Kent Cricket 2021
Comments
-
SSN: Stevens had a partnership with Cummins of 166 with Cummins making one run1
-
I think it’s fair to say that without him or Robinson, we’d had hardly any points0
-
Looks like both teams are seeking a contrived win.Glam declared at 60-3 and Kent declared their 2nd innings at 60-1, leaving a chase for Glamorgan of 301 to win.
1 -
Sadly, match now abandoned.0
-
Both teams might have been better off playing the first innings normally, and trying to get some batting/bowling points as it was pretty optimistic to expect there to be enough dry weather to have a serious run chasePeterGage said:Looks like both teams are seeking a contrived win.Glam declared at 60-3 and Kent declared their 2nd innings at 60-1, leaving a chase for Glamorgan of 301 to win.2 -
I feel sick
8 -
fantastic, although two or three absolute pies from the bowlers getting the treatment they richly deserved.thai malaysia addick said:Reminds me of when I bowled leg spin to Jimmy Giles, two months before he joined Charlton.3 -
-
Michael Atherton's take on Stevens:
It is alarming to note that when Darren Stevens made his County Championship debut in August 1997, I was captain of England and the Ashes were five days from slipping out of sight again. Assuredly, that feels a lot longer ago for me than it will do for him, but it puts into context the longevity of a remarkable county career now entering its most deliciously golden phase at the grand age of 45.
Thanks to county streams exhibiting the best (and worst) of the domestic game, Stevens’s pyrotechnics against Glamorgan, when he blasted 190 with 15 sixes, were more widely available than would have been the case a few years ago. A combination of that, his age and the number of top-class batsmen who have succumbed to his innocent-looking trundlers has elevated Stevens to cult status among county cricket’s niche following.
County cricket just cannot get rid of him. Leicestershire did so in 2004 — looking now like one of the more ill-considered decisions a county has ever made — before Kent came calling. Kent thought about releasing him in 2019, before a late-season charge and a career-best double hundred against Yorkshire put paid to that intention. His form was so good last season that a one-year extension was signed and now another season beckons next year.Could a winner be picked when I first played against him in 1999? Was it possible to see someone who would be still playing more than two decades later? I do remember noting, as it happens, how natural a ball-striker he looked as a batsman, even though he was not a heavy run-getter. And that flow — still evident last week — stands out even more so now in a county game littered with stilted, stiff and manufactured batsmen drowning in theory.
But his all-rounder status was impossible to predict because he hardly bowled then, only a few fill-in overs here and there. In the first eight years of his career (admittedly in a stop-start introduction to the game) he took a grand total of six wickets. In the past eight years, he has taken 363 first-class wickets, with 26 five-wicket hauls. It has been a remarkable transformation, one that tells you a lot about him, and a lot about county cricket.
County cricket and Test cricket are, essentially, two different games. Played early and late in the season, on often slow, seamer-friendly pitches, county cricket is a game of slower pace — Stevens’s average speed this year is about 69mph — lower bounce and greater lateral movement off the seam, encouraging bowlers like Stevens and challenging batsmen in different ways. Marnus Labuschagne’s struggles in these early months are a good reflection of that.
It would be tempting to sneer at this difference but it should be resisted. After Stevens’s performance against Glamorgan, he was damned with faint praise by one supporter on social media: “Extraordinary in a way and, of course, I admire him. But you could also take the view that he’s representative of all that’s wrong with county cricket.” While Test cricket is of a far higher standard, it is not intrinsically more worthy than any other level of the game. In any case, Stevens is an outlier, not the norm.
The history of the game is one of changing conditions and challenges and a player must find a way of being successful whatever the contest throws up. Uncovered pitches in England pre-1960s; dust bowls in Ahmedabad now; a lightning-fast pitch at Perth; the slow seamers of early and late-season England; a shocking club pitch in the fifth division of a Sunday league in Devon. Standards may differ, but challenges remain: the wobblers bowled by Stevens are no less a product of their environment than generations of bowlers before him.
