LVCC D1 - Durham v Yorkshire

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brandon

brandon

Striker
Starting Wednesday. I know its early, but I have to get that performance and defeat out of the system.

I think the question now must be, who plays? Who is dropped? Who the fuck can bat?!

For the long term the club should do everything in their power to get Rudolph in. For the short term? Fuck knows. If I had my own choice I'd go for this -

Stoneman
Jennings
Collingwood
Stokes
Benkenstein
Richardson
Mustard
Borthwick
Thorp
Onions
Rushworth

Stoneman is on borrowed time, he has an average of 27 from 69 First Class matches, that simply isn't good enough. For a few seasons people have insisted he would come good. Perhaps hes even been given the benefit of youthfulness. Trouble is, he's a veteran really. You can't be successful when your opening batsman has an average under 30 IMO.

As for Smith, I felt he should have been binned last season, hes had far too many chances and he isn't the answer.

Jennings is young, he deserves a chance, he needs to step up and start scoring runs but in his defence, is he really an opener? Would he not be better suited coming in at 4/5??

Collingwood should take the reins at 3, he's as good as any for me. He's the skipper and perhaps he should lead by example. He's batted there for us before with relative success so why not again?? He's definitely got the patience and temperament to hang around for long periods which we need to see off the new ball.

Stokes at 4, he's our best batsman IMO and I like him there.

Benkenstein needs to justify his selection.

Richardson deserves a chance, I'd be tempted to have him at 3, as he was at the end of last season, but ideally I think he's better suited down the order.

As for the lower order/bowlers - I don't think they can really do anymore than they are doing?! Its clearly the batsmen that are f***ing us up.
 


Interesting to see Richardson batted at 3 in the second team game v Yorks, he only got 6 in a high scoring game, cursed position perhaps?
 
Sadly we are being exposed as having an unbalanced squad full of decent pace bowlers and batsmen who all want to bat at 5/6/7 in the order, who quite fancy coming into bat when we have got 250 runs on the board.
As far as the top three goes i agree with Brandon and think Colly should move up to bat at three and Richardson to come into the side. Also i would like to see Mustard get a chance to bat higher up the order. I know the management have always liked him batting with the tail at no7 and counter attacking but there is not enough runs in the team to do that these days. Bat him at no4 I would move Benks to bat at no6 or no7.
I would leave Stokes at no5 he is the key player in our team in all forms of the game and others have to stand up. You can't expect any player to bat in the top 3 and be your first change pace bowler never mind a twenty one year old.
Another small point about this match our pace attack was clearly out bowled by Warwickshires attack. Not very often that has happened over the past few years.
 
wayne entwhistle no9 said:
Another small point about this match our pace attack was clearly out bowled by Warwickshires attack. Not very often that has happened over the past few years.
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You could argue the point that it's only our batting deficiencies that made their bowlers look better than ours in this match.
 
Harry Lime said:
You could argue the point that it's only our batting deficiencies that made their bowlers look better than ours in this match.
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Possibly but listening to the commentary yesterday Marty and the home commentators kept talking about the wicket had flattened out and other than a spell by Stokes in the middle session the Durham bowlers did not trouble the batsmen. Just a small point as i said and obviously we have much bigger concerns with our batting. Also i think Warwickshire have a fine pace attack well suited for championship cricket.
 
I'd swap Stokes and Benkenstein around, drop Rocky and open with Smith and Jennings. I'd then give Muchall another chance at 3.
 
wayne entwhistle no9 said:
Possibly but listening to the commentary yesterday Marty and the home commentators kept talking about the wicket had flattened out and other than a spell by Stokes in the middle session the Durham bowlers did not trouble the batsmen. Just a small point as i said and obviously we have much bigger concerns with our batting. Also i think Warwickshire have a fine pace attack well suited for championship cricket.
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There was a quote somewhere though which asked who out of their bowling attack you'd change for ours?! That in itself could be an interesting debate :)

For me, I'd perhaps only swap Woakes for Thorp - merely for the younger element and Woakes' batting capabilities.
 
