GOOGLIES & CHINAMEN
An Occasional Cricketing Journal
Edition 125
May 2013
Waste of Money Matters
The picture below is an image featuring 50 cryptic clues to cricketing terms. It’s called ‘Whatzat!’ The ECB have commissioned it and apparently there are international and county tickets to be won. Why? Who authorises them to waste money on such crap?
Out and About with the Professor
Anyone who knows anything about cricket - or indeed about anything at all - knows that the optimism of a pre-season meeting and talk of winning the championship can only be followed by a heavy defeat...and so it proved for Yorkshire.
Reality followed the hubris of the AGM in March in the shape of 96 all out on the first day of the season and, a couple of days later, an innings defeat.
In truth they were lucky to be playing at all given that ten days before the start of the match the outfield had sizable heaps of snow scattered about. Gale's heart must have sunk when he lost the toss and the green stripy looking wicket did the rest (although it was somehow easier to bat on when the opposition got in...isn't it always?). I missed the final day, since I knew what the outcome would be, and had already frozen to death in the Yorkshire sunshine on the previous days. I have decided that the sun is colder in Yorkshire than elsewhere. Several regulars on the north-east terraces dress like Cossacks and the whole lot do a passable impression of a bunch of extras from a remake of Ivan the Terrible. I think we must have local dispensation from the laws of thermodynamics.
Still this little hiccup was followed by a very good win at Durham and so the assault on the championship is still on track...except, of course, for another hiccup in the shape of Derbyshire. For the second game at the Headquarters of the North our captain Gale had learnt the lesson of the first match and so stuck the opposition in when he won the toss. The good Yorkshire folk were happy to see an early dismissal for Godleman - given his recent slowest 50 of the millennium (they don't like slow scoring in Yorkshire...well not by the opposition) - but that was pretty much that for some time: Madsen continued his good form from last year and Chesney Hughes did what Chesney Hughes does - he misses balls that he is trying to block and belts just about anything else to all parts of the ground. He was especially fierce on anything overpitched…and Yorkshire provided quite a lot of that. The upshot was a hundred in very reasonable time completed with the now mandatory six over mid-on. When I left at the close of play he was 170 odd not out and things are not looking too good for tomorrow.
Yorkshire have, in my view, some uncertainties about the balance of the side. They have lost some batting from last year and recruited bowlers in their stead. The game at Durham was won largely via Root's bat but when/if he, Bairstow and Bresnan depart for England duty who will do the necessary plate stepping-up? Perhaps the newly-recruited bowlers will score some runs – Plunkett is more than capable – or perhaps there are plans "going forward". Both the Chairman and the Director of Cricket refer, with some frequency, to "going forward". When did this silly phrase become a synonym for "the future"? Does it sound more "positive" (another facile neologism) than “the future”? Perhaps it means that while the future is uncertain we will know exactly what to do "going forward". Let's hope so.
Sofa Cricket
Northamptonshire v Essex at Northampton
Ex Middlesex man Steven Crook took 4 for 39 as Essex were bundled out for 183. Graham Napier almost as regular as Shahid Afridi in the Red Mist Columns made 73 not out from 65 balls in an innings which included 5 sixes. Northamptonshire had reached 282 for 9 when Trent Copeland joined Crook. They added 117 for the last wicket before Copeland was dismissed for 70 leaving Crook undefeated on 88. This partnership took the game away from Essex who were dismissed for 207 in their second innings and they lost without forcing Northants to bat again. David Willey took 5 for 67 and Crook added two more wickets. Middlesex may regret having released him before the season is out.
Surrey v Somerset at Kennington Oval
Alviro Petersen is already looking a shrewd signing for Somerset. He made 167 out of Somerset’s first innings total of 384 and then added 91 out of 251 in the second dig. Burns and Davies made hundreds for Surrey and Buttler scored 94 in Somerset’s second innings. Kieswetter scored 43 and 1 and will continue to be under pressure from Davies and Buttler who are almost certainly better batters than he is. None of them can keep wicket, of course.
Warwickshire v Durham at Edgbaston
County Champions Warwickshire made 345 and in reply Durham were 50 for 6 when Borthwick joined Collingwood and they added 153. Borthwick went on to record his first championship hundred. He is primarily a leg spinner and still only 23. Any runs he gets in proper cricket will nudge him closer to Panesar as the back up for Swann. Ambrose (105) and Clarke (91) took Warwickshire to a second innings total of 351. The second time round Durham only managed 91 as ex Middlesex man Chris Wright took 6 for 31.
Durham v Yorkshire at Chester-le-Street
This match jogged along for three days with nothing very exciting to report on. Mark Stoneman made a hundred for Durham and Graham Onions took 5 for 63 to nudge the selectors. Yorkshire were set 335 to win on the last day and cantered home to win by four wickets with Joe Root adding 182 to his first innings top score of 49. Root seems to be claiming a place as the top of the young gun English batsmen which also spells the end of Ravi Bopara claims to a test place. It may make Morgan’s chances going forward slim.
Surrey v Sussex at Kennington Oval
It is great to be able to stop calling this ground the Britannia or Kia Oval and revert to its historic name. The wickets seem to be traditional too with runs in abundance. Gary Wilson scored a hundred in Surrey’s first innings of 351. In reply Sussex accumulated 526 with Luke Wells scoring 206. Wells has one of the opening slots for Sussex this season and weight of runs could turn him into one of the front runners for test recognition. Chris Tremlett got through 28 overs for Surrey and as soon as he starts to take wickets he will become a contender for an Ashes place, as long as he can stay fit. In their second innings Surrey reached 308 for 5 by the end of the match. They will need to find a way to produce results if they are to compete for honours or avoid relegation.
Somerset v Warwickshire at Taunton
Alviro Petersen scored another hundred and Joss Buttler was undefeated on 119 as Somerset reached 409 in their first innings. Their seamers then rolled Warwickshire over for 158. Nick Compton made a hundred in Somerset’s second innings as Warwickshire were set 515 to win. They made a reasonable fist of it finishing on 427 for 9 with Rikki Clarke and Oliver Hannon-Dalby hanging on for 78 minutes to save the match.
Gobbledegook at Middlesex and Herts
Paddy Carlin sent me this
Reading the Middlesex chief Executive’s screed about the “year of change and improvement” made me scratch my head and wonder about the “whole new sport plan” from Sport England (who they?). We have had the Building Partnership Plan, the Grounds to Play scheme and recently the Improvement Planning Process. This recent and no doubt costly initiative has now been dropped because “outputs were driving delivery and not needs”. I quote: “In other words this will no longer be a numbers game”.
