Sun Showers and SKY - what more could you want for a derby?
Will he won't he?
By Grockle
May 8 2011
It's midday and bright and breezy in the town of Taunton as preparation is underway for what could be an on and off the field game against the Gladdies from Bristol. Ajantha Mendis may start for the last time - he is in the starting line-up with both Alex Barrow and Lewis Gregory. No place for the Championship hero Hussain.
v Gloucestershire CB40 @ Taunton Sunday 8 May 2010
Is this the day that Ajantha Mendis justifies the small amount of money that Somerset will have invested in him? The Sri Lankan has not had many opportunities to show what he can do as we only survived the first innings of both our first Championship matches and he then sustained a back 'niggle' but he has 8 (thanks CP) overs today to say goodbye with a smile.
He is included in the side on the scoresheet which is;
Trescothick, Kieswetter, Trego, Compton, Hildreth, Buttler, Suppiah, Barrow, Gregory, Mendis and Kirby with Adam Dibble presently in the 12th man position. It is a big game for Barrow who must be hoping for a second Championship game should the call from the international selectors come for Craig Kieswetter at least, though we could quite feasibly lose Hildreth, Buttler and Trego as well in the next couple of weeks. Gregory will also have expectations on his shoulders after that simply brilliant last over against Glamorgan.
The 'sails' on the Ondaatje Pavilion are a bit of a let down I have to say (hopefully Mike will get a picture of them). Rather than some kind of 'fluted' design over the back of the stand allowing protection for some of the supporters they look like someone has hung their towels out to dry in their holiday flat and are simply hung between the stand and the pavilion wall...not the spectacle the now Surrey CEO sold them as!!
The pitch will be in the middle of the ground with marginal boundary ropes on both sides and the strip is a little less green than the one for the Worcestershire match.
Somerset have won the toss and will field first. There is a change. Barrow makes way for Dibble probably a sensible move seeing as there is a bit of rain about and we have put them in.
Gidman captains and opens with Cobain (who would probably like a better day than the last time he opened here and went to the first ball of the game). Steve Kirby provides the first ball this time and he leaves it. He does get a boundary off the third. 6 off the first and Dibble in for the second from the River. 14 after 2 as Adam looks to sort his line out. I personally thought he bowled much better from the OP last week. Nevertheless Cobain is caught absolutely plumb in the middle of the third and the Gladdies are 18 for 1. The New Zealander Williamson is the next man in and is off the mark with a single before the end of the over.
Dibble's second is better and they only move on by one to 20. A good fifth by the ex Gloucestershire man adds only 5 including a near catch from Kieswetter diving to his leg side but Gidman failed to connect. Lewis Gregory takes over from Adam for the sixth and starts with a wide but then gets into his stride and nearly has Gidman caught behind off his second, we hear a snick but it sounds like pad. He does generate a bit of pace does Mr Gregory and the rest of the over is testing. It ends with the visitors progressing to 28 for 1.
The Glos men are living dangerously however and in the next two overs very close chances fall just short of Arul at mid off and Hildreth coming in from the Somerset stand. There is also a possible slip chance which just falls between the keeper and Marcus. Adam is returned at the OP for the 9th and it is 41 after his effort. The 10th is in the hands of Lewis who continues to provide 6 balls for 3 runs and the score moves to 44.
The 50 arrives in the 11th and Marcus turns to spin with the 14th and gives the ball to....Arul at the River. He moves Lewis to the OP but wickets are simply not going to come it seems. The only good thing is that neither are fours or sixes as the Bristolians seem quite happy to occupy rather than accelerate. This is good as Ajantha is finally introduced for the 17th at 84 for 1 and he seems to like to give them four balls to hit. Thanks to Hilda and Kirbs most of these only get singles but you can see why he didn't play in the CC! However he does have Gidman dropped off Compo at mid on. Difficult chance but it could have gone to hand. The only reason he is going for only 6 an over is because the batsmen simply can't punish the short half volleys he is serving up.
