By Grockle
August 6 2023

The Metro Bank Cup continues.  The 'story' about the return of Tom Lammonby after being benched for 2 games by his franchise has come to nothing - It would mean him travelling from Manchester last night to play and then return to play again tomorrow if picked - not sensible and probably set up that way to keep "Franchise player plays for his county" story out of the papers and web stuff.  Somerset are unchanged and having won the toss will bat first today.  We welcome back Somerset 'old boy' Azhar Ali today. Nice to see you Azhar - don't do too well but enjoy your visit.

Metro Bank Cup v Worcestershire @ Taunton Sunday 6

August 2023

We welcome back Azhar Ali and his Midlands side for the second game of the 2023 tournament.  Somerset have won the toss and will bat first today with their unchanged side of;

Umeed, Thomas G, Goldsworthy, Rew, Bartlett, Dickson, Lamb, Campher, Leonard, Brooks, Bashir

The wicket is the same as the one from Friday and we will be hoping for a better start to our innings than our first outing.  It's a decent crowd for this Sunday and the weather is a little better than the starting cloud of the end of last week.  The sky is blue with highish cloud and it could almost be defined as 'warm' on this day in August - the height of the British summer!! 

We start with Gibbon bowling to George Thomas from the MT End and he manages to bowl 2 wides with his first attempts, one of which goes through first slip for 4 - Harmison like.  The third ball George wafts over the keeper for another 4... not the best shot he will ever play!!  His first real shot is to put a piece of 'filth' to the Ondaatje Pavilion.  14 off 2 legal balls or 18 off 3 as George punches the next to the Caddyshack boundary.  He then flips the last ball to the CA boundary - though he is not given that he touched it.  22 off the first over with George making 12.  

Leach (not Jack) takes the next from the River End to Andy Umeed who gets off the mark with 3 runs.  George continues with a four to the Gimblett from the next ball.  Leach comes back though and has Thomas caught by Cox for 18 off the last ball of the second and we are 31 for 1.  In comes Lewis Goldsworthy again after only 2 overs.  The 'Somerset' opening partnership issue does not seem to be getting  better any time soon.

Pennington takes the third after a poor first over from Gibbon.  Andy has not lasted 2 overs in total through the 50 over games we have had in the last week or so.  This is an important game for him  He leaves the first four of this over before dispatching the fifth for an excellent driven four to the car park corner.  We move to 35 for 1 at the start of the fourth.

You can't say anyone was wondering what Andy expected to do with the 4th ball of this over as he comes up the wicket to Leach and fires the ball over the infield.  It stops in the pitch but shows a little more self-confidence from the Somerset opener.  He moves to 12 from 12 and we are 43 for 1 in the 5th. 

The 50 arrives in the 6th from the bat of Umeed who guides a nice four through the infield and moves to 21. Leach and Pennington continue in partnership while Goldsworthy and Umeed reset the Somerset innings and find their feet.  Lewis had a good first innings of the season in a first team shirt on Friday but this is still a new batting line-up with a number of partners who have never been paired with the people coming in.  At least these two have played second eleven games together and need to find that rhythm early in this one.  By the end of the 8th they have moved the score on to 60 with Andy being the significant part of that score with 25 from his 29 balls while Lewis has 7 from his 9.

As we move into the 10th, the Rapids bowlers have becalmed the home side and the score is moving very slowly.  By the end of Powerplay 1 they have moved to 62 and Worcestershire have the 'press' well and truly on.  However, a run rate of 6.2 an over is a decent base to work from if the bats can break the shackles over the next period of the game.

Jones takes over at the River and then Baker (first intro of spin) takes over from the MT in a double change while we are still below 70. We pass that by the end of the 13th.  Goldsworthy hits the first six to the Ondaatje (just out of the grasp of the fielder) to bring up the 50 partnership at 84 for 1.  Umeed on 30 and LG on 24 in 73 balls.  This is a little better than Game 1.

