Can we get through a four day game at Old Trafford without rain? Do we want to without Mr Caddick? Well John Francis wants to as he keeps his place and gets the chance to make a claim for a long format spots well after the good start on Sunday against his old club.
v Lancashire (CC1) @ Old Trafford Wednesday 23 April 2008
Back to the top for the boys from the West. Lancashire in early April though is a bit of a gamble for a four day start and the weather report is not exactly perfect! Hurry has announced a 12 man squad which will be decided on the basis of 'spin or no spin'.
The squad is: Marcus Trescothick, John Francis, Justin Langer, James Hildreth, Ian Blackwell - they will all play. Neil Edwards is dealing with a family illness and we wish the whole Edwards family the best.
Joining this top 5 will be; Craig Kieswetter, Charl Willoughby, Ben Phillips
and then.... Will Michael Munday play? That will determine the rest of the team. The weather forecast suggests he may not in which case Jones, Trego and Turner will complete the line-up. BUT if he does then who will sit out? Jonah was tight and aggressive on Sunday and without the wickets, produced the best set of figures. Pete Trego did not get the opportunity to bat and took a decent amount of 'tap' when he bowled. Mark Turner has looked really pacey when he played in the friendlies but is he ready this early in the season to take the new ball or will Steffan take it again?
If the weather "up North" is anything like today then Mike may get his chance. Irrespective of whether Munday is in or not I'd personally feel happier if Trigger was left out. Phillips is said to be no mean bat and Trego may not be quite ready yet.
I hope Munday plays. Jonah has earned his right to be there and I want to see if Turner can hack it - he offers a bigger threat with the ball than Trego at the moment and worth the gamble. I don't think I'll get my way but I'm happy with that if it happens.
Lancashire have named Paul Horton, Iain Sutcliffe, Mal Loye, Brad Hodge, Stuart Law (Cpt), Andrew Flintoff, Luke Sutton (Wkt), Glen Chapple, Sajid Mahmood, James Anderson, Gary Keedy and Simon Marshall
They've also included a spinner in leggy Marshall and Anderson comes in for his first outing. No Cork who has a side strain.
It's a hell of a side. Big batting, bowling that promises (but doesn't always deliver) and Luke Sutton, who I last saw play at Taunton a fair few years ago as Somerset captain in a seconds match when he was giving our second team coach Jason Kerr some choice words!!
If we come away with the pointe here then we have definitely made our intent clear. A good first test and we should be happy it has come early. Caddick would be a bonus but he will have to wait and that puts pressure on the other guys to show that reports of the weakness of our seam attack without the main man have been serious examples of mis-information. Should be fun and I'll try and keep up with it here.
The standard Old Trafford Test pitch tends to have pace and bounce (would have been ideal for Caddy) and to offer turn. It doesn't tend to do vast amounts off the seam, or through the air.
Can we expect something similar tomorrow?
If so, my primary thought is that MKM must play as our best chance of taking 20 wickets under such conditions. What do others think?
If we think it's going to be bouncy, then I'd suggest that Phillips would possibly be a better call than Jonah?
Is there any chance - if conditions are expected to be a la Old Trafford Test - that Mark Turner might be considered?
Just thought I'd make one point on De Bruyn as well. He has been reccommended by Jimmy Cook (according to Mr Rose.) It was also Cook that reccommended Neil McKenzie and that proved to be a pretty good call.
I think it's a worry. You can understand a little more the motivation behind the hiring of Thomas when you look at our bowling attach shorn of Caddy - just doesn't look Championship winning. Not to belittle the talents of Jones, Phillips, Turner et al, but the man is very difficult to replace.
But let's look to the positives - what an opportunity for someone to stake a claim for a run in the side.
Is Francis not in better early season form than Edwards? That's not to say necessarily that he will get picked, but last season's runs will only last you so long in this competitive squad.
The other place has named the 12.
Somerset (from) M.Trescothick, J.Francis, J.Langer (capt), J.Hildreth, I.Blackwell, P.Trego, C.Kieswetter (wkt). B.Phillips, M.Munday, C.Willoughby, M.Turner, S.Jones.
Francis does get a chance, AG, but for reasons other than those he would probably wish for. Neil Edwards has a seriously ill relative.
Thinking positive thoughts for you and yours, Neil.
Says Ben will and Munday is likely to play, so it's Turner vs. Steff for the final spot, depending on the pace expected from the pitch on final inspection.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008:04:22:19:15:09 by Frome Exile.
