Story Brendon vs Callum vs Jono - A Worcestershire Battle

[Chewie]

13th June 2010
Worcestershire vs Nottinghamshire
Twenty Over Cup - Group Match
​

Playing XI?s

Worcestershire

1. Vikram Solanki *?
2. Steven Smith
3. Moeen Ali
4. Alex Kervezee
5. Imran Arif
6. Sanath Jayasuriya
7. Jack Manuel
8. Matthew Pardoe
9. David Wheeldon
10. Matthew Mason
11. Chris Russell


Nottinghamshire

1. Alex Hales
2. Neil Edwards
3. David Hussey
4. Samit Patel
5. Chris Read*?
6. Ali Brown
7. Graeme Swann
8. Paul Franks
9. Stuart Broad
10. Andre Adams
11. Ryan Sidebottom
​

A big lineup shakeup sees our best batsman, Smith go up to open, while Jayasuriya drops down. Pardoe comes in for Choudhry, while Wheeldon comes in for Richardson who hasn't performed well recently.

Lost the toss again, and again was made to bat. Batting first hasn't had good memories for me so hopefully this time we would do better. Losing Solanki first ball showed that nothing had changed. Ali followed in the second over, as he continued his bad run of form in the T20s. Smith and Kervezee took the attack to the bowlers, as we were 45/2 after 4 overs, a great improvement over the last time we faced Nottinghamshire. It couldn't last forever however, as Smith departed next ball for 30(13). Kervezee followed 3 balls later, and we had two new batsman at the crease. Jayasuriya was just as poor down the order, out for a duck. Manuel couldn't continue his good form in the previous game as he was also out for a duck. The batsman played defensively for a while, but Broad managed to get a ball to go right through Arif's defenses to have him out bowled for 18. Wheeldon managed 16 before being out lbw, while Mason managed two fours before being bowled. We were 100/9 with 5 overs left. We tried to play out the rest of the overs, but Franks managed to catch Pardoe's edge to have us all out for 105.

Mason managed to penetrate Hale's defenses on 13, but Hussey announced his arrival with a six first ball. He continued in the same vein, with Edwards providing the foil, as he won the game for Nottinghamshire in the 13th over with a six, which also brought up his half century off only 29 balls.

It was a terrible performance from us, despite a good start. I don't see us winning any matches at this rate.

Nottinhamshire win by 9 wickets
​

 

[CG123]

Another very poor batting effort from you guys.

What aggression are you starting your guys of on?

 

[Chewie]

The default one lol

 

[CG123]

The default one lol

So 7/8...
You should start them on 6/8 in order to keep wickets in hand, and then move them up to 7/8 once they are semi-settled. This will enable you to keep a few wickets in hand for the last 5-10 overs, which will allow you to go for a full out slog then, and be able to bat at the full 20 overs not having to rely on your bowlers.

Doing that should always enable you to get around 140-150, but the one problem is it doesn't really work when chasing down totals in excess of 170/180.

Infact in my four T20's so far, I've gone:

165 for 5
146 for 7
146 for 5
149 for 7

Very consistent, but not really any match winning totals there, despite the first one in which I was chasing 187.

That's all coming for someone who isn't the greatest T20 player on ICC, but basically I'd advise you maybe start your batsmen on 6/8, as that will allow you to bat at the 20 overs not having to rely on your bowlers batting ability.

 

[Chewie]

Yea, normally when I play I'm with a decent team so I can pull off 7/8 bars of aggression and get decent scores. I'm not used to playing with such a crap one

 

[CG123]

Yeah, if I'm playing with a decent team against a budget team, e.g. NZ against Zim at the T20 WC, I always start them on 7/8, but for this budget team against semi-decent teams, I've found it better to start them on 6/8, also the same with the might of SA. (South Africa Australia)

 

[CG123]

Worcestershire vs Nottinghamshire
Twenty Over Cup - group match
13th June 2010​

Teams:

Worcestershire

1. Daryl "****head" Mitchell
2. Vikram Solanki*?
3. Alex Kervezee
4. Steven Smith
5. Ben Smith
6. Jack Manuel
7. Useless Jayasuriya
8. Imran Arif
9. Gareth Andrew
10. Matthew Mason
11. Alan Richardson

Nottinghamshire

1. Alex Hales
2. Matt Wood
3. David Hussey
4. Chris Read*?
5. Ali Brown
6. Mark Wagh
7. Graeme Swann
8. Paul Franks
9. Stuart Broad
10. Andre Adams
11. Dirk Nannes

Toss:

Nottinghamshire won the toss, and chose to bowl first.

