The Cricket Thread

And he's still only 31, might have another 6 or 7 years in the Test team yet. He needs to get a 300 to be listed alongside the real greats though.

 

Hopefully Hants will watch the highlights of Sri Lanka's second innings and be inspired by the spirit and application that they showed.

 

Might be saved by the rain

 

On the limited overs front - which is what the next month is all about, after the next two days:

- Owais Shah has said that he's still looking for a t20 county contract for this season, so if we wanted to bring him back, then we can. And I would suggest that with Vince not available for the whole campaign, and doubts existing over what Adams and Carberry might contribute with that bat (poor scores in just one game so far is nowhere near enough evidence to write either off yet, but given their four day form...), then we absolutely should bring him back. We certainly looked a batsman light on Friday night, given that we effectively replaced Vince with Crane (and duly only gave him two overs to bowl. What idiotic planning that was, picking a no.11 as a part-time bowler).

- It has been confirmed that McLaren will have to remain de-registered for all first team cricket for 21 days after this match. So as well as not being available for the t20s during that time (not a problem, given Sammy and Afridi), he will also not be available for FOUR one day games (50% of the group games). Nothing has yet been decided publically, but Dawson is expecting us to go in without an overseas player unless Sammy or Afridi can be persuaded to play in any of those four (which officially they would be available for, just as Arafat and Bird were both available last season, albeit of course with the one-per-match limitation).

So if we can't persuade Sammy or Afridi, then we will be yet another bowler down. Literally every limited overs seamer of ours would be on the sidelines (for a short time anyway - Berg is close to returning).

 

What's happened with McLaren?

 

Nothing. But you can only have two overseas registered at any one time. And once you deregister someone, there is a stupid ECB rule which says that you have to wait 21 days until you can re-register them again.

That's why Sammy didn't play on Friday night (and was never going to). Had we deregistered McLaren before Friday, to allow Sammy to be registered alongside Afridi, we'd have gone into this game four day game with no overseas player (as neither Afridi nor Sammy would have been willing to play).

Instead we will deregister McLaren as soon as this game is over, so that Sammy can be registered for Thursday's t20. But it does mean McLaren being unable to play in the four one-day games which we have during that 21 day period, as well as the t20s. There are no four day matches during the 21 day period.

Theoretically we could play Sammy or Afridi in those four one-day games, including switching between them each match if we wanted, as they would be our registered overseas players. But neither is being paid nor contracted to play anything other than t20. So we would need to persuade them. And I can't see either being willing, especially not Afridi given that he is now retired from all cricket except t20.

(It shouldn't be an issue towards the end of the t20 group stage, when we do have Championship matches, because the 21 day period will be over and Sammy would have left to play in the CPL).

 

If the ECB are going to persist with playing t20 throughout the season, intermixed with other formats, rather than the old block format, then they need to remove the 21 day rule. Very few counties sign two t20 only players (at the same time) as a consequence. Almost always it's one t20 only player, plus your main four-day overseas player. Like we did last season with Arafat and Bird. Or the year before, with Maxwell and Abbott.

Middlesex are very fortunate that McCullum has agreed to play one-day cricket for them (five matches I believe, but I may be wrong), to avoid them having this issue (although Voges is leaving them after we play them in a one-day match next week anyway).

 

Sammy having a good debut for Hants. A quick 27 with the bat and 2/17 off 3 overs.

 

Then he picks up an injury! No matter, Hants win.

 

Sammy seems quite relaxed about his injury, suggesting he came off as a precaution and that should be fine for tonight (and to be fair, I thought it was quite clear that Vince was telling him to be sensible and think about the upcoming games). That said, it was his hamstring that he was feeling. My initial thought, and indeed still my current thought, isn't whether he'll be fit for tonight but whether he'll be fit to play any further part in the group stage at all (remembering that he only signed up for 6 games, including last night).

Carberry also spent most of their innings off the field with an injury too (shin injury).

As for the match, a solid bowling performance (except for Afridi's first over, and Best's second) and great contributions from both overseas players - it's what you pay them for I guess. And also well done to the management for bringing in Vince and Berg for Crane and Best, as I thought that had to be done (albeit Smith then falling ill allowed Best to be reprieved). But I do think we were at least 20 runs light, even though we did win. Carberry might have top scored with 54, but it took him 53 balls. When you consider that 26 of those came from 6 balls, you get an illustration as to how many dots he played in the other 47 balls. Five of our eight wickets were caught on the boundary, which is only really acceptable if you're putting 180+ on the board.

 

Solent think that Sammy is fit for tonight, but there are still doubts over Carberry. No news if Smith is feeling any better.

 

I've come on here for some calm! Come on hants!

 

Hampshire: Carberry, Vince (c), Adams, Wheater, Afridi, Sammy, Ervine, Dawson, Berg, Andrew, Best.

48 - 2 6 OVERS

 

141 all out, nowhere near enough.

 

Hard to tell.

 

Well that went well...

 

Plenty of bowling options, we need all of them to be on it to win this match.

 

Rudolph on his sleigh....Great start for Hants!

 

Could be a massive missed run-out. Ingram is dangerous.