So here we are 2014
By Grockle
September 12 2014
And where is that exactly? Near the end of the summer of 14 and looking towards the winter and the season of 15. What does that mean and where might we be going? Just a few thoughts.
It started so promisingly. A new and now established Director of Cricket Dave Nosworthy was in place. The captaincy had been settled with Marcus holding the reins and his successor identified in James Hildreth. We were looking forward to things......
After being thrown into the fire in 2012 through an injury hit season to rival many in the county's history, the young guns of the club had worked hard and were now more like seasoned vetrans. Despite the awful form of the 2013 season we had finished with the likes of Craig Meschede and Lewis Gregory showing great promise and looking like winners.
Dave had introduced a new coaching setup with a battiing coach of credibility in David Houghton and had freed Jason Kerr from his second team duties to develop the bowling. The Overton twins looked good and Jamie had been identified by the England camp as a paceman with promise. His brother was fresh and back from injury, raring to go. Although we had lost Jos Buttler, we had backup keepers in Alex Barrow and James Reagan while our best man Craig Kieswetter was in the process of signning a longish contract. The international player was known and established as Alviro Petersen had agreed to return for another season while Dirk Nannes was confirmed as our T20 addition and hopefully someone who could help Jove become even more of a force.
The club was profitable, the fixture list had changed, the plans for the new pavilion were in place, a scoreboard that worked (eventually) was up and all seemed a little more right with the Somerset world.
There were worries. Had the Trescothick 'train' been derailed for good? Had THE batsman of a Somerset decade or two gone the way of Justin Langer and astoundingly been brought low by age? Was the front line of Thomas, Trego and Kirby too old? Was the possible replacement line of Jove, Cove, Gregory, Meschede and Dibble too young to step into the trenches.
Were the spinners good enough? Was George back to his best after a spinning finger injury and some lacklustre return performances? Was Jack Leach as good as his first games suggested or just the OK performer of his later appearances? What was Max Waller? Were we any closer to working out how useful he was to the county?
We'd 'bolstered' our batting with the unknown Johann Myburgh (even unknown to the supporters of his last English county Durham) classified as a 'journeyman' but with a decent non English pedigree. We'd done little else except agreed to Chris Jones' request to have a year to make a decision about first class cricket versus working in the world of Economics and Business. We hoped Alex would develop should the need arise and we looked to the 'formidable' batting lineup of Banger, Compo, Hilda, Alviro, CK and Trigger to be the backbone of a successful side they had singularly failed to be as a unit a year earlier.
And it started well in a dry Championship April. Banger was back in form. Alviro looked keen to use the English domestic season to persuade his South African selectors that he was coming back to form. Nick looked solid and Johann top scored in his first game. Lewis looked very good with both the bat and ball. Our Irish spinner looked efficient if a little lacking in penetration but the old pace boys looked good despite an early 'niggle' to Tango and Adam Dibble. We were unbeaten moving into the T20 phase of the summer and hopes of a good showing in everything was a realistic expectation.
Alfonso came into the short form stuff with a superb 4 in 4 bowling performance and we had the County ground bursting at the seams but our tactics were static and there seemed to be no alternative strategy when we seemed unable to win at home despite the heroics of Dirk and Alf with the ball. We gave the opposition reasons to worry in that part of the game but could not amass enough runs in 120 balls to really push them to defeat. Before the end, the skipper had officially removed himself from the shortest format batting entirely only to be dragged back in when Craig K was smashed in the face and effectively left for the season. Max Waller looked useful in these games, so unpredictable in four overs with his variations. Maybe he would be used in the one day 50 over games later on and could move himself away from that T20 'specialist' label. Despite looking off the pace, we almost qualified for the knock out stage but just couldn't raise our game to be anything more than mildly competitive in what had been arguably our strongest version of the game for many seasons.