Anyone familiar with office speak will recognize the terms used – stakeholders, growth cycles, outcome pathways etc – all to loving the “Ready to invest Mindset”. There are integrated networks, integrated player pathways and coherent offers. There are visions, strategic outcomes and hidden strategies. There is also a load of bollocks.
This crap is not the sole preserve of the First Class Counties either as my recent attendance at the Hertfordshire AGM attested. Hertfordshire cricket is apparently “bringing cricket to life” via Overarching Strategic Outcomes, Intermediate Outcomes and Service Outcomes. Of course a large staff is needed if only to write everything down. There is a snag though – there is little money left for this. Two years ago Hertfordshire County Cricket Club divided itself in two: Herts Cricket Board Ltd with directors, a CEO, Secretary, Development team and a strategic Development Manager; and Herts County Cricket Club Ltd with directors, a CEO, Company Secretary etc etc. The result was probably the worst season in the club’s history with no games won. The only bright notes were good performances from the Disabilities XI and the over fifties. I say this with a wry smile as the new management and selectors decided to purge the team of all WGCCC involvement and look what happened!
At the meeting the Chairman (an ex county skipper of usually much good sense) called the County Club “a brand” but he did redeem himself slightly by announcing that quite soon the confusing over manned dual structure would become one again. The other gobbledegook feature of the meeting was a longish presentation by the County’s Strategic Cricket Development Manager who stated that his prime concern was to consider the sort of cricket people wanted to play ten years hence. Though I paraphrase as he is an expert in the terminology of management speak. He has to go!
Without all this claptrap, relatively free from ECB/Herts interference WGCCC looks forward to another decent season with no fewer than twenty teams in the field - seven senior, thirteen junior and also one girls team.
Middlesex Matters
Middlesex didn’t dominate their opening Championship matches until relatively late on when a key bowling spell turned the match in their favour.
At Trent Bridge things were fairly evenly placed when Middlesex took a modest first innings lead. When Notts batted again Neil Dexter took 5 for 27 which set up a relatively straightforward Middlesex win.
At Lords Middlesex were unable to take a first innings lead but Tim Murtagh’s 5 for 12 ensured that Middlesex had an easy task to chase down a small second innings target to win comfortably. Roland-Jones chipped in with a hat trick as Derby were bundled out.
These matches show that the ability to take wickets in these matches is crucial. Middlesex’s West Indian quickie (sic) Corey Collymore hasn’t featured yet and he probably ranks behind Harris who couldn’t get in the side himself at Lord’s when Finn was available. If any of the wickets require spin Middlesex may find themselves in more trouble as nobody believes that Rayner is in the requisite class and the other spinners lack experience and, possibly, promise.
The Great Jack Morgan was at Lord’s to report on the Derbyshire match
James Harris tweaked a hamstring in the excellent 10 wicket win at Trent Bridge, so Middlesex were able to find a place in the team for occasional bowler Steve Finn (who has apparently been having some interesting discussions with the Managing Director of Cricket about his new run up) in the Championship match against Derbyshire at Lord's on April 17. Chris Rogers won the toss and asked Derbyshire to bat first, presumably hoping that his strong hand of swing and seam bowlers would find the cold, windy and cloudy conditions to their liking. It was Rogers himself, however, who provided the early breakthrough when he brilliantly fielded a fine off drive from his opposite number Wayne Madsen from Durban, then threw down the wicket at the striker's end before Madsen could regain his ground and the visitors were 3 for 1.
There was no more success for the home team, however, until well into the afternoon session as ex-Middlesex opener Billy Godleman and ex-Somerset all-rounder Wes Durston compiled a second wicket stand of 83. Durston was the next to go for 48 including 8 nicely struck boundaries, but Godleman (still only 24, but with his third county) continued on serenely at his own pace despite failing to find another durable partner. Bill batted for nearly six hours and made 55 from 265 balls: it was deeply dull, but it saved his team from a first innings disaster. Derbys still sank to 181 for 9, but then no 10 Tim Groenewald (ex-Warwicks) and no 11 Mark Turner (ex-Durham and Somerset) added 50 for the last wicket. England's "most valuable player", Finn, was the best of the bowlers with 4 for 51, while Tim Murtagh deserved better figures than his 2 for 68. On the whole, however, Middlesex bowled with too much width and there is nothing that Godleman likes more than shouldering arms and watching balls pass harmlessly by, two or three feet outside his off stump.
When Middlesex batted, Sam Robson and Joe Denly shared a stand of 51 for the second wicket in an hour; Denly was particularly fluent and it was a surprise when he fell for 34 from 43 balls with 6 elegant fours. The phlegmatic Robson kept going for over three hours before he finally departed for 68, the top score of the match, with 9 boundaries. Overall, it was a disappointing effort with the bat by Middlesex and the gloom only lifted during a useful seventh wicket stand of 61 between Gareth Berg and Ollie Rayner. The Middlesex tail is not a weak one, but the last four wickets fell quickly while only fourteen runs were added, leaving Berg stranded on 42* and conceding a first innings lead of 16 to Derbyshire. Groenewald and Durston bowled well for Derbys, but the wickets went to Jon Clare from Burnley (4 for 40) and Turner (3 for 51).
If Murtagh did not reap the rewards he deserved in the first innings, then he was amply compensated in the second innings: he bowled beautifully to take 5 for 12 in 12 overs to reduce the visitors to 26 for 6. Although Derbys managed to inch up to the dizzy heights of 60 for 7, Toby Roland-Jones (3 for 4) finished off the innings with a hat-trick to much jubilation both on the pitch and in the stands. It was the first Middlesex hat-trick at Lord's since Alan Moss in 1956. Keeper John Simpson took three more catches to add to his four in the first innings. Guyanan veteran of 148 Tests Shivnarine Chanderpaul (18* in over two hours) was not to blame for the collapse, but he did not impress us much either. He was out to a terrible shot in the first innings, while in the second, he made no attempt to take charge of the situation and seemed content to watch from the other end as his team disintegrated.
Middlesex needed only 77 to win with a day plus 44 overs in which to get the runs and Rogers and Denly brought Middlesex home by nine wickets with a stand of 76* by five past five on day three. Denly was again very impressive and he finished with a polished 44* with 6 fours and a brutal flat six, which very nearly took my head off in the front row of the Grandstand. Middlesex 20 points, Derbyshire 4 and Middlesex are top of the embryonic Championship table, though some teams have played a game fewer.
