The Story so Far

What does he know?
By Grockle
May 19 2005

So, we're about a month in and what's the verdict up to now? A nice little break to look it over but is my opinion your opinion - I doubt it. I've purposefully not looked at John Fuller's site before putting this down to see if I have the same view...won't that be interesting?

Failure is not an option.  We are Somerset and we need that in the hearts of our players.  Our Cricket committee have the final say and their expertise will come to the fore if there are problems.

Not definitive words but the main messages coming from the CA pavilion during the meetings in the winter.  We were bringing in a new coach - Mark Garaway. We were putting cricket back in the hands of the experts - Vic Marks, Roy Kerslake and Brian Rose. We were bringing in a new 'kickass' captain - Greame Smith.  We were going to have a side that showed how proud it was to play for the county in a new strip with a new sense of determination and effort.  Well the new strip might geet here by the middle of May but what about the rest? This was going to be it - youth and quality would out.

Full of enthusiasm we looked forward to the start of the season but how enthusiastic are we now?  Well the 'doom police' were straight in but then that was to be expected.  But it didn't start too badly.  Yes we didn't exactly hammer Durham UCCE but everyone had a run out and no-one got injured.

Lancashire?...well it was Lancashire.  We drew a game we expected to draw.  But it wasn't as rain affected as it usually is and there were worrying signs of possible batting collapse and a lack of bowling penetration, especially at the back end of an innings against any kind of batsman who knew how to farm the strike.

Edgbaston?... looked very good after a shaky start when Burnsy ran out Matt Wood. But he made amends by getting a ton and helping to post a target that Warwickshire would have done very very well to achieve.  Rain stopped that but it was promising.  A much better white ball performance than we had seen for a while.

So, we looked to the future with some optimism.  John Francis looked in good touch, Burnsy was the prime one day batsman at the time.  Ian Blackwell had pulled a game together in the championship and looked solid.  James Hildreth hadn't shown signs of the second season blues, although he was a bit patchy.  Caddick, Johnson and McLean came through two matches without injury!!  Aaron Laraman looked like the good allrounder we hoped he would be.  With Turner behind the sticks and the prospect of Trescothick and Sanath Jayasuriya making big scores in the tepid April sunshine we moved off to the rain of Yorkshire....and got absolutely thraped!!

Batting collapses, poor bowling, woeful scores by class batsmen and a defeat by an innings and 44 runs in just over 2 days of the 4 possible.  Lots of positive noises from the squad, and the coach but some old woes still evident and lots of feeling that we'd been here before.  The Championship was followed by a 5 wicket murder in the TSL at the hands of the same side with not a lot to write home about, except possibly a return to the form of the old days for Richard Johnson and the good start to 2005 of John Francis.

Home form?... Back to Taunton to be welcomed by the fans for the first home game of the season.  Crucial to our Championship campaign is whether we can make the County Ground the fortress it was when we last ran close.  Essex are the opposition and not the hardest we'll face.  We make it look hard, they make it look easy.  The Taunton track is still a batting paradise...at least to the visitors.  To us it seemed like a minefield as player after player got in and got out.  Out of form England VCs and hat-tricks later and we fall at the first home hurdle by 9 wickets.  Rob Turner fights, Aaron Laraman fights and that's about it. Even though Caddick looks like he may be coming into his stride and getting his rhythm back.

So what has looked good?  Well not our international front end!   Both Marcus Trescothick and SJ look very poor.  Banger might have an excuse with 'baby' Banger but the Sri Lankan seems completely at sea on late spring pitches that move all over the place.  We have life at number 3 with Frank Junior but George Burns is having a mare at 4 and the selectors don't seem to see Matt Wood as a solution.

The middle order is firing.  James Hildreth seems to have always been at number 5, his lack of fear and his quick assessment of the conditions and desire to score is a joy to behold.  At 6 Mr Blackwell is mighty and Aaron Laraman is holding his form and his body together as a true bowling batsman.  Blackie is also doing his job with the ball so the slow ball position is not missing Mr Dutch, who decided against another season in Somerset choosing the bright lights of London and club cricket.    

The bowling is more of a quandry.  Caddy is not yet the bowler of old and we need him.  Johnson is yet to take clusters of wickets and we need that as well.  We also found out in Yorkshire that you don't bowl Nixon on a pitch that doesn't suit him.

But it isn't gelling and we still find ourselves praying for individual performances to pull a poor unit performance out of the fire time after time.  Either one batsman has to produce heroics or a bowler has to take a bucket of wickets to make up for the lack of fizz in the rest of the attack.  It's all patchy.

Selection policy...becomes the point of debate as we move into the one day build up to our C&G campaign.  We welcome a lacklustre Leicestershire and messages seem to have got through because we also welcome to the ranks, for the first time in the season, Simon Francis and Gareth Andrew.  Caddick and McLean are 'rested' and the new boys take their chance.  It takes the Foxes 27 overs to get to 100 but we still let them off the hook and they get just over 2.  Nevertheless we have been sticking to our guns, even in adversity and this game is no different.  A bit of a slow and scratchy start turns into a 157 run partnership between Parsons and Francis and we 'romp' home for a win.