The 100 arrives in the 21st and Steve is re-introduced in the 22nd. Gidman then goes to 50 in the 23rd off 66 balls with 4 fours with the score on 'Nelson'. By the 25th the score is 125 - theories suggest that 250 is on. Well they have the wickets in hand but neither of these two have looked like 10 an over men. Havng said that Tresco continues to wheel Mendis from the River as he is simply taking up balls and going for singles - well until the last of the 26th makes him a 10 run an over man by being deposited into the Somerset for six.
However he's been softening them up because the first ball of the 27th from Dibble sees Williamson caught behind for 47. 135 for 2 becomes 143 for 3 when Pete Trego gets Gidman LBW 2 balls into the 28th. Big wicket and now we have Dawson and Taylor in with one run between them. strides outTrigger's wicket maiden gives them no more opportunities in the 28th though the two batsmen look to push the score on with skied shots off most of the 29th. Hilda misses out on one to the Somerset and Trego acrobatically saves a boundary to the gap between the two stands on that side of the ground. Dibble doesn't seem to know what to do with this and just decreases his length and gets punished again. He finally buys a wicket as Dawson finally skies one into Kirby's hands. But the score is 159 before that happens with 16 going to the inexperience of the young bowler.
The other Gidman is in and the Boss gives the ball back to Ajantha from the River and he fools Taylor who top edges a sweep to Marcus at mid wicket and the experiment seems to have worked! 160 for 5. Ed Young strides to the crease. Adam continues from the OP and as ball 4 goes flying towards the Caddick boundary it is brilliantly caught by Trego who ends up lying on the floor with the ball raised in one hand. 161 for 6 sees Batty join Gidman. Stubborn little gentleman is Jonathan and will probably prompt a change at the River because I think he would love to see Mr Mendis coming in to bowl. Good over from Adam after the one before it and he finishes with 3 for 52.
Mendis does get the next over and Batty is facing. The over stays that way and so does the score - excellent maiden from the Sri Lankan. Not so good from Peter re-introduced at the OP for the next and going for 10. But our substitute international redeems his figures somewhat by losing a mere 3 runs off his last and finishing with 1 for 35.
For the 35th Lewis is re-introduced at the River with Steve returning at the OP. At the start of the 35th the Glads need 20 to break 200 and by the end of the 37th that has dropped to 10.
Gidman doesn't get to see the end of the game though as he is absolutely totalled by Gregory a full length delivery that he simply cannot get a bat on - he ends up looking like he was tryng to sweep it. It made little difference it was full and fast and far too good for the Gloucester man. 195 for 7 halfway through the 38th and Fuller is at the wicket.
Kirbs comes in for the 39th looking for the Yorker and bowls two consecutive leg side wides and a single off the first legitimate ball brings up the 200. 207 at the end of the penultimate over (Kirby ends with 1 for 47 off 7) and the 'Iceman' Gregory given the last. Fuller flails at the first and goes caught behind for 2 207 for 8. Jack Taylor replaces him and gets off the mark with a single. Batty scores another with the third ball and they also take a single off the fourth. A beamer of a no ball is caught by Kirby as Taylor just flays it. But the real ball five is the right length and Taylor is nowhere near it and can only turn to see his leg stump fly out of the ground 213 for 9. Payne is the last man walking out to face the last ball and he goes exactly the same way leg stump flying and Lewis ends on 4 for 27!! Brilliant last over.
We need 214 to win and Lewis walks off to a standing ovation from the Ondaatje faithful.
The Reply
This should be our game but when have we ever taken that as read?
Nevertheless the Somerset openers start brightly hitting some innocuous bowling to the boundary and taking few risks (they aren't needed). By the fifth over they have 35 and in the sixth Craig strokes one lovely four and then is up the wicket to smash a six to the Somerset stand. Gloucesteshire have tried most things by the sixth. They've used offspin in the second and four bowlers by the start of the seventh. All they see is the 50 come up off ball two of that over with a majestic driven four from Craig who is playing extremely well.
Dawson is on for the 10th but we are going at about 7 an over with little particular worry from any of the bowlers used up to now (6 with this one) and if he bowls outside off without a spinner and provide CK with something to flash at this is not going to take long. By the tenth Somerset have 74 and the slow men are not exerting any kind of press at the moment.
