What's in store in '24? The early view - Red Ball
By Grockle
December 3 2023
With just over 100 days before the season starts and a couple of weeks before Christmas it's a decent time to talk about what may be available for the 2024 Championship campaign. It has been pretty quiet from Taunton about international plans etc and the only real announcement is a change in club leadership as Tom Abell steps down as club skipper to concentrate on his game after 7 years of being in charge. So what do we presently have? What are we presently short of?
It wasn't the greatest of CC1 campaigns in 2023. We've had better and there were times when we really looked in trouble especially in the early days. Eventually we sorted out some of the issues and in the end we sat in the middle, not worrying the sides above us but better than those fighting to stay out of the relegation positions.
Somerset were a predominently 'short form' batting line-up with some of our red ball players not hitting form or suffering from injury. New boys coming in found the going hard, Cameron Bancroft didn't really get his feet under him and make any kind of dent in the side during his short initial contract. We lost Lewis Goldsworthy for quite a lot of the four day season after that, after initially not picking him. We preferred George Bartlett and that, in the end, did not work with George deciding to try in Northants next season. He did the job more than once but still fought to find consistency and we wish him luck in finding that next season in a new environment.
Many people looking for positives in the county's batting talk about the number of batting points we got last season. Few came to the opening partnership and many went to a guy called James Rew our 19 year old batting prodigy who saved our blushes way more than once. We were more effective most times in our second innings and relied on the safety net provided by our bowling resources, especially Matt Henry to keep us in games without a decent total to defend at halfway.
BATTING
So how might things change next year? As already stated, George Bartlett has decided to try his luck elsewhere. He probably saw the writing on the 'middle order' wall and thought he might be fighting a losing battle to consistently represent the county in CC1 games.
The batsmen who will be looking to be considered in the top 6 for Somerset in 2024 will be presently;
Sean Dickson, Tom Lammonby, Tom Banton, Andy Umeed, Lewis Goldsworthy, Tom Abell, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, James Rew
The main question has to be which two will open? It is not certain as no player really made an unassailable claim for an opening spot - though a couple were favoured well above others. If we sign an international batsman it needs to be an opener to be honest though mangement may decide we can perm 6 from the 8 here. One would assume two of those will feature without much discussion. James Rew and Tom Abell will play surely. Lewis Goldsworthy should also be in the middle order, we missed him so many times it is doubtful he won't feature. Two of them could be an outside opening partnership, Tom A ended up being part of a new ball batting pair most of the time anyway as we lost early wickets a lot of the time. Rew has been mentioned more than once but the pressure of batting and keeping may be an issue - though there are two other 'keepers' in the list should that be a consideration - sharing the keeping roles could easily be done couldn't it? Also James is just 20 for heaven's sake. If he fits then use him.
The other 3? Sean Dickson was favoured in the front end for most of the season, though his best contributions tended to come lower in the order. He suggests a white and red ball mentality but hasn't really lorded the four day with his skills yet. Will they continue to flog the opening place for him? If they do it has to start to show some returns. The same is true of Tom Lammonby, as he enters his third season as a 'prospective' number 2. Again, the county has shown loyalty in picking him in that position without really seeing a valuable return for the faith. Is that where he will work next year? I'm not sure it will solve our specific problem, especially if we continue with Dickson as his opening partner. If an international comes in then one of these will have to step down, the present thinking tends to suggest it will be Sean. The jury is still in the debating chamber presently.
The other two people in this equation are Tom Banton who the county showed almost no faith in as a red ball player last season despite his last 4 day innings before then being a century. He simply wasn't considered before the T20, where he settled into his opening role as the competition went on. He was hardly considered after the Blast despite the established batting choices not really changing gear as the season went on. He got a couple of starts in September but hardly got to hit a ball in the matches due to weather restrictions and batting at number 5 or 6.
