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Post by hhsussex on May 19, 2015 7:41:21 GMT
At the moment Warwickshire have Durham 50-3 chasing 450, and apart from the weather on their way to a win that would take them just above Sussex. In the space of a week Sussex have fallen from prospectively leading the table to fifth, and so this game is an urgent call to arrest the downward drift now. We know that we have a potentially championship-winning squad; the problems are injury, principally to bowlers, and lack of form, mainly in batting.
Shahzad should, fingers crossed, be fit again, but probably not Mills. Hobden should ideally spend a little time working out his no-ball problem away from the first-class game, but may have to play if Hatchett is not yet fit. Even if Jordan is excluded for Wood in the Test on Thursday I doubt if England would let Sussex have him back as the Second Test starts on the following Thursday and they will doubtless plead they want him in the squad kicking his heels, doing weight training, anything other than bowling himself into contention for a place. It will probably not be until after the one-days are finished in mid June before they make any decision on whether he has an England future, and thus whether we see him bowl for Sussex. Central contracts are at their worst when they embrace fringe players.
If the hamstring problem Nash experienced in the T20 on Sunday has been resolved, his bowling will be as useful as his return to form as an opener. Wells could make a comeback too, after good runs in the Seconds last week, perhaps at the expense of Cachopa who can only get the ball off the square by lofting it at the moment. As we keep saying, he is too good a player for it not to come right, but we need some solidity in the middle order - not least because the opening partnerships have been so dreadful. So far this season the average partnerships have been:
1st wicket - 24
2nd wicket - 56
3rd wicket - 14
4th wicket - 34
5th wicket - 26
In other words, by the time Brown, Shahzad, Robinson come in their platform is only about 150, rather than the 200-250 we would hope for, and this places a big burden on the bowlers to try and help us to a respectable score and give themselves something to bowl at. Brown has done very well this season in bolstering the batting, particularly on the last interesting wicket at Hove.
Depending on who plays in the Seconds game at Blackstone starting today, a possible eleven for Sunday might be
Nash
Yardy
Machan
Joyce
Wells
Wright
Brown
Shahzad
Robinson
Magoffin
Hobden
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2015 17:47:29 GMT
Do we know Mills is definitely not currently being considered for four day cricket? He will surely play at Taunton on Friday night and if he gets through that as impressively as he did v Kent on Sunday, I'd hope he might play on Sunday instead of Hobden, who needs a couple more weeks in a darkened room with Jon Lewis before I'd let him back into the daylight.
Shahzad should also play Friday and the arrival of a bunch of seamers who want and expect to appear in both white and red ball cricket - Shahazad, Mills and Robinson - surely brings down the curtain on the Sussex careers of Lidddle and Piolet.
Agree that Wells needs to be recalled; can't leave his talent festering in the stiffs forever, or else he will turn into the new Joe Gatting.
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Post by hhsussex on May 21, 2015 14:59:22 GMT
According to Steve Hollis, reporting from Lord's "Good news for @sussexccc is that Jordan is dropped so should be available to part T20 v Som tomorrow & CC v Warks"
Very surprising in view of past practice with discarded squad members by England, but maybe it is a sign of the new broom sweeping, and a very healthy one. And maybe it's a welcome scoop for Steve to compensate for Gorgeous George getting the drops on him over Tymal Mills' sad diagnosis.
On edit: cancel some of that, as CJ is not included in the squad for the T20 at Taunton tomorrow.
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Post by jonboy on May 21, 2015 15:03:25 GMT
According to Steve Hollis, reporting from Lord's "Good news for @sussexccc is that Jordan is dropped so should be available to part T20 v Som tomorrow & CC v Warks" Very surprising in view of past practice with discarded squad members by Engl;and, but maybe it is a sign of the new broom sweeping, and a very healthy one. And maybe it's a welcome scoop for Steve to compensate for Gorgeous George getting the drops on him over Tymal Mills' sad diagnosis. Though he's only telling us what we already know, that Jordan should be available. He doesn't say, he is available |
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Post by hhsussex on May 21, 2015 15:22:01 GMT
According to Steve Hollis, reporting from Lord's "Good news for @sussexccc is that Jordan is dropped so should be available to part T20 v Som tomorrow & CC v Warks" Very surprising in view of past practice with discarded squad members by Engl;and, but maybe it is a sign of the new broom sweeping, and a very healthy one. And maybe it's a welcome scoop for Steve to compensate for Gorgeous George getting the drops on him over Tymal Mills' sad diagnosis. Though he's only telling us what we already know, that Jordan should be available. He doesn't say, he is available Yes, disappointing. I took his tweet to mean that he had been told that Jordan would be made available but he's now backtracked: "Can't believe CJ not in the @sussexccc squad for T20 v Somerset tomorrow. I hope he's available for CC v Warks on Sunday" |
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Post by jonboy on May 21, 2015 15:44:26 GMT
With Zaidi, . Shahzad, Mills, Anyon and Hatchett, all injured, and England playing hardball over Jordan, we will be struggling to form a decent attack in this game. That leaves us with just Magoffin, and the rookie, Robinson, plus an out of sorts Hobden, so we might have to draft in one of the white ball specialists. Really think the time has come where we need to go out and get someone in, even if it's only on a short term deal. Another experienced seamer, and we might get through the next month, still in with a shout
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Post by coverpoint on May 21, 2015 17:17:38 GMT
Nash Yardy Machan Joyce Wells Wright Brown Shahzad Robinson Magoffin Hobden Substitute Jordan for Hobden and I would agree. Hobden needs some time in the seconds to sort out his no ball problem. |
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Post by fraudster on May 21, 2015 21:22:41 GMT
We might not see Jordan tomorrow but I reckon we'll see him a lot from Sunday onwards - which is a big boost and equates to JB's new signing, for me. In no time at all we'll have Jordan, Shahzad and Mills for the one-dayers and the same plus Mags to choose from in the proper stuff - niat problemski, as the Irish say. Really like Mills, Shahzad and CJ in T20 - complete transformation of fortunes I suspect. Middle order batting-wise too.