It wasn't me that asked about JF, but that is bad news about NE. I wonder whether this situation is not terribly new and whether NE might actually have been given first crack at the one-day side as well, if not for this?
The squad seems reasonable enough given that AC is indisposed and the Safers are not yet available.
I wonder about Banks, though. He doesn't really seem to be in contention so far, which is a bit of a surprise. Perhaps the feeling is that he is very much unsuited to the cold and the damp of an early English summer and we will see him later on?
Whilst happy for JF that he is going to get a chance to show his mettle, I'm also a little dissappointed that there is no chance for Wes to stake a claim in the middle order, prior to De Bruyn's arrival (JL could always have replaced NE?)
In spite of the fact that the weather will be tough for him, it's very good to see faith being shown in MKM so early in the piece.
Grockle's take on things is somewhat different from my reading of Rose's and Hurry's words on the club site.
Munday is "likely to play", with the only doubt being the pitch rather than the forecast. The suggestion is that the major question is between Steff and Mark, again dependent on a reading of the pitch this morning.
well, a bit dissappointing not to see MM but entirely understandable, given the inclement weather.
I also wonder whether the absence of AC might have Mr Rose thinking that a draw would not be a bad result and that Munday's absence will strengthen the batting?
FE - doh! i'll claim the first serious (Championship) complaint then?
AG - I reckon that MM lost out to Turner, so I'm not sure that that makes much difference to the batting. Unlike some, I reckon that both Trego and Phillips were always "in".
AGod I also wonder whether the absence of AC might have Mr Rose thinking that a draw would not be a bad result and that Munday's absence will strengthen the batting?
To be honest, AG, I would hope that at this stage MR. Rose's thinking would be irrelevant. Surely the selection of the final XI is a matter for Messrs. Langer and Hurry? I would also hope that Mr. Langer's thinking hasn't yet countenanced the kind negativity of which you speak.
Well, Jimmy Anderson has, so far, been the less productive of the two opening bowlers.
Will anybody be surprised if, by the day's end, he has been the least productive of all the Lancs bowlers with only his fellow 'international bowler,' Mahmood rivalling him?
btw.. to judge from events elsewhere in the country (or lack thereof), I suspect that the rain has actually yet to reach Manchester, as opposed to having been and gone (if it had been and gone, wouldn't one have expected the games in the midlands etc to have commenced, or at least have a time set for their commencement?)
Bad news about JF. As I said before the game, I would have thought JL opening and Wes at five (or six if you want to promote Ian) would have made the most sense.
I think the one truly redeeming feature about this innings, so far, is that at least it's 22.5 overs down for the two wickets.
Hopefully, if the pitch started slightly damp, it will dry.
Conversely, if it's a hard, bouncy pitch in the vein of their usual Test tracks, then hopefully Banger is banging the shine off the new cherry and will continue to do so.
p.s we need the skipper to get some runs in the 2nd dig, to get him into form.
If he doesn't, I wonder if we might put him up top with Banger for the Worcs FP game (just in case Banger and Kieswetter bat for 45 overs or something) and he doesn't get a knock?
I may have missed something but isnt this the team?
wicketkeeperC Kieswetter, ID Blackwell, PD Trego, ML Turner, BJ Phillips, MK Munday, CM Willoughby plus, the 4 that are in or gone.
12.30pm and here is Andy Wilson at Old Trafford: Somerset 33-2, and should be three - Trescothick dropped at second slip by Stuart Law off Anderson when he had scored 10, and has moved to 27 with a few clubbed boundaries. Anderson has generated decent pace from the Stretford End in an opening spell of eight overs and counting, but both wickets have gone to Glen Chapple - John Francis lbw, and Langer superbly caught by Sajid Mahmood in the deep after top-edging a pull.
12.30pm and here is Andy Wilson at Old Trafford: Somerset 33-2, and should be three - Trescothick dropped at second slip by Stuart Law off Anderson when he had scored 10, and has moved to 27 with a few clubbed boundaries. Anderson has generated decent pace from the Stretford End in an opening spell of eight overs and counting, but both wickets have gone to Glen Chapple - John Francis lbw, and Langer superbly caught by Sajid Mahmood in the deep after top-edging a pull.
Apparently all the web and mobile content-providers get their scorecards from the same source. I think it's the Press Agency, but I suspect bloke or Grockle may be able to enlighten us further on that?
Fantastic news, though I don't envy him having to flip his shoulder in the temperatures up there.
What better compensation could there be for Caddy's absence than if Munday were to remove the likes of Hodge and Law. That would have be walking on cloud nine!