The other prominent opener for the county during 2023 eventually started to be considered after being ignored until his phenomenal performances in the Metrobank 50. Andy Umeed was signed because of his work in the seconds in 2022 as an opening bat. He was then shelved in the seconds for most of 2023, despite our issues with openers until he was brought in to open the 50 over side. He produced the best batting of the side and of the tournament as a whole in those games and made himself almost impossible to not consider for red ball games at the end of 2023. Despite this he still only managed to get in as a number 5 bat. Lucky for us really as the top 4 continued to underperform in late games. Will he be allowed to stake a claim early in 2024? The indications are that he will still be an afterthought unfortunately though I hope those indicators are incorrect.
One hopes both of these players will get a chance to put themselves forward. However, little suggests this will happen as selectors time and time again refused to change an order that was not putting the runs on the board, for the whole season, very little change took place and it is not the first time that Somerset have followed the plan that if you don't change things then things will be different next time - it has rarely worked.
The last name is TKC He plays one way - he did play one innings last year in Southampton where he adapted his play to the conditions and produced probably his best rexd ball innings and looked as solid as he did. Unless this has taken the blinkers away, he will simply revert to the white ball version he usually provides. So... presently he is a bat we can only afford if the front end fire and he henters the fray with a softer ball and lesser active change bowlers. That didn't happen often enough and TKC was often just a wicket waiting to fall. So presently it is suggested that Somerset can only afford his bat in our red ball top 6 if we solve the other problems. If that happens, at the back end of the line-up he can be quite devastating.
So, the answer to the question is that not a lot may change and we still have a predominently 'white' ball batting line-up trying to find it's order in 4 day games. There was little experimentation last year and little changed during the season. There are candidates for changes to take place but a seeming reluctance to change within the management as of this article. We may see an international player brought in - possibly as captain. That has worked in the past but does not solve the long term problem for the county and may cause more problems of player discontent than it solves in one season. We may not need an opening bat, we just don't seem to be willing to try other combinations as we still have players looking for their best position. It is an ongoing problem and little happened last year to create a working solution other than 'hope it goes well today' kind of selection. Maybe that will change?
ALL ROUNDERS
The question of an internal candidate for the captaincy of the red ball side seems to focus on two people who would both see themselves as 'all rounders'. The general view is that the 'obvious' internal candidate to replace Tom A is Lewis Gregory who will start the season in that middle all rounder position at 7. His main rival internally seems to be the other 'all rounder' Craig Overton who would be looking to make the number 8 position his own. Should either of these two not make a good start then Ben Green will be looking to take a step into the side as the batting bowler after an excellent Blast series last year which pulled him into the 'franchise' market and took him away from the captaincy of 50 over side (something which probably would have been better for his playing career if not for his bank balance). Ben will be looking to make a claim for that position and it is up to the present incumbents to play well and keep him out. Lewis Goldsworthy will see himself in this role with his slow bowling but he is quite definitely better with the bat than a lower order role, especially until we sort out our front end issues. Kasey may also see himself in one of these roles though in 2023 his power with the bat far outweighed his influence with the ball.
BOWLING
This may be an area of weakness for Somerset next summer and we will be hoping to probably bolster resources here with at least one international signing. However, presently that is not the case so what do we have? The names here are;
Josh Davey, Jack Leach, Shoaib Bashir, Kasey Aldridge, Ned Leonard, JT Langridge, Alfie Ogborne, Sonny Baker
If we assume of course that the injury issues are all sorted and taking into account that Gregory, Overton and Green will all be making claims to be part of the front line bowling attack.
From a seam point of view, Josh is obviously part of the first choice in an opening bowling attack. We have to hope that he will be fully fit once more. He wasn't for most of 2023 and we suffered because of it. We need him at full belt with the others but we also need a second string to fill the places and give rests to the opening men who give a lot and struggle to stay fully fit all season as age takes its toll. That second string needs to be more effective in 2024.