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Post by hhsussex on May 22, 2015 12:31:03 GMT
And now ECB confirmation - so Steve Hollis's Tweet from Lord's yesterday has been vindicated - and we have a great hand of pace bowlers for the match.
ECB @ecb_cricket 17m17 minutes ago
Chris Jordan released to play for @sussexccc in @natwestt20blast tonight
& Sussex's #LVCC match on Sunday
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Post by fraudster on May 22, 2015 22:40:15 GMT
Hope Shahzad's fit - Mags, Jordan and Shahzad's an attack to match our nemesis' notoriously lethal battery of arms - or something. Think they'll have the edge in the spin department but then my Saturday side would take us out there. I'd like a surprise call-up for Beer and frankly, with his batting form, Jordan's arrival, Shahzad's obvious batting prowess and Robinson's obvious qualities in that department too, why the hell not?
Nash
Wells
Machan
Joyce
Yardy
Brown
Beer
Jordan
Robinson
Shahzad
Mags
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Post by howardh on May 23, 2015 4:39:17 GMT
Good side, Fraudster.
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Post by hhsussex on May 23, 2015 5:33:09 GMT
Hope Shahzad's fit - Mags, Jordan and Shahzad's an attack to match our nemesis' notoriously lethal battery of arms - or something. Think they'll have the edge in the spin department but then my Saturday side would take us out there. I'd like a surprise call-up for Beer and frankly, with his batting form, Jordan's arrival, Shahzad's obvious batting prowess and Robinson's obvious qualities in that department too, why the hell not? Nash Wells Machan Joyce Yardy Brown Beer Jordan Robinson Shahzad Mags What has Wright done to offend you that you cast him aside in this churlish fashion, fraudster? I can see a call for Cachopa to take a little time out to get his form back and equally see the case for a return for Wells - though some might say Finch has the stronger claim - but I wouldn't lose our key strokeplayer for the sake of an ok lower-order batsman whose spin might or might not be used. My suggestion would be Nash Finch Machan Joyce Wright Yardy Brown Shahzad Jordan Robinson Magoffin The order for 8, 9 and 10 really is a judgment of Solomon: all of them have good credentials for batting 8 and none of them deserve 10, If we can keep all of these players fit, happy and available AND get some consistent scoring early in the order there is a case for getting and playing a specialist spinner as our overseas replacement when Magoffin's status changes. We are very close to getting back to the balanced side of a few years ago where Martin-Jenkins was worth his place as batsman and bowler and allowed us to have first Mushtaq then Panesar without weakening the strength of the side. On Edit: I've now seen a Twitter feed that Mark Robinson confirms Shahzad will not be fit for Sunday and that Machan (before the match) and Yardy (during it) both picked up calf injuries. That means Hobden back at 11 and everyone moving up one place, which definitely means no place for Beer, and Wells and Finch both playing if Yardy is not fit. If Machan doesn't recover then we could conceivably have Piolet back in the reckoning but the shape of the team then starts to sag a little. |
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Post by howardh on May 23, 2015 6:59:00 GMT
Weird, hh. Completely forgot Lukey!
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Post by hhsussex on May 23, 2015 7:03:34 GMT
Weird, hh. Completely forgot Lukey! Having now listened to Robinson's interview after the game he is clear that Shahzad won't play on Sunday, implies that Machan's injury makes him very doubtful,and is hoping that Yardy hasn't crocked himself. Interesting that he gives a big boost to Jordan's batting and quotes Stokes as an example of someone who is capable of taking on responsibility for being promoted in the order and thriving on that. Last night it worked in T20, but I wonder if he has that idea for the championship too? |
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Post by jonboy on May 23, 2015 7:11:33 GMT
You could possibly envisage Jordan being able to bat higher up, but we'd have to have a rock solid top first, and currently, we don't have that
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