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England watch week 3 – Days 1 & 2.
With only four matches in the championship this week, I’ll review them all. My roundup begins at Southampton. Hampshire won the toss and elected to bat against Somerset. They made their way to 112/4 at lunch with Tony Albert making 42. Once he was dismissed, Jake Lehmann played a lone hand with 76 to get…
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Another Aussie invasion.
The county championship has begun once again, and is awash with Australian overseas players. Fifteen will play for English counties this summer, while it has been 9 years now since Mason Crane played his one match for New South Wales. This shows me that the English game has become reliant on the overseas player, and…
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The ECB and the current pitch debate.
Now the ECB have brought in the new rule in the county championship that will see the home side docked ALL their points if the pitch is deemed unfit, how will this change pitch preparation?In my view, not much having seen the utter run-fest at the Oval, where you could have played for a week…
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Cricket and its paywall issues.
Having seen the news that Lancashire are putting its YouTube coverage of county championship matches behind a paywall, this saddens me greatly.Firstly, I cannot see why Lancashire need to do this; it seems like a business decision more than anything. “Instead of making something free on an accessible platform such as YouTube, lets charge for…
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England watch week 2 – days 3 & 4.
Essex vs Somerset. Somerset beat Essex by 10 wickets inside three days at Chelmsford. Essex began day 3 on 131/3, but they collapsed to 245 all out. Matt Critchley moved his score to 59 before he edged Overton to Archie Vaughn at slip. Overton finished with figures of 2/46 from 19 overs. Somerset were set…
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Substitutes, a gamble on team selection?
Are teams just taking a chance on players and then reviewing player fitness in real time?For genuine injuries, I have no issues. Is this situation open for manipulation? Definitely yes. You can pick a player who might not be fully fit, and if he goes down injured, you lose nothing because you can replace him…
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England Watch Week 2 – Days 1 & 2.
My roundup for England hopefuls begins this week at Chelmsford with the game between Essex and Somerset. Essex were bowled out for 149 in their first innings. Matt Critchley’s fortunes quickly changed when he was caught behind by James Rew off the bowling of Tom Lammonby for a third-ball duck. Craig Overton returned figures of…
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England Watch: county championship days 3 & 4.
After Warwickshire were dismissed for 544, it was back over to the Surrey batters to secure a draw in this match. Dom Sibley made 27 before he was out LBW. He again made a start but couldn’t push on; it was a quiet game to start his season. A fantastic innings from England wicket-keeper Jamie…
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England Watch: county championship days 1 & 2.
I believe the Surrey vs Warwickshire game is as good a place to start as any, with Surrey’s international pedigree top order struggling against a very useful Warwickshire seam attack. Rory Burns’ early run-out brought England wicket-keeper Jamie Smith to the crease for an early outing. He didn’t last long; lessons have not been learnt…
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The King returns.
A 43 year old Sir James Anderson showed the county game that he isn’t done yet. Figures of 13-1-64-5 shows me that the King is back. He began by having Northants number 3 Calvin Harrison caught by wicket keeper Matty Hurst, he then removed Vasconcelos’ off-stump with a beautiful inswinger delivered from around the wicket.Saif…
