Run a ball ton for Zak. While great for him to captain England, it's hard to see the point of the Ireland series
It's probably more to do with the commitment the ECB have made to Irish cricket and playing for England, whatever value the series, is going to come in front of playing for Kent. Although the irony is that in that recent series against Ireland, all their best players were committed to the CC because they have no central contracts.
Run a ball ton for Zak. While great for him to captain England, it's hard to see the point of the Ireland series
It's probably more to do with the commitment the ECB have made to Irish cricket and playing for England, whatever value the series, is going to come in front of playing for Kent. Although the irony is that in that recent series against Ireland, all their best players were committed to the CC because they have no central contracts.
Looking at our batting woes, the likes of Bairstow, Roy, Root and Stokes would probably benefit from some additional minutes in the middle before the World Cup, rather than being rested for this series...
Yes, I'd forgotten that there is now 5 batting points and only 3 bowling points now available. To get the 5, we need to get to 450 in 110 overs. We've just lost our fourth wicket, Muyeye, for 35 (32) and are 308-4 off 77.2 so need 142 off 32.4 to get the full 5 points.
Here's an interesting fact (well it is to me anyway).
Based on averages, our top seven batsmen are all playing in this game but none of our top six bowlers are. One could try and argue that this is because the six bowlers that aren't playing haven't picked up that many wickets - but that isn't the case as they have 79 between them whereas the whole team that is playing have only managed 33 wickets albeit that Chahal and Nijjar are making their debuts today. And of course Agar and Arshdeep have left us and Qadri is injured:
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Finch was caught behind for 47 (74). We have now gained our 4th batting bonus point and have 9 overs to score 50 runs in order to secure the final bonus point
Obviously you want the added batting point, but you don't want to collapse chasing it and ending up 430 all out, when by batting more cautiously you could end up with 500.
Leaning chips the ball to midwicket and is out for 64 (129). Have to say that it now looks unlikely that we will achieve maximum batting points especially with Nijjar coming in at 8
Meanwhile Middlesex are offering some stubborn resistance with an undefeated 9th wicket stand of 42 and a total of 173-8. Sam Robson on 74* is looking to carry his bat.
Leaning chips the ball to midwicket and is out for 64 (129). Have to say that it now looks unlikely that we will achieve maximum batting points especially with Nijjar coming in at 8
411-6 off 104.2
It seems that conditions became much tougher to bat in late yesterday afternoon when the cloud came in, so it looks a good toss to win as we had 2 sessions of Zak Bazballing under a cloudless sky!
Comments
153-1
132* for Crawley
51* for DBD
Crawley 158
DBD 60
260-3
64 overs
83 overs
Muyeye 35
94.3 overs
Leaning 52*
Finch 40*
Leaning 54* (101)
Finch 42* (70)
Given how atrocious Warks have been recently (apart from against us, obviously), we could do with a Northants collapse to accompany the new ball.
Based on averages, our top seven batsmen are all playing in this game but none of our top six bowlers are. One could try and argue that this is because the six bowlers that aren't playing haven't picked up that many wickets - but that isn't the case as they have 79 between them whereas the whole team that is playing have only managed 33 wickets albeit that Chahal and Nijjar are making their debuts today. And of course Agar and Arshdeep have left us and Qadri is injured:
Batting:
DBD 55.00
Finch 51.33
Crawley 46.75
Muyeye 38.75
Evison 33.31
Compton 31.35
Leaning 28.33
Bowling:
Jas Singh 26.50
Agar 28.33
Bhuiyan 29.66
Quinn 32.00
Qadri 38.40
Arshdeep Singh 41.76
Finch was caught behind for 47 (74). We have now gained our 4th batting bonus point and have 9 overs to score 50 runs in order to secure the final bonus point
400-5 off 101 overs
Leaning 56* (117)
Evison 4* (10)
411-6 off 104.2