The batting was poor in this match and Northeast, as Addick Addict points out above, has been poor all season. Other than Fabian Cowdrey though who do we have to come in? Blake has been found wanting in the past and after him I'm struggling.
It asks an awful lot of 37 year old Stevens to bat at number 6, with a view to scoring runs, and also be one of the main bowlers. Again though who is there to come in without weakening a brittle batting line up even more?
I think Cowdrey is the person that has to come in - it will give Fabian a chance that he must think he deserves given the form of the top order but, more to the point, might shake Northeast up and perhaps also allow him to gain some confidence getting runs in the twos.
D B-D should open with Key, Nash at 3, Harmy 4 and Cowdrey 5.
Nash and Harmison were left out and whilst it was a great win I can't help thinking that our top three masked a major issue here.
We were 157-1 off the first 11 overs and only added 7 runs in the last two.
Northeast faced the first four balls of the last over without scoring. With Billings (4), Northeast (5) and Blake (6) to be followed by Ball, Claydon, Riley, Griffiths and Bollinger we will actually struggle to last 20 overs let alone get a decent score if the top 3 fail.
Cowdrey really needs to come in and whilst Northeast is the obvious candidate to go, we probably need to also bring in an in form Nash or Harmison too in place of either Claydon or Griffiths.
On another subject, Young AA aka Seb, weather permitting will make his Kent debut for the U11s on Sunday against London Schools at Alleynes School, Dulwich.
Seb had a good start to his Kent career with figures of 3-4 plus a run out. His Bexley team mate also did well with the ball in taking 2-11 so they contributed in total to 6 of the 10 wickets.
Seb wasn't required to bat as they were only chasing 68 and the Coach quite rightly decided to give a chance to those boys who didn't get a bowl.
My wife's nephew (my nephew?) plays for Essex 2nd XI this week down in Bristol. Had three years at Mcc Young Cricketers, was top wicket taker in two of those seasons and has also wintered in Australia at Darren Lehman academy. Been unable get a county contract and is helping Essex out due to injuries so good luck to him this week.
About par for Tunbridge Wells Festival, my prediction, no more play for the rest of the week. Shame on Kent putting it on in May, shame on ECB havin no 20 or 50 over games on a Sunday at Canterbury. A group of over 15 of us always went every year with kids down to Canterbury, a day off on the lash. The Kent board are so far up their arse they don't give a shit about north west kent.All on offer this year on a sunday is a div 2 county game with no guarantee of watchin Kent bat. Well fuck me if that is marketing whether Kent or ECB, then good luck, 50 over midweek games won't pay the bills.
About par for Tunbridge Wells Festival, my prediction, no more play for the rest of the week. Shame on Kent putting it on in May, shame on ECB havin no 20 or 50 over games on a Sunday at Canterbury. A group of over 15 of us always went every year with kids down to Canterbury, a day off on the lash. The Kent board are so far up their arse they don't give a shit about north west kent.All on offer this year on a sunday is a div 2 county game with no guarantee of watchin Kent bat. Well fuck me if that is marketing whether Kent or ECB, then good luck, 50 over midweek games won't pay the bills.
100% right about the Kent board. Just one CC game at Tunbridge Wells with the rest at Canterbury. They only have interest in East Kent. It does cost to move games around the county, if their main ground was at Maidstone it wouldn't matter so much but I am in Kent but have a 50 mile journey to Canterbury so I don't do it. Costs too much in travel costs and time, I wrote to Kent but got no response not surprisingly.
I was pretty hacked off when I saw the fixture list this year. It's a 100 mile round trip and a day off work for me to watch a Kent game (and I've seen them win one game in person in the past 3 years!). Not having a single 20 or 50 (what was wrong with anyway?!) over game at the weekend all year really is inexcusable. Sometimes I think cricket deserves to go out of business
Hopefully this will change to a degree once Beckenham is fully operational not just from the perspective of seeing come first team action at this end of the county but also when it comes to the younger teams playing and training.
I am old enough to remember Kent playing first class and / or one day cricket at Blackheath, Dartford, Gravesend, Gillingham, Maidstone, Dover and Folkestone as well as Tunbridge Wells and Canterbury.
I know some of the wickets were deemed not worthy of first class cricket (or perhaps Derek Underwood was too good) but I cannot help but think that crowds would improve, particularly in the longer forms of the game, if matches were more accessible to the population of the county as a whole.
Wayhey !! Been out with grandkids all day so have only just logged on to find this good news .
MUST try to get to a T20 game soon !
We were at Mayfield CC , E Sussex with the 2 eldest tonight for practice then an under 10's match which grandson played in. His first loss in 3 matches but a good effort nonetheless.
Fantastic figures from Riley started season very well.
The Bexley U11 Team I manage won the Club's U11 Festival with Charlton fan and Bexley player, Adam, umpiring the final and handing the medals and Trophies. Good that he hasn't forgotten his roots though didn't see the Club's other Kent player, Adam Ball, there.
Comments
We were 157-1 off the first 11 overs and only added 7 runs in the last two.
Northeast faced the first four balls of the last over without scoring. With Billings (4), Northeast (5) and Blake (6) to be followed by Ball, Claydon, Riley, Griffiths and Bollinger we will actually struggle to last 20 overs let alone get a decent score if the top 3 fail.
Cowdrey really needs to come in and whilst Northeast is the obvious candidate to go, we probably need to also bring in an in form Nash or Harmison too in place of either Claydon or Griffiths.
Seb wasn't required to bat as they were only chasing 68 and the Coach quite rightly decided to give a chance to those boys who didn't get a bowl.
Kent won by 6 wickets :-)
My wife's nephew (my nephew?) plays for Essex 2nd XI this week down in Bristol. Had three years at Mcc Young Cricketers, was top wicket taker in two of those seasons and has also wintered in Australia at Darren Lehman academy. Been unable get a county contract and is helping Essex out due to injuries so good luck to him this week.
An hour into the second day and Worcs are 38-0 in reply to our 258 AO.
Edit - they never came out due to persistent rain and are still off the field.
I know some of the wickets were deemed not worthy of first class cricket (or perhaps Derek Underwood was too good) but I cannot help but think that crowds would improve, particularly in the longer forms of the game, if matches were more accessible to the population of the county as a whole.
Optimistic I fancy from my journeys around Kent so far today....
Worcs 67-0
MUST try to get to a T20 game soon !
We were at Mayfield CC , E Sussex with the 2 eldest tonight for practice then an under 10's match which grandson played in. His first loss in 3 matches but a good effort nonetheless.
Pity he now supports Sussex CCC !