Match:

Worcestershire - 125 for 7 (20 overs)

Daryl "****head" Mitchell 43 (56)
Steven Smith 34 (25)

Andre Adams 2-27 (4)
Stuart Broad 2-29 (4)

Nottinghamshire - 129 for 2 (15.3 overs)

Matt Wood 47* (37)

Gareth Andrew 1-17 (2)

Result:

Nottinghamshire win by 8 wickets, with 27 balls remaining

Points:

Nottinghamshire 2
Worcestershire 0

MOTM:

Matt Wood (47 not out off 37 balls)

Reaction:

Not really much I can say, after our worst T20 performance of the season.

Daryl Mitchell's got a new nickname, and that's "****head", after being on very aggressive and scoring 43 runs off 56 balls, as well as running out our best batsman Steven Smith.

Our bowling's absolutely ████ as usual. Again we fail to make any inroads into their middle order.

Steven Smith's now gone away on injury duty, and since Useless Jayasuriya has a top score of six in five innings, he'll now be dropped, meaning we won't be playing any international players next match.

 

[Gaurav_7]

Daryl Mitchell's got a new nickname, and that's "flinghead", after being on very aggressive and scoring 43 runs off 56 balls, as well as running out our best batsman Steven Smith.

:laugh

 

[CG123]

What a joker though, he was on about 15 off 20 balls when I moved him up to 8/8 bars of aggression, and then he goes and stuffs up the rest of our innings.
Just for a laugh I bowled him for the final over of their innings when they need seven runs to win, the over went, 4, dot, then 6 to finish things off. :laugh
I don't think we'll be seeing him again for the rest of the T20 campaign.

 

[Gaurav_7]

How frustrating it will be for you guys with such performances! I've never had any experience with ICC game so do not know much but am surprised Jayasuriya hasn't clicked.

 

[Chewie]

Jayasuriya's much past his prime really. His spin bowling is probably more useful than his batting.

 

[CG123]

We're playing as the worst team in the game, hence why we're all doing so badly.

The ratings are based on a formula, and since he's like 40 I'm guessing his rating is extremely bad.

The Worcestershire faithful got the "You flinged up" chant going, as well as "Jayasuriya's a ██████" and "Mitchell's a ██████"!

 

[hedger_14]

Steven Smith's now gone away on injury duty

Is it his turn to be injured now

 

[Ollie_H]

but am surprised Jayasuriya hasn't clicked.

I'm really not, he hasn't clicked for a long time in any form of cricket and to me he is well past it with the bat. If your going to play him then you should only play him as a specialist spinner. I was surprised you guys actually went with him for so long after he just couldn't perform.

I would expect you guys to be experimenting a little bit more, but I can also understand what a struggle it is to get it going with the touted worst team in the country. I will try and give you a run down on who I think you guys should be playing if you fancy a cheekay experiment. You guys probably have been using these players anyway but I'm gonna do it anyway. I'm doing it from CQ's squad.

Sure fire players;
I would say that all of Vikram Solanki, Moeen Ali, Alex Kervezee are your sure fire batsman, with Jaques to play when Shakib isn't around. On the bowling side of things I would say people like Jack Shantry, Alan Richardson, Richard Jones and Matthew Mason.

Which leaves your line up looking something like;
1. Phil Jaques
2.
3. Moeen Ali
4. Vikram Solanki (wk)
5. Alex Kervezee.
6.
7.
8. Jack Shantry
9. Alan Richardson
10. Richard Jones
11. Matthew Mason

which leaves you with 3 spaces in the line up, I would say for an all rounder, a lower order batsman and a opening batsman. There is a reason why I have moved Solanki down the order, as he really doesn't seem to be doing well for you guys. And I also gave him the keeping job cos you hated Ben Cox. . You could always play Cox at 7 if you fancied it with an all rounder above him.