We reach 89 by the start of the 15th and although the rate has dropped, the confidence in the Somerset ability to stay in has increased in about the same measure.  These two are not our most prolific scorers but you can't score runs if you can't stay at the crease and this is a more promising partnership than many we've seen this season from two players who are not first team regulars for whatever reason presently playing against a bowling attack which would not be very different if the franchises did not exist.  Worcestershire have lost 4 players.

Umeed on 34 is given out down the legside - don't think he hit that - but a much better performance from the opener.  96 for 2 and in comes Rew and he brings up the 100 in the 19th with a single.  By the end of the 20th we have only moved on to 104 so scoring is not all that speedy. In response to that comment James Rew then reverse slaps the ball for 6 into the Caddyshack car park with all the class of an ex Somerset captain beginning with 'T'... superb timing.

At halfway Somerset have 132 with Rew on 21 from 20 and Lewis on 44 from 70.  Not exactly 6.2 per over but more than 5 is at least moving the score along to over 250 today.  Worcestershire re-introduce Gibbon but this time from the River end in the hope it might be more successful than his first over.   It is better as we look to move beyond 150.  Lewis drives the ball to the only fielder who might drop him in Azhar Ali who does exactly that at 145.  We are still chasing that 150 at the end of the 28th though Rew and Goldsworthy are only 1 run away from a 50 partnership at 145.  It comes up off the first ball of the 29th from D'Olivera from the MT.  Rew on 32 and Goldsworthy on 47 from 65 balls.  Unfortunately Lewis is out next ball caught behind off D'Olivera at 147 for 3.  In comes Sean Dickson with a bit of a license to hit a few perhaps? 

149 for 3 after 30 overs - double that is 290 odd - let's go for that?  The 150 arrives at the start of the 31st and our score tends to rely on whether the skipper gets in and starts to open up with the likes of Campher further down the order.  If Dickson gets in and is still there at 35 to 40 overs, who would you send in next?  George  or Curtis?  Gibbon gives away a free hit which Sean hits straight to the Botham to take us into the 160s.  Gibbon has moved to 37 runs off 5 overs - not bad given that he started with 14 to his name with only 1 legal ball delivered.  Most of the 37 came off his first over. 

Rew dismisses a D'Olivera no ball to the boundary and takes himself into the 40s off the free hit during the 33rd over.  Leach is re-introduced for the 34th after a good first spell and he continues to hold the batting in check until Rew gets him away towards the end of the over moving the home side into the 180s and himself towards a 50.  Coming into the 35th Somerset are 186 for 3.

Rew moves to 50 in 52 balls with 4 fours and 1 six as his side go into the 190s. After 35 overs it's 194 for 3.  50 partnership between Rew and Dickson comes up at 197 off 46 balls.  The 200 arrives in the same over.  In comes Pennington at the River and then Baker is back on for the 39th.  The next question is how will the Somerset batting cope with needing to open their shoulders and get this total towards 300.  James Rew as a white ball enforcer with his captain who is supposed to be a master of this - or at least was in Durham? With 40 overs gone Somerset are at 229 for 3 with Dickson on 36 from 36 and Rew on 72 from 71.  They will need to go at more than a run a ball to get this to the third century.

It looks like James is trying to move the game on as he brings out the 'reverse' everything in attempts to find the boundary, followed by beefy swipes at more straight balls to try and achieve the same... some work, some don't and he missed the swipe but he is obviously 'going for it'.  The activity between the wickets for twos is also ramping up so the 'get to 300' is obviously a target.  Unfortunately Sean is not as lucky as he top edges to Leach from Pennington and he is out for 37 at 241 for 4.  Interesting to see who comes out now.  It is George Bartlett.  Shame it isn't Curtis to be honest with 8 overs to go but let's see how it works out because GB has something to prove with the bat as well. He isn't there for long though as he sort of 'chops' on and is out for 2 at 244 for 5.  In comes Curtis Campher.