Well done to JH for facing down 55 balls in what must have been - initially at least - a pretty highly pressured situation.
We do have a potentially long tail, depending on what kind of form Ben Phillips is, or isn't in (he's presumably not batted in a meaningful game for some considerable time?)
Turner did make runs against Derbys last season, but I was at the game and I saw Charl hit at least two - and probably - three sixes. One can, therefore, surmise that conditions were not exactly demanding.
In light of the potentially long tail it was hugely important that we did not lose a 3rd before lunch and JH has avoided that eventuality. Well done.
Im surprised that Trigger got the nod over Jonah. Though Jones bowled really well on Sunday and Trigs bowled like a drain for four overs.
Credit to PT for coming back after that but Phillips can match his batting (and so can Jonah for that matter - if we are relying on Pete to hold the batting together then we have much bigger problems. The batting bowlers should be icing the cake for us).
The weather here might be just the stuff for Mr Munday (if it exists in Lancs as well) but will it last? Great opportunity for Turner.
I've merged it all guys and gals and will continue to do so.
No radio coverage that I can find. If anyone finds some let me know please. Scorecards are all updated now, sorry for the delay - busy morning.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008:04:23:13:39:47 by Grockle.
PA (Press Association) provide cricket scores, and I suspect that's what the BBC use. Not sure about Cricinfo - especially given the discrepancies we saw with the Fenners game.
I've looked at the PA feed from this morning, and you're spot on, at 11:00 they gave the team as:
Somerset: C Kieswetter (Wkt), M E Trescothick, J L Langer (Capt), J C Hildreth, I D Blackwell, P D Trego, M L Turner, B J Phillips, P S Jones, J D Francis, C M Willoughby.
And at 13:23 they'd replaced Jones with Munday.
PA at fault then, but it could be that their source of info was wrong.
On each of the first three days there is provision for playing time to be extended
by the amount of time lost in that day up to a maximum of 30 minutes.
Grockle - as I suggested, it's presumably unlikely that Phillips has any recent batting form behind him in any meaningful game? Therefore, it must surely be a 'reach,' to suggest that he can match the battting of a man who averaged 57 last year? You'd have to go back to, probably, mid-2006 for the last time he made any significant runs?
As for Jonah, he made a ton and two fifties last year but, I believe, barely made a run after about the end of June. Overall average was, also, way lower than Pete's.
What I will say about Jonah is that when he did really well in the past - both for us and both for Derby, it was when he had the new ball. If one accepts that there is a new-ball vacancy for this game (Phillips is not a new ball bowler, by trade) then picking Jonah to take the new cherry with Charl could have made a lot of sense.
I also sympathise with your view that we shouldn't HAVE to rely on Pete for runs. However, we are down our no.5 from last season and down a 1,000 run opener for this particular game. I may regret saying this, but I suspect we might be glad of Pete's batting in this game, before the match is out.
Thanks, bloke. I was sure I had asked the question of someone "in the know" about three years ago (I think I e-mailed CricInfo with a query, but can't be sure of my recollection) and I was pretty sure they had said something along the lines of "Everybody uses PA!"
Clearly the guy at the Guardian has some duff info, because he believes Banks was left out for Munday; and that Banks is a Kolpak (although TP has corrected his error on that score)
Tufnell, you're quite right. Omari Banks is from British Anguilla, which means - beacause of the country's status - he can play for Somerset without being registered as an overseas or Kolpak player.
It is great to see that Somerset are playing Munday, who - in total contrast to Banks - is a terrible fielder and batsman but a very promising legspinner and has come up through the Somerset youth system. Terry Jenner said that Munday was the most promising of the young English legspinners he had coached - from a group including Adil Rashid.
Kudos to Somerset for picking Munday when they have a very capable batsman / stock off-spinner waiting for a game in Banks.
Another reference to MKM being some kind of total dud in the field. BobStan has said that he was perfectly presentable when he saw him in person at Northampton, I think it was?
Compared with last year, Somerset have changed the make-up of the team. Then we played 5 batsmen, 2 all-rounders, a w-k and three bowlers, and won CC div 2. Why change to 4 batsmen, 2 all-rounders, w-k and four bowlers? I'd prefer a team of:
Trescothick
Francis
Langer
Hildreth
Blackwell
Durston
Trego
Kieswetter
Phillips
Jones
Willoughby
which would bat down to 8. It is weaker in the bowling department, but do we really need six bowlers?
anyway trescothick is out, caught at second slip by law off anderson for 77, a near exact repeat of the chance missed 34 overs earlier.
hildreth played a few pleasing shots but jumped about uncomfortably against freddie, and was caught behind driving loosely at sajid just after lunch - although not being overly-critical about that, it's the way he plays, isn't it?
