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Hampshire End of Season report a personal view

Weston Saint

By Weston Saint,
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Weston Saint

Weston Saint

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Now that our season is over I thought a player end of term report is due, especially as I have seen most days of all the home games and chatted to the players, coaches, directors and media throughout the season.

 

First let me say I do not know who is staying and who is leaving other than McKenzie has been offered a 1 year extension, he has confirmed to the media he has accepted. He needs to get the signed contract back to Hampshire. Cork has been offered a 1 year extension but I do not know yet if he has accepted. Probability is he will. Tahir is coming back next season. That is a definite. I spoke to him today and he has spent much of this week re bonding with his Hampshire team mates. Dimi gets married to an Australian in Feb. She has a business in Aussie but I doubt that is significant and I expect Dimi to be back.

 

Now to the players

 

Adams – has to be batsman of the year and surely must be a shoe in for the Lions winter Tour. I know James Whitaker, England Selector, has watched him at least twice because he told me. Jimmy has scored 2,441 (1351 in the First Class Matches) runs in all forms this season

 

Carberry – will run Adams close with 1385 First Class Runs including 6 centuries

 

Lumb – away at the beginning and woeful on his return. However Hampshire sent him on holiday for 3 weeks to re charge his batteries and on his return he scored well before suffering a season end injury

 

McKenzie – a sketchy start but one he found his feet he was man of the match on more than one occasion 942 First Class runs and surely would have exceeded 1000 for the season but for his early departure to the Champions League. Good to see him coming back next season

 

Vince – now well established in the first team and achieved his maiden century a few weeks ago. Needs to be more consistent but a wonderful talent that looks like being realised. Future England player if he carries on as he has so far. Not yet 20!

 

Ervine – decent all rounder? Not for me. He is a class batsman who can bowl a bit. What a batsman to have coming in at 6! 976 First Class Runs this season including a classy knock today.

 

Pothas – the strain of captaincy took its toll for me. Not such a good year before injury ended his season. A benefit next year but I expect him to be behind the stumps next season even if only in the 1 dayers. We have too strong a batting line up to find him a batsman only place but a good man to have in reserve

 

Cork – Bowler of the season for me and as far as I am concerned just my player of the season. Old Corky keeps going on and on. It has been a hard season for him. Hope he is around next season. 45 first class wickets at 23.5

 

Dawson – it has been an unhappy season for Daws but he is a fighter and following a double century for the seconds recently he had bounced back with a half century against Kent and a 74 against Warwickshire . He may only be a squad player rather than automatic 1st choice next season but a very important player to keep interested. He is only a youngster himself.

 

Bates – thrown in at the deep end when Pothas injured and showed what a great keeper he is. He needs to improve his batting significantly but with the talent higher up the order it may not unbalance the side too much

 

Tomlinson – good steady and reliable player who took 46 first class wickets at 35.3 Also produced some useful runs or holding up one end.

 

Balcombe – suffered his fair share of niggling injuries but when he got his chance 27 wicket in 8 games at 30.07 suggests there is more to come. Able to bat and if he can develop that he might be the ideal replacement for Dimi as the all rounder at number 8

 

Griffiths – the fastest of our bowlers but finding it difficult to get movement. 19 wickets at 34.0 in 5 games restricted by injury is not a bad return but he cannot get into the side at present although he is suffering an injury again and due to see a specialist.

 

Ali – Shame about his injury but he seems to be walking ok now and hopes to be back with a vengeance next season.

 

Jones – bonus he has now got a 4 day first class game under his belt at 4 for 60 at 15 is a signal there is more to come.

 

Wood – good first season in the 1 dayers and a couple of first class matches under his belt is a good start. More to come I think.

 

Briggs – 34 first class wickets in his first full season and for me may just get young player of the year. Likely to find his first class games limited next season with the return of Tahir but young enough and will likely be on an England development contract.

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chrisobee

chrisobee

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Posted (edited)

Unfortunately I can only base my views on a handful of games though also the regular reports on several sites including here !