The Herts league/Home Counties League Schism
Paddy Carlin fills us in
Last year the Herts League balloted its clubs who also performed in the Home Counties League and a majority wanted to break away. The HCPL ia very poor in an administrative and communicative sense compared to the Herts league which is very well run indeed. Understandably the blazers at the HCPL were miffed and called a meeting at High Wycombe CC for clubs wanting to stay in the HCPL. WGCCC along with Harpenden, West Herts, Potters Bar and Hemel Hempstead attended this meeting as theyall wished to stay in and were promptly abused by the HCPL officials present. We wish to stay in the League because it is the highest standard available to our players – a Herts only League would not be as good as the combined strength of clubs from Herts, Beds, Bucks, Berks, Oxon, and some of Hants. But someone at Herts thinks that ECB Premier status could be obtained and that will make the difference. I doubt this.
Anyway, as I write this no-one knows what will happen next season(2014). In 2013 we have the slightly bizarre set up of ten clubs in the HCPL playing eighteen games half of which will be in the 120 over format with a draw a possibility and half of which will be 50/50 one day type matches where no-one yet knows what the rules may be. One shudders at the thought of power plays, free hits etc which could be part of this.
At the heart of this argument is the question of the role of the ECB Premier Leagues and their role in, dare I mention it, cricket’s strategic development.
County Cricket Finances
King Cricket reviews the situation
People watch football. That is the main way in which the sport is ‘consumed’. The column inches and phone-ins are also part of the way people enjoy it, but they are essentially add-ons. They can be tolerated because they serve as advertisements for the main money-making focal point, which is the match itself.
People may pay for tickets or for TV subscriptions or by watching ads during a broadcast, but in one way or another the matches generate revenue and the clubs profit. This doesn’t apply in county cricket. Put simply, there is no real reason to watch a game.
It’s not that people aren’t interested. It’s just that there’s no real need to actually witness the events to follow the story of that season’s County Championship. If the scorecard says the batsman edged a seam bowler to the wicketkeeper, that’s as much as we really need to know. The problem for county cricket is that this information is free. Scorecards are free, match reports are free, opinion columns are free, YouTube clips are free. All this engagement with the competition and not one penny to show for it. We can follow the entire season and enjoy it immensely without ever once attending a match. Shouldn’t the clubs be able to profit from us all somehow?
If people are so engaged, maybe they’ll buy stuff, eh? Not really. Replica shirts fail because cricket isn’t tribal in the same way as football. County cricket fans follow the story as much as they follow the club and they’re also less likely to be the kinds of people who think replica shirts look good.
The problem here is that the clubs don’t control the means by which the story is conveyed. They can’t plant sponsors’ names in match reports, forum threads and the like. They can ask that anyone publishing scorecards uses the official name of the tournament, including the sponsor’s name, but that is just a fragment of the conversation. You can’t accurately measure the level of interest in the County Championship by scorecard views alone and much else is out of their control.
Web pages and newspapers feature advertising, but they fund the publication, not the sport and there is rarely sufficient income to achieve even that.
As has been established, people don’t really watch the County Championship, so the TV rights have reduced value. Broadcasters can add value and attract interest by repackaging the action into highlights programmes, but even then people can live without them and that’s the nub of the problem.
It seems to us that the only thing county cricket followers actually need is information and unfortunately for county cricket clubs, information is free. Arguably, the scorecards are the most valuable commodity, but the fact that they are freely available is the means by which the game draws interest in the first place.
It seems bizarre that a sporting competition could make such a dent in people’s lives and yet have such little financial value. However, that seems to be the lot of county cricket in the internet age.
Stars of the future
King Cricket produces an annual list of six to look out for
Qualification criteria:
Qualified to play for England
No established internationals
Youngish
Playing in the first division of the County Championship
From last year’s batch, Nick Compton’s raised himself above eligibility, while the three Lancashire players contributed sufficiently little that the entire team has now been taken out of the equation.
1. Steven Davies, Surrey
Yeah, why not. Let’s stick with him.
2. Ben Stokes, Durham
Same. He took wickets last year.
3. Rikki Clarke, Warwickshire
Count Cricket seemed to mention him most weeks and we’ve watched him before (we’re always ahead of the curve with these things). One major plus point is that with his distinctive looks, he’s easy to spot, which makes life easier for everyone.
4.James Hildreth, Somerset
One to watch in 2011 after we foolishly spurned him in favour of Joe Denly the year before on the grounds that Denly’s nickname is ‘No Pants’. We dropped Hildreth last year, even though he’d done okay and he promptly did slightly better. A return to being watched should do for any international ambitions he might have for the foreseeable future.
5.Adam Lyth, Yorkshire
Averaged 26 when Yorkshire got relegated. Averaged 53 when they got promoted again. Has he improved or is the second division just dead easy? It’s the latter, but let’s watch him anyway. We still think he’s good.
6.Keith Barker, Warwickshire
Haven’t thought about this one much, but it’s best not to scrutinise these things.
I don’t think that this is a very inspired list and concentrates on batsmen. I think that the most promising bowler in the country is Toby Roland Jones and is definitely to be watched. He has height, movement and consistency and most of all takes wickets. Chris Wright seems to have been a late developer. After failing to make his mark at Middlesex and Essex he is now a real force to be reckoned with and was a significant part of Warwickshire’s title team last year. If he keeps taking wickets this year he will not be able to be ignored. Of the new crop of batsmen I rate Joss Buttler and James Taylor very highly and as they score heavily in the Championship will both force themselves back into the reckoning.
Match Report The Great Jack Morgan treats us to another of his reminiscences
Alan Wells won the toss for Sussex and put Middlesex in to bat in the Championship match at Lord's on 27 July 1995. It was a dull morning and Wells was hoping for some assistance for his collection of seamers (six bowlers of medium pace or above were used in all) and although Toby Radford (33) departed with the score on 74, Paul Weekes and Mark Ramprakash soon settled into a fine stand of 119 for the second wicket. Weekes fell for a praiseworthy 80, but that was Sussex's last success on day one as Ramprakash was joined by skipper Mike Gatting and the pair took the score on to 415 for 2 off 102 overs at the close. Next morning, Gatt departed for 102 (his second consecutive century) after a brilliant stand of 242 with Ramps and then the latter fell for 205 (his third consecutive century) off 295 balls with 34 fours, two exceptional innings. John Carr (78) and Dion Nash (50*) kept things progressing nicely until Gatt had mercy on the toiling Sussex bowlers and declared after 145 overs on 602 for 7, half an hour after lunch. Left arm swing bowler Jason Lewry was the most successful Sussex bowler with 3 for 116.
