Big game tonight. With the durham game called off and the lancashire game looking like it will be called off two wins for kent could see them go through. Come on kent beat them scum!
NOT the best night to be a Kent supporter....
Not so sure about that. I didn't expect us to do much in the 20/20 this year and we have blooded a lot of youngsters for the coming seasons.
Kent have played inept cricket throughout this year's T20 and have got what they deserve. Last night was possibly the nadir: 21 runs from the first six overs of power play when chasing a target of 150 ? You'd see more runs than that in the first six overs of a test match or four day county championship game. It wasn't a fix , it was genuine ineptitude on the part of the Kent batsmen; but the suspicious might have easily believed there was a spot-fix going on, because it takes some doing to score that few runs in a power play and you would get very long odds.
But the ineptitutde of the cricket is nothing to the ineptitude of the management. Kent lost four vital players from last year's T20 team - two top four batsmen in Denly and Van Jaarsveld and the two power-play/death bowlers Riaz and Langeveldt.
Denly and Van Jaarsveld scored 600 runs between them last season. Neither was replaced and this season only Billings has passed 200 runs in T20. Riaz and Langeveldt took 35 wkts between them in last season's T20, and the only replacement for them has been Davies, who never played T20 when he was at Durham and has taken just six wkts in tjhis season's campaign.
The outcome was entirely predictable. Yet faced with the loss of four such marquee players, the Kent management did nothing - even though they bleated that T20 was the only way the county could make any money and the chief executive sent a personal plea to members to bring along one paying friend each to the matches to help recover the losses sustained when Tunbridge Wells week was rained off. Yet they couldn't be bothered to spend the money required to put a competitve team in the field.
With Stevens and Azhar falling way below their usual standards (partly due to age - 36 and 37 resepctively) , there was no fire-power in the batting ; and without Riaz and Langeveldt there was nobody who could bowl all the clever variations required to keep the runs down at the death.
Kent deserved nothing and got nothing. They lost every single T20 game they played at home at Canterbury and the detrimental impact on future home crowds will be their own fault.
Very good post. Agree with pretty much everything for once. Not sure what sam northeast was playing at getting 15 runs from about 29 balls should have gone for it much earlier. Another point which I feel strongly about is rob key and jones, in my opinion these two shouldn't have been playing t20, key can hardly get the ball off the square and geraint jones doesn't really seem to get any runs anymore. Billings should take over as wicketkeeper then it would free up at batting space for maybe someone like daniel bell drummond who has a great reputation already.
Couldn't be bothered to spend any money ? I thought they were in serious financial difficulties ? PS I saw them win at home in the T20 at Beckenham v Surrey :-)
Very good post. Agree with pretty much everything for once. Not sure what sam northeast was playing at getting 15 runs from about 29 balls should have gone for it much earlier. Another point which I feel strongly about is rob key and jones, in my opinion these two shouldn't have been playing t20, key can hardly get the ball off the square and geraint jones doesn't really seem to get any runs anymore. Billings should take over as wicketkeeper then it would free up at batting space for maybe someone like daniel bell drummond who has a great reputation already.
Yes, good summary indeed.
We lost our way yesterday during the 6 over power play ( according to my pundit, Don) - fell well behind the run rate as a result & put pressure on the remaining batsmen.
Thinking of making the trip to Uxbridge tomorrow for Grandson Billy's first match but dubious as to the weather forecast and the likliehood of another thrashing from Denly's boys....
Couldn't be bothered to spend any money ? I thought they were in serious financial difficulties ? PS I saw them win at home in the T20 at Beckenham v Surrey :-)
Two points, CE. On the finances, T20 income is the only basis for the club's finanical viability , according to the KCCC chairman. If they had qualifed for a home quarter-final Kent would have made a serious amount of money , which would have paid for the quality overseas signings they refused to make - and with a large wad left over. A winning team also generates larger crowds and therefore more than pays for the costs of recruiting the players required to bring the side up to the quality of other teams in the group, such as Sussex, Hants and Essex. Kent lost to every other team in the group, except tragedy-stricken Surrey.
Secondly, I specifically said they lost all their home games at Canterbury, the club's HQ. Personally, I woild like to see them playing at least 12-15 days first team cricket at Beckenham to tap into the latent support in the most populous areas of the county.
Alas, as MOG points out, they are playing just one three hour game at Beckenham this season, despite a redvelopment scheme at the ground costing £12-14 million. Canterbury is simply the wrong place for the county HQ, and is closer to Calais than to London!