Meanwhile the shine was coming off elsewhere as we lost an away CC1 game at Trent Bridge in the first day. 25% of the way into a game, we had produced a first innings of less than 200 and then failed to keep the opposition beneath our total by the end of play on Day 1 for the loss of less than a handful of wickets. This was when Craig Overton became the great young hope of our bowling and overtook his brother Jamie who self destructed at Nottingham and became basically unuseable in the first team to this day. The pace was there, the radar had gone AWOL and the confidence had gone with it. We survived until the start of Day 4 due to the heroics of Cove and a fighting batting performance from Trego. But we were fighting to keep a grip rather than re-asserting our equality with the other front runners.
Yorkshire were looking very good and we found our fingers slipping from the imaginary handles of the CC1 Trophy. Jones was soon to be discarded as a possible replacement for Arul and eyes fell on the unlikely Myburgh who had shown himself as much more valuable than initial press had suggested he would be. He took over the opening role and Alex took over the keeping one. The middle order form had not built into anything. James Hildreth was not stopping any early batting rot with any confidence and Nick was as stubborn but not as immoveable. Craig Mechede developed an injury which decreased his effectiveness for the rest of the season. Dibble never threatened to play for the firsts for another season and will probably be finally sent on his way at the end of 2014. Craig Overton bowled his heart out and was probably over used as Steve Kirby lost his battle with a long term 'niggle' and officially called it a day. Our bowling, which had been assessed as under--resourced at the start was struggling to keep us in things. At the same time, George was not improving his wicket haul and questions were being asked about why Jack wasn't playing. Mr Nosworthy had no credible answers for the fans.
And so into the one day tournament. 50 overs, a revisited variation, hope with some that Max Waller would develop further, the loss of Alviro to Test duty and the arrival of Colin Ingram to cover his absence. This now seemed to be our way to glory this year. But it started off badly for some. Max developed a side strain and was effectively out for the group phase of the competition. George took a lot of 'tap' and we looked worried but Jack took the opportunity with both hands and was probably our best local success of the tournament. Our front end was slow, turgid and ineffective once the skippper had gone usuallly. Our bowling was helpful to the opposition and the Duckworth Lewis system was as 'anti Somerset' as it possibly could ever have been. When we scored heavily, we couldn't defend it, even though Hildreth and Gregory turned in a historic partnership to give us one game. When the opposition scored heavily we had the game taken from us by rain and that damned mathematical system they use. But our strategy was once again behind the times, our front end played like it was a four day game for far too long and our later stroke-makers were too often hot headed rather than using the time to play the game in a sensible and accelerating way. Ingram was a gloriously no nonsense breath of fresh batting air and we missed him when Alviro returned, though he had no more of a say in matters as a knee injury kept him away from games and eventually sent him home early. We gave Colin insufficient support and that left us short of points and as with the T20 we were out of the running for the knock outs and ended our part at the group stage.
Then our 'established' Director of Cricket found himself not only increasingly without solutions to the problems in front of him but also explaining why he had applied to take over Sri Lanka with half of his Somerset contract still before him. In all the bluster he possibly lost the last vestiges of faith in his ablity from Taunton and soon after the announcement that Chris would not be continuing as a professional cricketer, we found that Dave would not be returning as DoC after the final game of the season.