Gibbon returns for a third stint from the River in the 44th and during his over we go to 250 from the 5th ball as CC takes a quick single.  The 45th is taken by Brett D'Olivera.  After Curtis plays at trying to take the spinner on, James simply slogsweeps the Worcester man for 6 to the Caddyshack and moves into the 90s. The 300 is looking beyond us today as Campher goes for 6 trying to push the score on and only managing to find Pennington off the bowling of Gibbon at 263 for 6.  He let the situation get the better of him when getting the keeper on strike was really his only job.  In comes Danny Lamb.

Pennington takes over the bowling for the 47th. We move to 268 and Rew moves to another 100 off 91 balls with 8 fours and 2 sixes.  He converts another one but in the white ball format this time!! 273 for 6.  Immediately after that Lamb tries the 'ramp' he has already become famous for at Taunton and does not pull it off - it is still a joy to see.  Next ball Rew falls to a boundary catch from the other Worcestershire Ali (Kashif at deep square) to go for 101 at 274.  In comes Ned Leonard with 19 balls to go. 

Danny now sees shifting the score on as his role needing 25 off 17 balls so he is 'expansive' but isn't finding the boundary all the time, though he is trying including a 'ramp' that is picked up by the point fielder.  This seems to put Pennington off as he then proceeds to bowl a series of wides and we move to 280 with 14 to come.  Lamb gets hold of one but it finds the boundary fielder in front of the Caddyshack.  Ali gets the ball but it comes at him so fast it pushes him over the rope and he juggles well to keep the catch legal. In comes Jack Brooks at 280 to face 13. He slaps his first and gets 2 for it. 18 off 12.

With 2 overs left Gibbon looks to bowl out and he gets Leonard with an excellent catch of a swirling skier. 282 for 9. 3 for Gibbon after a poor start.  In comes 'Bash' Bashir but it is Jack who provides the next boundary and Gibbons ends with 3 for 58 and we end with 287 for 9.  The visitors need 288.

The Reply 

Azhar and D'Olivera open for the Rapids against the first over from Jack Brooks (which went for 8) and then Ned Leonard from the MT End.  After the first salvo from the Somerset bowlers the visitors are 15 towards their 288 target - not a bad start. After 3 they have 24 but Ned gets Azhar chopping on with his first ball of his next 24 for 1 and Jones replaces the ex Somerset man.  A better start from the young Somerset bowler and he liked that one a lot.

By the 5th Worcestershire have been 'settled' a bit to 33 for 1 then Ned gets a second as D'Olivera clips straight to Shoaib and it is 43 for 2.  This brings in the Rapids captain Jake Libby.  3 for 22 with 2 wickets is better than Friday's early figures.

The visitor's 50 arrives during Ned's 4th spell of 6 courtesy of a short no ball.  The over finishes with the score at 58 with Jones on 21 and Libby yet to get off the mark.  Campher comes on at the River to replace Jack Brooks and Libby gets off the mark with a four to the CA scoreboard. Curtis goes for 11 courtesy of a diving stop from his partner bowler Leonard to stop a certain four to the car park boundary.  Excellent out fielding.

Lamb replaces Ned at the MT for the 10th and by the end of it (20% through the innings) they find themselves up with the D/L requirement of 72 for 2.  Somerset were in the 60s for 1 so Worcestershire are on to win this should the scoring continue at this rate.  A decent second over from the Irishman puts the brakes on a bit as he goes for 3 and throws the gauntlet down to his fellow 'newbie' to tighten it up as well. Danny replies by getting Libby to snick one and Rew dives to his right to take a wonderful right handed catch to send the Rapids to 75 for 3.  In comes Kashif Ali and he flips his first to the Colin Atkinson boundary.  The Lamb over goes for a few more but the skipper isn't there any more so "swings and roundabouts" at 80 for 3.

The 100 arrives from Shoaib's first (the 15th) from the River when Jones takes a single off the 5th ball.  Ali has 18 and Jones 31.  They need 188 from the 35 overs left.  Looks like Somerset need to get the wickets rather than hope the opposition don't get the runs.  Lamb bowls another thrifty over for 2 and you get the impression that this might be an important part of the game with an attempted 'press' from our spinner and Danny. Jones is taking them on though with a six into the CA Pavilion from Bashir to keep the Worcestershire innnings moving in the right direction.