We brush away a poor Surrey one day outfit next day as our international openers get it right and SJ in particular puts something together.  The one day outfit seems to be clicking into gear a little better with Keith Parsons in particular showing the reasons for the effort of supporters to get him a decent contract.  He helps us hit our best one day score and we wipe the 'Brownhats' up for a lot less, although we still let them score lots when we should put them to bed!! 

Two in two days and confidence for the trip to Grace Road to rub it in mid-week as we face County opposition in the first round of the C&G because of our shoddy performances last year.

It's all gonna come right this year though isn't it? Well...no actually.  A poor pitch makes for a poor game and we come out of it losers after only just reaching 100 and nearly getting them out for less.  Bye Bye cup run.  Garaway praises our efforts and gets hoots of derision from the messageboard for being too positive from an indefensible position.  But he's making the right noises and keeps faith with Francis Senior in particular as he produces some good bowling performances.  The attitude towards Matt Wood is not as understandable as we persisit with Burnsy who is so out of it.

Durham..?  The team to beat at the moment.  So we fail to.  Poor batting again, poor penetration when we needed it and almost a one man fightback from the Caddmeister with a first class 50 with the bat and 12 wickets with the ball.  Once again an individual performance and not enough supprt around him.  Breese blows us away and we lose another CC2 match.

The one dayers are getting better though.  Scotland put up more of a fight these days.  They are a much better group than the one that beat the living daylights out of us this time last season but we put them away through the aggressive strokeplay of Blackwell followed up by some tail wiping by Johnno after a spirited middle order fightback by the Saltires.  We are top of the TSL2!!  It's been a while since we've been top of anything.

Smiffy arrives... this week to oversee the takeover of the captaincy.  And we need something to get our long game into order.  We have the people. We have to structure, I think. We don't have the team spirit to lump it all together and that needs a leader to take the initiative and force a talented bunch of wasters into a cohesive, ruthless unit of killers with cricket bats.  They've got to run for everything, bleed to keep their wickets, run in tirelessly and tie batsmen to their crease with accuracy and aggression.  Smith is supposed to be able to do this, but he will talk straight and there are rumours that certain members of this squad don't like being told.

We may be developing into a decent one day out fit but it isn't enough.  Unless we become a Championship force we are vulnerable to the changes predicted and planned by the ECB.  We are perceived as a regional backwater to the centrally minded world of cricket and we need a Championship to show we are more than that.

We have a strong set of bowlers, but do they bowl for each other.  Is Caddick the catalyst for a good performance or the sand in Somerset's vasaline?  On his day he is a match winner, but only if the other guys play for him and with him. 

Will we ever get this front end solid and stable?  Smith should add some glue and Frank Junior is becoming sticky but we need the little man from Sri Lanka to produce his magic.  He isn't what we wanted yet but we're all hoping that we'll see him in a different light when he finally moves on during the latter part of June. 

Either find some form George or move aside.  We have people waiting and they won't wait for ever.  If Mike doesn't get his bat shifting, the club has to show faith in Wood or be honest and let him sign on loan to some other county so he can make his career elsewhere.

If the front four can get going then we will see the middle order blossom, and there's a lot of talent there to do it.  Rob Turner is not yet ready to relinquish the gloves to Carl Gazzard and the men around him just want to get on the scoreboard as quickly as possible.  In Aaron Laraman, we may have found our replacement for Graham Rose but there are more performances to come before that is a certainty.

If Caddick and Johnson are hungry and produce then they have to be included.  Nixon McLean is in a much deeper scrap with Simon Francis and Frank is winning at the moment.  Will the West Indian's time come again?...should it?  Can't we use the talent we have in Gareth Andrew and Michael Parsons instead?

Well the message seems to be; "...if your good enough you'll play.." so we can expect these boys to be there if the older guys get complacent or the youngsters simply hit form and bowl better.  At least that is the theory and the rules Mr Garaway and the Gang of Three say they play by.

All is not right in the kingdom of Taunton but it's not doom and gloom time yet.  We have the summer, we have the Aussies, but more importantly we have Lancashire at home on Friday.  Giles Clark seems to be keeping a low profile and staying out of cricket matters....Peter Anderson an even lower one.  If they are leaving the cricket to the experts then the experts had better start earning their salaries in the next couple of weeks or we'll all have to satisfy ourselves with white ball cricket only and the prospects of 'glory' in the 20/20 to ease our Championship woes.

It's not over until the Fat lady sings...her shadow has been seen around the ground and she's been heard gargling with the TCP.  We need something in a four day game to shut her trap for quite a while and this weekend has to produce it.