So here we are. No short term quarters or semis let alone trophy chances. We have lost one of our older pace bowlers (though we hope to keep him as a coach), our first team keeper 'may' return for the last two CC1 games, our international batsman is already at home and probably won't be returning in the medium term if at all. At least one of our young players, James Burke, will be walking the halls of Surrey next season and another, I will predict, will be released. Our Irish spinnner is working on a shoulder injury and that may let Jack into the four day games that he deserves a chance in. Alex will lose the gloves but should keep his place as he has finally found some batting form and needs to be given his head to build that confidence. Johann has a new two year contract that his work this year deserves. Craig Meschede has out of season treatment to look forward to. Jamie Overton has returned to some second eleven form and may get a chance to bowl in the first team before the end. Marcus has had a decent season but his captaincy has come under scrutiny again because of the seeming inflexibility it exhibits. James has not produced the usual CC innings that saves his average although he did show his capabilities in the short version on one occasion. Nevertheless his position is much less certain than it has been in the past and many believe he should step down until he can provide the consistency he has always fought to master. Future captain? Another matter for debate. Nick has not been as certain but he has been there. Pete is in his element because he has a fight on his hands and does well in that situation. Craig Overton is tired and ought to be given rest if it is possible. Max didn't get his chance and so is still Max. Alf is not the great man as often as he used to be but he still holds the line and the introduction of Tim Greonewald from Derbysire on a three year deal may help (or may be too long a gamble). Tim should get his chance to work at Taunton and in a four day outfit before the end of September. Last but by no means least for many supporters Tom Abell has finally got his chance to move up to the firsts. His 90ish on debut got some saliva glands working in anticipation and at least one batting place is certain for next season with a new name.
No 'bang' we hoped for at the end of 2014, no silverware, two pretty unimportant games to go (we need points but we'd be unlucky to be relegated). Yorkshire are already Champions while Somerset will 'whimper' into the winter without a coach and with significant gaps in our 'certain' first team leadership and squad. The youngsters have not added to the solid older base,more because the older base wasn't solid though there are worries about some of the younger prospects that we would have hoped had been clarified. We are left, once again, with as many questions to ask as we have had answered.
If you put the good stuff against the bad it is a disappointing season assessment while being an improvement on what went before. A contradiction in terms? Welcome to supporting Somerset ladies and gentlemen.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014:09:27:07:14:20 by Grockle.
Our 2014 season has been somewhat underwhelming to put it mildly.
Grizzzly
CM,JM,TB,and JL have signed new contacts.
CK has signed until end of 2017,and NC until end of 2016,and I think both Overtons signed extensions last year.
Does anyone know who's contracts are nearing the end.
Tres,Tregs,Hildy,Thomas,Max
At least some of the things we had issues with will not follow us into 2015... just a few more issues to take their places.
LoL
Seventy-eight Seasons a Somerset Supporter
LoL
Seventy-eight Seasons a Somerset Supporter
Have to agree with this.
I sometimes read from some posters on here, after a poor performance, that we 'have to be patient because we have a young side and there is bound to be some inconsistency.'
All very well, but it's scarcely the case that the older players are a bastion of consistency...
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014:09:12:19:33:21 by AGod.
The average gets knocked down a little by the very young nature of the other guys. The first 'young' player comes in at 6 presently and then we have 3 in the side before the age goes up again at 10 and 11 (we'll ignore Pete for now).
We can't wait for experience to bring consistency though it is good to see Alex starting to put it together and Lewis has probably been our best allround player of the season.
It has to come early and it has to be maintained
Whoever gets the job, I hope they'll have the chance to work with the team over the winter & that we won't have any repeat of Mr Nosworthy's visa delay problems.
Grizzzly
In my view the likes of JH, PT and AT are too comfortable with automatic selection and sadly there are no obvious replacements anyway. As for the captaincy what can you say - even worse that the apparent captain elect should not be in the team at all on performance.
As always and for the 67th year I shall support them all next season but as at now I see no real cause for optimism. Something is very wrong somewhere when a county like Yorkshire can win the title twice in the last 14 years and Somerset cannot win it ever.
Someone / something is to blame whatever the optimists want to believe !
But there is optimism because not everyone in the side has under-performed and if the pessimists are also realists then they have to accept that as well.
The 'glass' is not empty or full so there is room for both views. I suppose the argument is which way is the 'liquid' going. Towards the bottom or towards the top or swaying one way and then the other.
With only sporadic exceptions, it has all been so very very average.
We need someone to light a fire under us & get the passion going again.
Surely we can be better than mid table mediocrity ?
Grizzzly
Grizzzly
Not spectacular but not failures by any stretch. Alex has to fight now to keep his place as a batsman without the gloves which is what he actually hopes to be.