When the visitors batted, they were soon in trouble at 9 for 3 and their only period of ascendancy came when captain Wells (61), who won his only Test cap the following month, was joined by Barbadian Franklyn Stephenson (55), batting with a runner because he had had to leave the field immediately after tea on day one with an ankle injury during his thirteenth over in the Middlesex innings. They shared an entertaining stand of 77, but England leg-spinner Ian Salisbury's 22* was the next best effort and Sussex collapsed to 201 all out in 50 overs. Opening bowlers Nash (3 for 47) and Richard Johnson (3 for 64) did the early damage and the slow left arm of Phil Tufnell (3 for 47) saw off the tail.
Following on 401 behind, the visitors were even worse at their second attempt. Keith Greenfield (24*) tried to apply himself to the daunting task, but received no support whatsoever as Nash (3 for 37), Johnson (2 for 15) and Tufnell (2 for 30) repeated their success of the first innings and this time they were joined by Weekes, who collected 3 for 26 with his off-spin. Keeper Keith Brown picked up five victims as Sussex fell apart for 115 off 48.2 overs soon after lunch on day three to lose by an innings and 286 runs, a sound thrashing. Many felt that Nash was slightly disappointing as Middlesex's overseas player in 1995, but he enjoyed a fine game in this match with an unbeaten 50, 6 wickets for 84 and in the first over in each innings he took two wickets, which included Keith Newell (batting at 3) for a pair. It was Middlesex's third consecutive innings victory in the Championship. One strange feature of the match was that Pakistani leg-spinner Amer Khan made his Championship debut for Middlesex, bowled only one over in each innings (both maidens) and did not bat, was then unceremoniously dropped and never played again. Middlesex 24 points, Sussex 2.
Middlesex had started the season very slowly and found themselves in mid-table, but from mid-June they recorded eight successive wins, the best sequence by any county in 40 years. They could not, however, catch Warwickshire and had to settle for second place in the Championship. The main batsmen in the Championship in 1995 were Ramprakash (2,147 runs @ 93.34), Gatting (1,139runs @ 54.23), Jason Pooley (1,181 runs @ 49.2), Brown (894 runs @ 42.57) and Carr (830 runs @ 39.52). The most successful bowlers were Johnson (36 wickets @ 16.55), John Emburey (74 wickets @ 21.87), Tufnell (68 wickets @ 22.39), Angus Fraser (40 wickets @ 26.72) and Nash (51 wickets @ 27.21). Brown took 43 catches and 5 stumpings, Carr 32 catches and Pooley 25 catches. Emburey retired at the end of the season aged 42 (after a Middlesex career spanning 23 seasons, over 9,000 first class runs, 1,250 wickets and 367 catches) to become coach of Northamptonshire.
Red Mist Matters - 1
After their thrashing by Middlesex Notts decided to let Samit Patel open the bating for them against Durham MCCU. He made 256 from 224 balls in 249 minutes, hitting 12 sixes and 29 fours along the way. I have no idea what the bowling was like or how long the boundaries at Trent Bridge were but so prolonged an assault is no mean feat. He came in at number ten in the second innings and added a couple more sixes to his tally. Because they batted again rather than enforce the follow on Notts won by the staggering margin of 541 runs.
Red Mist Matters – 2
Batting for Bangalore Royal Challengers in the IPL against Pune Warriors Chris Gayle set a new standard for hitting which was extraordinary even by his own standards. He scored an unbeaten 175 from 66 balls including the fastest hundred in the history of professional cricket, coming from 30 balls, and a staggering 17 sixes as well as 13 fours in total.
Red Mist Matters - 3
Lancashire batsman Jordan Clark has become the first Englishman - and only the fifth player in professional cricket - to hit six sixes in an over.
The 22-year-old's achievement came in a second XI game against Yorkshire at Scarborough, off left-arm spinner Gurham Randhawa.
Red Mist Matters – 4
Middlesex have got off to a flying start this season with victories over Notts and Derbyshire. These two comfortable victories were achieved despite almost no contribution from their middle order of Denly, Malan and Dexter. It was interesting to see how they fared in the comfortable surroundings of Fenners against Cambridge MCCU. Dexter and Denly both went cheaply whilst Malan filled his boots with an unbeaten 156. Middlesex’s specialist Red Mist one day man Paul Stirling made a sedate 54 and could yet make a serious impact in the four day game as the season progresses. However, on this occasion everyone was upstaged by the twenty year old Adam Rossington who made 103 not out in 52 minutes from 57 balls. His innings included 7 sixes and 11 fours. As he is also a wicket keeper he will be keeping Simpson on his toes this season.
Rangers Matters
The Rangers are down and it is a relief. They have been hopeless and deserve nothing better.
1. They kept going too long with Hughes as manager. If there was the possibility of him going he should have been released earlier. If he was to be retained he should have been told so and left to do the job come what may.
2. Both managers persevered with players in critical positions who weren’t up to it, in particular Ferdinand and Hill.
3. The vastly overrated Taarabt was too often given an undeserved and unwarranted pivotal role. His dead ball kicking is poor at best. He missed critical penalties wasted free kicks and was embarrassing taking corners, rarely managing to clear the first defender at the near post.
4. Harry has no magic touch. His record as a manager is not much better than mediocre. England chose not to seriously consider him and Tottenham let him go when he was the tabloid darling. They both knew something.
5. Samba was an inspired signing and made things better at the back but even he had a shocker at Fulham when a win could have proved critical to the Rangers survival.
6. Rotation of squad players suggested, particularly under Hughes, that the manager didn’t know what his best side was. Both Cisse and Zamora were given lone roving roles at centre forward and neither had the support that they needed to create effective raids on the opposition goal. We never found out whether Johnson would make a difference as he sat out the season injured.
7. In his emails to me the Great Jack Morgan lists the endless changes in personnel lineup from match to match: “HR brought in Green, Ben Haim, Derry, Mbia and Taarabt for Cesar, Onuoha, Granero, Jenas and Park for the Stoke disaster: does he ever offer any clues to his thinking with these changes? It is hard to spot any logic to it: it just seems like a different experiment every week. N Sczcepanik in the Sindy thought it was a 4-2-3-1 line up, but it seems to have been just as catastrophic as the other formations.
8. It is only an optimist who would see things improving next season.
Things that piss you off Matters
Paddy Carlin has loads of these and he is happy to share them with us
1. Have you noticed that no one says “in the future” anymore. It is always “going forward”. What happens if you need to go back going forward?