But the players I think you should experiment with are; Jack Manuel, Ben Cox and anyone of Smith, Pardoe, Pinner and Mitchell. Jack Manuel is a pretty good talent and you would have to let Cox bat down the order but it does leave you with batting down to about 7 before the tail starts.

Also thinking back, it's probably better off play Al Hasan then Jaques if you get the chance as he provides the best A/R option, but if he wasn't playing I'd look at Wheeldon or Cameron. Wheeldon doesn't actually seem to be an A/R in real life but he would provide some form of spin with back up from Ali.

So two line ups we can look at, one with Jaques and one with Shakib. IMO the one with Shakib will be a better all round line, whereas the one with Jaques will be a bit weak in the all round department.

With Jaques.
1. Phil Jaques
2. Jack Manuel
3. Moeen Ali
4. Vikram Solanki
5. Alex Kervezee
6. Wheeldon/Cameron
7. Ben Cox
8. Jack Shantry
9. Alan Richardson
10. Richard Jones
11. Matthew Mason

With Shakib Al Hasan
1. Jack Manuel
2. Solanki/Al Hasan
3. Moeen Ali
4. Solanki/Al Hasan
5. Alex Kerveze
6. Smith/Pinner/Pardoe/Mitchell.
7. Cox (wk)
8. Shantry
9. Richardson
10. Jones
11. Mason


That gives you a couple of options to look at, you could bat Al Hasan at 2 and see how he goes, but it's risky as he would be your best batsman and if he gets out early you haven't got that stability to come in the middle order, but he could also steady the ship up at the top. Personally I prefer the Shakib Al Hasan line up as he offers you the better A/R option. You could fiddle with that line up and look at Moeen Ali opening and then moving Solanki down to 5 or 6 and Al Hasan at 4.

1. Jack Manuel
2. Moeen Ali
3. Smtih/Pinner/Pardoe/Mitchell
4. Kervezee
5. Al Hasan
6. Solanki.

You can really float that role of Smith/Pinner/Pardoe Mitchell as the extra batsman.

I haven't really looked back and seen how you guys have been playing it but I just wrote this off my opinions and maybe it might help you a bit.

 

[hedger_14]

13th June 2010
Worcestershire vs Nottinghamshire
Twenty Over Cup - Group Match​

Teams:

Worcestershire

1. Phil Jaques
2. Daryl Mitchell
3. Vikram Solanki*?
4. Jack Manuel
5. Steven Smith
6. Alex Kervezee
7. David Wheeldon
8. Imran Arif
9. Gareth Andrew
10. Matthew Mason
11. Jack Shantry


Nottinghamshire

1. Alex Hales
2. Matt Wood
3. David Hussey
4. Samit Patel
5. Chris Read*?
6. Ali Brown
7. Graeme Swann
8. Stuart Broad
9. Andre Adams
10. Ryan Sidebottom
11. Dirk Nannes


Toss:

Nottinghamshire have won the toss and elected to bat first


Nottinghamshire - 182/5

David Hussey 63 (43)
Samit Patel 61 (41)

Imran Arif 3/31 (4)
Jack Shantry 1/26 (4)


Worcestershire - 157/6

Phil Jaques 42* (49)
Alex Kervezee 27 (14)

Dirk Nannes 3/30 (4)
Ryan Sidebottom 1/37 (4)


Nottinghamshire won by 25 runs


Points:

Nottinghamshire 2
Worcestershire 0


MOTM:

David Hussey (63* off 43)


Comments:

Alright performance I guess. Phil Jaques just wouldn't hit the ball, despite playing him on about full aggressiveness. Solanki, Manuel, Smith and Kervezee all scored in the 20's but none managed to go on to make a big score. The bowling performance wasn't great in the first place, only really Arif, Shantry and Mason bowling well. Anyway, at least we have won a game.