New boy

By Grockle
October 17 2010

April and May of 2010.  Did it indicate that we were going to do something remarkable?  An early start and a lot of Championshipo games away from home in the spring.  We'd be well on the way before any Taunton supporter saw the boys.  The CC1 could be over (in the minds of some) before it even began

The side that was expected to start the season for us was not our strongest.  No Murali Kartik for a number of weeks.  Damien Wright was here to provide cover - a mercenary?  Marcus was an unknown quantity and his new VC Alfonso was no more of a certainty.  We looked for Compton to get off to a start.  Would we use a spinner?  Would Max Waller get an early punt or would they go for Mike Munday?  Was David Stiff ready?

We had a new Grocklee in Jos Buttler and he was an unknown quantity as both a batsman AND a keeper.  What is more we were starting at one of our possible rivals' home ground Yorkshire at Headingley...what more could one ask for?

Marcus started with a ton but the rest struggled.  Jos didn't play, James got a few, Pete got a few more.  But the Tykes outscored us and we couldn't hold them in their second innings even though Zander and Arul got a lot and the boys in the tail put up a hell of a fight.  Wright showed himself as more than just a fill in third seamer - 46 runs with the bat and 3 for 63 off 26 overs in the first step to the wicket showed he had some fight in him.  But we lost by 6 wickets.

Notts next...no real foot off the peddle then!  Trent Bridge so early in the season and a game that was more important even than it seemed at the time.  First at the crease again but no big score from anyone this time.  Though Wright, Thomas and the tail did add 130 to give us something.  No spinning option again but it seemd sensible when we got them for less than we had scored.  Charl showing good front end form - but all the bowlers were showing better lines except Stiff who wasn't surprising with his pace this year.  The second slog was down to the skipper who went 2 short of ton number 2 but his only suport was an excellent 78 from Wrighty. We were out for even less and they just needed to score the same again to beat us.  We so nearly got them but we dropped two catches, Stiffy leaked at 7 and we took 8 and lost by 2 wickets!

So two down and our main rivals off to a flyer with us flagging behind.  We came home to take on Essex but swept away Glamorgan first in our one day debut in 2010.  Compo and Hilda scored big and Ben and Alf showed tight consistent bowling and we took them by 38 runs.  Max also got a run out and we all wondered whether he would figure in our first home game.

Essex arrived and we went for spin!  Stiff hadn't done what was hoped.  Wright had done much more and the others had put in good performances.  Unfortunately the batting (captain excepted) had not maintained a consistency to keep us in the games.  In came Michael Munday to give his first team career a hopeful boost before Kartik arrived.  Once more we batted but the Boss did not put it together.  The middle order did do it though with four of the top 7 hitting 70 plus and the new sponsoree JB, in for his first game behind the stumps, adding 36.  It looked better and it was more impressive after MM took 4 for 105 and we took forward a minor first innings lead.

Unfortunately we lost a full third day and even though we hit 100 quickly and declared, there was no chance and we ended up with a weather affected draw with the opponents on the ropes.

Did it tell us much?  Well Marcus had not dropped off in form.  Compton looked good in the one dayers and a bit flat in the four dayers.  The middle order was not yet up to full speed but there were snatches of what we wanted and the home game gave us much more hope.  The hopes for our pace attack from David Stiff had not been fulfilled and although we didn't know it, that was the last we would see of the big man in a first team Somerset side.  Damien Wright was a little more than a fill in.  A fighter, a more than decent bowler and a fielder who would die to stop the ball.

Mike Munday showed us something..but not enough to save his career in Taunton.  That would be the last we saw of him in Somerset colours.  Max Waller had filled a role in the one day match but was also relegated to a "fill in" role for the season.  Craig had gone and Jos had not embarrassed himself so those fears had been allayed for a while.  Charl looked good and Ben, Alf, Pete and Zander looked tighter and hungrier than we were used to.  The pitch at home took spin, lasted longer and gave the seam men more bounce than we were expecting. 

So even though our Championshipb campaign could have hardly got off to a worse start, we had some things to look at with anticipation and May started to put things right.........as Murali Kartik finally graced the hallowed Taunton turf.

So the first bit

Discussion started by Grockles.com , 17/10/2010 21:58

Grockles.com
17/10/2010 21:58

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010:11:25:00:18:35 by Grockle.

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Loyal of Lhasa.
18/10/2010 16:13

When is chapter two coming? I'm wondering how it will all end; it's pretty exciting so far.

LoL

Sixty-six Seasons a Somerset Supporter



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010:10:19:12:20:18 by Loyal of Lhasa..

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Grockle
18/10/2010 19:32

Bout a fortnight LoL

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Norwich SCCC
18/10/2010 21:11

It seems like light years ago now, but after the first 3 games I thought we were in for a relegation battle.

However, had we played the same team at the start of the season that we finished with, we would have won the league without any doubt.

And looking back who would have predicted that MM would end his Taunton career in such anti-climax?

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