A moment of worry arrives at the start of the fourteenth over when, at 94 for 0, Craig Kieswetter changes his bat!! The last time he did this he was out, cutting into someone's midriff the very next ball. This time he is not facing and all he has to do is watch Marcus bring up his 50 halfway through the over. But this has been too easy for the big man and he finds himself losing concentration and trying to sweep Dawson and is out LBW at 96 (50 off 50 with 6 fours) the very next ball. In comes Pete for the start of the 15th.
The 100 arrives without ceremony in the next and the two new men continue to move unhurredly towards the 214 total. At 116 in the 18th Craig also goes to 50 off 50 balls with 1 six and 7 fours that is his third score of 50 or more in four games and without massive amounts of fireowrks as well. Halfway through the 20th he deposits one into the Scoreboard car park. Pete then gets in on the act by putting one on the roof of the boxes on top of the Cow Shed and we're up to 130 at the start of the 21st. Gloucestershire seem to have no answer to this and we are in no hurry as the slow ball onslaught goes on and Kieswetter has his sights on three figures I reckon.
Gidman is still using his 6 bowlers (not sure if he has any more or he sees little point in trying them). It isn't until another error that the Glads get another wicket as Pete tries to clear the infield and gets the height wrong and is caught by the midwicket fielder at 135 in the 23rd. He goes for 16 off 17 and in comes Nick Compton. Craig! Keep him off strike and be careful about early calls.
Nick gets the strike and calls for a decent single to get himself off the mark and for the moment all is right with the world as we move towards the 25th and the 150 scoreline. It is 145 for 2 at the start of the 25th with CK on 69 and NC on 3. Young manages to tie them down and they end the over 1 short of the next target score. A double from the keeper brings it up 2 balls into the 26th. There is very dark clouds about the place but as we are 40 runs ahead of the D/L required score at the end of the over we aren't particularly worried. A flipped four to the CA followed by a reverse sweep to the Trescothick by Compo helps the score along and we end it on 160.
A note of positivity for Gloucestershire though. The progress of the Somerset juggernaught suggested that we would be past the score sometime in the 31st over but Young has put the brakes on at the River to some extent and it will take longer than that. 169 at the start of the 30th thoguh Gidman is dispatched to the Somerset stand ball one to take us over 170.
By the end of the 31st it is 198 and CK has been dropped by Jack Taylor who had a nightmare of ao steepling one to deal with half in shadow and half out. The 200 comes in the 32nd with Craig on 95 and Nick providing excellent support on 33. We need 12 off 42 and CK needs 4 for his ton. Payne is bowling the 33rd and CK gets a single off the first. NC gets a single off the second and there is nothing off the third. A single off the fourth takes the keeper to 98 while his partner puts him back on strike for the last ball. He tries to steal the strike but is sent back by the "runout king". Over 34 and Dawson has Kies on stike for ball 2 on 98. There are 5 runs needed and he hits a boundary to tie the game and take him to 102. 101 balls 3 sixes and 9 fours plus a standing ovation. Dawson bowls and he sixes him into the Ondaatje. 108 and a win by 8 wickets with 6 overs to spare. YES!! Well done to everyone but especially well done to Craig Kieswetter superb stuff.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011:05:10:11:43:01 by Grockle.
Have an enjoyable day. May the sun shine favourably upon you, and may the best team win.
Really looking forward to seeing Gregory for the first time.
Are they really going to play Barrow instead of Dibble? I'd have thought not? Would be looking forward to seeing Dibble too - I don't think he played in the West Indies? Obviously, that's not to say I don't want to see Barrow - I am interested to see him too, but if he plays I doubt he will get more than a maximum of a couple of overs in which to bat, as the top order puts Gloucs to the sword.
Would expect to win this one convincingly.
My 50 over preferences have got the better of me!! Will change it.
And I don't mean he looks good 'for an 18 year old."
Bowling as quickly as Kirby, but into the stiff breeze. Looks really dangerous.
so.....what might this imply about Gregory's pace potential..?
I remember him being much flatter and quicker than this.
A change to a slower, more loopy style of bowling is to be welcomed, in my view.
Looks like a bit of a collapse from Gloucs..
