Unfortunately, this government like so many people in the UK, still think of cricket as 'A game for posh blokes', anyone who watched that Flintoff programme where he got those kids to play cricket for the first time, will know what I mean. One of them said, "What makes him think anyone from around here wants to play cricket", by the end of the series, you couldn't get the bat out of his hands. It wouldn't have such a poor reputation if they played it more in state schools.
Yes, a case of 'Stuck with what we've got' as the saying goes. Latham, even though he did score very quickly on Saturday once he got going, his scoring before the 8th over was very slow. That is fine 'IF' you go on to make a good score but if you suddenly get out for 25 and it's taken 25 balls, that is a waste and looks as though you haven't taken advantage of the powerplay. Gooch used to do the same, great if he batted through 80% of the innings but if he got out 30-40% of the way through, it put pressure on his team mates who couldn't accelerate like him. It might be a case of 'Trying to muddle through' and hoping to get to the quarter-finals and from then on, one-off games, anything can happen. Plenty of sides have done this, us to a certain extent in 2014.
Whitelightning - I think last year in the quarter final, we did have a plan and at the halfway stage, it was working but the batsmen made a huge mess of it. The playing area, like in recent matches, was large and we kept Gloucestershire down to 135 and whether or not our batsmen had been practicing to hit balls far and wide, I seriously doubt it as a lot of them were caught inside the ropes whilst trying to clear it. Instead of just knocking it about which was ideal. It did appear that we had a plan but the blokes with the heavy bats forgot to complete their side of the bargain. Usually when we fail in the QF's, it is usually the batting, Sussex many years ago not being able to chase 150, making the same v Hampshire a few years later and against Essex at home, not making more than 160+, not being able to chase Hampshire's 180+ 2 years ago. Last years debacle appears worse if you consider Gloucestershire have lost all 5 of their games and looked abysmal today in the first 10 overs looking as though they were playing for a draw in a CC game. I got chastised for saying that we shouldn't lose to sides like that but I stand by it, they were another of the 'We scraped through' brigade who went on to win it. We do have plenty of what we call 'T20 specialists', but if you win a lot of games in the group stages (Even accounting for losing in the QF) you are unlikely to drop a lot of them for other players. I think most of us on here could pick better sides and Benjamin was a case in point last year, we all knew Burgess would be a better option and it wouldn't surprise me if Lintott was in for the next game but is a passenger if he just bowls 1-2 overs and gets smashed. Same for Garton, if he's in, let him bowl from overs 7 onwards. Mousely and Briggs are now considered T20 players but whomever we pick, we cannot rely on the few to keep getting us out of trouble. Come on Westy, be bold, make some changes.
I suppose if he isn't playing CC cricket for us, he has to wait ages to get a game and if we get knocked-out (If!) of cup games, his season is over. A huge loss to the T20 side as yesterdays figures will suggest, everyone else, 186 from 16 overs at 11.62 and he conceded 23 off 4 overs.
I agree about Barnard's last over. He got his lengths and his line just right on Friday but a lot of his bowling yesterday, saw him try to go too full and end up bowling a full toss like ball 19.1 which Sams hit for 6. It was exactly what they HAD to get to make it a little easier for the rest of the over. Cannot understand Hasan's lengths either as his success is in bowling straight and full but I feared for the game when he was given one final over. At that point there was only Moeen and Garton who could have bowled as Lintott looks shot of confidence. I would have fancied Garton if only because Hasan had bowled poorly and really didn't appear to know where he was bowling and let the situation get to him. Disappointing to have made 2 big scores against this lot and still lost, maybe the reason we were inserted. Having to watch one of their old boys, Tubs Patel score a winning innings as well, never liked him always making excuses when he failed but like yesterday when he had a good game, it took him ages to be prized off the pitch as the cameras waved about.
Yes, the refusal of a single from Moeen to put Barnard on strike was strange, does he not think Barney can hit a ball. Lots of things are strange though in our cricket, why is Garton in the side if you think that it is mainly his bowling and he only has one over and it might have been better to see him than Hasan who was awful, miles too short and bringing him back was poor captaincy. He has been successful bowling full and straight, tonight he did neither. Lintott has to be dropped and Smith is wasted too low down or should also go. Poor death bowling tonight, the exact opposite of last night and can Davies explain 2 fielders on the fence with a single needed off the last ball. Nothing worse than getting parked up, getting a good seat and you get home at 10.30 having lost.
Surprisingly, Yorkshire only have 5 one-day titles in their history. Maybe when it all started, because they were winning plenty of Championships, they were not that bothered about limited overs cricket but their modern day record is awful, only 1 Lord's final win since 1987.
Not sure about "Getting away with Yorkers" as some of them were good and the general thing about them is they are hard to hit if they are bowled properly, but isn't that the problem during certain games, the inability to bowl full and straight when we have bowled too many wide or short deliveries.
Northants finally lost, chasing a small total and last season winners have lost 4 from 4 but I am not going to say what I thought of them last year.
That is some of the best bowling I have seen in the last 6-7 overs of a T20 game to close out a win. They got 52 from the last 7 overs whereas we got 76 from our last 5. It looks as though they fold as soon as Malan goes or cannot win if he isn't seeing Yorkshire home.
76 from the last 5 overs.
Latham out but he was using up a few too many balls.
Great after 4 overs but.......
I do get the feeling that Moeen is a bit of a sulky individual. I have seen his family sitting in the stands watching him and they are very nice people, having sat with them. I get the feeling he is the 'golden boy' and perhaps he has this feeling of always being lauded and when something goes wrong, he feels it and goes into his shell. During the 2019 World Cup, he was dropped and rightly so and his whole body language was poor, he had a real look on his face like he couldn't really understand why and even after England had won, he had a face like a 'slapped arse' and looked thoroughly miserable as though the win meant nothing because he wasn't playing in the final. He took that same look to the 1st Test v Australia a bit later after he had another shocker of a game and looked very out-of-sorts during it. He doesn't take criticism very well and does not appear to have a "I will show those * what I can do". We don't need to carry passengers in the side and you would think that with his career very near its end, he would want to give himself every chance of success by being 'Up' for every game.
Not just lack of depth but scoring too slowly. If Latham is opening, he has to get on with it or it puts too much pressure on everyone else coming in. 34 off 23 is too slow and Moeen scored even slower if you consider that 20 of his runs came of 4 balls, that is 11 runs off the other 20. Once Mousley went, it looked like it was still on but numbers 6,7 ,8 and 9 made just 3 off 10 balls, pity in hindsight that Briggs didn't come in earlier.
LE, never mind the game, Gerry and I would love to hear how we are creating, 'Comedy Gold'.
Well done Gerry on keeping your posts clean today. Much improvement.
Good job Hasan didn't take 4 in 4 because I am not sure how you can top his last celebration,
Madsen gone, surely that is THE big blow. Whiteley is still there but never scores quickly enough to win games, only 6 50's in 228 T20 games and only a strike rate of only 136.