CrawlingFox

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....

Davey would be amazing, I fear he's too good for us though if we don't bag promotion as he's a proven top class bowler in Div one and I'd imagine many counties would be interested if Somerset (bizarrely) let him go. I think he is out of contract so I'd love to see us put a big effort in to get him, would be a game changing signing and a statement of intent. Offer him a nailed on place in all 3 formats, the role of leading the attack and sell him what an exciting side we're looking to build.

Handscomb signs 2 year deal for all 3 formats from next season. Great signing in my opinion.

Scrivo has them on toast.

Going well so far!

Agree on the batting. Other than named in that XI you'd guess: Welch - Probably off after underwhelming in the Blast and being allowed to go back to Zimbabwe during the One Day Cup. Steel - Be a shock for a new contract now. Probably one that could have worked out better given he generally batted ok when he did play and it seems it was something off field causing him to be pushed out. Swindells - As I said earlier in the thread he does have talent and maybe with Cox coming in he can put his keeping on the backburner and Taylor can try and do a Lewis Hill with his batting. Evans - Again a player who has talent but he scores so slowly he makes Hassan Azad look like a bazball opener in waiting. Scoring at a s/r of 50 for the seconds this season which would be fine if could replicate for the firsts. I'd not mind keeping on the two local lads as depth players if Taylor thinks he can improve them and they'd be then good bets stepping into the above XI in case of injuries etc. Equally though the young lad Jake Tarling has played for the Young Lions side this season and of he's a prospect then a batting equivalent of Hull would be nice! On balance I think acquiring a couple decent bowlers then keeping on Handscomb if we can is probably the best scenario as the batting then looks very strong. With him into that XI at 4 your looking at rotating Kimber back in when needed before Evans or Swindells. Though Evans may add value as a specialist opener too which means we don't have to shuffle Hill to open.

I'd prefer an overseas batter as well and frankly would love Handscomb back but with Wright going I do worry about the attack given he's carried it for years. How Hull, Salisbury and Scrivo get on over these last four games could provide reassurance though Hull not playing today is a shame maybe. Could Kimber be ready to step into Ackermann's place in the batting lineup? Patel Budinger Hill Kimber Mulder Ahmed (Trevaskis when he's away) Cox (WK) Scriven Overseas Hull Salisbury I think the batting looks OK but not a lot of margin for someone not on the boil and a lot of pressure on Kimber, Budinger and Ahmed to be fair to produce. Mulder as well. Clear we'll need more than just a strong solitary overseas signing to strengthen that lineup I think as I think Trevaskis would be the only decent backup. If we could get either a strong and experienced non overseas batter or bowler too that would help the balance. Scriven has come on as a bowler this season and I'd not write off a similar batting improvement at some point as he has the tools which would be handy.

I think our overseas will by necessity have to be Mulder + a bowler and agree that still leaves us needing at least one more. Of those you've named in the four day games Scriven has 17 wickets at 33 this season, Salisbury 9 at 38 and Hull 8 at 55. Scriven is good and with his talent like Hull will clearly keep improving so no concern there but Wright's 36 at 26 will be hard to replace. For reference Finan who will still be here has 8 at 44. Barnes has 2 at 102. Davis took none for 80 and Walker hasn't played. Seems unlikely all three will be here next season, the former two definitely out of contract and Walker may be to. Pace options next season currently: Mulder Finan Salisbury Hull Scriven Mulder has 20 at 17 this season so a real bonus if he's able to bowl all season next year. Also in an innings less Wright with 310 runs at 38 (6 NOs) is only 4 runs scored behind Mulder's 314 as well so we'll also need more runs from Mulder and someone in the tail next season! Some boy that Wright.

This is the key bit. Cox is up with Foakes as one of the top keepers in the country.

I think Cox is a pretty clear upgrade in terms of both batting and keeping. Swindells has at times looked like he could be an ok keeper and an ok bat but hasn't pushed on since that season he scored a couple tons and he'll be 25 by the time next season starts. I do wonder whether a top level keeper like Cox coming in could mean he can focus purely on his batting and perhaps follow in the footsteps of Hill who (One Day Cup aside) is an accomplished and reliable batter for us these days. He's a local lad and clearly talented so I hope he gets the chance.

Looks like one of our academy prospects Jake Tarling played for an England Young Lions side today.

I make the squad for next season currently: Batters/Keepers Signed - Patel, Budinger, Hill Out of contract - Welch, Steel, Evans Unknown - Kimber, Swindells All Rounders Signed - Mulder, Ahmed, Trevaskis Bowlers Signed - Scriven, Hull, Finan, Salisbury Out of contract - Barnes, Davis, Ramji Unknown - Walker Leavers - Ackermann, Parkinson, Lilley, Wright. Of the out of contract or unknown contract status players I think only Kimber is a must to keep and I suspect we may need to use the second overseas slot on a fast bowler given Wright is off and that even with him here he has to carry the attack at times. I'd probably keep Evans and Swindells though mostly because I think it's preferable to have local lads for depth and I doubt there is better out there more than I can see them pushing the first choice XI which I think will be strong - Patel, Budinger, Hill, Mulder, Kimber, Ahmed, Trevaskis. Ben Cox would strengthen us if that comes off.

Agreed. A lot of potential with the bat and a strong white ball spinner already.

Liam Trevaskis signs on a 3 year deal!

Worcs have signed Tom Taylor to follow up the signings of Ethan Brookes and Rob Jones. Taylor seems to have stayed fit and done very well for Northants so looks a handy signing and they seem to be backfilling some of their losses at least. Though Taylor seems to me perhaps more a slightly lesser and belated replacement of Barnard than one for Haynes, Brown, Tongue or Pennington. Read in the BBC article for the Brookes signing that we're heavily linked with Ben Cox. He's a top drawer keeper and not a bad batter so I'd not mind that, writing on the wall for Swindells if he does come in though?

Cometh the hour, cometh the white ball specialist...Arron Lilley to the rescue?

He's having a torrid time there.

Payne and Taylor at Glos, Willey at Northants, Garton and Hunt at Sussex are others I can think of. Hull will need to finish the season very strongly indeed in the Championship in my opinion if he wants Lions recognition. Been great so far in the one dayers but the ECB won't care about these and will care even less the better we do in them.

Great effort from Patel, Budinger and Ackermann. Patel has transformed into a serious, serious player this season. Great business getting his contract sorted.

That Walker lad is terrible, can see why Nico never gave him a game.

Would anyone want him back? I like Mike and probably would given he was good for us in his last season here but I'm dubious he'd actually improve us (though you never know how rubbish we'll be next season so he might). As a bowler there can't be many county bowlers who've played as much as he has but with records as bad. In every format he's incredibly expensive, economy of 4.3 in red ball, over 7.7 in 50 overs and 10.4 in T20. He does have the odd great spell in him where you think he looks a serious bowler but not often enough to be worth all the runs he concedes the rest of the time in my opinion and given he's shown little sign of being able to stem those runs and with an average in red ball of 38 he doesn't take loads of wickets to make up for it. I do think he has a lot of potential as a batter though, I think he's shown an ability to both accelerate or dig in as required at times for us and has a good temperament so could in my opinion look to focus on this discipline and only bowl when conditions are more supportive.

Agreed. I'd hope we'll sign a decent standard replacement for Wright but either way Scriven should have a really important role next season. Potential as a batter too.

Kimber and Mulder were brilliant. 7 is way too low for Kimber but shows that we've a strong batting lineup and seems to give the top order license to go out and go for it knowing we bat deep.