Context is everything

Last match report of the season is from the Leprechaun adn tells us about the end of season forum.  Lot of ground covered in the evening and apologies if anyone's favourite point or question was missed. 

Big turn out for this forum; and most in pretty good mood. The panel was James Harris – warmly applauded; Gus, Ian Lovett and Richard Goatley who is now Chief Operation Officer and has been acting Chief Executive.  Speaking of which, Ian paid a warm tribute to Vinny and said the search for a replacement is well under way. Announcement not far off hopefully.  There had been a large number of applications, which shows the job is attractive.

 Before the panel bit, Ian went through the season highlighting the good bits, which included a lot of success away from the 1^st Team. This included our work promoting disability cricket – for which Middlesex won 4 out of 6 national awards recently. There was a short film about projects Middlesex coaches are involved in which really shows how much cricket and committed coaches can change lives.  Puts a lot of what we get worried about into context (including over rates).

 The actual forum was largely positive though it did start with a question about the “disaster” at Worcester.  James and Gus accepted that we just played badly and Worcester played well, but Gus made the point strongly that a disaster is a major earthquake. Losing a cricket match is not a disaster and the team were not going to let it mar an otherwise very successful Championship season. 

After an exchange about whether we were lucky or good this year to finish 2^nd which I think the top table won,  there was a bit of a scattergun feel to the evening, so this is a potted report of the more interesting questions and answers in no particular order.

There were warm words for Neil Dexter from the floor and the panel. It was stressed that it was his choice to go and there was a general feeling that he needed a fresh start professionally and personally. As far as a replacement/new all rounder is concerned they are few and far between and one hope is that James Harris and or TRJ might eventually develop into the genuine all-rounder (defined as someone whose batting average is better then their bowling one.)  It was noted that late order runs had played a important role in our success this year.

In response to a question about why Ravi did not play more Gus mentioned his early season injury and that he did not really get going. But he is very much part of the future and we have turned down approaches from Kolpak spinners.

An interesting stat was that Ollie and Simmo topped the tables for fielder and wicket keeper catches. James Harris was very complimentary about the close field catching – we caught more than we dropped and that gives bowlers confidence. Some of Ollie’s catching had been freakish.  Simmo had played every match – the only one to do so – and has been mentioned in England selection meetings.

Related to that someone asked about cover for Simmo if he was called up for England. Gus mentioned Eskinazi and Robbie White.

As for an overseas player goes no names were mentioned but we are planning to continue with Nick Gubbins as opener so we are looking for a middle order batsmen who could captain the side. Any ideas folks!

Other season related issues:

• Our lack of batting points in particular was raised (compared to say Worcester). Noted and one area we need to improve. But getting bonus points is no good if you collapse in a heap at the end a la Worcester.
• The inevitable question about overrates was raised – in a very diplomatic way, including the question how aware are the players.  Gus said it annoys him as much and there have been times we have run around like headless chickens trying to rescue it. James said the players are aware of it and are fed up with talking about it themselves and with being headless chickens at times. So watch this space next year.

Next year questions:

• What do we need to do to catch Yorkshire?  More consistency and becoming as relentless as they are is part of it.  Our Academy is on a par with theirs and we have more youngsters in the age related Performance Programme then any other county.
• Are we going back to Merchant Taylor’s? Possibly said Richard. We may be able to play seven of our matches at Lords.  Players like MTS because there is more chance of a result then at Uxbridge. If we do go back feedback from members has been noted and spectator facilities will be better.
• Who are the coming players who might continue our England production line? Of the current players said Gus, Nick Compton, TRJ, James Harris and Simmo have all been mentioned in selection meetings.  Of the youngsters there is huge excitement about Max Holden and Tom Helm will hopefully fully recover from a stress fracture in the back.  One member mentioned how supportive senior players are to the youngsters and praised the club ethos which has fostered this.

And finally:

A lot of time in the forum was spent on the future structure of cricket.  Ian outlined the ECB position which has led to some of the proposals and some of the challenges; others challenged the model and assumptions. But the key issues include:

• County finances are precarious; some counties are very precarious
• There are many different county agendas and priorities
• The view from Andrew Strauss that he can’t deliver a World Cup winning team with the current structure and scheduling
• The player view that the problem is scheduling, travelling and having to switch from one format to another, not a 16 game Championship in itself.
• The lack of free days in the summer – Gus gave a detailed breakdown of how the season days are allocated and there was little room for practice and trying new skills
• Franchises wont be on the agenda for at least a couple of years when negotiations start for the next TV deal from 2020. There has never been a proposal put to the ECB.

And that was that. A fairly long forum followed by quite a long party! Happy wintering folks