Stevens’s late blossoming is worth celebrating. A game that can accommodate a 45-year-old and a 16-year-old (James Coles became Sussex’s youngest player last year at that tender age); that can incorporate Stevens’s 69mph wobblers as well as Olly Stone’s 90mph thunderbolts, and allow for strike rates with the bat, ranging this year from Stevens’s 80 to the more pedestrian 40 of Will Young of Durham, is attractive in its variety. The domestic game cannot be seen only through the prism of international cricket which, by its very nature of being more competitive and of a higher standard, can be more homogenous too.
Stevens’s raging against the dying light is also a reminder why sport remains among the most rewarding of professions, being essentially meritocratic in nature. He has forced Kent to keep employing him, despite his age and despite their sense that his time was done two years ago, because of his performances. It is impossible in many jobs to tally your worth on a daily basis — professional sport allows for that.
Age should be irrelevant at both ends of the spectrum. A year ago, a rash of opinion suggested that the days of James Anderson and Stuart Broad opening the bowling together in England should be over, with the Ashes on the horizon. But the two champions put that consideration to bed last summer, and there have been far fewer such calls of late. Anderson will be rolling them out again next week at Lord’s and, if performance dictates, in Brisbane this winter.
Citing Zlatan Ibrahimovic (39), Tom Brady (43), Roger Federer (39) and Chris Thompson, qualifying for another Olympic marathon aged 40, Anderson said: “The thing that frustrates me the most, and it happens in this country more than most, is that you get to a certain age and people begin saying you have to start slowing down or you’re losing the ability to do your job. But I’m not sure from my own experience that’s the case.”
At his own lower level, the level at which he has now operated with distinction for a quarter-century, Stevens would no doubt agree.
10 -
Sponsored links:
-
Is there a more palace area on this planet than Bromley4 -
Nearly a full page Mike Atherton article in today's 'Times' about Darren Stevens, 'ageism' and playing conditions/wickets in England. Well worth a read ..0
-
See above - assuming that it's the same articleLincsaddick said:Nearly a full page Mike Atherton article in today's 'Times' about Darren Stevens, 'ageism' and playing conditions/wickets in England. Well worth a read ..0 -
it is .. I need to look up more .. but it was in today's paper. the 27th, how come you got it a day early ? .. online version ?Addick Addict said:
See above - assuming that it's the same articleLincsaddick said:Nearly a full page Mike Atherton article in today's 'Times' about Darren Stevens, 'ageism' and playing conditions/wickets in England. Well worth a read ..0 -
It is, indeed, the online versionLincsaddick said:
it is .. I need to look up more .. but it was in today's paper. the 27th, how come you got it a day early ? .. online version ?Addick Addict said:
See above - assuming that it's the same articleLincsaddick said:Nearly a full page Mike Atherton article in today's 'Times' about Darren Stevens, 'ageism' and playing conditions/wickets in England. Well worth a read ..0 -
Kent haven't lost any wickets yet today
Admittedly it's because we don't have a game, but you have to see the positive side of everything!10 -
Not quite true. The 2nd X1 are 93-2 off 8 in a T20 against Essex. The reason I say "not quite true" is because every single player in this side is a first teamer!killerandflash said:Kent haven't lost any wickets yet today
Admittedly it's because we don't have a game, but you have to see the positive side of everything!
https://live.nvplay.com/ecb/#mdb12a9cd-0c2d-4ade-b7b6-18a3fc16d28a
0 -
Hahaha was hoping somebody would point that outaddick1956 said:0 -
It's interesting that Stevens is playing in this game given that we discarded him as a T20 player a couple of seasons ago and even packed him off to Derbyshire. Following his recent CC innings could there be a change of mind about him?Addick Addict said:
Not quite true. The 2nd X1 are 93-2 off 8 in a T20 against Essex. The reason I say "not quite true" is because every single player in this side is a first teamer!killerandflash said:Kent haven't lost any wickets yet today
Admittedly it's because we don't have a game, but you have to see the positive side of everything!
https://live.nvplay.com/ecb/#mdb12a9cd-0c2d-4ade-b7b6-18a3fc16d28a0 -
As he doesn't have a 100 contract, presumably he will be playing for Kent in the 50 over competition when it's on, and a T20 practice match is I guess some practice for thisAddick Addict said:
It's interesting that Stevens is playing in this game given that we discarded him as a T20 player a couple of seasons ago and even packed him off to Derbyshire. Following his recent CC innings could there be a change of mind about him?Addick Addict said:
Not quite true. The 2nd X1 are 93-2 off 8 in a T20 against Essex. The reason I say "not quite true" is because every single player in this side is a first teamer!killerandflash said:Kent haven't lost any wickets yet today
Admittedly it's because we don't have a game, but you have to see the positive side of everything!