If Kent don't have money how are they going to bring quality overseas players ? Surely, that's like saying Charlton need to spend millions to get into The Prem, because that's where you make money. Neither club have the finances to do so (apparently).
Touche & you didn't answer my question. If they haven't got the finances, how are they going to bring in quality overseas players ? Perhaps you was going to lend it to them ? I doubt the banks were ?
The answer is in the original post if you read it.
You have to speculate to accumulate. Without replacing Riaz and Langeveldt as power play/death bowlers (35 wkts between them in last season's competition), Kent ensured their elimination from the competition and missed a lucrative home q/f payday that would have covered wages for two overseas stars with money left over.
There are other counties with money problems even greater than Kent and they realised the importance of T20 to them financially and signed star players. Gloucestershire, for example, have a bigger hole in their kitty than Kent but signed Murali, New Zealand captain Kane Williamson and Australian test batsman Ed Cowan. And guess what? Unlike Kent, they've progressed to the quarter-finals.
Hants also have big financial problems (they lost almost a million last year and a similar amount in 2010 , which recently forced them to sell their ground to Eastleigh Borough Council). But for the T20 they signed Aussie power-hitter Glen Maxwell and Shahiid Afridi (although he never arrived due to visa problems!) in addition to Aussie test batsman Simon Katich. And they've gone through to the quarter-finals,too, and will do handsomely out of it
So, no. I don't accept your premise at all, I'm afraid.
Sorry IA you can shove Riaz where the sun don't shine, no balls wides, he lost us more games than he won us. We are a young side, and in the future this will hopefully stand us in good stead. What I would say is that at least one more T20 game should be played at Beckenham with a Clydesdale game also being played there. I will be going to Canterbury for our annual lash up against Derbyshire on 12 August, but playing Clydesdale games at home on a bank holiday (Sussex) is bloody madness, thatks a day to go out with the family.
I agree Riaz ultimately did much to lose us the quarter-final last season v Leics, with some atrocious bowling which helped them to chase down a total in excess of 200. But be fair - he was one of the main reasons we got to the q/f with 20 wkts, which made him one of the highest wicket-takers in the competition. Did you see his hat-trick at Beckenham? Brilliant stuff...
What doesn't sit comfortable with me is his name mentioned in the match fixing cases, and some of his bowling leaves a very nasty taste, frustrating as it is I feel the youngsters are very talented and will stand us in good stead. Northeast as a opener in one day cricket is laughable though.
What doesn't sit comfortable with me is his name mentioned in the match fixing cases, and some of his bowling leaves a very nasty taste, frustrating as it is I feel the youngsters are very talented and will stand us in good stead. Northeast as a opener in one day cricket is laughable though.
Who is it steve...come on name names fella?.....Oh sorry........... wrong thread! LOL!
The answer is in the original post if you read it.
You have to speculate to accumulate. Without replacing Riaz and Langeveldt as power play/death bowlers (35 wkts between them in last season's competition), Kent ensured their elimination from the competition and missed a lucrative home q/f payday that would have covered wages for two overseas stars with money left over.
There are other counties with money problems even greater than Kent and they realised the importance of T20 to them financially and signed star players. Gloucestershire, for example, have a bigger hole in their kitty than Kent but signed Murali, New Zealand captain Kane Williamson and Australian test batsman Ed Cowan. And guess what? Unlike Kent, they've progressed to the quarter-finals.
Hants also have big financial problems (they lost almost a million last year and a similar amount in 2010 , which recently forced them to sell their ground to Eastleigh Borough Council). But for the T20 they signed Aussie power-hitter Glen Maxwell and Shahiid Afridi (although he never arrived due to visa problems!) in addition to Aussie test batsman Simon Katich. And they've gone through to the quarter-finals,too, and will do handsomely out of it
So, no. I don't accept your premise at all, I'm afraid.
I've read it numerous times. Kent don't have the money, so you still haven't explained where they would have got the money from to speculate. Banks are unlikely in the current climate? Perhaps they should have found some other mysterons? I give up.
i personally feel more games should be played at tunbridge wells or go back to maidstone, bigger crowds would be expected at all the games played there. I do agree with the comments that what we are going through now will stand us in good stead for the future although not sure about matt coles as his confidence in my eyes has completely shattered in my eyes.
The one problem i have with playing more games at beckenham is fans like myself who live this side of kent would find themselves going to less games as travelling to beckenham is, 1 a lot of effort and 2 a lot of money, so buying a season ticket like i have would just not be worth it.
i personally feel more games should be played at tunbridge wells or go back to maidstone, bigger crowds would be expected at all the games played there. I do agree with the comments that what we are going through now will stand us in good stead for the future although not sure about matt coles as his confidence in my eyes has completely shattered in my eyes.