2. The word “before” has disappeared. It’s now “ahead of”. I am sure we will soon hear “before ahead of”.
3. How is it possible to be “on the team”, a vile Americanism, instead of “in the team”?
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An Occasional Cricketing Journal
Edition 125
May 2013
Waste of Money Matters
The picture below is an image featuring 50 cryptic clues to cricketing terms. It’s called ‘Whatzat!’ The ECB have commissioned it and apparently there are international and county tickets to be won. Why? Who authorises them to waste money on such crap?
Out and About with the Professor
Anyone who knows anything about cricket - or indeed about anything at all - knows that the optimism of a pre-season meeting and talk of winning the championship can only be followed by a heavy defeat...and so it proved for Yorkshire.
Reality followed the hubris of the AGM in March in the shape of 96 all out on the first day of the season and, a couple of days later, an innings defeat.
In truth they were lucky to be playing at all given that ten days before the start of the match the outfield had sizable heaps of snow scattered about. Gale's heart must have sunk when he lost the toss and the green stripy looking wicket did the rest (although it was somehow easier to bat on when the opposition got in...isn't it always?). I missed the final day, since I knew what the outcome would be, and had already frozen to death in the Yorkshire sunshine on the previous days. I have decided that the sun is colder in Yorkshire than elsewhere. Several regulars on the north-east terraces dress like Cossacks and the whole lot do a passable impression of a bunch of extras from a remake of Ivan the Terrible. I think we must have local dispensation from the laws of thermodynamics.
Still this little hiccup was followed by a very good win at Durham and so the assault on the championship is still on track...except, of course, for another hiccup in the shape of Derbyshire. For the second game at the Headquarters of the North our captain Gale had learnt the lesson of the first match and so stuck the opposition in when he won the toss. The good Yorkshire folk were happy to see an early dismissal for Godleman - given his recent slowest 50 of the millennium (they don't like slow scoring in Yorkshire...well not by the opposition) - but that was pretty much that for some time: Madsen continued his good form from last year and Chesney Hughes did what Chesney Hughes does - he misses balls that he is trying to block and belts just about anything else to all parts of the ground. He was especially fierce on anything overpitched…and Yorkshire provided quite a lot of that. The upshot was a hundred in very reasonable time completed with the now mandatory six over mid-on. When I left at the close of play he was 170 odd not out and things are not looking too good for tomorrow.
Yorkshire have, in my view, some uncertainties about the balance of the side. They have lost some batting from last year and recruited bowlers in their stead. The game at Durham was won largely via Root's bat but when/if he, Bairstow and Bresnan depart for England duty who will do the necessary plate stepping-up? Perhaps the newly-recruited bowlers will score some runs – Plunkett is more than capable – or perhaps there are plans "going forward". Both the Chairman and the Director of Cricket refer, with some frequency, to "going forward". When did this silly phrase become a synonym for "the future"? Does it sound more "positive" (another facile neologism) than “the future”? Perhaps it means that while the future is uncertain we will know exactly what to do "going forward". Let's hope so.
Sofa Cricket
Northamptonshire v Essex at Northampton
Ex Middlesex man Steven Crook took 4 for 39 as Essex were bundled out for 183. Graham Napier almost as regular as Shahid Afridi in the Red Mist Columns made 73 not out from 65 balls in an innings which included 5 sixes. Northamptonshire had reached 282 for 9 when Trent Copeland joined Crook. They added 117 for the last wicket before Copeland was dismissed for 70 leaving Crook undefeated on 88. This partnership took the game away from Essex who were dismissed for 207 in their second innings and they lost without forcing Northants to bat again. David Willey took 5 for 67 and Crook added two more wickets. Middlesex may regret having released him before the season is out.
Surrey v Somerset at Kennington Oval
Alviro Petersen is already looking a shrewd signing for Somerset. He made 167 out of Somerset’s first innings total of 384 and then added 91 out of 251 in the second dig. Burns and Davies made hundreds for Surrey and Buttler scored 94 in Somerset’s second innings. Kieswetter scored 43 and 1 and will continue to be under pressure from Davies and Buttler who are almost certainly better batters than he is. None of them can keep wicket, of course.
Warwickshire v Durham at Edgbaston
County Champions Warwickshire made 345 and in reply Durham were 50 for 6 when Borthwick joined Collingwood and they added 153. Borthwick went on to record his first championship hundred. He is primarily a leg spinner and still only 23. Any runs he gets in proper cricket will nudge him closer to Panesar as the back up for Swann. Ambrose (105) and Clarke (91) took Warwickshire to a second innings total of 351. The second time round Durham only managed 91 as ex Middlesex man Chris Wright took 6 for 31.
Durham v Yorkshire at Chester-le-Street
This match jogged along for three days with nothing very exciting to report on. Mark Stoneman made a hundred for Durham and Graham Onions took 5 for 63 to nudge the selectors. Yorkshire were set 335 to win on the last day and cantered home to win by four wickets with Joe Root adding 182 to his first innings top score of 49. Root seems to be claiming a place as the top of the young gun English batsmen which also spells the end of Ravi Bopara claims to a test place. It may make Morgan’s chances going forward slim.
Surrey v Sussex at Kennington Oval
It is great to be able to stop calling this ground the Britannia or Kia Oval and revert to its historic name. The wickets seem to be traditional too with runs in abundance. Gary Wilson scored a hundred in Surrey’s first innings of 351. In reply Sussex accumulated 526 with Luke Wells scoring 206. Wells has one of the opening slots for Sussex this season and weight of runs could turn him into one of the front runners for test recognition. Chris Tremlett got through 28 overs for Surrey and as soon as he starts to take wickets he will become a contender for an Ashes place, as long as he can stay fit. In their second innings Surrey reached 308 for 5 by the end of the match. They will need to find a way to produce results if they are to compete for honours or avoid relegation.
Somerset v Warwickshire at Taunton
Alviro Petersen scored another hundred and Joss Buttler was undefeated on 119 as Somerset reached 409 in their first innings. Their seamers then rolled Warwickshire over for 158. Nick Compton made a hundred in Somerset’s second innings as Warwickshire were set 515 to win. They made a reasonable fist of it finishing on 427 for 9 with Rikki Clarke and Oliver Hannon-Dalby hanging on for 78 minutes to save the match.
Gobbledegook at Middlesex and Herts
Paddy Carlin sent me this
Reading the Middlesex chief Executive’s screed about the “year of change and improvement” made me scratch my head and wonder about the “whole new sport plan” from Sport England (who they?). We have had the Building Partnership Plan, the Grounds to Play scheme and recently the Improvement Planning Process. This recent and no doubt costly initiative has now been dropped because “outputs were driving delivery and not needs”. I quote: “In other words this will no longer be a numbers game”.
