Zorrovolpe

4 hours ago, Mint23 said:

Hinckley also play on Tuesday night in Barwell, £6 to get in.  The more people attending non league the better. 

And I'll put in a word for Loughborough Dynamo (playing at home next Saturday against Histon). Should be getting far better attendances than 120-130 - it's a good day out.

1 hour ago, CrawlingFox said:

Hill staying. Phew!

 

That's great news and a real relief. He'll be targeting 1k runs next season no doubt.

Anyone know the length of contract?  That piece of info was conspicuous by its absence from the news item on the website.  Two years, I hope...

31 minutes ago, Sunbury Fox said:

Looks like we're desperate to get Stevens to his 100.

If Stevens had played anywhere near this level in his final year with us - when he couldn't buy a run, and there was no sign of him becoming the demon bowler that he eventually became .... .... then I suppose this one-man anti-LCCC crusade that he's now on, would never have happened.  I think DS conveniently forgets his poor form in his final stages here, but loves trotting out the "they released me..." line.

3 minutes ago, Voll Blau said:

Really poor to let them end up with what they got.

 

The wide looked a bit dodgy but we can't be bowling eight-ball overs at the death!

It was a rubbish over - Barnes was all over the place and couldn't get one anywhere near the stumps.

1 hour ago, Cake said:

Not much i watched a bit. Lewis Hill looked in the best touch in the bit i saw, ironically probably wont play. Ackerman seemed to go ok. 

 

Bowling less impressive. Ackerman bowled well Evans and Mohwadia. 

 

Klein was terrible in the bit i saw and think we have lost Evans and possibly Barnes who bowled 4 overs and went off. 

 

Parky did ok but Ackerman seemed to be as dangerous. 

 

Team most likely imo

 

Azad

Evans 

Dearden

Ackerman 

Patel 

Mike 

Swindells 

Parky

Wright 

Griffiths

Evans

 

Not what id go for but i reckon thats what they will pick

 

 

That batting line-up looks fragile, with Mike at no. 6.   Even 7 would be too high, based on what he's produced with the bat so far.   Take your point about Parkinson / Ackermann in terms of bowling value in the longer form of the game.  I'd rather select an extra batsman instead of CP, but that's not going to happen for well documented reasons. As for Barnes, he seemed to be carted all over the place by Loughborough in the latter stages of that game.  Hoping that Wright is on top form this year.

7 hours ago, HaroldBazBo said:

I’d have given it to Asad 

I think you're right. Last "season", if you can call it that, is the first time Parkinson has made a significant, consistent contribution. Prior to that, I wouldn't have been surprised if he'd been released. Out of Azad and Parkinson, if one had to be lost and the other retained, I know who I'd want to keep. 

1 minute ago, Bert said:

Reckon we are ten short here. 

Agree; the hoped-for acceleration never came.  Not helped by having Hill come in at 7 (why not at 5, when the run rate was in real need of a push?).   So is this the end of Dearden - is his contract up...?

2 minutes ago, harpendenfox said:

Just extraordinary they were both in the line up again. Poor old Swindells.

Absolutely; and one straight after the other as if batting momentum doesn't matter.

12 minutes ago, Cake said:

Think that makes sense. So probably wont do that. 

 

Klein is also a good striker of a ball 

Even though he's clearly on the decline, Cosgrove has been a real miss. Next year, it's essential that we recruit an experienced middle order batsman for all formats of the game. Currently, "certain players" are getting the no.5/6 spot almost by default, with no real competition.

Not sure we are capable of blocking this out for another 3+ hours (though Rhodes is doing his best...).  But blocking is probably better than taking risks to establish a lead which would eventually be knocked off at T20 speed.   So what do we say...?  Block or score some runs....?

23 minutes ago, Cake said:

Regardless of the result Evans has done so well. Obviously not watching him live but looks good. 

 

Dont understand why he hasnt played before? 

 

Took an age to get Assad in the side clearly Evans is better than many we have tried. 

 

Get a Ton. Win the game. 

 

County are winning this. 