So who are the replacements? Alfie started to get a name and then was injured - he needs to come back hungry, hopefully having filled out a bit as well. Kasey was the first 'cab off the rank' after making his claim in 2022 but unfortunately last season he did not really show the penetration we were hoping for and did more with the bat than the ball - we need better from him early in 2024. Ned and JT got a few opportunities but both struggled with injury and did not push through, when they got in, enough to be certain of places should they be needed. Got to hope they have identified the things they need to do and will work through the winter to be ready for producing more next season. Finally we have hopes that Sonny will get the chance to play a season without major injury and has not been affected too much by the real problems he has had in his back since the exciting way he broke through in 2021.
Two other names will be knocking hopefully next season and they are the Thomas brothers with bat and ball. Josh and George are 'coming of age' for consideration with bat and ball. Is Archie Vaughan looking for a place as well?
From a spin point of view, Jack Leach is hoping to be bowling early in the year and if he is ready, England will want him bowling domestically in the 4 day games to get back to match sharpness. Shoaib has shown he will be ready should Jack not be there and will be working with the 'master' to learn his trade as the second match spinner in the county. He is still young but the indications are promising.
Bowling resources, expecially in the seam area are sparse and inexperienced. We need a Matt Henry to come in and fill that wicket taking gap. Presently we have 2.5 wicket takers where we need 4.5. Injury will rear its head and we presently don't have obvious wicket taking replacements for the 'Old Guard' who are getting older and more susceptible to injury niggles, despite the fact that they will, and have, bowled through the pain in the past and gone beyond what ought to be expected. We could do with 2 younger bowlers making a significant level step up in 2024 PLUS international additions to bolster the front line. We cannot rely on the bowlers to get us out of those difficult situations in the way they have for the last couple of seasons, the bowlers need new blood and help from the batting line-up.
Assuming a healthy season from Gregory, Overton (expected to be with us for most of the season as he does not seem to be anywhere near 'flavour of the month' with the present England setup) and Davey we could be nearly there but we are realistically 2 bowlers short of a solid attack. Abell and Green can do a job but our other resources have yet to show that they can be consistently relied on to add to the scalps in a game. We haven't mentioned Tom Lammonby as a left hand option. This is mostly because he hardly turned his arm over last year and until he does (sidelined with a long term ankle injury) we can't really assess his value. It's an area for developement with some uncertainty concerning the long term capabiilities of our younger bowling assets already on staff. A solid international strike bowler seems to be essential from the early season for as long as is possible and into September if possible.
There's a very useful CC1 side here with good sensible signing on the international market and some more adventurous selection from the internal pool. However, just because the building blocks are there does not mean they will be used to do anything other than build a 'lean to' that doesn't completely fall down during the red ball season. Very little from this season suggests that our management want more than a solid middle table Championship performance from the county. They seem to be happy with a non relegation 4 day season while they push for white ball silverware. So we may well get more of the same in 2024. Pray this assessment is wrong, there may not be many seasons left to get that elusive Championship pennant before it is totally devalued in the global push for T20 glory.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2023:12:10:10:04:18 by Grockle.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2023:12:04:21:15:21 by wsm fan.
. We need a bowler for sure, preferably under 30 if he isn't Matt Henry đ Depends what's available in a WC year and when people are available. 2? Doubtful 2 for a season? Even more doubtful. Some kinda conglomerate signing of different professionals for different parts? Possible but not really what we need.
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2023:12:04:12:42:48 by Grockle.
Grizzers
As you say an international captain might be something we knew by now... but that isn't to say the deal has not been done, it just means no-one has told us.
With the possibility of a vote on the future of county cricket coming up, Mr Hollins might need some good news to act as 'sugar' for other decisions seemingly not being made after consultation with the membership of the club... unless there is other news we don't know yet....
If there are announcements of additions to the playing resources over the next 100 or so days I'll update with him in it as I planned to do anyway
Hope there's reason to as there are other additions to.our 2023 playing squad.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2023:12:05:18:48:26 by Grockle.