Anyone familiar with office speak will recognize the terms used – stakeholders, growth cycles, outcome pathways etc – all to loving the “Ready to invest Mindset”. There are integrated networks, integrated player pathways and coherent offers. There are visions, strategic outcomes and hidden strategies. There is also a load of bollocks.
This crap is not the sole preserve of the First Class Counties either as my recent attendance at the Hertfordshire AGM attested. Hertfordshire cricket is apparently “bringing cricket to life” via Overarching Strategic Outcomes, Intermediate Outcomes and Service Outcomes. Of course a large staff is needed if only to write everything down. There is a snag though – there is little money left for this. Two years ago Hertfordshire County Cricket Club divided itself in two: Herts Cricket Board Ltd with directors, a CEO, Secretary, Development team and a strategic Development Manager; and Herts County Cricket Club Ltd with directors, a CEO, Company Secretary etc etc. The result was probably the worst season in the club’s history with no games won. The only bright notes were good performances from the Disabilities XI and the over fifties. I say this with a wry smile as the new management and selectors decided to purge the team of all WGCCC involvement and look what happened!
At the meeting the Chairman (an ex county skipper of usually much good sense) called the County Club “a brand” but he did redeem himself slightly by announcing that quite soon the confusing over manned dual structure would become one again. The other gobbledegook feature of the meeting was a longish presentation by the County’s Strategic Cricket Development Manager who stated that his prime concern was to consider the sort of cricket people wanted to play ten years hence. Though I paraphrase as he is an expert in the terminology of management speak. He has to go!
Without all this claptrap, relatively free from ECB/Herts interference WGCCC looks forward to another decent season with no fewer than twenty teams in the field - seven senior, thirteen junior and also one girls team.
Middlesex Matters
Middlesex didn’t dominate their opening Championship matches until relatively late on when a key bowling spell turned the match in their favour.
At Trent Bridge things were fairly evenly placed when Middlesex took a modest first innings lead. When Notts batted again Neil Dexter took 5 for 27 which set up a relatively straightforward Middlesex win.
At Lords Middlesex were unable to take a first innings lead but Tim Murtagh’s 5 for 12 ensured that Middlesex had an easy task to chase down a small second innings target to win comfortably. Roland-Jones chipped in with a hat trick as Derby were bundled out.
These matches show that the ability to take wickets in these matches is crucial. Middlesex’s West Indian quickie (sic) Corey Collymore hasn’t featured yet and he probably ranks behind Harris who couldn’t get in the side himself at Lord’s when Finn was available. If any of the wickets require spin Middlesex may find themselves in more trouble as nobody believes that Rayner is in the requisite class and the other spinners lack experience and, possibly, promise.
The Great Jack Morgan was at Lord’s to report on the Derbyshire match
James Harris tweaked a hamstring in the excellent 10 wicket win at Trent Bridge, so Middlesex were able to find a place in the team for occasional bowler Steve Finn (who has apparently been having some interesting discussions with the Managing Director of Cricket about his new run up) in the Championship match against Derbyshire at Lord's on April 17. Chris Rogers won the toss and asked Derbyshire to bat first, presumably hoping that his strong hand of swing and seam bowlers would find the cold, windy and cloudy conditions to their liking. It was Rogers himself, however, who provided the early breakthrough when he brilliantly fielded a fine off drive from his opposite number Wayne Madsen from Durban, then threw down the wicket at the striker's end before Madsen could regain his ground and the visitors were 3 for 1.
There was no more success for the home team, however, until well into the afternoon session as ex-Middlesex opener Billy Godleman and ex-Somerset all-rounder Wes Durston compiled a second wicket stand of 83. Durston was the next to go for 48 including 8 nicely struck boundaries, but Godleman (still only 24, but with his third county) continued on serenely at his own pace despite failing to find another durable partner. Bill batted for nearly six hours and made 55 from 265 balls: it was deeply dull, but it saved his team from a first innings disaster. Derbys still sank to 181 for 9, but then no 10 Tim Groenewald (ex-Warwicks) and no 11 Mark Turner (ex-Durham and Somerset) added 50 for the last wicket. England's "most valuable player", Finn, was the best of the bowlers with 4 for 51, while Tim Murtagh deserved better figures than his 2 for 68. On the whole, however, Middlesex bowled with too much width and there is nothing that Godleman likes more than shouldering arms and watching balls pass harmlessly by, two or three feet outside his off stump.
When Middlesex batted, Sam Robson and Joe Denly shared a stand of 51 for the second wicket in an hour; Denly was particularly fluent and it was a surprise when he fell for 34 from 43 balls with 6 elegant fours. The phlegmatic Robson kept going for over three hours before he finally departed for 68, the top score of the match, with 9 boundaries. Overall, it was a disappointing effort with the bat by Middlesex and the gloom only lifted during a useful seventh wicket stand of 61 between Gareth Berg and Ollie Rayner. The Middlesex tail is not a weak one, but the last four wickets fell quickly while only fourteen runs were added, leaving Berg stranded on 42* and conceding a first innings lead of 16 to Derbyshire. Groenewald and Durston bowled well for Derbys, but the wickets went to Jon Clare from Burnley (4 for 40) and Turner (3 for 51).
If Murtagh did not reap the rewards he deserved in the first innings, then he was amply compensated in the second innings: he bowled beautifully to take 5 for 12 in 12 overs to reduce the visitors to 26 for 6. Although Derbys managed to inch up to the dizzy heights of 60 for 7, Toby Roland-Jones (3 for 4) finished off the innings with a hat-trick to much jubilation both on the pitch and in the stands. It was the first Middlesex hat-trick at Lord's since Alan Moss in 1956. Keeper John Simpson took three more catches to add to his four in the first innings. Guyanan veteran of 148 Tests Shivnarine Chanderpaul (18* in over two hours) was not to blame for the collapse, but he did not impress us much either. He was out to a terrible shot in the first innings, while in the second, he made no attempt to take charge of the situation and seemed content to watch from the other end as his team disintegrated.
Middlesex needed only 77 to win with a day plus 44 overs in which to get the runs and Rogers and Denly brought Middlesex home by nine wickets with a stand of 76* by five past five on day three. Denly was again very impressive and he finished with a polished 44* with 6 fours and a brutal flat six, which very nearly took my head off in the front row of the Grandstand. Middlesex 20 points, Derbyshire 4 and Middlesex are top of the embryonic Championship table, though some teams have played a game fewer.
