Bowling was the key to 2008.  Did we have the people to bowl a side out quickly in the short format stuff and could we take 20 wickets in the longer stuff?  We knew we had men with bits of wood who could smack the ball about a bit but could we put a team away?

Andy Caddick and Charl Willoughby were a solid and feared new ball attack and we hoped for a great deal from them.  We got everything we expected and more from our South African Somersetian but we hardly saw AC until the first half of the season was over and that caused us some issues.  Mark Turner looked really good in the friendlies, stronger and faster and far too much for the students.  After a great performance against Lancashire we looked to him to come into that opening pace spot of Caddick's early.  But injury kept him out of the next few games and he never really came back in any real sense.  he was about the place but he wasn't a significant player in our year.  We need him to change that next season.

Ben Phillips took on the mantle and did the job we had asked him to the year before.  Tall and rangey, he bowled tight lines and supported Charl at the start of the season.  He had a year sitting there watching it all happening through injury and seemed to be determined that he wouldn't do that again.  It fell apart at the end of the season when he also succumbed to injury and we missed him badly on the run in with both the bat and the ball.

For Steffan Jones it was always going to be a difficult season.  We had been talking during the off season about where Steff would stand in the ratings and with Turner coming through and Phillips fit again we saw a straight fight between them and Jonah for the third seam spot.  It didn't turn out llike that but he still struggled to maintain a first team presence despite some fine work when called upon, aggressive and 'in yer face'. His problems were compounded b the arrival of two new players with kolpak credentials.

Alfonso Thomas, slight for a paceman and re-finding his feet on English pitches during the first part of the season, became an intelligent and deceptive member of the bowling line-up as the season progressed and in the one day game sometimes provided the only member of our attack with any innovation.

Zander de Bruyn, a South African batsman primarily who was brought in to stiffen the top five also became Justin Langer's  'go to' man with the ball when the wickets weren't coming.  As was the unlikely medium pace of James Hildreth in the first half of the season.

The man our captain didn't seem to be as keen to go to was allrounder Peter Trego who found it even more difficult to get a hand on the ball after some strange support performances in early games.  His batting was certainly there but faith in his bowling was certainly not for a large part of the season.  He also had the niggling injury that didn't let him get a settled place in the side or a regular bowling spot.

Generally we suffered from inconsistent bowling line-ups based around the one constant - the ever brilliant Charl Willoughby who kept on coming in, causing problems and taking names.  No-one else was up in his league and we needed someone there with him.  Everyone gave something but no-one gave it all and Caddy showed glimpses but was never really in the hunt this year.

So, what about our slow men?  The seasn started with the expected line-up.  Ian Blackwell was our spinning all rounder.  the tight man holding the run rate down and foxing batsmen more often than he gained credit for.  We also had great and high hopes for Michael Munday who had shown the promise we believed was there in the last game of the 2007 season.  Those hopes were hieghtened when he got an early call for a CC1 game but he was hardly used and hardly called again.  He looked lost and out of sorts in the tourist game and he ended the season as our fourth spinner, more out of favour than Ian B who couldn't even get a one day game in the Pro 40 tournament.

Blackwell did not show anything unusual in the first half of the season.  He was never expected to be a major wicket taking spinner and his batting was his major asset to the team.  However, his performances in the one day 50 over stuff were fair enough and we were a credible outfit without ever setting the cricketing world on fire.  But it fell apart in the 20/20 for Ian when his bowling was not up to the standards we'd expected and it fell apart within the organisation as we saw less and less of him with the ball in the shorter games with no real explanation as to why from the management.

Although our allrounder remained a stalwart member of the Championship side, the selectors went elsewhere for slow bowling options in the short format games.  Omari Banks finally appeared in first team games and showed us that he was a fair spinner of the ball but no batsman.  Another spinner who wouldn't take buckets of wickets but could be expected to keep the rate down below 4.

Wes Durston was a man we could always rely on for back of the innings runs and supporting slow bowling. He wasn't given the ball too often after being murdered in a couple of 20/20 games (we weren't very good in the competition and he got the ball at really bad times) and he needs to work on that part of his game to plauy next season.

The man Langer looked for to fill Ian's place was Arul Suppiah and he stood and fired with Ben Phillips on a couple of occasions to suggest it was a decent idea in a batting sense.

But bowling?  Well the jury is still out on who we will get to fill the big Blackwell hole as he moves up to Durham and we keep the coffer lid firmy shut and go with what we have

So....what kind of season was it?  Willoughby was immense. Caddick was sorely missed but that maybe how we have to look at it now.  The man surely can't have much more in the tank and we have to look at Somerset post Caddick,  Our third seam pool is solid and experienced but can it step up to fill the number one spot?  It's Turner's year or we have to look elsewhere.  2009 is the coming of age season for the young man.  If he isn't there then we have a problem.

Alfonso turned into a canny bowler but will next year show that to be a flash in the pan and will Peter Trego come to the party and fulfill the expectation of being a true allrounder?  Ben has injury issues and Steff has a real job on his hands.  There isn't a lot coming up so we have what we have.

The slow ball option is an open field.  Munday has lost ground and isn't the batsman or fielder to hold a place without the wickets.  Many believe Omari isn't up to it but they also seem to think he is the front runner to replace Ian.  I don't expect that to stand with Arul and Wes who must see the departure of the big man as a golden opportunity to take that slow allrounder spot in the side.

We've had a huge man in the front seat of our bowling attack for a long long time.  He isn't there any more and this season showed how difficult it is going to be to replace him.  We missed his 60+ and we missed another 30 from our slow man.  Where are those wickets going to come from next year? 

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