Somerset
North goes South and the Welsh come West
CK has the collywobbles!
By Grockle et al
July 28 2012
My last CB40 game of the 2012 season at Taunton. Steve Kirby returns to the fold but Craig Kieswetter has a stomach upset so someone else will have to score the quick fire ton today. Glamorgan pop over the Channel for the day and we must look to beat their celtic hides to still have any chance in this one day tournament. Sunshine and a stiff breeze at the County Ground. We lost the toss and will field. No SCCC commentary today because the boys from SKY are here.
v WELSH DRAGONS @ Taunton Saturday 28 July 2012
The side is;
Trescothick (c), Compton, Hildreth, Buttler(w), Trego, Gregory, Meschede, Thomas, Waller, Suppiah, Kirby
With the loss of Dockrell to the U19 World Cup in Oz along with the Overtons (good luck lads) and Kieswetter to a stomach bug, Nick Compton will probably open with his skipper and Arul will take part of the bowling role along with strengthening the batting. The Welsh have opted to bat first after winning the toss.
Alfonso Thomas (OP) and Pete Trego (River) take the new ball and after a solid start from Mr Thomas - 6 off the over and a play and miss - Pete gets first blood as Rees plays on to him with the score on 7. Cooke is the new batsman and he and Wallace start to build a solid if not exciting platform reaching 28 before the introduction of Steve Kirby at the Old Pavilion nearly has Wallace caught a deep mid on by Max Waller (if he was only a couple of inches taller) who just gets his finger tips to a lofted drive that wasn't played with enough conviction. No harm done because a ball later Wallace is decieved by the Kirby slow ball and simply pops it into the hand of Hildreth at midwicket - an easier wicket you will not see today. 33 for 2 before the end of the 5th. Welcome back Steven.
Glamorgan (can't get used to this 'Welsh' tag) continue to accumulate at a steady six and over and that prompts the introduction of Craig Meschede for the ninth after they pass 50 and then Max for the tenth. This brings the next breakthrough courtesy of a superb one handed catch by Nick Compton when Allenby looks to flip one over the outfield and Compo turns and snatches the ball out of the air before it drops behind him. 62 for 3 one ball before the end of the 10th.
Lewis joins the bowling attack for the 11th and Arul gets his first ball at 75 for 3 with the start of the 13th - we have slow men at both ends then as Max seems to be bowling through. At 15 overs the opposition have reached 98 and move into three figures early in the sixteenth. Towards the end of that over Alex Barrow, on for Craig Meschede who has dislocated a finger, chases a Walters drive to the Ondaatje Pavilion boundary and crashes into the board head first. A paramedic, sitting close by, is over the board in seconds as Alex does not seem to be moving. We then have 15 minutes with numerous medical officials dealing with Alex and he is eventually stretchered off for treatment. It seems he knocked himself out and has come around in the treatment room. He will be taken to hospital for concussion checks.
Meanwhile, at 110 for 3 Jason Kerr makes his one day 2012 debut as 13th man!! He's on for a couple of overs before Craig Kieswetter is dragged of his sick bed and pushed onto the field at point. He's bending over a lot and not moving to fast but it means Lewis Gregory is moved to square mid off and there he takes a catch off Alf from the River end to dismiss Walters. 139 for 4 after 21.3 overs. The Welsh commentator says there is not much batting to come but if these two stay in a score somewhere near 300 is on the cards because we don't look all that penetrating.
The 150 arrives halfway through the 25th. By the thirtieth they have moved to 181 but just after this milestone Wright takes a suicidal run. After watching Trescothick make a diving stop he then decides to try and sneak a single and is run out by a mile as the skipper simply passes the ball to his keeper. 188 for 5 in the thirty second.
Cooke goes to a 93 ball hundred with 2 sixes and 8 fours at 197 in the 34th and the batsmen look to take the score past 200 in the same over but not before Jones has deposited the ball in Waller's hands trying to go big at 197 and hands over to Harris. He helps Cooke add a single before Trigger has him LBW. Norman comes in but he can't get them past the next target.
At 199 in the thirty fifth it gets worse as the Kirby slower ball has Norman driving the ball straight to Trescothick at mid off. Eight down and Cosker striding out, the 280 that their 20 over score promised is a hell of a long way off. However, an attempted yorker that becomes a fill toss gives the new man two runs and takes his side over the line to 201.
In the last few overs we do let them off the hook a little as Cooke and Cosker move the score on smartly against Kirby and Thomas, neither of who seem to be able to get their yorker length right and see the balls turned into boundaries. It isn't until the 39th over that Kirb's finally gets the yorker right, it's also a slow one so Cosker has enough time to miss the ball and watch it take his off stump!! 237 for 9.