The Herts league/Home Counties League Schism
Paddy Carlin fills us in
Last year the Herts League balloted its clubs who also performed in the Home Counties League and a majority wanted to break away. The HCPL ia very poor in an administrative and communicative sense compared to the Herts league which is very well run indeed. Understandably the blazers at the HCPL were miffed and called a meeting at High Wycombe CC for clubs wanting to stay in the HCPL. WGCCC along with Harpenden, West Herts, Potters Bar and Hemel Hempstead attended this meeting as theyall wished to stay in and were promptly abused by the HCPL officials present. We wish to stay in the League because it is the highest standard available to our players – a Herts only League would not be as good as the combined strength of clubs from Herts, Beds, Bucks, Berks, Oxon, and some of Hants. But someone at Herts thinks that ECB Premier status could be obtained and that will make the difference. I doubt this.
Anyway, as I write this no-one knows what will happen next season(2014). In 2013 we have the slightly bizarre set up of ten clubs in the HCPL playing eighteen games half of which will be in the 120 over format with a draw a possibility and half of which will be 50/50 one day type matches where no-one yet knows what the rules may be. One shudders at the thought of power plays, free hits etc which could be part of this.
At the heart of this argument is the question of the role of the ECB Premier Leagues and their role in, dare I mention it, cricket’s strategic development.
County Cricket Finances
King Cricket reviews the situation
People watch football. That is the main way in which the sport is ‘consumed’. The column inches and phone-ins are also part of the way people enjoy it, but they are essentially add-ons. They can be tolerated because they serve as advertisements for the main money-making focal point, which is the match itself.
People may pay for tickets or for TV subscriptions or by watching ads during a broadcast, but in one way or another the matches generate revenue and the clubs profit. This doesn’t apply in county cricket. Put simply, there is no real reason to watch a game.
It’s not that people aren’t interested. It’s just that there’s no real need to actually witness the events to follow the story of that season’s County Championship. If the scorecard says the batsman edged a seam bowler to the wicketkeeper, that’s as much as we really need to know. The problem for county cricket is that this information is free. Scorecards are free, match reports are free, opinion columns are free, YouTube clips are free. All this engagement with the competition and not one penny to show for it. We can follow the entire season and enjoy it immensely without ever once attending a match. Shouldn’t the clubs be able to profit from us all somehow?
If people are so engaged, maybe they’ll buy stuff, eh? Not really. Replica shirts fail because cricket isn’t tribal in the same way as football. County cricket fans follow the story as much as they follow the club and they’re also less likely to be the kinds of people who think replica shirts look good.
The problem here is that the clubs don’t control the means by which the story is conveyed. They can’t plant sponsors’ names in match reports, forum threads and the like. They can ask that anyone publishing scorecards uses the official name of the tournament, including the sponsor’s name, but that is just a fragment of the conversation. You can’t accurately measure the level of interest in the County Championship by scorecard views alone and much else is out of their control.
Web pages and newspapers feature advertising, but they fund the publication, not the sport and there is rarely sufficient income to achieve even that.
As has been established, people don’t really watch the County Championship, so the TV rights have reduced value. Broadcasters can add value and attract interest by repackaging the action into highlights programmes, but even then people can live without them and that’s the nub of the problem.
It seems to us that the only thing county cricket followers actually need is information and unfortunately for county cricket clubs, information is free. Arguably, the scorecards are the most valuable commodity, but the fact that they are freely available is the means by which the game draws interest in the first place.
It seems bizarre that a sporting competition could make such a dent in people’s lives and yet have such little financial value. However, that seems to be the lot of county cricket in the internet age.
Stars of the future
King Cricket produces an annual list of six to look out for
Qualification criteria:
Qualified to play for England
No established internationals
Youngish
Playing in the first division of the County Championship
From last year’s batch, Nick Compton’s raised himself above eligibility, while the three Lancashire players contributed sufficiently little that the entire team has now been taken out of the equation.
1. Steven Davies, Surrey
Yeah, why not. Let’s stick with him.
2. Ben Stokes, Durham
Same. He took wickets last year.
3. Rikki Clarke, Warwickshire
Count Cricket seemed to mention him most weeks and we’ve watched him before (we’re always ahead of the curve with these things). One major plus point is that with his distinctive looks, he’s easy to spot, which makes life easier for everyone.
4.James Hildreth, Somerset
One to watch in 2011 after we foolishly spurned him in favour of Joe Denly the year before on the grounds that Denly’s nickname is ‘No Pants’. We dropped Hildreth last year, even though he’d done okay and he promptly did slightly better. A return to being watched should do for any international ambitions he might have for the foreseeable future.
5.Adam Lyth, Yorkshire
Averaged 26 when Yorkshire got relegated. Averaged 53 when they got promoted again. Has he improved or is the second division just dead easy? It’s the latter, but let’s watch him anyway. We still think he’s good.
6.Keith Barker, Warwickshire
Haven’t thought about this one much, but it’s best not to scrutinise these things.
I don’t think that this is a very inspired list and concentrates on batsmen. I think that the most promising bowler in the country is Toby Roland Jones and is definitely to be watched. He has height, movement and consistency and most of all takes wickets. Chris Wright seems to have been a late developer. After failing to make his mark at Middlesex and Essex he is now a real force to be reckoned with and was a significant part of Warwickshire’s title team last year. If he keeps taking wickets this year he will not be able to be ignored. Of the new crop of batsmen I rate Joss Buttler and James Taylor very highly and as they score heavily in the Championship will both force themselves back into the reckoning.
Match Report The Great Jack Morgan treats us to another of his reminiscences
Alan Wells won the toss for Sussex and put Middlesex in to bat in the Championship match at Lord's on 27 July 1995. It was a dull morning and Wells was hoping for some assistance for his collection of seamers (six bowlers of medium pace or above were used in all) and although Toby Radford (33) departed with the score on 74, Paul Weekes and Mark Ramprakash soon settled into a fine stand of 119 for the second wicket. Weekes fell for a praiseworthy 80, but that was Sussex's last success on day one as Ramprakash was joined by skipper Mike Gatting and the pair took the score on to 415 for 2 off 102 overs at the close. Next morning, Gatt departed for 102 (his second consecutive century) after a brilliant stand of 242 with Ramps and then the latter fell for 205 (his third consecutive century) off 295 balls with 34 fours, two exceptional innings. John Carr (78) and Dion Nash (50*) kept things progressing nicely until Gatt had mercy on the toiling Sussex bowlers and declared after 145 overs on 602 for 7, half an hour after lunch. Left arm swing bowler Jason Lewry was the most successful Sussex bowler with 3 for 116.
