Capitulation...

Blimey - what a complete mess. Having felt confident whilst Root and Ali were batting, losing Ali the ball before lunch was the start of the end. Prior just looks out of sorts and was again out to the short ball. Stokes couldn't look more out of his depth with the bat and needs to play more 4-day cricket. Broad has never liked the short ball and I feel for Root; his positive mind-set will stand him in good stead for the future. So where now? 
Cook looks like he needs to find form from somewhere but with no 4-day cricket where from? Who should take over the captaincy? Bell is currently VC but I'm not sure he's up to it, especially with his poor run of form, same goes for Prior. Root is too inexperienced and so are Ali & Ballance. I don't know if I'm a big fan of bowling captains but I'm keen for Broad to take reigns; I like his aggression and he is an experienced international cricketer. That leaves Jimmy and I don't think he's the right man. So Broad gets the nod. So forgetting my previous post, this would be my starting XI for the 3rd Test:
1. Hales  2. Robson
3. Ballance 4. Bell    5. Root 
6. Woakes   7. Butler
8. Broad  9. Plunkett  10. Anderson   11. Kerrigan or Riley...
... Let's see if I'm anything like close!

Balance is key in Test cricket...

I am still yet to consistently post in my blog; maybe this time could be the start of regular writes. This summer we have already seen Sri Lanka and now we are up against the Indians.
Where to start? DRS? Spinner? Pushing? Shirtless drinking?
Let's start with the importance of having a balanced Test side. Having two openers; Cook & Robson, although Cook's position is questionable at the moment. A strong number 3, 4 and 5 with a batting all-rounder at 6. 7 is your wicket keeper and 8,9,10,11 your bowlers. 
At the moment, England are lacking balance, Ali is our 6 and isn't trusted to bowl. For me, Ali looks like the perfect number 3 who can leave well and play fluently when required.
Alastair Cook is obviously struggling for form at the moment and I feel he should be dropped. Prior is also struggling for form and is surely not 100% fit which is challenging for him. For me he should be dropped and Kieswetter should be his replacement but he's now not fit and I wouldn't pick Buttler yet.
My starting XI for the 3rd Test would be:
1. Root
2. Robson
3. Ali
4. Bell
5. Balance
6. Stokes
7. Prior
8. Broad
9. Plunkett
10. Anderson
11. Kerrigan
The 11 looks inexperienced but the senior players have not been firing so it doesn't matter. 

End of day 1

So Yorkshire finish on 341-5 from their 95 overs, some will think that Somerset are once again up against it. But this is Taunton, it is like batting on the M5; 341-5 is a par score I'd say, especially against the bowling attack. Dockerell seems to have bowled well - good economy and picked up Ballance. The real test will be when Somerset bat - how do the top 4 batters get on? The pressure is on them and there isn't much after Hildreth. 
Fingers crossed for a Somerset day tomorrow.

Cidermen...

So my beloved Somerset started the year with such high hopes; talk of championship success for the first time. For those of us who follow Somerset, we knew from previous years that we were close to being a championship winning side. Trescothick leads the troops well, backed up by Hildreth. There are the young guns in Kieswetter and Buttler, but what else? This isn't a championship winning description.

Looking at today's XI against the Yorkies, I look at a side who will surely just be battling relgation: Trescothick, Suppiah, Gregory, Elgar, Hildreth, Barrow, Trego, Meschede, Dockerell, Kirby and Hussain.
20 wickets are required to win a championship match, looking at this side, I struggle to see where 20 will come from. Kirby is in the twilight of his career, Hussain hasn't played much 1st class cricket in the past year and has always been expensive since his move from Glos; Trego opens the bowling but is not an opening bowler. Dockerell will always bowl well but is still young and Meschede has only really shown in limited over cricket. 

So what is the answer? It is easy to criticise, reading the above makes that clear, but how do Somerset improve? Why has the batting been so brittle? Where are our young bowlers? Too much T20 and 1-day focus for me is the problem; score quickly, inventive cricket shots, experiment with different bowling. What happened to batting for long periods of time, leaving the ball, boring oppositions out?

Let's see what happens in the next 3 days at Taunton, how will we bowl? Who will take wickets? Who will face 200 balls?

To follow-on or not to follow-on?

Almost 3 years has past since I began my blog from my gorgeous cottage in Wiltshire. Now 

I relight the inner-blogger, but this time from sunny Somerset.

The 2nd test against New Zealand finished earlier today and there were the usual talking points; England's choice to not enforce the follow-on and the timing of their declaration. For me, England should have enforced the follow-on, sending a clear, cut-throat message to the Australians that were no doubt watching with interest. NZ had been dismissed cheaply again after their disaster at Lords and would no doubt have folded.

As for their declaration - why bat for so long? NZ were never going to score 350 let alone 450, we were lucky that the great British weather let up for a couple of hours so that Swann et al could knock over the last 4 wickets. Cook needs to be more decisive in my opinion, not that I can knock him since he took over as skipper. Time to lose the old English mentality of Hussain and Atherton etc.

England vs Pakistan... Stuart Broad...

So the venue is Trent Bridge, home of Nottinghamshire CC.
Just nine days ago, Stuart Broad took 8 for 52 against Warwickshire in their 2nd innings, finishing with match figures of 11 for 131!

For me, Broad is one of England's true stars, not just at the moment, but also for years to come; he is unique in the fact that he has learnt his trade whilst playing International cricket! Most of our current players; Collingwood, Strauss, Pietersen, Prior, Bell & Swann all spent years on the county circuit learning their trade - batting on 'puddings' and bowling on 'roads'. But the likes of Anderson, Cook and the previously mentioned Broad, were introduced to International cricket from a young age.

Broad has been open to criticism in the past for experimenting when bowling and not fulfilling his potential with the bat - but again, this lad has learnt his game against some of the world's finest ever players:
Ponting, Tendulkar, Dravid, Murali, Sangakarra, Jayawardene etc
These are cricketers who will feature in the top Test and ODI averages when they retire!

So my question is:
Does this make Stuart Broad an outstanding or average cricketer?

Broad averages 25 with the bat in tests and 36 with the ball.
Compare this to Andrew Flintoff:
Test Average of 31 with the bat and 32 ball!

These averages aren't that dis-similar - will Broad be regarded in the same way Freddie Flintoff was?

T20 Madness...

It's my least favourite form of the game, yet I was glued to last night's quarter final between Somerset and Northants! Obviously, the pull of the cidermen was too strong and being a somerset-boy, I had to cheer on the lads! For young children watching, there wasn't much in the way of 'textbook' running between the wickets, but when it came to run outs, it was much more impressive! Northants were never in the game, 112 at Taunton was NEVER going to be enough; but when Trescothick was out early, I had visions of a 'Chard Collapse' but thanks to some lust blows from both Keiswetter & Trego, the Sabres were never in trouble!

So its now to Finals day at Hampshire's Rose Bowl - a whole day of T20 cricket (2 x semi-finals and the final). Somerset, Essex, Notts & Hampshire will all be in action, Essex & Somerset for me are the stand-out sides but you can never tell!!



Enough of T20 cricket - the proper stuff starts tomorrow; England vs Pakistan at Trent Bridge...