The one problem i have with playing more games at beckenham is fans like myself who live this side of kent would find themselves going to less games as travelling to beckenham is, 1 a lot of effort and 2 a lot of money, so buying a season ticket like i have would just not be worth it.
To say nothing of the 'bigger population' and potential fans of North West Kent having to do the exact opposite!!
you still haven't explained where they would have got the money from to speculate. Banks are unlikely in the current climate? Perhaps they should have found some other mysterons? I give up.
Indeed they have found some very well-heeled mysterons. In the last year they have borrowed £5.5million from Canterbury City Council and £800,000 from chairman George Kennedy. They also received £2.6 million in grants from the ECB, and made a £400k profit last year.
Since making that profit, they have shed two of their biggest wage earners in Denly and Van Jaarsveld and replaced them in the top five of the batting order with other counties cheap cast-offs, Mike Powell and Ben Harmison, at a fraction of the cost.
Even the club doesn't claim that the problem was that they couldn't afford overseas stars. Both the chief execuive Clifford and head coach Jimmy Adams told us throughout April and May that Kent were desperately looking for an overseas T20 signing and had various options in mind. The club then announced on the eve of the competition that they couldn't find anyone who fitted the bill - not that they didn't have the money.
For a comprehensive overview of county cricket's parlous finances, including plenty of inside info on Kent, this is the best summary (although it is 12 pages long and it will take you most of the evening to read it!) : http://www.spinoffcricket.com/county-finance-2011-the-real-story/
Thanks for the explanation. I've read that summary & see that 50% of their revenue in the last financial year came from the ECB. This helped turn their projected large loss into a profit. They are still wary of their finances & said last year their wages were higher than The County Champs Notts & Warwick who won the 40 over comp.
Have to feel for Tredders. Would have walked into many England teams in the past, but Swann is just too good, and never seems to be injured. Was interesting comparing Tredder's bowling to Patel's, different league!
Kent chief executive Jamie Clueless on how the Spitfires T20 campaign wasn't that bad really and never mind because there is lots more cricket to come (although he might be as wrong about that as he is about everything else given the way this atrocious weather shows no sign of abating) :-
I fear he probably is, MOG. They don't call him 'Clueless Clifford' for nothing!
Those who reckoned Steve Waggott wasn't up to the job of running Charlton should see this bloke in action. He was appointed chief exec with no business experience and had never run anything serious in his life and got the job because he was cheap. So he was always going to have to learn on the job and from his mistakes. Well he's now in his third season and unfortunately although there have been plenty of mistakes there appears to be little sign of learning anything from them.
He got rid of everyone on the (non-playing) staff who knew what they were doing and replaced them with cheaper inexperienced staff who know nothing about cricket. It's a trap t young and inexperienced chief executives are prone to fall into. The smart ones surround themselves with top people and utilise their brains and experience to their advantage. The dim ones sack the smart people and replace them with inferior and inexperienced employees because they're paranoid and regard staff who know more than them as a threat.
Comments
But the ineptitutde of the cricket is nothing to the ineptitude of the management. Kent lost four vital players from last year's T20 team - two top four batsmen in Denly and Van Jaarsveld and the two power-play/death bowlers Riaz and Langeveldt.
Denly and Van Jaarsveld scored 600 runs between them last season. Neither was replaced and this season only Billings has passed 200 runs in T20. Riaz and Langeveldt took 35 wkts between them in last season's T20, and the only replacement for them has been Davies, who never played T20 when he was at Durham and has taken just six wkts in tjhis season's campaign.
The outcome was entirely predictable. Yet faced with the loss of four such marquee players, the Kent management did nothing - even though they bleated that T20 was the only way the county could make any money and the chief executive sent a personal plea to members to bring along one paying friend each to the matches to help recover the losses sustained when Tunbridge Wells week was rained off. Yet they couldn't be bothered to spend the money required to put a competitve team in the field.
With Stevens and Azhar falling way below their usual standards (partly due to age - 36 and 37 resepctively) , there was no fire-power in the batting ; and without Riaz and Langeveldt there was nobody who could bowl all the clever variations required to keep the runs down at the death.
Kent deserved nothing and got nothing. They lost every single T20 game they played at home at Canterbury and the detrimental impact on future home crowds will be their own fault.