Keep it going lads.
Grizzzly
Some of the rest of the fielding a bit patchy, though.
For the sake of any neutrals at the game, I hope they are able to perform fairly well, otherwise this might end rather quickly.
On the other hand, from our point of view, if we can get a decent start, then I'd like to see us send Jos up the order to try to get it over with quickly, so improving our position in terms of Net Run Rate.
We're doomed!!
"Woeful fielding finds Somerset wanting" I can see the local headlines now
The large majority of the fielding today (and in the game on Friday for that matter) has been magnificent.
Pete fielded brilliantly with several good boundary saves and the amazing catch.
Otherwise, though, there have also been a few misfields - a couple from Mendis early, there was a badly dropped catch by Compton and Craig has been somewhat scrappy behind the stumps, IMO, missing quite a bit down the leg side.
Were you making the Tea again or are you just desperately looking for some fly in the ointment on a pretty comprehensive dismantling of a pretty ordinary one day side by a far superior one.
Give some good with the bad for a change or expect supporters to comment on this pitiful attempt to look for some kind of downgrade of a very decent day.
It's 104 for 1 off 17 by the way - are we scoring too slowly perhaps?
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011:05:08:18:25:37 by Grockle.
My view of the fielding is what it is. The Sky guys are certainly of the same view though, saying quite frequently, that they've often seen SCCC field better than this.
Admittedly, the outfield itself is not very good and that may have contributed to the Mendis mis-fields, although players should know to expect the ball to bobble when it's like this. Equally the outfield had nothing to do with some of the misses down the leg-side by Craig nor anything to do with Compton's drop for the very simple reason that the ball did not touch the outfield before those errors occurred.
I'm not saying it's been "really rough," just patchy by which I mean up and down.
Mismatches such as this one make one wonder whether the correct structure for Pro 40 should not be 3 divisions of six (divisions made on merit) as opposed to 3 random groups of six?
Wouldn't be surprised if the England selectors try to have some sort of say in future to try to get to that position as they will want prospective England players to be tested as best they can on this circuit.
We've basically mullered Gloucestershire today, which was always very, very likely. Craig has batted beautifully, but I would think this would have been one of his easier 'days in the office.'
The Sky guys seem to be going with Andy Bichel as the "bowleralike," if not "lookalike."
And why didn't you say it was the opinion of the SKY commentators? I could have easily disregarded it in that case...silly me.
I usually see positive comments from you when there isn't a negative comment to make or someone has questioned your negativity. I rarely read a balance between the two in one post and if I do the negative aspect tends to have prominence.
That however is a secondary aspect. I'll question the inaccuracy of your comments as well and that one was an inaccurate comment. It matters not one jot whether it is your opinion, the SKY commentators or Boyc's grandma's.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011:05:08:18:44:05 by Grockle.
Well bowled LG. Well batted CK!
Kieswetter's CB40 average is presently 154. 100, 5 95 not out and 108 not out. Fair one day work..or is it patchy I wonder?
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No, I did mean patchy overall... not Mendis in particular.
It was NOT an "inaccurate comment," per se, Grockle, it was a comment that you disagree with. There is a very obvious difference there.
They normally only cover CC games at the busines end of the season, don't they?
He seemed extremely analytical, reflective and level-headed.
I thoguht it was an interview which demonstrated a very considerable resolve.
Re: Lewis Gregory; Brian Rose told Atherton that Lewis will end up batting "at 4 or 5," for SCCC.
Which when you consider that he can bowl at nearly 90 mph into a stiff wind as well... extremely exciting.
16 boundaries in a score of 213 does not suggest a fielding problem.
66 runs from 16 balls means the other 147 came from 224?
Strike rates of 70% (767/11) suggest they scored off 7 out of 10 balls faced? (a bit lower I assume if you take out the boundaries and the S/R of Dawson with 4x4 in his score of 23 - 255%)
I think therefore it is fair to assume that with such a low score the majority of runs came in singles
I can remember few if any 2's from misfields and even fewer 3's
Add to that the excellent catches of Kirby and Trego and the stats simply don't back up your contention of a general patchy fielding performance
So there ya go. Excellent performance all round really and on to the next one. Much more of a problem I am sure it will be.
