Rehman starts the Third Decade
By Grockle et al
November 7 2014
The announcement of Abdur Rehman as the international player for the start of the 2015 season prompts a little bit of a return to Grockles of the past as we look forward to the 21st year of this site and the promise that may bring. Conversations of the past couple of weeks have returned me to the heady days of 1994 to look at what was different and what remains the same.
'The Grockles Obsession' has its roots in the 1994 season. The first match I can remember commenting on was a one day match between Somerset and Warwickshire on a cold day in late spring but I have been prompted to go back and have a look at other things about that period as we move into our third decade as a website based around this strange club of ours.
Our first official game of that season was a Benson and Hedges Preliminary match v Surrey at the Oval on 26 April - a 55 over game (the more things change, the more they stay the same).
The side that day was;
Lathwell, Hayhurst, Harden, Folland, Rose, Ahmed, Clarke, Turner, Van Troost, Mallender, Caddick
Two things immediately hit me. I don't remember Andy Hayhurst being an opener (the captain at the time) and secondly, we worry about a long tail now!! Despite the fact that Rob Turner was at 8, any batting line-up with Mushy at 6 was 'gasping' a bit.
The moans and groans we would have now if our present spinner was coming in at number 6!!
I have no recollection whatsoever of Vince Clarke playing for us that season. Rooster was on the rosta so he and Andy C must have had fun with openers at times during the season and the 'Ghost' was still doing his thing.
Overall? Bowling probably went from the sublime to the ridiculous at times and the batting was a little sparse and reliant on the resiliance of the front end. Not too different then. I think the captain had yet to find himself in the position that caused such problems later though I think this was his first season in charge and we had a strong international bowler who was a joy to watch whenever he played and the most attacking spinner I personally have ever seen.
We were beaten in this game when the strength of Surrey of the early '90s with the Bicknells and Stewart (167), Thorpe, Brown, Hollioake, Butcher plus Joey Benjamin seeing off the 120 from Mark Lathwell. The margin was a mere 35 runs however.
Two days later the first CC match of the season was a local derby with the Bristolians at their place and the same side. The Caddick/Ahmed show counted for 8 of the Glos wickets (4 each) as we bowled them out for 203. However we could only muster 229 in reply with 79 from Nick Folland a loss to cricket and a gain to teaching a little later in the '90s. One who decided early that cricket wasn't for him....Mark Lathwell took a longer and more painful trip to that conclusion.
They got away a little in their second with that bloody Russell bloke making 60 odd and we then crumpled (and that hasn't changed) to 175 all out 'chasing' the win. Courtney did us with 6 for 72 and this was Vince Clarke's First class debut. Neil Mallender took his 600th CC wicket when he got Hinks in this game. Gloucestershire won by 83 runs. We never did well at the start of a season it seems.
No T20's in those days of course though I wouldn't have held out all that much hope for this side to be honest had there been. The next game also shows parallels to the 21st Grockles season as we hosted the Kiwis on the 7th of May. A certain Harvey Trump was included in this one plus a man I know very little about to open with Lathwell, a Mr Iain Fletcher who played 14 matches for the county during the years 1991 to 1994. He seemed to either score 50 plus (5 of them) or not a lot but with a high score of 65 not out and only 460 runs to his total I am not particularly surprised that he has fallen to the side of memory road in my case. He scored 51 in this one and despite that being added to a Turner ton and NZ following on, we drew the game and went into the next CC game without a win.....anyone heard of this occurance before.
So 12 May. Leicestershire. Four day CC game with a one day game in it on the fourth day. Harvey and Iain keep their places. The home side have the '90s version of Luke Wright - Alan Mullally - who does nothing with the ball (0 for 85) and bats number 11 scoring 9. How did this man keep one of the best allrounders we have produced since the war out of so many England squads? The parallels between the lack of international recognition of Graham Rose and Peter Trego while poorer players have significant apearances are pretty clear. Despite one of many five fers for ARC in the first innings and 86 and 91 from Lathwell and Folland in the secoond innings, the Foxes take a 5 wicket win and we continue to struggle travelling back with minimal CC points. The forum board would be red hot by now if this was a start for the present Somerset side.