We then get Jones as Lewis Goldsworthy swoops in on a quick single and cleans up the stumps with a direct hit.  Not something we see all that often 114 for 4. Brilliant work from the smallest man on the field.  The quality of fielding nowadays is exceptional.  As long as wickets keep falling this game is still in the balance.  Cox is the new batsman.  The 20th over sees Lewis coming on to bowl as well and he is immediately asking questions going for just a single off his first. At 20 overs Worcestershire are at 117 for 4.  The score continues to increase however and by the 25th they have reached 143 and are still ahead of our score at the same place.

The 150 arrives at the end of the 26th over and it is all looking good for the visitors. Kashif on 33 is dropped by Brooks! An absolute 'dolly' at mid off.  Should have taken that, it was straight to him.  Could be an important one.  He then comes on from the MT to try and make amends at 157.  He does exactly that as he catches and bowls Kashif for 37 at 159.  He is replaced by Joe Leach who helps to move the score to 159 for 5 after 28.

The game goes on however and we are again in the need of wickets as the Rapids move into the 180s without further loss and with a decent number of overs left to get the required runs.  Cox is looking like he could win this for his side unless we remove him and he is being well supported by Leach (who the visiting Worcestershire people tell us is 'all that's left' in terms of batting).  Shoaib is re-introduced at the River for the 35th with the score at 189. He does his job by going for 2.  Sean then brings back his partner Danny Lamb at the other end in the hope they'll keep the score down again.  This may be a 'press' partnership for other games this season.  The 200 arrives in the 37th and Cox goes to 50 just after that - if he stays in there is every chance this one will go to the visiting side.  With that Leach and Cox go to a 50 partnership at 203 followed by a straight six from Leach to the Botham.

With the 40th over coming up, the number of runs needed is 70 but the boundaries are starting to accumulate as these two bats get their eye in and open up. Breaking this partnership seems to be the key to winning or losing this game presently.  To be honest it is hard to see where that breakthrough is coming from on the Somerset bowling side however as these two seem to want to put this away as quickly as possible.  it may need a batting error to put the home side back in contention for the points I'm afraid. 232 for 5 as the 40th comes up and they need 56 off 60.

Campher is brought back to hopefully change the balance and he does it first ball as Cox puts the ball into Lewis Goldsworthy's hands and goes to a top edged pull for 51 at 232 for 6.  Will that alter things?  Leach has been putting the runs on so the threat is still there but the balance has shifted again.  Baker is the new man facing Curtis and 3 balls later he spoons the ball straight to 'Bash' and CC has two in the over.  In comes Pennington and Goldsworthy comes back at the MT at 233 for 7 still needing 56 but now in 54 balls.  1 ball later it is Leach LBW Lewis and it is 232 for 8.  What a turnaround - seems the Worcestershire press men were right!!  

Gibbon is in needing to help his side score 56 from 53 balls with both bats on zero at the moment. By the end of the over they have moved the score to 236 and one assumes that Curtis can smell the 'blood in the water' as he takes the 43rd.  There is still fight in the batting though as his first goes for four but the second is saved by Umeed who has been immense on the boundary during this innings.  Gibbon is almost run out by the bowler following through and throwing the stumps down on ball 3.  244 by the end of the 43rd

All the 4's here because they now need 44 in the 44th or Somerset need 2 wickets.  Goldsworthy stays on and Worcestershire move towards 250 with that score being passed with the 4th ball.  However, Lewis then bowls Gibbon with the next ball.  38 runs needed or 1 wicket to go and Campher really wanting the last one and he gets him - straight to his man Bashir at 251.  A win for the home side by 36 runs.  

