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Post by Balladeer on Apr 8, 2018 8:44:11 GMT
Ha, fair point. Yes this is from a ‘dear God our non-Broaderson Test attack is meh’ point of view.
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Post by nemouk on Apr 8, 2018 9:11:20 GMT
England qualified only, so not including Jofra, or anyone with a reasonable number of England caps (Woakes, Finn, Broaderson)
Left Arm Footitt Coad Barker Gurney
Bouncy TRJ Brooks Matt Coles
Genuine fast Gleeson Joverton Tongue Saqib
Line and length Porter Ball Coverton (might get into bouncy but will leave him here) TCurran Joe Leach Norwell
There's depth there, but not standout options, and that's the real issue
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Post by Balladeer on Apr 8, 2018 11:59:07 GMT
Footitt looking the best of a meh bunch there (esp. the L&L lot), but that makes the tail a thing of horror. Does Brooks get a lot of bounce? I never knew.
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Post by nemouk on Apr 8, 2018 12:54:33 GMT
I struggled to categorise Brooks a bit, somewhere in between everything. Pitches it up a bit more than most, but can get a bit out of it.
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Post by pierredelafranchesca on Apr 9, 2018 8:08:43 GMT
I love that my Broaderson thing has caught on btw....Coad is right arm not left arm, and another that's tough to classify, prob adding to the long list of line and length, which I reckon if we were to tall up ave wickets taken past few seasons would come out on top too
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Post by nemouk on Apr 9, 2018 14:59:15 GMT
Hmm, why do I think Coad is left arm? Very odd. Wonder who I was thinking of. Coad, like Porter, is a proper low 80s swing bowler right?
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Post by Balladeer on Apr 9, 2018 15:09:26 GMT
Are we saying that ‘line and length’ are basically the same as ‘swing’ above? I might be thinking about the wrong thing, then: I’m essentially looking for the best bowlers who can do something when the ball does nothing, and I thought ‘line and length’ was essentially ‘control’. The ability to McGrath it. I might well be wrong.
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Post by pierredelafranchesca on Apr 9, 2018 21:10:21 GMT
I think the point sadly is, that when it's not really doing anything there pretty much isn't really anyone English qualified who does something a bit different who has taken wickets, but then again, when you're playing most of the matches in April may and sept, you don't need anything else
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Post by nemouk on Apr 11, 2018 6:16:21 GMT
Two days to go, time for some predictions, right?
County Championship Division One 1. Surrey 2. Lancashire 3. Essex 4. Yorkshire 5. Worcestershire 6. Hampshire 7. Nottinghamshire 8. Somerset
I'm not normally a miserable sod, and I do think we'll be competitive this season, but the other teams all look stronger this year and we don't, thanks to the Bancroft situation. If we lose Coverton and Leach for any significant length of time it will be difficult, but batting is the primary concern. Would love to be proved wrong. At the other end, Surrey look incredible with Morkel on board whilst Lancashire look like they've strengthened the most over the winter. Yorkshire were the hardest team to place and could go both ways with a lot of players away at the IPL/with England, but I think having Ballance for a whole season means they'll be safe at the very least.
County Championship Division Two 1. Middlesex 2. Sussex 3. Warwickshire 4. Northamptonshire 5. Durham 6. Gloucestershire 7. Leicestershire 8. Derbyshire 9. Kent 10. Glamorgan
Middlesex's pace attack should be too good for D2. Murtagh especially should be taking wickets for fun, and if TRJ and Finn play much then they should be on their way back up again, especially as they're hardly lacking for batting power either. The next spot is much more debatable, and a lot of the teams further down should be competitive. Predicting Kent that low feels wrong with Darren Stevens still around, but with Billings at the IPL and Northeast gone, I think they'll struggle to score significant runs, especially if Heino Kuhn is as bad against the moving ball as he looked last summer.
Most Runs: Sam Robson, Middlesex Most Wickets: Keith Barker, Warwickshire Breakthrough Player: Ryan Patel, Surrey
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Post by pierredelafranchesca on Apr 11, 2018 7:13:13 GMT
Trying to predict the whole league a step too far for me so will go for a simple top and bottom 2 of each!
CC1 top 2 will be Surrey and Yorks (blind optimism) I irritatingly think a fit Morkel will help turn a number of those draws they had last year into wins, and I cannot see our batting being as pathetic as it was last year, esp with Root and Bairstow hopefully around to get us off to a good start.
bottom 2, Somerset and Worcestershire, no real idea why as any of the 8 teams could go down I reckon, 'Set pretty much for the reasons you've mentioned Nemo, lack of depth and key players on England's radar
CC2 top 2 - Middx nailed on, they'll pagger that league next season, 2nd v tough to call, going with Warks for simila reasons to Yorks just cannot be that bad again and some players could massively tuck into that league. Bottom 2 Leicestershire and Glamorgan because they are generally pants.