At 239 for 9 Alf closes the innings, after his first inswinger doesn't find the target and is dispatched for six, he gets his radar working and keeps the welshmen, and Cooke in particular down to 11. Glamorgan finish on 250 - 30 short of a par score on this pitch but against a side who can be fragile and who may only have 10 fit batsmen as it is doubtful Meschede will bat unless it is absolutely necessary.
Man on a Mission
With no Craig K to open with Marcus, Peter Trego takes up the mantle and goes off like the proverbial. No hold, no quarter and no false shots as he murders everyone to go to a 26 ball 50 with 11 fours. With his partner, the Somerset men are going at 10 an over and Trigger is getting faster as he follows the 50 with a massive six and a poorly fielded four. Banger is taking the supporting role but mistimes a delivery from Jones and is caught by Harris at 92 (2 balls into the 9th over!!) for 14. We then see the 'sublime to the ridiculous' in terms of strokeplay as the next man in is.....Nick Compton.
You get the impression that Pete is letting a few Lions selectors know that the man who can now bowl in all forms of cricket and take significant wickets can also bat in a significant fashion and ought to be in their eyeline for the winter. No arguments from me!
While they pass the 100 in the 10th over, near the end of the twelfth, Peter who has lost the momentum a little after the loss of the Boss caught by Allenby off Cosker for 81 out of 113 (43 balls, 15 fours and 1 six) and normality returns with the arrival of James Hildreth. Pete's innings should really have put this game beyond doubt and shows that the aggressive Trego is still the best one. 3 wickets and 81 runs - surely if he is ever going to get to that next level it is this winter... Hope there is a little more than a cameo in the Hong Kong Sixes waiting for you this year Pete because that innings was a joy to watch.
Back to the game and 13 overs in Somerset have finally dropped below 10 an over for the first time as the slow men come on and the rain starts to spatter about the place. This is closely followed by Hildreth sweeping Cosker into his own stumps for 1 at 121 ushering in Jos Buttler and the hope of another little cameo. He dabs the last ball of the 14th down to get off the mark and move Somerset on to 122
After that calming run, Jos looks for boundaries and finds 3 of them in the next couple of overs. It is 135 after 16 and Buttler is catching his partner. He needs to because without Kieswetter and with Meschede probably batting as a last resort, we are a little thin after these two. Suppiah and Gregory are 'recognised' batsmen but neither instills huge amounts of confidence from their starts this season and we do not want to be asking Max and an injured Craig M to hit 50 to finish this one off. Therefore it is hoped ad expected that this partnership shold be able to take the score over the 200 mark at least before giving up their lives in the middle. After a start that suggested this game would be over somewhere around the halfway point, the result is now much less certain.
Just before the twentieth over ends, Jos takes his county over the 150 mark with a lofted straight four over the head of Jones off the bowling of Cosker. But that is the last bit of Buttler unfortunately as he leaves a striaght full ball from James until the last moment and then fails to drive it and is bowled stepping away! Sad end at 154. Lewis is the next man in and we need 97 to win. Lewis gives confidence with his first shot guided to the Ondaatje boundary for four and Compton follows suit with the same shot 2 balls later 163 for 4 at the start of the twenty second.
As much as we comment on Compo's speed of batting and his consideration for his partners when considering the merits of a run, there is no doubt that he is a difficult man to get out and he is moving to 50 with determination at about a run a ball which surprises a few (a skill he has in common with the Great Peter Bowler - he doesn't look to be scoring and then he's on 50!).
It isn't until the first ball of the 29th that he reaches 50 off 50 balls and we are at 198. Lewis is plodding alng and takes heart with the Compton 50 and lofts another four over the head of Jones to take Somerset over 200 at the start of the 30th. In the context of the game the rate of scoring is really not an issue but Gregory getting time at the crease and carving out a victory for his county is an important step (especially if Meschede has a badly dislocated finger). He needs to get his batting to a level that aloows the club to pick him for that as well as his bowling because although it is returning to someting like the level it was his skill with the ball is not enough any more for the player to make a career from. Lewis is probably becoming what we hoped we had, a solid middle order batsman with some bowling prowess.
Somerset need 43 with 10 overs to go and although we hope to see these two take us home it is not to be as 2 balls into the 32nd Compton chips the ball to wide mid on and is number 5 out at 214. He walks off kicking the turf but to a good solid level of applause for his contribution of 53. Arul takes his place, also with a need for some constructive time at the crease - we need 37 Arul.
The two men seem to have decided it is their job to get this one sorted and we witness a battle between Suppiah and Allenby for supremacy in the 34th. This results in a run out review in the third ball of the over at 223 which results in Arul not making his ground according to the third umpire and the game changes a bit as Alf comes in with 28 still needed.