Just saw an update on skysports news. Apparently Tresco looked comfortable and scored freely, IB and PT rebuilding now. AF bowled well but wicketless, they showed Trescos out - a good back of a length ball he just nibbled at. Nice and sunny also.
Well, Bloke, spin is - presumably - our best chance of managing to win this match. Therefore, I think JL's decision to bat first would be the correct one.
cjbowyer Compared with last year, Somerset have changed the make-up of the team. Then we played 5 batsmen, 2 all-rounders, a w-k and three bowlers, and won CC div 2. Why change to 4 batsmen, 2 all-rounders, w-k and four bowlers? I'd prefer a team of:
Trescothick
Francis
Langer
Hildreth
Blackwell
Durston
Trego
Kieswetter
Phillips
Jones
Willoughby
which would bat down to 8. It is weaker in the bowling department, but do we really need six bowlers?
So which two of Blackwell, Trego, Phillips and Durston are your two all-rounders, cjb?
Sorry, but your numbers just don't appear to make sense to me.
As to the four rather than three bowlers; we have to allow for the fact that one of the three was Caddick. We can't expect anyone on the staff to just instantlyreplace the irreplaceable!
He still has a lot to prove I agree.
As for batting first who are we to argue?
I was somewhat surprised to say the least but then again I'm not in the right position to question.
Ok,I'd have fielded.
I've said it.
Did anybody else notice on Sunday Kieswetter was playing a lot of his shots with one hand off the bat, that resulted in some of his shots going in the air.
He won't have the support, now, but it would have been interesting to see what Mr Rose would have done about De Bruyn's apparently pre-ordained slot at no.5, had Ian weighed in with a big ton from that self-same spot in the batting order!?
FE, I classed Blackwell and Trego as all-rounders. The numbers were from Somerset's usual team last year:
Trescothick
Edwards
Langer
Hildreth
White
Blackwell
Trego
Kieswetter
Jones
Caddick
Willoughby
which had five batsman and two all-rounders (counting White as a batsman). My point was that the team batted down to 8 with Jones able to swing the bat at 9. Today's team only bats down to 7 with Phillips as a passable bat at 8.
As for Caddick, I agree he's irreplaceable, but why weaken the batting in order to replace him with two bowlers? With a stronger batting line-up you get more batting points even if you struggle to bowl sides out.
I sincerely hope it is wrong! Apart from anything else, not only does their leggie already have a wicket but now Brad Hodge, of all people, has entered the attack too! Apparently, he bowls finger-spin, which may be a very good sign!!
I see cjb. I was led to believe that Phillips was a genuine all-rounder, and am not sure that Durston is worthy of a place as an out-and-out batsman, so in reckoning your lists I had two last year and four this! That's where I was confused.
I see where you are coming from, except that I was looking at it as lose one bowler and one batsman, and gain two half-bowlers, half-batsman in Trego and Phillips = break even! Trego and Phillips together should be capable of contributing as many runs as, say Durston, and have a better chance together of replacing Caddy's missing wickets. Simplistic I know - but I'm a simple soul.
I think Wes deserves a crack as a batsman. During the awful 2006 season, in which Ian was injured, Wes was, pretty much the lone batsman to emerge with any real credit, averaging 38 as all around him failed.
Tea at Old Trafford, Somerset not enjoying a happy return to the First Division at 195 for seven. Two of the wickets in the afternoon session fell to Flintoff in his second eight-over spell of the day, with Peter Trego squared up and caught behind, and Craig Kieswetter lbw to a yorker. Ian Blackwell fully justified his position at no.5 in the batting order, reaching a sensible unbeaten 49.
Obviously disappointed to come home to find out about the day's score.
A point of info, AG. It was at Chelmsford that I was impressed with Munday's fielding. Perhaps I caught him on a lucky day, but he looked enthusiastic, saved a few runs and did absolutely nothing wrong.
But Munday 8 times the score of his captain, one opener and our swashbuckling wicket-keeper.
A wicket taking spinner who can add 16 at number 10 with our real number 11 wouldn't be too bad a person to have in your side. Especially if he fields in a safe manner as well.
One other point; their leggie has an extremely unimpressive career average of 65! Presumably, this means that he isn't exactly the second coming of Abdul Qadir.