Not sure what sam northeast was playing at getting 15 runs from about 29 balls should have gone for it much earlier.
Another point which I feel strongly about is rob key and jones, in my opinion these two shouldn't have been playing t20, key can hardly get the ball off the square and geraint jones doesn't really seem to get any runs anymore. Billings should take over as wicketkeeper then it would free up at batting space for maybe someone like daniel bell drummond who has a great reputation already.
PS I saw them win at home in the T20 at Beckenham v Surrey :-)
"Here's an idea, lets have 1 game at Beckenham after spending Thousands on the ground".
We lost our way yesterday during the 6 over power play ( according to my pundit, Don) - fell well behind the run rate as a result & put pressure on the remaining batsmen.
Thinking of making the trip to Uxbridge tomorrow for Grandson Billy's first match but dubious as to the weather forecast and the likliehood of another thrashing from Denly's boys....
Secondly, I specifically said they lost all their home games at Canterbury, the club's HQ. Personally, I woild like to see them playing at least 12-15 days first team cricket at Beckenham to tap into the latent support in the most populous areas of the county.
Alas, as MOG points out, they are playing just one three hour game at Beckenham this season, despite a redvelopment scheme at the ground costing £12-14 million. Canterbury is simply the wrong place for the county HQ, and is closer to Calais than to London!
Surely, that's like saying Charlton need to spend millions to get into The Prem, because that's where you make money.
Neither club have the finances to do so (apparently).
Secondly, I specifically said Beckenham.
Perhaps you was going to lend it to them ? I doubt the banks were ?
You have to speculate to accumulate. Without replacing Riaz and Langeveldt as power play/death bowlers (35 wkts between them in last season's competition), Kent ensured their elimination from the competition and missed a lucrative home q/f payday that would have covered wages for two overseas stars with money left over.
There are other counties with money problems even greater than Kent and they realised the importance of T20 to them financially and signed star players. Gloucestershire, for example, have a bigger hole in their kitty than Kent but signed Murali, New Zealand captain Kane Williamson and Australian test batsman Ed Cowan. And guess what? Unlike Kent, they've progressed to the quarter-finals.
Hants also have big financial problems (they lost almost a million last year and a similar amount in 2010 , which recently forced them to sell their ground to Eastleigh Borough Council). But for the T20 they signed Aussie power-hitter Glen Maxwell and Shahiid Afridi (although he never arrived due to visa problems!) in addition to Aussie test batsman Simon Katich. And they've gone through to the quarter-finals,too, and will do handsomely out of it
So, no. I don't accept your premise at all, I'm afraid.
LOL!
Banks are unlikely in the current climate? Perhaps they should have found some other mysterons?
I give up.
The one problem i have with playing more games at beckenham is fans like myself who live this side of kent would find themselves going to less games as travelling to beckenham is, 1 a lot of effort and 2 a lot of money, so buying a season ticket like i have would just not be worth it.
Since making that profit, they have shed two of their biggest wage earners in Denly and Van Jaarsveld and replaced them in the top five of the batting order with other counties cheap cast-offs, Mike Powell and Ben Harmison, at a fraction of the cost.
Even the club doesn't claim that the problem was that they couldn't afford overseas stars. Both the chief execuive Clifford and head coach Jimmy Adams told us throughout April and May that Kent were desperately looking for an overseas T20 signing and had various options in mind. The club then announced on the eve of the competition that they couldn't find anyone who fitted the bill - not that they didn't have the money.
For a comprehensive overview of county cricket's parlous finances, including plenty of inside info on Kent, this is the best summary (although it is 12 pages long and it will take you most of the evening to read it!) :
http://www.spinoffcricket.com/county-finance-2011-the-real-story/
http://www.kentsportsnews.com/clifford-optimistic-about-kents-future-2-10-07-2012/
Those who reckoned Steve Waggott wasn't up to the job of running Charlton should see this bloke in action. He was appointed chief exec with no business experience and had never run anything serious in his life and got the job because he was cheap. So he was always going to have to learn on the job and from his mistakes. Well he's now in his third season and unfortunately although there have been plenty of mistakes there appears to be little sign of learning anything from them.
He got rid of everyone on the (non-playing) staff who knew what they were doing and replaced them with cheaper inexperienced staff who know nothing about cricket. It's a trap t young and inexperienced chief executives are prone to fall into. The smart ones surround themselves with top people and utilise their brains and experience to their advantage. The dim ones sack the smart people and replace them with inferior and inexperienced employees because they're paranoid and regard staff who know more than them as a threat.