He immediately continues hostilities with Allenby who seems to have his back up about something because at the end of the over he looks to throw the ball back to his keeper but sems to make sure that it takes in the Somerset bowler on the way. It hits Alf who looks at the umpire, who has words with the Glamorgan bowler who then has words with the Somerset man - doesn't look much like an apology.
With Jones coming in (and looking good) from the OP, Lewis and Alfonso look to take singles and where possible make them into twos (Thommo is doing the placing and Lewis is doing the quick sprints between the stumps). By the end of his 35th over they have moved to 230 needing 21 from 5 overs. Allenby, however is not finished and is cockahoop when Gregory looks to pull him and plays on 2 balls into the 36th. 232 for 7 brings Craig Meschede to the crease. Somerset need 19 off 28 and Allenby is fired up. Meschede says 'bring it on' as he sixes the Welshman into the Botham.
238 at the end of the 36th 13 needed from 24 and they are facing Jones, who seems to have his yorker working and will not make things easy. Alf looks majestic as he clips the first down to fine leg for four and decreases the required runs to 9. He then fishes at one that keeps low just to show we can do both types of cricket - win confidently or grab defeat from the jaws and all that.
Accumulation is the name of the game as there is no real over pressure and as the 37th comes to and end the boys have moved the score on to 247 and one lusty blow from 2 points and another life in the 2012 CB40. Alf waits 5 balls before providing the coup de grace over the infield to the CA boundary and we win by 3 wickets. The tripple ios STILL on guys and gals!!
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012:08:02:17:30:08 by Grockle.
The Dragons select from 12: Wallace (c), Rees, Allenby, Wright, Walters, Cooke, James, Cosker, Waters, Jones, Norman and Glover.
Be great if Kirby is back to prove his fitness for Wednesday.
Assume from Tuesday Compo will come back in for Levi, maybe Arul for Morkel and Kirby/Meschede for Dockrell
LoL
Sixty-six Seasons a Somerset Supporter
Luckily he did do it in front of the paramedic. This brings JID Kerr onto the pitch as 13th man.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012:07:28:15:05:34 by Grockle.
LoL
Sixty-six Seasons a Somerset Supporter
Will Craig M be fit to bat? (if required)
After 15 they are 131 with Nick still in the teens as Jos gets into double figures.
Lewis playing his part - good to see. They need 43 off 60 balls to win this one.
LoL
Sixty-six Seasons a Somerset Supporter
Sorry that Max seems to have lost his accuracy because he continues to throw in 1 or 2 rubbish balls every over. Think he needs much more practice pitching on that 'virtual hanky' on a good length. The fact is though that he more than makes up for his 'rubbish' balls with fielding which is second to none!
Jos again falls to the slow man. I'm sure he must eventually be nearer the top of the order to get more speed merchants blasting at him, and if he can, getting his 'eye in' before facing the slower men!
What a very good innings from Peter Trego today, he set the match up for a Somerset win
M Wallace tried to play the ball down the leg side only to get a top edge to James Hildreth off Steve Kirby.
It was one of those times when James Hildreth play the sweep shot too early in his innings and was bowled by D Cosker
An all round performance from Peter Trego today his bowling was too good for G Rees
D Cosker stumps about to be hit by Steve Kirby.
Alfonso Thomas did his bit with the bat as well has the ball, seen here watching the ball on its way to him.
I found it a bit off-putting.
I'll stick to 4 day cricket if that's what it's going to be like.
Quote:ACS
Never seen so many security staff at a County Cricket match.
I found it a bit off-putting.
I'll stick to 4 day cricket if that's what it's going to be like.
Despite that Mr Tubby managed to stagger on the pitch from the Somerset/Trescothick Stands corner without any trouble and try on Jos's Helmet for size! He was belatedly sort of frog marched/carried to presumably have an appointment with PC Plod!
Quote:ACS
Never seen so many security staff at a County Cricket match.
I found it a bit off-putting.
I'll stick to 4 day cricket if that's what it's going to be like.
All very neccesary as well, I believe yesterday set a modern day record for the number of people ejected. The club do not like Saturday games as they appear to be a magnet for jolly boy's outings and Stag Parties in particular.
Quote:Ronniesabre
Any updates from Brian in the independent today wsm?
Not a lot!!
No update on Rehman, we have visa tracking number apparently but ball still in their court.
Have to think now it isnt going to happen, chance of him being here for Lancs away on Wednesday and being fully prepared to play have to be slim to none.
There is a "plan 15b" is all goes wrong, whetrher that can be actioned for Wednesday who knows.
Barrow appears to have been all cleared, Meschede has tendon issue in finger, both need "rest" per Brian Rose.
(Both were out to lunch with Lewis Gregory today per twitter so sounds encouraging!)
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