General discussions about Sussex players

I know the club is trying to get through in the most difficult of economic times, but at this rate, you have to ask what sort of a competitive batting side we’re going to be able to field next season? By my working we’re down to Haines, Salt, Clark, Rawlings and Bopara - if the latter-most plays any championship cricket. Hopefully we’ll be boosted by Head and Van Zyl and someone who can open, but once again, we just seem to be haemorrhaging batsmen.

We couldn’t go on the same way as we’d be in the same situation again next year, half way down Div 2. We’ve needed a clear-out for years, carrying players who just aren’t good enough was getting us nowhere.

Evans, Wells and Finch all had their good games but none were consistent enough in red ball cricket.

Every poster on this site has moaned for years about our lack of ambition, under performing players and forward planning in the CC. Well it’s started now and I’m glad of it.

Get yourselves a core of good young all format players and build a team around them. Salt, Rawlins and Garton are a good start. 

Salt, Rawlins and Garton may well be a good start, but they’re not the issue, it’s our recruitment. Are Bopara, Claydon and Meaker the way forward. If we replace Wells, Evans and Finch with better, then fine, but we won’t, if our previous signings are anything to go by

They already have Bell-Drummond, Crawley, Denly, Kuhn, Blake, Cox and Leaning so he is far from guaranteed a start. They also have Billings and Robinson who are handy wicketkeeper-batsmen. 

3 years is the same period Gillespie was here. The Wells decision could prove to be a big mistake. Was Gillespie the problem rather than Wells? 

Bopara, Claydon and Meaker were poor signings by Gillespie.

These highly experienced players were brought in to offer balance to the squad
and more importantly help the youngsters. No doubt they are all short term
signings before they retire, especially the seamers. So, no, I would disagree
with you.

Bopara may have a few more years left if he can rediscover his mojo. Still hoping
he'll make an impact in the QF. It's about time he fires. And what about his
bowling? How serious is his knee injury if he can happily sprint up and down the pitch
when batting.

It's easy to be critical with the benefit of hindsight. I would say each of the three are different.

Bopara had a very good T20 season last season for Essex. There was no reason to expect he wouldn't contribute more this season. Sussex's T20 batting centres around one or both of the openers getting us off to a flyer. That leaves the lower order batsmen with unpredictable opportunities to star. Wiese grabbed his opportunities, but the others came in when there was little time to hang around or to rescue a situation. I don't rule out Bopara having a big part to play in the knockout stages if we keep going. My disappointment with Bopara was his absence from the BWT team when we really needed another experienced player in the side.

As for Claydon, he was presumably signed as backup for calls from England and for injuries. As it transpired, he was more of a regular than we might have imagined. This was due to Jordan's injury and Robinson being needed to carry drinks inside the England bubble. He was, I would have thought, brought in as an occasional backup bowler, but became a regular in the BWT team. He didn't do too badly - he was relatively inexpensive and took a few wickets.

I know less about Meaker's recent history, but I assume he was a cheap gamble. He was very disappointing.

We could have always have done better with our signings but no one expected this summer to be like it has been, so I would say that I am fairly neutral about the signings. I'm far more concerned about red ball batting line-up. Whether this is resolved over the winter will be dependent on whether astute signings can be made and the realities of County Cricket finances.