Firstly it's good to know McKenzie and Tahir will be back. Cork I would agree is very likely to come back based on the way he has played and his comments about feeling he needs to know he still has something to offer, clearly he has ! It was inevitable that the return of Tahir would reduce the number of games Briggs plays but as Weston Saint says he is a young player who is still developing and I see the opportunity for him to develp further alongside Tahir as a positive. Siimilarly with Bates but with Pothas more likely than not to suffer a few injuries he'll surely get his chances next year, without being "ITK" I might have a guess Bates could play some part anyway though his batting means he really needs to come in at around 8 though saying that I have seen him more than Pothas this season and I think the batting potential is there, the application definitely is.

I'd make Ervine my player of the season though Adams has had a brilliant season and wouldn't argue with him ( or indeed Corky) as being nominated player of the season.

Our batting overall looks very strong, I have a friendly bet with someone Vince will play for England by the end of 2012, even if I lose I don't think he'll be far away by then.

Potentially our bowling looks strong as well, it was great to see Jones taking wickets in our final game and a fit Jones and Ali would make a very good opening attack with any number of players offering back up. Tomlinson, Griffiths and Wood all offer options along with the all rounders Dimi, Ervine and Cork. Touch wood we have plenty of bowling options and we'll not suffer as badly with injuries.

Edited by chrisobee
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Weston Saint

Weston Saint

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One thing I would say chrisobee, I doubt Jones will be an opening bowler. He will be first change.

 

What about this potential side!!

 

Adams

Carberry

Lumb

McKenzie

Vince

Ervine

Mascarenhas

Bates

Cork

Tahir

Ali

 

but that will leave us one short for strike bowling. To balance it might be that Lumb or Vince will need to drop out, Pothas come in to that 7th batting/wicket keeper place and Jones/Tomlinson/Griffiths/Balcolme the bowler.

 

We also have Dawson & Briggs.

 

What a good selection problem for Giles White.

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chrisobee

chrisobee

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That's not far removed from the side I "selected" after the Kent game though at that point I wasn't 100% sure Tahir was coming back. As he is he'll clearly get the nod ahead of Briggs. Good point about needing an extra strike bowler and with Jones hopefully in the equation it would make sense to play either him or Tomlinson with Griffiths yet another option. As I stated above I'm sure Bates will have his chances next season though clearly from the batting point of view you'd have to go with Pothas.

 

Adams,

Lumb,

Carberry,

McKenzie,

Vince,

Ervine,

Pothas,

Dimi,

Kabir Ali,

Cork/Tomlinson,

Briggs. ( Tahir)

 

Bring on next season :)

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  • 2 weeks later...
SO5 4BW

SO5 4BW

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Posted (edited)

Good news about Cork - I thought he was our most influential player last season - Neil Mackenzie and, especially, Jimmy Adams had excellent years, and all the youngsters performed way above expectations but it was Cork's performances with the ball and as captain in the second half that turned a potentially awful season into a really good one. We certainly wouldn't have won the T20 without him - that last over in the final was a good as I can remember

As a follow up to the last post - It'd be no bad thing if Cork was captain in all forms next year. I've never thought that Dimi was anything like captain material

Edited by SO5 4BW
Next year not last!
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Berkshire Saint

Berkshire Saint

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I don't think Mascarenhas has done that bad as captain when he's been around. To be fair to him he's never really had a full season of it as he's often had England commitments.

 

Cork realistically is only going to do one more year anyway so I don't see a lot of point in making him captain in all formats if that is the case. His 40 over stats this year weren't that great this year so it might be worth just playing him in the Twenty20s and Championship and giving the younger bowlers a go in the 40 over games.

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  • 3 weeks later...
georgeismyname

georgeismyname

Posted
Posted

Okay, the side i would select next season would be:

Adams

Carberry

Lumb

McKenzie

Vince

Ervine

Pothas +

Cork *

Ali

Tahir

Jones/Tomlinson

 

Dawson, Benham, Mascarenhas, Balcombe, Griffiths, Briggs and probably a few others in reserve.

If we stay injury-free, I'm sure we'll have a successful season with a trophy or two thrown into the bargain! :D

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