Seems likely we will only lose two - best of anyone except the Champions who lost just one.
Makes me realise that our Mister Rose was spot on - we are pretty good but just getting over the line to turn numerous draws into at least a few wins seems to be beyond us with our current players.
Is it Taunton not being a result friendly pitch, is it too many fairly average players with no real presence at the top of the averages, is it poor captaincy, is it poor direction from above, is it a lack of risk taking ( for example playing TA a lot earlier in the season ), is it an unwise loyalty to players past their sell by date.
Could be an interesting thread if you all articulate your thoughts !
The averages indicate that the bowlers have taken good hauls of wickets, but we have often failed to bowl teams out (esp late in the season), while the batsmen have scored decent runs but not often enough or collectively enough to allow the bowlers to force wins. The pitch is a bit flat, even with loads of grass on it, and doesn't really turn late in the games.
We have some very promising youngsters - I hope these will turn out to be, mostly at least, a little bit better than the generation they will be replacing. I'm optimistic for the future, as I've been for about 40 years
I know it is usually like that on there but I thought I ought to mention that 9 of the game's side yesterday were not South African though I did let him have Nick and Craig as he was probably including them in the horde heading to Taunton AND 70+% of the side were born raised and/or trained in our Academy system as were most of the people who would have replaced them should the need arise.
Although, as a supporter of county cricket, I am glad that Yorks have a largely homegrown side - good for them.
The underlying question is how much influence people think a good DoC can have?
Were we very consistent and nearly winning things under Brian Rose because he was one of the very best in the country, or was it more to do with having a stronger team, then, than we do now?
Have we been fairly ordinary for two years under Nosworthy because he's a virtual dead loss, or has the deterioration in performance levels post-Rose more a function of the team not being quite as good?
My overall feeling at the moment is that we are moving in the right direction, overall, on the bowling front - especially with LG, Craig O and Jack, but, with the obvious exception of Tom Abell (who will be unavailable at the start of next season), there seems to be little coming through on the batting front ... I think this is unfortunate because we need to have people in the squad that can really push the likes of Hildreth and Kieswetter into becoming more consistent players.
Will our new DoC be able to get more consistency out of guys like Hildreth and Kieswetter? Admittedly, in the latter case greater consistency might arise as a function of more consistent availability (with him having missed quite a few games in each of the last two seasons).
I really do think that the limited-overs captaincy should pass to A N Other as I don't want Trescothick to just go on and on and on with the captaincy in all cricket, such that we then have to hand over when he finally goes to a man with very little experience (or be forced to import a new signing to do it at considerable expense to the club).
I'd be tempted to split it into three, giving Hildreth the 50 over job for next season and, perhaps, Kieswetter the T20 job. That would give two possible future Captains the opportunity to gain more experience - plus, I'm far from convinced that Tresco should be in the 50 over side next season and definitely do not think he should be in the T20 side next season.
These people are professionals who have chosen this life and this life is to entertain and win things for the people who pay the wages and come to watch. As well as to prove to their colleagues that they are as skilful as they suggest they are.
I don't care why they did not come up to DN's expectations. I want an answer as to why they did not come up to mine and he is not the reason though he may very well be the scapegoat/excuse wheeled out once he is far enough away.
We have first rate players with excellent individual talents whose only consistency is that they underperform far more often than they pull out the stops as a unit.
Get it sorted. Use whatever method you need to get this right. I've been frustrated by this for over a decade and if the people on the field haven't had the same feeling then they aren't the people to play at my stadium and wear colours of my chosen county.
Individual responsibility and collective desire that is what I read as lacking. It shouldn't need a coach to create that. The captain/coach/director should be working at focussing it but it has to be there first!!
After all, the ultimate measure of a player's worth is the runs, catches and wickets that they put in the book.
Community award - Jack Leach
One day player of the year - Pete Trego
Supporters player of the year - Lewis Gregory
Player of the year - Alfonso Thomas
George Dockrell
Steve Kirby
Chris Jones