https://live.nvplay.com/ecb/#mdb12a9cd-0c2d-4ade-b7b6-18a3fc16d28a
The slightly unusual thing is that Matt Quinn is playing in this match, but for his own club Essex!1 -
Sponsored links:
-
Although they appear to be using Stevens as a batsman only here - 15 overs gone and 7 bowlers used but no sign of him turning his arm overkillerandflash said:
As he doesn't have a 100 contract, presumably he will be playing for Kent in the 50 over competition when it's on, and a T20 practice match is I guess some practice for thisAddick Addict said:
It's interesting that Stevens is playing in this game given that we discarded him as a T20 player a couple of seasons ago and even packed him off to Derbyshire. Following his recent CC innings could there be a change of mind about him?Addick Addict said:
Not quite true. The 2nd X1 are 93-2 off 8 in a T20 against Essex. The reason I say "not quite true" is because every single player in this side is a first teamer!killerandflash said:Kent haven't lost any wickets yet today
Admittedly it's because we don't have a game, but you have to see the positive side of everything!
https://live.nvplay.com/ecb/#mdb12a9cd-0c2d-4ade-b7b6-18a3fc16d28a
The slightly unusual thing is that Matt Quinn is playing in this match, but for his own club Essex!0 -
We win by 9 runs
Leaning hasn't been great with the bat, but his bowling seems pretty decent. He seems to be our number 1 spinner in red ball cricket now, and today got 4-16 at 5.33 an over. Important with Denly awol and Qayyum retired1 -
We actually played two T20s against Essex 2nd X1 yesterday but the first one wasn't initially posted - Kent won that one by 8 wickets with Denly taking 2-10, Robinson hitting an unbeaten 50 and Stevens bowling with figures of 2-8
https://live.nvplay.com/ecb/#m79e6c048-181e-4095-a6f7-8cefe4813a4e
1 -
Good to see Denly back, though he failed with the bat again!Addick Addict said:We actually played two T20s against Essex 2nd X1 yesterday but the first one wasn't initially posted - Kent won that one by 8 wickets with Denly taking 2-10, Robinson hitting an unbeaten 50 and Stevens bowling with figures of 2-8
https://live.nvplay.com/ecb/#m79e6c048-181e-4095-a6f7-8cefe4813a4e0 -
Great to hear some positives for our lads.Addick Addict said:We actually played two T20s against Essex 2nd X1 yesterday but the first one wasn't initially posted - Kent won that one by 8 wickets with Denly taking 2-10, Robinson hitting an unbeaten 50 and Stevens bowling with figures of 2-8
https://live.nvplay.com/ecb/#m79e6c048-181e-4095-a6f7-8cefe4813a4e
Now for the 1st team.....0 -
Ollie Robinson, born in Kent ... Ollie Robinson: Sacked by Yorkshire, picked by England - BBC Sport1
-
Seb played on Sunday for a Kent Invitational X1 in a T20 double header against Blackheath on Sunday. He kept in the first game and took a catch and a stumping and "succeeded" in needlessly running himself out for 16 with the game won in the second,
With the absence of five batsmen for The Hundred (namely Billings, Crawley, Denly, DBD and Blake) there are two players who played for Kent in this game and have been regulars in the Kent 2s side this season and who might well get an opportunity in the Royal London. One is former Sussex and England U19 player Harry Finch and the other is 19 year old Joe Gordon who has been in the Kent Academy since the age of 14. Gordon, in particular, was impressive in taking a Blackheath bowling attack (who were admittedly missing Ivan Thomas and Tanweer Sikander) apart with 131* from 63 balls.7 -
his story kind of reminds me of matt coles, but robinson seems to have come out the other side.Lincsaddick said:Ollie Robinson, born in Kent ... Ollie Robinson: Sacked by Yorkshire, picked by England - BBC Sport1 -
Looking forward to my first visit to Canterbury on Thursday v Northants.6
-
Still no news re T20 tickets ?
2 matches at Canterbury next week.....0