Well that was fun!!  A better batting performance though we lost it a little at the end of the innings and were possibly 20 to 30 short of where we should have ended up as the tail tried to push the score on instreaad of accumulating and leaving the big scoring to the man already established.  Excellent fielding during the Worcestershire innings and some excellent contributions from both Campher and Lamb who both were wholehearted members of this team effort.  Glodsworthy, Umeed and Bashir were very prominent in their fielding positions.  Good captaincy from Dickson and a good morale boosting end to a Sunday in the West.   On to Northampton on Tuesday

Metro 50 Game 2 - Worcestershire at home

Discussion started by Grockles.com , 06/08/2023 10:56

Grockles.com
06/08/2023 10:56

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2023:08:08:16:31:17 by Grockle.

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Grockle
06/08/2023 10:25

Game number 2 - no Tom Lammonby -SHOCK HORROR!! Side seems unchanged from Friday - I think only JT could be a change?

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Grockle
06/08/2023 10:39

Somerset won the toss and will bat first.

Azhar is back and says hello to all.

No change to the Somerset side

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AGod
06/08/2023 10:41

A lot of fans on FB seem convinced that the smaller counties in our group will be easier to beat than the likes of Warks and Durham.

This completely ignores the fact that Warks and Durham have had the same kind of crisp packet exodus as us, whereas the other six teams in the group have lost 16 players between them - fewer than three per county!

So today is the Somerset bare bones Vs a Worcs side that will include several players that would be playing for them if the Graves/Harrison abomination did not exist.

So.. I would put no money on Worcs proving weaker than Warks!

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AGod
06/08/2023 10:48

Interesting that Dickson, who has come from elsewhere, has done away with the Somerset default of inserting the opposition at Taunton.

Jason Kerr is away as well as Gregory, of course, and indeed Abell who was the 50 over captain.

Perhaps Dickson and Tweedle are both bat first men.

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Somerset LaLaLa
06/08/2023 14:27

Worcs got 318-9 against Durham and can bat big. Our score may not be enough, amazing to see another Rew ton though

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Grockle
06/08/2023 17:44

Well 288 wasn't enough and we now have a new pairing

Bowled Campher caught Bashir

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Grizzers
06/08/2023 18:12

Nice win & another terrific innings by James Rew.

Hope the team take confidence from this, especially given that the you know what has left us with a squad resembling a piece of Swiss cheese.

Grizzers

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Devonboy70
06/08/2023 18:23

Great win . Batting wise 1-5 inclusive all played a significant part . 6-9 inclusive very poor using up 4.3 overs for only 16 runs between them when Rew was largely a spectator up the other end .

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Grockle
06/08/2023 18:55

Yep. If you have a player in the 90s get him in front of the ball as often as possible

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Mike TA1
06/08/2023 20:05

Somerset v Worcestershire 50 over cup photos.



James Rew 4 runs. His innings was so good to watch, 101 runs



Kashif Ali bld Ned Leonard.



Joe Leach lbw Lewis Goldsworthy



Andrew Umeed 6 runs



Curtis Campher ct Dillon Pennington bld Ben Gibbon



George Thomas 4 runs



Andrew Umeed ct Ben Cox bld Cameron Jones



George Bartlett bld Josh Baker

what a nice surprise to win, I don't think Worcestershire batting RR went above 6 all through their innings.

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Loyal of Lhasa
06/08/2023 20:07

I am bound to agree with the two previous posts. Bartlett and Campher were at fault in trying to belt the ball to the boundary instead of using a *perpendicular bat in the hope of scoring singles and bringing Rew back on strike. That may have cost us twenty runs or more.

Dickson seems to be an excellent captain and the concluding overs of the match reminded us of how ofter during the T20 campaign (in which very few of today's team were involved) our side simply refused to lose.

Very good to see Goldsworthy on song once more.

* I have long thought that the use of "straight bat" is rather absurd; bats haven't been crooked since the Eighteenth Century.

LoL

Seventy-eight Seasons a Somerset Supporter

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Somerset LaLaLa
06/08/2023 20:59

This was a great game. I reckon they would have made the runs, if we hadn't got them all out. The bowlers worked excellently as a unit, all in the wickets (or catching). Goldsworthy had a very good day, batting / bowling / got the run out. Getting Cox was the key. Hugely enjoyable

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Somerset LaLaLa
06/08/2023 21:08

Strange to see Sussex bottom of the table after Pujara 106 not out today. In the other group Surrey and Essex have found themselves looking upwards as well, but it's early days.