Evans doesn't seem to have done too much wrong in his previous appearances, and hopefully he will finally get a few games to consolidate himself  He's shown at least as much promise (and probably more) than certain players who have been given countless opportunities and underperformed. It's early days, but Rhodes looks to be the sort of player that'll be in this latter category - from what Nixon said when he signed (and from the length of the contract, which is absurd) it looks like he'll be set for an extended run in the team, almost regardless of scores.   

8 minutes ago, Cake said:

Still a chance but slipping away. 

 

Positive performance though 

Yes, particularly Parkinson with five wickets in the match so far; nothing like being in the last chance saloon for sharpening a player's performance. Not sure that Dearden is capable of a similar transformation though. 

Need to take these final 5 wickets by tea or very soon after.  Wouldn't want to see us having to chase much more than 120-130, as the batting is paper-thin; beyond Slater, Azad and Ackermann you can see clusters of 3 or 4 wickets falling for about 10 runs.

26 minutes ago, Hitesh said:

If we can get a lead of 150 by end of today then game on going into the last day

It's a 120 over limit for the first innings, isn't it (in the Bob Willis Trophy)?  If so, they'll need to really accelerate after lunch to create any significant advantage and put pressure on Lancs.  400-ish needed, surely?

Difficult to think of a more moronic attempt at a run chase.  Absolutely brainless.

Stevens always trots out the "fired up against LCCC because they let me go" narrative, conveniently forgetting that he could hardly buy a run in his final season here, and there was little sign of him developing the bowling prowess that he subsequently showed.  Credit to him for turning his career around, but he won't admit that he was appalling towards the end of his days at Grace Road.

Reports that we have signed Callum Parkinson from Derbys. A positive sign that he sees us as a more attractive long-term proposition; strange, though, that negotiations must have been going on up to or during the recent CC match with them.  At last a decent spinner who can bat, which is just what we need; in fact there needs to be a lot more runs coming from 8 to 11. Other counties seem to be working on this, judging by the number of times we have been undone by 7th/8th/9th/10th wicket partnerships by opposing teams, and we need to improve massively here.

What are other people's thoughts on next season's requirements?  A proper plan for one day cricket is a must, since this year's attempt has been a total disappointment (are certain players one day players or not? Can we afford the luxury of certain people who only seem able to contribute to the 4-day format..?). Cosgrove, Dexter and McKay have been excellent, and Eckersley seems to have turned the corner after a rough couple of years. Had expected more from Robson and Raine - why the latter was dropped to the 2nds recently isn't clear to me though - and a couple of senior batsmen also need to up their game after tailing off quite badly towards the end of the season. Still don't think we have a reliable opening bowler to accompany McKay; Raine looked as though he was going to fulfil this role but has taken a hammering at times this season - really needs to focus on bowling more maidens before trying wicket-taking balls. Still, overall undeniably an improvement for LCCC on last season.

Poor captaincy by the sound of it.

One over too many for Rowe and one too few for Allenby. Why on earth an inexperienced bowler like Rowe was bowled towards the death, while Allenby - one of our most experienced and economical bowlers - didn't even use his full quota, is beyond me. This has cost us the victory, simple as.

Looks like the game is already over, unless there's some seriously bad weather on the horizon. Apart from the fact that Worcs have a fine bowling attack, I'm wondering what effect the Twenty/20 debacle and the Friends Provident exit has had on morale.

Oh, and the arrival of this loan bowler from Lancs, Smith, what's that about? I thought that the main sweetener to compensate for the Kolpak contingent was the fact that our homegrown youngsters would be getting valuable experience by playing alongside them. I hope that things aren't going off the rails.

Another hammering (by Twenty20 standards).

It's not as if we're losing by the odd run, these are big defeats - have they even bothered practising this form of the game in recent weeks?

Apart from the county championship form (but take away Ackerman and where would we be...?) there seems to be quite a lot that still needs sorting out within LCCC. This looks like one year too far for Snape, apart from sporadic bursts of wickets Allenby can't buy a run at the moment, Du Toit hasn't exactly set the world on fire, and I expected much more from Dipenaar. I'd hoped Tom New would push on to the next level, but after a few good scores earlier on, this isn't happening.

We only seem to have three or four individuals performing at their peak in any one game, when it needs to be nearer six or seven. Let's hope Ackerman's form holds...