I'd honestly do what marko suggested, get muzza to open a breese replaces him. And try Richardson too
 
brandon said:
There was a quote somewhere though which asked who out of their bowling attack you'd change for ours?! That in itself could be an interesting debate :)

For me, I'd perhaps only swap Woakes for Thorp - merely for the younger element and Woakes' batting capabilities.
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Woakes nailed on. Wright had a fantastic season last year and has carried it on again this year. Although saw him bowl for Essex at Riverside and he looked ordinary in 2010. But to be fair he has out bowled Rushworth twice this season already. Even though Rushy has been magnificent for us in the handfull of matches he has played I would have to give Wright the nod. I think Welch is proving to be an outstanding bowling coach at Warwickshire, a good practical down to earth Durham lad.
 
wayne entwhistle no9 said:
Woakes nailed on. Wright had a fantastic season last year and has carried it on again this year. Although saw him bowl for Essex at Riverside and he looked ordinary in 2010. But to be fair he has out bowled Rushworth twice this season already. Even though Rushy has been magnificent for us in the handfull of matches he has played I would have to give Wright the nod. I think Welch is proving to be an outstanding bowling coach at Warwickshire, a good practical down to earth Durham lad.
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Wright is a lot like Harmy was at his best and seems to be getting better, he had a good chance of bowling his way into the test side if he continues to improve.
It's seems strange you pick Rushworth as the one you'd swap as he's currently top of Durham's averages.

I'd swap Thorpy only because of his age, he's still a tight mean bowler but he's lost a yard of pace now and not troubling the batsmen like he used to.
 
I'd even consider Richardson consideration to open and maybe even let Muchall have a run out at 4 and drop Benks further down the order.

Couldn't stand losing to those lot so let's throw everything at them.
 
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Harry Lime said:
Wright is a lot like Harmy was at his best and seems to be getting better, he had a good chance of bowling his way into the test side if he continues to improve.
It's seems strange you pick Rushworth as the one you'd swap as he's currently top of Durham's averages.

I'd swap Thorpy only because of his age, he's still a tight mean bowler but he's lost a yard of pace now and not troubling the batsmen like he used to.
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It is a bit tough on Rushy who is showing what a fine opening bowler he is. But Onions would still have to be the main strike bowler from either side as he has been doing it longer and is still a top performer now. I would give Wright the nod over Rushworth and Barker at the moment. Woakes does what Thorp does but is a good yard quicker than Thorp these days and a more consistent wicket taking threat. Stokes would always be in any county side i picked and would get in ahead of clark.
It is an interesting debate Iam sure that there are plenty of Middlesex supporters who think their attack is even better than ours or Warwickshire.
I think it shows what an excellent standard div 1 of the county championship is.
 
Actually I think it's a bit unfair we're talking about swapping our bowlers when it's our batsmen that are letting the side down. I Just hope we're not going to have to go through the season relying on the bowlers for both wickets AND runs.
 
No blame whatsoever can be put on the bowling unit. I just raised the debate because someone on the wireless (I think), had asked the question. I think it went somewhere along the lines of their seamers have out bowled ours so who would you swap.

IMO it was more that our batsmen failed miserably.
 
brandon said:
No blame whatsoever can be put on the bowling unit. I just raised the debate because someone on the wireless (I think), had asked the question. I think it went somewhere along the lines of their seamers have out bowled ours so who would you swap.

IMO it was more that our batsmen failed miserably.
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Agreed. As people have said there are just 2 questions to be asked and answered:

1. what is to be done with the top 3, and
2. would you change the batting order from 4 to 11.

This is the second season running now that this issue has festered. It needs putting to bed before it does any real damage.
 
Seconds start a 3 day game at Essex tomorrow so it will be interesting to see if Muchall/Richardson are playing in that..
 
The Colonel said:
Agreed. As people have said there are just 2 questions to be asked and answered:

1. what is to be done with the top 3, and
2. would you change the batting order from 4 to 11.

This is the second season running now that this issue has festered. It needs putting to bed before it does any real damage.
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At the moment I wouldn't change anything, except our luck if it were possible. Two games in is far too early to start making changes when there's no obvious candidates to come in, and I count Richardson in that category, yes he's a good cricketer and yes he's capable of scoring runs but not in the top 3 just yet.

The number 3 spot "broke" Muchall last season and now after only two games looks like "breaking" Smith already, the last thing the club needs right now is to knock the stuffing out of another young talented cricketer before he's got a chance to establish himself in the side. I've watched Richardson enough over the last couple of seasons to know he's a really good cricketer and don't deny he deserves a chance, but I've also seen enough of Muchall and Smith to know that they are also good cricketers but at the moment being given the No 3 berth is like the kiss of death, and it would be a shame to "break" another talented player so soon.

If and when the inevitable happens and one, or two of the top 3 gets dropped, they will find it harder to get back into the side baring any injuries. Richardson stands a far better chance of getting in and keeping his place once the wickets flatten out and batting becomes easier, a bit hard on the current top 3 buts that's cricket.

Personally I'm quite happy to wait till after the Notts game to see where we are and then make changes if nessacary, I honestly can't see how swapping things about this early would benefit the team as a whole, it would be different if we had a Rudolph carrying the drinks, but we haven't so we've just got accept what we've got for now.
 
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