Well done, Tassie.
Just finished yet another season, I'm in 2010 now. I have an awesome team and was not surprised to win every competition quite easily. Well I say easily but it was a struggle at time to play all my best players. We of course bowled well but our main strength was the batting. With 7 players scoring over 750 runs, 3 scoring over 1300 runs, it was a brilliant time. Phil Jaques was one of two overseas players and was our best batsman by far. 1725 runs in FC at an average of 59.48 showed his dominance and if he's available next season, I'm picking him up. Alastair Cook has scored 1000 runs every season if I remember correctly and has done it again. 1598 runs this time, with a high score of 208, as he averaged just below Jaques, of 57.07. He was brilliant for Essex, but rather average for England. The last player to score 1000 runs in FC this season was Mike Woodward(regen). He had quite a few form slumps but managed 1334 runs still at 44.47. His average isn't the best but at 23 years old, he is very promising. He's an all round batsman though that can bat in all forms of the game. Yardy(958), Jefferson(909), Harvey(850) and Benn(750) all chipped in. Benn was the most surprising though, scoring his 749 runs in only 8 matches. He's also a regen like Harvey and will both be in my team for time to come.
The bowling in First Class was distinctly average. Aqeel Ahmed was my second overseas player this season, despite him not representing Pakistan, so I took a gamble. It payed off though as Ahmed took 117 wickets at an average of 20.28. This, like Jaques runs amount, sets a record for me since I've been coach. He took 8-33 in the second last game of the season and was our best bowler by far. Anthony Davies was another great bowler and if he didn't mess it up for England in the Test match he played, then perhaps he'd feature more often in the International scene. He took 76 wickets at 22.78 and was our best seamer. Broad(39), Bresnan(34) and Sidebottom(24) all chipped in with some wickets but were generally injured or out of form. I'm definitely hoping for a better bowling performance next season as it was generally poor this year. I need some good regen bowlers.
The One Day format saw Jaques yet again top score. 823 runs meant he averaged just below 50. Woodward(687), Jefferson(600), Harvey(446) and Cook(404) all average above 40 with Jefferson averaging 60. It was a good batting season for these guys as they proved to be the best in FC and OD. The bowling was more of a team effort, thankfully, than it was in FC. Ahmed still topped the class with 38 wickets at a mesmerizing 17.87. Davies(25) and Sidebottom(23) both got more than 20 wickets, whilst Tudor(16) and Blackwell(18) helped out a little bit. Considering I have 12 bowlers in the team, it's not a bad achievement.
I have 26 players in my team, which I need to make smaller. Players such as Tudor will have to leave soon as they are just not good enough and I want to bring in some young guns. I need some room to play them though so will definitely need to cut down on buying players. I needed the money from the titles so should be able to have a nice amount left over after the Transfer window has passed. Unfortunately I haven't set any partnership records this season and have only set one all time record since 2006. I could do with some big big partnerships next season. I've also accepted the England job which means I may not have a big say in Essex's domestic season next year.
Very nice to see Essex win every title, which I'll be looking to do again next season. Australian regen batsman Stokes was the only player to score more runs than Jaques, but that player is a machine. He also scored 918 runs for Somerset in the OD format. Ahmed got a clean sweep in the bowling awards after his fantastic season. I unfortunately have to tour Australia before the World Cup which will no doubt mean playing Stokes and Jaques in Australia. I'm doomed.
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