One other comment: are Worcs so embarrassed of themselves that they only want to be called Rapids. Does the River Severn really flow that fast there?

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AGod
06/08/2023 22:04

So strange!?

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Grockle
06/08/2023 22:27

Yep it was damn good fun today. Nice to see guys pulled in to fill holes in the side for a short period so obviously engaged in winning the game as well. Danny Lamb bowled well in tandem with Shoaib and Curtis worked really hard to get us over the line - a little too hard when batting perhaps.

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Somerset LaLaLa
06/08/2023 22:34

AG - Sussex beat us by something like 200 runs this time last year. I think they finished top of the group

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AGod
07/08/2023 08:43

Yeah.. I was actually referencing the "Rapids," nonsense.

Speaking of the Severn, Peter Trego thinks that, had they called the Welsh Dire, the "Severn Stars," or something similar then folks from Bristol and Taunton might have been more inclined to go to Cardiff to watch their drivel. I'm not sure I'm convinced.

On the Somerset player front, I see Greener did help the Dire to a tie in their last match, with runs and wickets. So, the Welsh Dire have, thus far, been less dire under the captaincy of Tom Abell, although I'm not sure Tom himself has made so much as a single run yet.

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Mike TA1
07/08/2023 09:11

To be honest, I think Tom should spend some time away from cricket. He needs to recharge his batteries.

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Grockle
07/08/2023 09:18

The story was that the 'Welsh' reference was a requirement of the BBC who also were instrumental in the base of Cardiff in order to involve BBC Wales.so there was always the intention of a Principality emphasis though it had little to do with the cricket.

Somerset of course were placated with the promise of being a women's cricket franchise base and a men's outgeound. Neither promise was kept of course for differing reasons, one of them seemingly an outright lie to get the vote 😁

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That Bloke With The Dog
07/08/2023 10:23

Hugely enjoyable game as a spectator yesterday (in the Ondaatje Stand yesterday, for a change).

I know we haven't seen any fireworks from Campher yet, but he did close out the game, and I just like his general attitude - from the effort he puts into his bowling, which you only really see from side-on, to the effort he made to step back and high-five a couple of young lads just before going back into the pavilion after the game.

I also really liked the confidence with which Goldsworthy bowled. I'd feared that the bowling was disappearing from his game, which would have made nailing down a permanent place in the side difficult. What with the runs score and the run-out, we might have a left-arm replacement for Bess on our hands - same attitude, but with proper top-order batting, which Bess unfortunately never quite nailed.

A lovely day in the sun!

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Grockle
07/08/2023 10:51

Yep we were saying while Dom was here that there really wasn't a place for him in our squads because we had the places filled. It's the reason he had to go in the first place for his own career to be honest and he came back with little added to his game that made him a possible prospect unfortunately. Very impressed with Lewis over the last couple of games. he has to be a part of our red ball setup going forward

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Treviskey
07/08/2023 11:34

Yes, he really does. It‘s been very frustrating seeing him in the seconds this year. To me he has to be a better long-term prospect than George Bartlett, much as I like George and admire his talent. But he can still look like a walking wicket early on, with his lbw issues.

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Devonboy70
07/08/2023 11:53

I would agree that Lewis would be my pick over George in the red ball team . Giving us the second spin option which otherwise we always seem to lack .

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Railboy
07/08/2023 12:32

We really need one of, or better still both Lewis or George to offer us a realistic and reliable top 3 option, we are flushed with 4 -9 candidates Don’t want to see Rew pushed any further up the order, certainly not yet anyway.

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Farmer White
08/08/2023 02:54

Below is a link to my report on this match entitled Dancing to the Rhythm of Duckworth Lewis:

[farmerwhite.co.uk]

Farmer

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Somerset LaLaLa
08/08/2023 09:11

Fantastic read as always Farmer. The confidence from this win should help us tomorrow

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