It was also good to see all four of the batsmen performing well.
I agree with AG that (to paraphrase) it seemed like men against boys at times today.
My view is that it was up and down. There were at least two misfields which cost singles - one by Mendis, one by Tres (at short extra.) There was one bad dropped catch (Compton.) Two other chances, both about an 8 out of 10 in difficulty got away .. one wide of Tres at slip, one what would have been (I think) a leg-side strangle to Craig. Craig also missed or fumbled quite a bit down the leg-side.
The above were the down bits of the fielding, especially the Compton drops. The main up bits were one excellent early leg-side take by Craig (before any of the other later fumbles) a couple of excellent diving boundary stops by Pete and, of course, his magnificent boundary catch.
If I'd said it rained for most of the game that would have been factually incorrect - because that is actually a verifiable statement - either it did or it did not.
How the team did or did not field is a matter of opinion.
16 boundaries in the innings does not suggest a BOWLING problem. It does not say much about fielding, other than that there were no misfields which led to boundaries, unlike the embarrassing one by Gloucs at wide long-on near the end of our innings.
I say in my opinion because there was one at backward point where, I felt, Suppiah did not really have a great chance to cut it off with his dive, but the bowler (Kirby) seemed to have a different view on the matter, as Arul was given a glare and something was shouted.
Nice coffee in the OP.
Meant to ask Tractor about Bill, as I have seen him this season. I trust he's ok healthwise?
Lewis Gregory - Man of the Match and deservedly so. And Brian and Marcus say he will bat at 4 or 5 in time? Wow - one helluva prospect!
Pete's fielding was amazing and a gem of an innings from Craig to see us home.
The ground looked in a great state as well and there surely is no finer place to watch cricket. Happy days!
Comprehensive win which was full of positives. Really impressed with Gregory and I thought Dibble bar one over did well. Kieswetter is heading for the ODI's and Tres showed that we need not worry about his form.
The fielding needs tightening up but its a small concern and something I expect to improve in time for the T20.
Good times!!
Gregory with the ball was excellent but also thought Kirby & Dibble assisted well. Trego was fantastic in the field, particularly enjoyed that diving stop down by the MT stand.
Kieswetter's form is fantastic, seems to have matured over the winter with the England dev squad and seems a more complete player as a result. Hope we don't lose him too much to England this summer.
Also think Compton came in and played a very aggressive innings - in fact at one point I thought he was going to deny Craig getting his ton.
Wonder if Trego's 6 has come back out of orbit yet either, that was a bit of a monster hit.
Compton's drop (one missed catch is a 'drop' not 'drops' I'd stick that in your 8 to 10 in diffculty on that one as well if I was you).
2 single misses it seems plus some "fumbles" (were they hit by the batsman? If not they were stops not fumbles) and 'misses' down the legside by Craig. I'll only count the misses because the fumbles do not allow runs mostly when a keeper is involved
Oh and a miss that you don't think was a miss but a bowler you criticise for his attitude on the pitch DID think was a miss
So the 'patchy' performance seems to have cost. Hmmm let's see;
a wicket in a low scoring match (well let's neutralise that by referring to the brilliant Trego catch)
About...10 possible runs would you say if you include the Suppiah 'miss'?
Did you watch Mendis bowl? Did you notice the number of times that fielders on the Somerset boundary turned possible boundaries into singles? Gloucestershire should have murdered him and it is partly down to the work of Kirby and Hildreth (I think) that they didn't
Did you see Trescothick's two brilliant short fielded stops?
Did you see Pete Trego's excellent anticipated goalkeeper like save of the straight drive just after the first ten overs?
Do we include Craig's other legside keeping when he didn't fumble/miss?
Did you watch Gregory fielding off his own bowling?
I assume you noticed how difficult the Gloucestershire batsmen found it to pierce the inner field - you can't hit boundaries if the in-field stop you doing it.
Well next time we actually have a 50:50 fielding performance that could actually be classified as 'patchy' and give away a more convincing number of runs. I'll await your assessment that the fielding was "appalling" or "atrocious" - such a hard taskmaster.
