Other counties 2015 - a tangled thread of doom and triumph

How have Notts imploded so badly? Last July/Aug they were top of the championship. Since then their LVCC record is played eight, lost five, won zero.

Their batting should make them unbeatable - Hales,Lumb, Wessels, Brendan Taylor, Tich Taylor, Samit Patel plus Chris Read,still as good a wkt-batsman as any in the country.

The problem seems to be that for no apparent reason they have dismantled their bowling attack. Carter, who topped the Notts bowling avges in 2014, was sent on loan to Glamorgan. Fletcher who was second in their avges last year, is now on loan at Surrey. Andre Adams, who was third, was allowed to 'retire' - only to 'un-retire' with Hampshire. Shahzad was allowed to leave for Sussex and Siddle for Lancashire.

Of their top six bowlers last year, only Gurney remains.

Why? Has Mick Newall - now in his 14th season in charge - lost the plot? And is it anything to do with his elevation last year to the exalted (but now ridiculed and discredited) rank of England selector?


ON EDIT: leedsgull: Notts had no choice in the matter over Hales -  when he signed his last contract, his agent (Dave Fulton) insisted on a clause releasing him for IPL commitments. Notts initally said 'no'  but under threat of Hales signing for another county  (presumably Surrey) they  agreed to the release clause.

Mixed results for neighbouring counties yesterday. A very good win for Kent, who've had a horrendous period on and off the field, against Gloucestershire yesterday lifts them to the dizzy heights of 6th in the Second division but did at least open the door to a new era under the captaincy of Northeast, who shared an unbeaten partnership of 208 with Denly to guide them home. More wickets as well for Matt Coles, whose 25 in 5 matches puts him 6th, one behind Shahzad, in the list of firstclass wicket-takers this season.

A less exciting but very profitable result in terms of points from a drawn game for Surrey, who took 13 by virtue of bowling Northants out for 309 and then scoreing 499 in their only innings, with hundreds from Sangakkara and Roy. Surrey's bowling, even with Luke Fletcher, still looks suspect. The best figures here came from Tom Curran, son of the late Kevin.

Or was that Rob Key tripping over trying to open his front door at the end of a night out?

I wonder. A few years ago he had a couple of seasons as the professional at Cuckfield cricket club. he was very good, as you'd expect a man in his mid-twenties with a first-class career in Pakistan, but he wasn't earth-shattering, as you might expect at that level. In 2007 he took 50 wickets at 13.08, but a Preston Nomads player took 9 more at the same average. And those who played with him don't recall any improbable arm extensions.

Chris Gayle has just hit 151 off 62 including 15 - 6's in a losing cause as Somerset fall 3 runs short of Kents 227!

For example, yesterday, Gayle mounted a one-man show : he faced 62 balls from which he scored 151 runs. His Somerset team-mates faced 58 balls from which they managed just 63 runs.

Do you think those one-man team stats would have been the same if he had been batting with Virat Kohli and AB De Villiers, who were his team-mates last month in the Royal Challengers Bangalore side?