The 40 over AXA game on the Sunday was little better for Somerset fans. Clarke returned to the side along with Andrew Payne - another man who didn't seem to get past the 94 season and whose Somerset stats in his two season time at the club are not all that impressive. A right arm medium pace 21 year old with an England U19 rep and little else it seems. There is nothing past this year and a one day average of 14 in 16 matches may be the reason why, though he did make a Championship 50 in his limited time in that format. We lose this game by 8 wickets and no-one does anything with the bat or the ball but Phil Simmons for the home side.
So 55 over AND 40 over competitions... them was the days!!
Warwickshire next with that man Brian Lara as their international player in the year I think he hit his world record run off ARC in the West Indies. I remember the fourth day of this game as it was my son's birthday. There was no play on the third day and a lot of rain on Day 4 and at about 3ish in the afternoon with all the covers on I left the CA pavilion to join my family at the Tropiquaria outside Williton to see the end of his 4th birthday party. We had declared our second innings at 22 after Warks had declared their first at 57 leaving the Bears needing 320 to win. No chance at 3pm in my view. However, on my way to the party, the weather started to clear and Lara finally got on the pitch and hit the fastest century of the season in about 60 minutes finally being dismissed for 136 and leaving a game that Asif Din (who passed 8000 runs in this game) and Trevor Penney (remember the fantastic fielder that was him) finished off beating us by 6 wickets.
The only good thing about those 5 days was seeing a Somerset Bowler called Paul Bird bowl Brian Lara for 11 in the one day match which was rain affected and became a 20/20. It is interesting to note that in this one 106 in 19.2 overs beat 105 in 20..... anyone bet on that being a winning score in a T20 match some 20 years later? It was Bird's first List A match, he wasn't to play many before a shoulder injury closed his career. It was also the List A debut of one Piran Holloway who would have a season to remember a few years later before leaving Somerset to move to Australia.
The next game of the season was at Southport against Lancashire and we see the first mention in this season of ME Trescothick batting at number 4 in a CC side, making 0 and 7 in an innings plus defeat. It wasn't his debut it seems so he must have featured in 1993 and I'm sure someone will tell us when.
Ahhh memories...maybe I'll return to this season later in the winter.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014:11:15:18:48:09 by Grockle.
They must be starting to think that their cricketing future lies elsewhere, for it is unlikely that Somerset will play two SLA's at any one time in the CC, let alone three.
Looking back to our performances last season, I would not have placed a slow left - arm bowler at the top of my shopping list, but what do I know?
Max however must accept that he's never going to get a FC game while still at Somerset.
Good to see that MM is going to do things differently.
What is different about announcing the international player early and him being someone we have had before?
DN did the same last year didn't he?
Which man is likely to know more about the practice of SLA bowling - Jason Kerr or Abdur Rehman?
In my view, both Leach and Dockrell should consider this excellent news and an excellent opportunity.
And not only because Rehman may help them develop but because the presence of a quality spinner surely makes it much more likely that SCCC will try to prepare spinner-friendly tracks at Taunton (which would mean that we might well play two spinners).
The perception (as far as first-class cricket is concerned) in terms of the season that Leach had vs the season that Dockrell had is interesting .. if I recall correctly, then they were separated by 0.01 in the CC bowling averages for last season, in terms of how many runs each man's wickets cost.
No doubt, Jack gained the upper hand in short form cricket, though.
Personally, I wouldn't be shocked if Mr Petersen were to return to the club as a Kolpak as SA might well move on from him, IMO.
George hasn't made the progress we'd like, Max has never been even our second choice spinner for CC games (but can make a good career in T20 and possibly one-day cricket if he keeps going at it), while Jack is young enough to learn from AR, progress, play occasionally as a second spinner and take over in 3/4 yrs time. In fact, all three are young enough to learn and progress - if they want to.
Looking forward to next season even more now.