However, should there be issues and we need to turn to our second string I'm not sure where he is seen in relation to Kasey, Ben, Sonny, Ned? Is he ahead? On a par?
This for me is exactly the mindset issue we need to get away from.
Surrey don't have 1st choice bowlers or back ups.
They have 6/7/8 all seen capable of doing a job & rotate, come in out.
We only ever talk about dropping or playing, resting is an ugly word in Somerset......
We play 7 red ball games in 8 weeks. If we play the same "first choice" attack in all 7 we won't have any fit by July.
Ball is quite clearly one of the 6/7 we should/will be using, even more so should Craig not be fit by April or Hurry can't find us an oversea.....
Lewis Ball Davey Craig Kasey.
That's only 5.
Ned Alfie Sonny still plenty to do to show they are part of our real red ball mix
He wouldn't be the first bowler to come to Taunton and change expectations - we've had both types. Those who have done better than expected and those who have done worse
He's also not the only bowler we will have next year with a question mark by his name concerning his value to the side. Neil Wagner had one, Gemal Hussain had another but there are the Alfonsos, Charls and Steves on the other side. There's more than one youngster as I pointed out.
All down to Jake I suppose - just don't see him starting as number 4, or maybe even 5 on the 'seamer' list is all (I'd add Ben Green and an international into your list - and that isn't if you add 2 Tom's to the bowling resources). He has the same job as the younger Somerset bowlers - to make his case.
There's mentality and then there's sensible contractual arrangements - once more the contractors need to see their faith come to fruition early.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2023:12:06:21:12:31 by Grockle.
LoL
Seventy-eight Seasons a Somerset Supporter
Here are some thoughts to wake us all up for the New Year:
I wonder if anyone else has noticed the shift in emphasis in the 2024 SCCC Membership Campaign? Not an entirely new concept. It has been in increasing prominence in the Clubâs public statements during 2023. Here are the headlines on the front of the membership campaign brochure for 2024:
âOur Region Rises
One Region United and Galvanised by Success
One Region Built Upon the Foundation of its Glorious History
One Club as the Focal Point for Six Million Voices
Join us as our Region Rises for the 2024 Campaignâ
There are also a number of references to the region in the brochure and the membership promotional video is called, âOur Region Risesâ.
To give some context to that, according to the UK Population Data website, which takes its data from the Office for National Statistics, the population of Somerset is approximately 965,000. According to the Office for National Statistics' own website, the population of the South West Region is 5.7 million. However, in addition to Somerset, the South West region consists of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and the Metropolitan County of Bristol. Hampshire and Berkshire apart, it is coterminous with the pre-Norman conquest English country of Wessex. Now there is a name to conjure with.
In comparison, the combined population of Lancashire, Merseyside and Greater Manchester is approximately 5.4 million with another million in Cheshire. West Midlands has a population of 2.9 million.
The emphasis on Region fits with statements from Gordon Hollins at Q&As, as I understood them at least, emphasising the importance of the Club having a strong regional profile if it wishes to maintain influence with the ECB alongside Counties with a huge population base such as Surrey, Lancashire and Warwickshire. He has also said that the Club would have a much stronger pull with Local Authorities and businesses, investment or sponsorship from which it will need to increase significantly if it is to compete with the likes of Surrey and the rest in the fast-developing cricketing world.
Surrounding all this is the context of ongoing increasing player wage inflation and competition for the best county players from T20 Leagues beginning to appear during the same time slot as the English domestic season. And as well, the increasingly probable expansion of The Hundred to ten teams. In the specific context of The Hundred expansion, the proposal from Gloucestershire to seek an âout-of-townâ stadium to replace Nevil Road is âinterestingâ.
I draw no conclusions from any of this, but it does raise some interesting thoughts to get the year underway.
An interesting inheritance too for Jamie Cox.
Farmer
We may not like it I'm afraid.