And yet he's been given a long bowl = turning track?
Andrew Flintoff is "ready to go" for England's first Test against New Zealand next month according his former team-mate, Marcus Trescothick.
Flintoff, who was playing his second match for Lancashire since ankle surgery over the winter, bowled 16 quick overs to return figures of 2 for 40 against Somerset.
"He's ready to go," said Trescothick after Lancashire closed on 60 without loss in reply to Somerset's 238. "That's as good as he'll bowl - I don't think he'll get into a Test match against New Zealand in a couple of weeks' time and bowl any differently. Bowling-wise, he's ready.
"It was tough. He bowled really well today - very consistent pace," he said. "It was normal 'Freddie' - you never would have known he would have had much of a lay-off."
Trescothick was dropped three times during his 77 - twice off Flintoff's bowling - but there was no let-up in Lancashire's attack. James Anderson and Glen Chapple opened the bowling and, after Flintoff, Saj Mahmood bowled 14 overs to pick up 3 for 54.
"You probably won't see a better [Championship] attack all season than those four, and it was a real challenge," Trescothick said. "They were Test match conditions out there for a quite a long time. If you can get runs against these guys, you can pick up runs against most people."
This thread has got really long today (good) so I'm gonna close it at 11:30 and move you all to the new thread "Lancashire CC1 - The first half (hopefully)" for tomorrow's comments.
Because you are closing this thread down shortly I will ask this on here.
Is anybody else getting this happen when you read the front page thread (this one all day).
When I then go back to the main message board I keep getting about 6 threads marked “New” that I have already read. Is it only me this is happening to?
Can't close it because the first post on the thread is the story but I suggest we all decamp to the next thread because this one will be come farf far too long if we don't.
It only goes wrong for me when threads are merged. The stuff merged into the remaining thread is shown as new when I'd already read it in its former home. Apart from that it's usually bang on.
I just wish there was an option to go to to the first new post in a thread rather than just scroll or go to the last post!
Definitely agree with you there FE about having to scroll through lots of stuff looking for what is "New".
And may I once again point out the absurdity (for which I know Grockle is not responsible) that clicking on "Go to page: Previous" does indeed take you to the previous page, but clicking on "Go the Thread: Previous" takes you to a subsequent thread. In the latter case one could subsitute the word "Next" for "Previous".
And where there are multiple pages we are offered the chance to go to the "Last" page. Heaven forbid that PQQ, for example, should ever have a "Last" page. Wouldn't "Latest" make more sense?
I may have got this all wrong and expect a three-page dissertation from sheffieldsabre on my desk by midday.
LoL
Sixty-six Seasons a Somerset Supporter
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2008:04:24:08:26:10 by Loyal of Lhasa..
Have we any roving reporters from Old Trafford as to how the day panned out yesterday? From what I've read, there wasn't actually a game being played, just Freddie and his ankle out there.
Yes it does, Bloke, and by and large the system works. The problem is that you have (in my experience) to click on to every page of a long thread that you haven't recently read to ensure that "new" disappears.
As I'm a sad and anal person and love to remove the word "new" from every thread, that means I have to wade through pages of utterly trivial nonsense on threads set up by such as BJ relating to which horse will fall at the 123rd hurdle in the 2.17 at Market Harborough.
I too have to make the word "new" disappear from my screen.
It looks untidy.
And don't try and discredit my tips LoL.
You know it was the 2.18 at Market Harborough.
LoL As I'm a sad and anal person and love to remove the word "new" from every thread, that means I have to wade through pages of utterly trivial nonsense on threads set up by such as BJ relating to which horse will fall at the 123rd hurdle in the 2.17 at Market Harborough.
Are we related, at all!
Quote:
MikeBOS LoL on the bottom of each thread there is a tab marked “Mark thread read”
And on the bottom of the main message list there is another tab marked “Mark all messages read”
That works for me.
But that runs the risk of missing the diamonds amongst the coal which sometimes even appear on Jim's threads.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008:04:24:11:03:20 by Frome Exile.
As I said earlier I had no problems with it until I started reading the front page thread then the “NEW” reappears again on several threads that I have already read.
Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.
We record all IP addresses on the Sportnetwork message boards which may be required by the authorities in case of defamatory or abusive comment.
We seek to monitor the Message Boards at regular intervals.
We do not associate Sportnetwork with any of the comments and do not take responsibility for any statements or opinions expressed on the Message Boards.
If you have any cause for concern over any material posted here please let us know as soon as possible by e-mailing
abuse@sportnetwork.net