When the visitors batted, they were soon in trouble at 9 for 3 and their only period of ascendancy came when captain Wells (61), who won his only Test cap the following month, was joined by Barbadian Franklyn Stephenson (55), batting with a runner because he had had to leave the field immediately after tea on day one with an ankle injury during his thirteenth over in the Middlesex innings. They shared an entertaining stand of 77, but England leg-spinner Ian Salisbury's 22* was the next best effort and Sussex collapsed to 201 all out in 50 overs. Opening bowlers Nash (3 for 47) and Richard Johnson (3 for 64) did the early damage and the slow left arm of Phil Tufnell (3 for 47) saw off the tail.
Following on 401 behind, the visitors were even worse at their second attempt. Keith Greenfield (24*) tried to apply himself to the daunting task, but received no support whatsoever as Nash (3 for 37), Johnson (2 for 15) and Tufnell (2 for 30) repeated their success of the first innings and this time they were joined by Weekes, who collected 3 for 26 with his off-spin. Keeper Keith Brown picked up five victims as Sussex fell apart for 115 off 48.2 overs soon after lunch on day three to lose by an innings and 286 runs, a sound thrashing. Many felt that Nash was slightly disappointing as Middlesex's overseas player in 1995, but he enjoyed a fine game in this match with an unbeaten 50, 6 wickets for 84 and in the first over in each innings he took two wickets, which included Keith Newell (batting at 3) for a pair. It was Middlesex's third consecutive innings victory in the Championship. One strange feature of the match was that Pakistani leg-spinner Amer Khan made his Championship debut for Middlesex, bowled only one over in each innings (both maidens) and did not bat, was then unceremoniously dropped and never played again. Middlesex 24 points, Sussex 2.
Middlesex had started the season very slowly and found themselves in mid-table, but from mid-June they recorded eight successive wins, the best sequence by any county in 40 years. They could not, however, catch Warwickshire and had to settle for second place in the Championship. The main batsmen in the Championship in 1995 were Ramprakash (2,147 runs @ 93.34), Gatting (1,139runs @ 54.23), Jason Pooley (1,181 runs @ 49.2), Brown (894 runs @ 42.57) and Carr (830 runs @ 39.52). The most successful bowlers were Johnson (36 wickets @ 16.55), John Emburey (74 wickets @ 21.87), Tufnell (68 wickets @ 22.39), Angus Fraser (40 wickets @ 26.72) and Nash (51 wickets @ 27.21). Brown took 43 catches and 5 stumpings, Carr 32 catches and Pooley 25 catches. Emburey retired at the end of the season aged 42 (after a Middlesex career spanning 23 seasons, over 9,000 first class runs, 1,250 wickets and 367 catches) to become coach of Northamptonshire.
Red Mist Matters - 1
After their thrashing by Middlesex Notts decided to let Samit Patel open the bating for them against Durham MCCU. He made 256 from 224 balls in 249 minutes, hitting 12 sixes and 29 fours along the way. I have no idea what the bowling was like or how long the boundaries at Trent Bridge were but so prolonged an assault is no mean feat. He came in at number ten in the second innings and added a couple more sixes to his tally. Because they batted again rather than enforce the follow on Notts won by the staggering margin of 541 runs.
Red Mist Matters – 2
Batting for Bangalore Royal Challengers in the IPL against Pune Warriors Chris Gayle set a new standard for hitting which was extraordinary even by his own standards. He scored an unbeaten 175 from 66 balls including the fastest hundred in the history of professional cricket, coming from 30 balls, and a staggering 17 sixes as well as 13 fours in total.
Red Mist Matters - 3
Lancashire batsman Jordan Clark has become the first Englishman - and only the fifth player in professional cricket - to hit six sixes in an over.
The 22-year-old's achievement came in a second XI game against Yorkshire at Scarborough, off left-arm spinner Gurham Randhawa.
Red Mist Matters – 4
Middlesex have got off to a flying start this season with victories over Notts and Derbyshire. These two comfortable victories were achieved despite almost no contribution from their middle order of Denly, Malan and Dexter. It was interesting to see how they fared in the comfortable surroundings of Fenners against Cambridge MCCU. Dexter and Denly both went cheaply whilst Malan filled his boots with an unbeaten 156. Middlesex’s specialist Red Mist one day man Paul Stirling made a sedate 54 and could yet make a serious impact in the four day game as the season progresses. However, on this occasion everyone was upstaged by the twenty year old Adam Rossington who made 103 not out in 52 minutes from 57 balls. His innings included 7 sixes and 11 fours. As he is also a wicket keeper he will be keeping Simpson on his toes this season.
Rangers Matters
The Rangers are down and it is a relief. They have been hopeless and deserve nothing better.
1. They kept going too long with Hughes as manager. If there was the possibility of him going he should have been released earlier. If he was to be retained he should have been told so and left to do the job come what may.
2. Both managers persevered with players in critical positions who weren’t up to it, in particular Ferdinand and Hill.
3. The vastly overrated Taarabt was too often given an undeserved and unwarranted pivotal role. His dead ball kicking is poor at best. He missed critical penalties wasted free kicks and was embarrassing taking corners, rarely managing to clear the first defender at the near post.
4. Harry has no magic touch. His record as a manager is not much better than mediocre. England chose not to seriously consider him and Tottenham let him go when he was the tabloid darling. They both knew something.
5. Samba was an inspired signing and made things better at the back but even he had a shocker at Fulham when a win could have proved critical to the Rangers survival.
6. Rotation of squad players suggested, particularly under Hughes, that the manager didn’t know what his best side was. Both Cisse and Zamora were given lone roving roles at centre forward and neither had the support that they needed to create effective raids on the opposition goal. We never found out whether Johnson would make a difference as he sat out the season injured.
7. In his emails to me the Great Jack Morgan lists the endless changes in personnel lineup from match to match: “HR brought in Green, Ben Haim, Derry, Mbia and Taarabt for Cesar, Onuoha, Granero, Jenas and Park for the Stoke disaster: does he ever offer any clues to his thinking with these changes? It is hard to spot any logic to it: it just seems like a different experiment every week. N Sczcepanik in the Sindy thought it was a 4-2-3-1 line up, but it seems to have been just as catastrophic as the other formations.
8. It is only an optimist who would see things improving next season.
Things that piss you off Matters
Paddy Carlin has loads of these and he is happy to share them with us
1. Have you noticed that no one says “in the future” anymore. It is always “going forward”. What happens if you need to go back going forward?
2. The word “before” has disappeared. It’s now “ahead of”. I am sure we will soon hear “before ahead of”.
3. How is it possible to be “on the team”, a vile Americanism, instead of “in the team”?
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