In my opinion you heard a statement - converted it into a general assessment and posted it. As a general statement it was incorrect and now you've spent numerous posts trying to justify it. At best you have a couple of guys who made mistakes and a couple more who missed about 15% of what came their way.
That's either "patchy" fielding or mistaken . I'll take the latter. You're most welcome to take the former.
But I think you ought to stop trying to justify it now. Most people will have made their own assessments and you're not going to convince me that you're right.
It's been fun though. We must do it again some time.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011:05:08:21:43:49 by Grockle.
Enough said 6 out of 6.
Roll on tuesday v Durham.
COACH
If Dockrell is nearing fitness, he could fill in the one-day spinning gap between the imminent departure of Mendis and the return of Murali Kartik.
We started the day with the grand opening of the “Ondaatje Stand” by no other than Sir Christopher Ondaatje himself, with Andy Nash holding the tape.
D Payne well bowled by man of the match Lewis Gregory.
And to show us it was no fluke Lewis Gregory then bowled J Taylor.
I thought K Williamson batted well for his 47.
Until K Williamson was caught by C Kieswetter bowled by A Dibble.
A shame Marcus Trescothick tried one sweep shot too many and was lbw bowled by R Dawson, Marcus admitted he was very nervous when he went out to bat today, today’s inning should help settle the nerves down.
I do have a photo with the stumps at all angles but this shows what Lewis Gregory is good at, bowling good length balls W Gidman found this out with the cost of his wicket.
Edit - Taylor and Payne should be the other way round in order of wickets falling.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011:05:09:11:11:12 by Mike BOS.
Really? Were they showing TV replays on the ground? I think if you'd seen the look on Compton's face afterwards, then one would definitely not think that Compton thought it was a difficult chance. Seriously, it was a little bit low, but not overly so given the position where he was fielding (I think you are expecting low catches there) and there was not much in the way of power behind it. I think it was a more a 4 out of 10 and that's being kind.
With him, Alfie and sparcely KP to bowl in 20-20's, our bowling options look great.
Alfie+Kartik last IPL game to be Sat 21st May.
Mr Rose therefore "hopes" both will be available for the Yorks home game on May 24th.
Lets hope we learn from the Mendis error of off the plane straight into a match, have my doubts on either playing personally, best wait until June 1st and start of T20 campaign???
Excellent photos Mike and you were right. The two stills are entirely different.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2011:05:08:23:42:59 by Grockle.
So Rosey is expecting MK to come straight to the UK? Last season he had a break before he made his way here.
Then again, presently he'll probably be bursting to bowl some overs :-)
Although Windies selection/contract issues etc seem a shambles currently so who knows...
Seems little point in us having KP. If we make a mark before game 8 then someone will miss out who has contributed and I'm never particularly happy about that myself.
If we have suffered from the loss of KP then he'll be able to have no real influence on our final position if he is arriving so late.
Waste of money? Well I suppose we've spent it now.
Especially encouraging to hear about LG & AD. They both sound great prospects.
Add to that CK & Marcus, plus more heroics from PT.
All sounds like a darned good game to watch !
You lucky people !!
Grizzzly
Perhaps the difference this time is that the IPL started later so there was a breather in between the Indian domestic season and it starting?
Pete was massive in the field - and nearly repeated his glass smashing escapade with his massive six.
Our fielding was mostly superb with the odd lapse. The outfield isn't the billiard-smooth surface of recent years yet.
Everyone here rightly raves about Gregory. Hope he keeps this all in perspective and continues to work and develop - his post match interview suggests he will!
Craig batted with great maturity and has sent an immemse signal to the Eng selectors. Liked the Tresco comment that he was very nervous to start with and Craig 'talked to me and told me what to do'. Says a lot about Tresco's leadership and Craig's development.
Compo seems to have taken on board all our advice about being more aggressive in his one-day innings!
Gloucs were thoroughly outclassed in all departments - and so we retain the the West Country bragging rights!
It's already been said by everyone but what a great team performance, great bowling especially LG, great fielding especially PT and great batting especially CK.
Onwards to Durham......
Wurz
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Grizzzly