PS Rehman COULD score more runs next year than AP did in 2013, Vic...Vic? Is Vic there?
No, Grockle, but since we're talking about a bowling average as opposed to volume of wickets taken, I think a comparison is still pertinent. Just checked the figures again, and it really was a difference (in Jack's favour) of 0.01.
Now had Jack bowled in more games then it's conceivable that his average would have improved, but equally it's conceivable that it would have got worse, or remained largely unaltered.
Whilst Rehman *could* score more runs that Petersen, I consider it no more likely than, say, Alf Thomas doing so.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014:11:07:17:00:36 by AGod.
Quote:AGod
Well, Grockle, IF it actually works out that way...
If it worked out what way?
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014:11:07:17:06:31 by AGod.
Jack did look far more dangerous in all the games I saw him in than George. GD had a number of issues that seemed to dog his season and as preferred at least once on a basis other than effectiveness
Outside of the almost identical averages, other comparisons were that Jack was significantly more economical but that George had a better strike-rate by a fair margin.
If you want an indicator, I could not get an international press pass for the recent tour in UAE because none of the players I would have been looking at were expected to play in any international formats in the winter or that at least was the message I got from Shakeel Khan the PCB Media man.
It's a decent bet on Abdur for the whole of 2015 IMO
However, the word "fickle," and the title "Pakistani selectors," are not fellows that have never previously shared a bed.
Plus, there's always (obviously) a risk of injury to other slow bowlers.
We should all hope that Mr Ajmal is able to make a fully effective comeback for Pakistan as that should help to cement Mr Rehman's exclusion....
My point was that the numbers don't really match the perception that Jack had a good season and George a poor one.
Maybe we should also factor in that Abdur may be hit by a bus or bitten by a really nasty blowfly or may eat a particularly rotten samosa at a street market before he flies in... or a particularly bad Nandos once he is here.
Honestly. There is pessimism based on possibility and then there is pessimism for its own sake. What other reasons can you come up with as to why this man will not play a full season for us I wonder. Just because nothing is certain does not mean we have to only look at things going horribly wrong on the day his signing is announced.
Yes you "did" or I'd be repeating what you said and I "didn't".
I suggested that the NUMBER of matches played might be significant and you replied with stats except the number of Championship games the two had played which is different to an obvious degree.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2014:11:07:17:40:33 by Grockle.
Long George 9 Jack 3
Short George 7 Jack 7
Sorry I am assuming that the non CC1 games are all short format. Can't be bothered to check to be honest
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014:11:07:17:38:43 by Grockle.
Quality pacemen or quality spinners win matches.
Very few quality pacemen available and very few quality spinners full stop.
We have hopefully got ourselves one of the few match winning spinners in the world, and if to be believed availably for the whole season.
We was superb for us before and seems to still be in good form.
Impact wise he can do what Kartik did year one and Mushy back in the day.
Brilliant news, roll on April.....
His enthusiasm a couple of years ago, reminded me of Mushy in his prime.
As long as he can restrain his extra curricular activities, I think he'll do very well & I hope he'll also act as an inspiring figure for our younger players.
Grizzzly
More seriously folks - a great signing for all the positive reasons above. Brought a ray of sunshine to a very damp weekend :-)
Interesting also that he doesn`t automatically bowl the most overs for his Habib Bank side, for others in their line-up include Umar Gul and a certain Shahid Afridi.
Rehman has 99 Test wickets to date, but the Pakistan selectors don`t seem to me to be the sentimenal sort to say `Oh lets give him one more Test to reach 100`.
Reading on the Yorkshire site they seem to think we have four already.
Good from our point of view that the young guys did well against Oz. Ajmal getting legalised would also help.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2014:11:09:07:39:22 by AGod.
Either way, Rehman is an upgrade on both of them and for that we should be happy.
LoL
Seventy-eight Seasons a Somerset Supporter
I assume GM meant to be bold rather than to be old, for I know he's a very sprightly young thing.
LoL
Seventy-eight Seasons a Somerset Supporter
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2014:11:10:08:41:53 by Loyal of Lhasa.