CrawlingFox

Along with Parky off to Durham!

Really hope Kimber is staying, he'd be a big loss especially from the t20 side. Finan does seem a shame in that when he first arrived he certainly looked to have pace and like he could have been a bit of a rough diamond but seems it wasn't to be, injuries this season not helping. Steel also feels like someone we could have got more from but who knows what went on there. Welch also looked useful at timew but ultimately not quite good enough at this level, have heard he's off back to Zimbabwe and will likely be in the mix for their national side quite quickly given the age profiles of Ervine, Williams and Raza who are the spine of their batting so fair play to him. Davis and Barnes both had good performances on occasion but not often enough and both going more or less completes the deadwood being cleared from the bowling stable following Evans, Griffiths and Sakande leaving at the end of last season. Hopefully Walker can do better than all these named next season. Squad then: Batters - Patel, Budinger, Hill, Handscomb + Evans and Kimber hopefully. Keepers - Cox and hopefully Swindells. All Rounders - Ahmed, Mulder, Trevaskis Bowlers - Scriven, Hull, Walker, Salisbury + Wright hopefully. If Kimber isn't off and the other 3 all sign then we've 16 players on the books so you feel we'll need a few more. Haven't heard anything about Naveen returning but I'd imagine we'll bring in another overseas player for the Blast given Handscomb's record isn't outstanding in the format. Definitely need at least one more decent bat and a decent bowler I feel to give minimum depth. Hopefully on top of that someone from the academy might be ready to step up to a pro deal. Sam Wood (bowling all rounder) bowled well for the seconds and Jake Tarling (batter) played for the England under 19 Lions this season so could be options though nobody really stands out at second XI level enough to make you feel they're kicking the door down. Imagine there is certainly other Patels or Scrivens out there at other counties though.

Ah of course, had a mare there!

Wright staying is a real bonus. I make our best XI currently something like the below with backups in brackets: Patel Budinger (Evans) Hill (c) Handscomb Mulder Kimber Ahmed (Trevaskis) Cox (wk) Scriven Wright Salisbury (Hull) This assumes Mulder is fully fit to bowl so we don't need a fourth pace bowler in the XI and Trevaskis is ideal to slot in for Ahmed as needed. Hopefully Swindells signs and is the backup for Cox or perhaps as a specialist bat too. I think Finan is the only other player confirmed as definitely here next season so will need more signings. My feeling with the last overseas signing is that the weakest position in the side is Patel's opening partner though Budinger may well push on. Put a Marcus Harris in beside Patel and we've a serious side and you could rotate Budinger with Kimber and see if he can make hay against an older ball/tireder attack too.

Doesn't surprise me that Davis being let go. He's a talented player but fitness/form/consistency have seemed to illude him in recent seasons. I really hope we can keep Wright, would be over the moon with it to be honest. Wright, Mulder, Scriven + 1 with Ahmed for spin and that's a serious attack.

Also in regards to Scriven if he backs this season's bowling up next season and realises his batting potential as well then I think he'll be getting some of the "bigger" counties interested and joining Patel with a shout for the Lions.

Wright needs two more wickets and he's got 50 first class wickets for the season. Really impressive and he'll be missed. Replacing those 48 (and counting) wickets at 27 runs apiece won't be easy. Scrivo has our next highest tally with 37 at 25 so has offered great support and looks to be improving all the time. Mulder had 26 at 18 and Salisbury 14 at 35. Nobody else really close to respectable to be honest with Finan (8 at 45), Davis (5 at 48), Barnes (2 at 106) and Hull (8 at 67) miles off. Hull is young and clearly promising but the others haven't offered much and when they have offered it they've not done it consistently. Based on the above Ball would be a no brainer if we are happy with his fitness in my opinion. We definitely need someone.

Evans for Budinger seems the right decision based on the latter's form and the former deserving a chance to back up his Cup final innings. Swindells in as a specialist bat is something I hope we see more of next season given his ability and Cox's keeping. Will Davis making a good fist of what could be one of his final opportunities to suggest he's worth a new contract as Evans and Swindells did on Saturday.

It looked like Haines and Carson apologised in their statements to their team mates and fans but no mention of to us or our players? May have just missed it though if the statements weren't copied in full where I read them but poor if so.

Scrivo is becoming the key man in our attack just in time for Wright's departure.

Whatever happens these two have shown some real backbone and no shortage of ability. We have may Cox now for next season but both have put a hand up to say they're good enough batters to be worth keeping on as good players to both challenge for a place in the first XI or come in when necessary.

I may be getting confused with someone else but I think I heard he was capable of mid 80s and fancied being able to add a bit more as he develops.

Evans has played 2 games and only batted in 1 of them. He scored 19 off 60 in that knock. Being honest in any other game that's pretty poor and we were probably fortunate the situation suited him. Ahmed is the polar opposite in terms of batting aggression and also bowls. If we want to win then he seems an obvious choice unless we're banking on needing a middle order anchor... Though perhaps it will be Swindells coming in to keep wicket? Or will Hill take the gloves?

That would be a shame to lose Salisbury. He wasn't the most exciting signing and didn't hit the ground running early on in the season and has also been injured before but he's come onto a game recently and actually looked like he'll go someway to replacing Wright's experience as the elder statesmen of the attack. Scrivo looking like he might replace the wickets too. Eases concerns for next season though we'll still need one or two more bowlers.

1k red ball runs for Patel. Fantastic achievement.

Need to improve our depth next season. Really need someone breathing down his neck in this situation and not sure that's Evans although Kimber has opener for us in the past.

Below is the squad announced for the match with leavers in red and short term in orange: Ackermann, Ahmed, Amin, Budinger, Cox+, Currie, Evans, Hill*, Hull, Kimber, Mulder, Parkinson, Patel, Salisbury, Scriven, Wright. Players not named: Barnes, Davis, Finan, Ramji, Steel, Swindells, Walker, Welch. I think Finan may be the only one left out who is definitely contracted for next season. Could be injured? Shouldn't read too much into one match day squad announcement though its unusual to see one so large given they normally go with 13 or 14 but bad news for Swindells and good for Evans?

A big part of our strategy looks to be signing promising young players who aren't perhaps getting games across all formats where they are or who havent quite cracked county cricket. Each is a gamble you could say but that reflects the market we're in really compared to the big boys. So far: Patel - big success. Steel - hasn't worked out Kimber - generally good Budinger - has had moments Scriven - Becoming very good Walker - Not broken into side Barnes - had moments but not worked out I think Budinger will come good so puts us above 50% success on the above. Currie would probably fit that mould for next season as we'd probably be offering him more gametime than Hants I suppose especially in red ball.

New signing imminent judging from the club's twitter....