Most runs - Trott Most Wickets - Murthagh Breakthrough - Harry Brook (I reallllllly hope this is a good call)
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Post by Balladeer on Apr 11, 2018 8:10:06 GMT
Sure, why not.
County Championship Division One 1. Yorkshire 2. Essex 3. Surrey 4. Hampshire 5. Lancashire 6. Somerset 7. Nottinghamshire 8. Worcestershire
A strong division, tough to pick. My winner was more or less created by a process of elimination. Essex I think will suffer from resting on their laurels a bit early days, but they still look like a tough team and will come back strong. Surrey and Hampshire remain outside my top two due to flat pitches (Morkel is not a one-man attack and could break down), Lancashire due to a weak seam attack, and the newly promoted teams... actually have good outfits but probably don’t have the mentality to come higher. I still see Somerset spinning out a good few sides at home, and don’t think they’ll lose COverton much. That leaves Yorkshire. Attack looks good, and their batting should have enough moments to pull through.
County Championship Division Two 1. Middlesex 2. Northamptonshire 3. Sussex 4. Warwickshire 5. Kent 6. Durham 7. Derbyshire 8. Gloucestershire 9. Glamorgan 10. Leicestershire
A few days rained off could change all of this, but I’m tipping Northants. for a surprise promotion. Sussex will be without key men in bits and Magoffin in totality, and Northants.’ mindset seems better than a lot of their rivals. Kent are suffering upheavals, but I don’t see them being as mentally shot as Warwickshire (who still have the better team) and Durham, and the bottom four I just don’t think will be able to compete. I see Glamorgan’s young homegrowners pushing them off the bottom spot, but not much higher. Again, it’s a mental thing.
Most Runs: Steve Eskinazi, Middlesex Most Wickets: Barker’s a good shout, but in interests of being different: Ben Sanderson, Northants Breakthrough Player: Steve Eskinazi, Middlesex (kind of by default)
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Post by nemouk on Apr 11, 2018 8:27:53 GMT
Eskinazi is a good shout, he's in my fantasy team. Which, for those who are nosy, currently stands as:
Batsmen: Gary Ballance (Yorks) Stevie Eskinazi (Middlesex) Jack Taylor (Gloucs) Eddie Byrom (Somerset) Zak Crawley (Kent)
All Rounders: Darren Stevens (Kent) Keith Barker (Warwickshire) Ryan Patel (Surrey)
Wicket Keepers: Ben Brown (Sussex) Robbie White (Middlesex)
Bowlers: Morne Morkel (Surrey) Tim Murtagh (Middlesex) Liam Norwell (Gloucs) Brett Hutton (Northants) Harry Podmore (Kent)
Basically, buy a few super expensive players who I think will boss the division, then fill gaps with cheap people who I think will at least get picked. Seam bowlers for early season, will rotate spinners in later in the year.
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corvusalbus
Ben Mike
Posts: 13
Team Supported: Lancashire
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Post by corvusalbus on Apr 11, 2018 10:41:14 GMT
County Championship Division One 1. Surrey 2. Lancashire 3. Hampshire 4. Yorkshire 5. Somerset 6. Nottinghamshire 7. Essex 8. Worcestershire
Division 1 is really difficult to predict, especially after last season's relegation candidates finished in the top half. Worcs are an obvious yoyo county, but I really don't know who'll join them at the bottom.
County Championship Division Two 1. Middlesex 2. Warwickshire 3. Sussex 4. Kent 5. Northamptonshire 6. Durham 7. Gloucestershire 8. Derbyshire 9. Glamorgan 10. Leicestershire
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Post by Balladeer on Apr 11, 2018 10:50:28 GMT
Essex 7th!? Brave, brave.
Incidentally Cricinfo and Hoppsy have gone with: Essex Lancs. Surrey Yorks. Hants. Somerset Notts. Worcs.
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Post by Humair on Apr 11, 2018 11:05:37 GMT
County Championship Division One 1. Yorkshire 2. Surrey 3. Essex 4. Lancashire 5. Hampshire 6. Somerset 7. Nottinghamshire 8. Worcestershire
County Championship Division Two 1. Middlesex 2. Warwickshire 3. Sussex 4. Northamptonshire 5. Durham 6. Kent 7. Derbyshire 8. Gloucestershire 9. Leicestershire 10. Glamorgan
Most Runs: Jonathan Trott Most Wickets: Kyle Abbott Breakthrough Player: Saqib Mahmood
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