Sibley (16), Benjamin (10), Ethan Brookes (16), Dan Lincoln (20 - who's back in as a specialist batsman this time) and George Garrett (13 NO). 5 for Andy U !

Middlesex are on 114 for 5 after 16 - so need 10 an over. 2 wickets for Sidebottom, 1 apiece for KVV (ending on 1 for 24 off 4 overs), Montgomery (1 for 23 off 4) and Ethan B (1 for 10 off 1).

Montgomery is a European (German) Passport holder - so I guess he has some employment status (if he applies for it under the EU settling scheme). He's studying at Loughborough Uni and playing Club Cricket for Kegworth. Before Uni, he played cricket in Yorkshire - and I think went to school there.

We won by 18 runs. Middlesex ended on 137, the last 5 wickets to go were taken Johal (ending on 2 for 13 off 2 overs), OHD (1 for 26 off 4) and Sidebottom (4 for 28 off 4). The Final here we come ! Given the Sussex squad, I guess we'll be playing them. Their Semi, against Yorkshire, soon.

Highveld wrote:

Matt Mongomery is a former South Africa U19 captain, whos spent the summer with Notts 2nd team.

That's 3 South African born players in the team today - Montgomery, van Vollenhoven and Chris Benjamin (who I see is Captaining again - and taken 3 catches behind, so far). KVV and Benjamin have UK passports though, so that helps if we decide to offer them a contarct (I hope we do); I'm not sure about the status of Montgomery.

We made 155 for 7 in our 20 - top score for Montgomery (66), double figures for Sibley (16), Benjamin (10), Ethan Brookes (16), Dan Lincoln (20 - who's back in as a specialist batsman this time) and George Garrett (13 NO). 5 for Andy U !

Middlesex are on 114 for 5 after 16 - so need 10 an over. 2 wickets for Sidebottom, 1 apiece for KVV, Montgomery and Ethan B. Should be a close finish ?

FarmerPalmer wrote:

That's a very good interview on ESPN.

A brilliant interview. I had chance to have a chat with him at Portland Road last summer. He's such a nice, level headed guy, but so ambitious and driven. Given all the knockbacks he's had in his County career (Somerset, Hampshire and Gloucester), it's amazing how positive he is. Farbs and Pop have really found a diamond there - and I'm sure he'll repay their faith in him. He's already pulling up daisies for us - as witnessed by how we missed him, up at the Riverside a few days ago. Long may his 'wristies' wreak havoc for us - and not just in white ball games, I hope he gets a chance in the CC in a couple of weeks - he's got the ability and dedication to also do well in the long game.

Chris Benjamin is Captain today in the 2nd's T20 game against Glamorgan (and 146 NO off 63 balls at the moment - going in at 3 - with 12x4's and 10x6's !). I would say that might indicate a contract offer soon ?