Atom Feed (xml)
Its nice to have got our Twenty20 campaign up and running at last, but I guess it would have been nicer if we hadn’t lost our first three games because it is going to be quite difficult for us to qualify from here.
However given the team that we have and the way that we have played in our last few matches we all know that we can still do it. It is possible and as long as we keep hanging on in there and picking up the two points from each game then you never know.
I think we got to the stage where we had nothing to lose and went out there and played with no fear. We put in a performance and got the result that we needed against Glamorgan.
Previously we have lost wickets in clumps so we wanted to focus on the middle order and up at Worcester, Pete Trego and myself batted for about 10 overs and put some runs on the board which enabled us to reach a good total.
It was really important that we realised that even though we have lost a couple of wickets early on there were still a lot of wickets left so we had time to get runs.
Pete is on a bit of a roll at the moment and he is striking the ball well. One thing that he does do is back himself, so he needs to go out there and play exactly the way that he has been whether it is bowling or batting. He is showing that even when he plays just as a batsman, like he is now because of his injury that goes up the batting order because he is scoring runs for us.
It has been good for me to run into a bit of form in the Twenty20 now. Early on it wasn’t happening for me but I think if you can get stuck in and play your favourite shots, the ones that are risk free then things happen naturally.
Batting first and putting scores on the board creates a lot of pressure when we bowl at our opponents.
We know that here at Taunton where there is a good wicket that if you can put 180 on the board, chasing nine an over right from the start is a big ask and creates pressure for the side batting second right from the beginning.
With Charl Willoughby coming back into the team we have got a left armer who swings it and he has proved to be mighty effective and exactly what we have needed.
Alfonso Thomas has also responded magnificently to being asked to bowl for the last four overs from one end. He bowls his Yorkers so well that with eight overs to go he is the perfect bowler to bring on. He has got a field that he knows and he asked the captain if he could set his own field which has worked out superbly.
Now we have got three big games and we have to win them all. It is now all in our hands and we have to keep playing positively in exactly the way that we have been playing. We can’t leave it to chance and have to go out and take maximum points from the next three games.
It will be a huge disappointment if we don’t qualify and we will be kicking ourselves so if in the end that is the case we will be looking to rectify things in the Pro40.
Thursday 26 June 2008
Friday 20 June 2008
A disappointing start
We have had a very disappointing start to the Twenty20 Cup campaign this year especially as this was one of the competitions that we earmarked as one of our strongest before the start of the season.
Things just haven’t happened yet for us this season and we have been poor in the middle order of our batting and been unable to see games home.
Having lost three games on the trot it is going to be difficult for us, but there is still a long way to go so if we can string together a run of victories we are still in with a shout. We are looking forward to notching up our first win when we play against Glamorgan at home and then moving on from there.
In our first match of the series we were chasing 202 to win. Justin Langer and Marcus Trescothick gave us a flying start but when you are chasing 10 an over for the second part of the game it is not easy. Northants also bowled very well, especially Jason Brown who is very experienced so I guess we knew that we were going to be up against it.
In Cardiff I think 170 was just out of our reach, 20 more than the 150 wicket that we thought that it was. Their three spinners bowled well and even though the ball didn’t spin very much we played some poor shots. Again we had a good start and looked like we were going to chase it down but then three or four quick wickets and we were in trouble.
This was another middle order fault so this is something that we need to look to rectify.
In the game on Saturday against Warwickshire it was the same story really and after another good start by the opening two we just threw wickets away. Neither James Hildreth nor myself have got any runs in this competition and we are desperate to do do.
We have both been working very hard in the nets trying to improvise and work out how we can score before we go for the bigger shots so we will be hoping to put some runs on the board to help us to win our remaining matches.
I think that what we have learned is to be more ruthless and having got that good start we need to kick on and actually do the job ourselves as opposed to leaving it for to somebody else to do, which is something we have been guilty of doing over the first three games.
In the four-day game we have been ruthless and we have been playing some really good cricket, which makes the way that we have performed in our opening Twenty20 matches all the more disappointing.
Twenty20 is a very short game and we could quite easily win our remaining matches, which we know is not beyond us so we have got to be thinking positively going into our next game.
If we can get onto a winning roll, we will keep with that habit because games come think and fast and before you have ended one game the next is only a few hours away. It’s a case of doing good things and remembering how you did those things because before you know it the game is on you and then it is over.
We know we just need to execute our plans a little bit better and try and squeeze teams that bit harder than we have been doing.
We get great support for our Twenty20 matches at Taunton so it has been disappointing that we have let them down in the way that we have.
Whether or not we will change the batting order around or not we will just have to wait and see but at the end of the day we just have to back ourselves and go out there and play with no fear which is what Justin Langer has been telling us to do.
Things just haven’t happened yet for us this season and we have been poor in the middle order of our batting and been unable to see games home.
Having lost three games on the trot it is going to be difficult for us, but there is still a long way to go so if we can string together a run of victories we are still in with a shout. We are looking forward to notching up our first win when we play against Glamorgan at home and then moving on from there.
In our first match of the series we were chasing 202 to win. Justin Langer and Marcus Trescothick gave us a flying start but when you are chasing 10 an over for the second part of the game it is not easy. Northants also bowled very well, especially Jason Brown who is very experienced so I guess we knew that we were going to be up against it.
In Cardiff I think 170 was just out of our reach, 20 more than the 150 wicket that we thought that it was. Their three spinners bowled well and even though the ball didn’t spin very much we played some poor shots. Again we had a good start and looked like we were going to chase it down but then three or four quick wickets and we were in trouble.
This was another middle order fault so this is something that we need to look to rectify.
In the game on Saturday against Warwickshire it was the same story really and after another good start by the opening two we just threw wickets away. Neither James Hildreth nor myself have got any runs in this competition and we are desperate to do do.
We have both been working very hard in the nets trying to improvise and work out how we can score before we go for the bigger shots so we will be hoping to put some runs on the board to help us to win our remaining matches.
I think that what we have learned is to be more ruthless and having got that good start we need to kick on and actually do the job ourselves as opposed to leaving it for to somebody else to do, which is something we have been guilty of doing over the first three games.
In the four-day game we have been ruthless and we have been playing some really good cricket, which makes the way that we have performed in our opening Twenty20 matches all the more disappointing.
Twenty20 is a very short game and we could quite easily win our remaining matches, which we know is not beyond us so we have got to be thinking positively going into our next game.
If we can get onto a winning roll, we will keep with that habit because games come think and fast and before you have ended one game the next is only a few hours away. It’s a case of doing good things and remembering how you did those things because before you know it the game is on you and then it is over.
We know we just need to execute our plans a little bit better and try and squeeze teams that bit harder than we have been doing.
We get great support for our Twenty20 matches at Taunton so it has been disappointing that we have let them down in the way that we have.
Whether or not we will change the batting order around or not we will just have to wait and see but at the end of the day we just have to back ourselves and go out there and play with no fear which is what Justin Langer has been telling us to do.
Thursday 12 June 2008
The plan didn't come together
We were all very disappointed to lose our re-arranged Friends Provident quarter final match against Kent on Thursday last week. It was switched to Beckenham in the end because of the ground conditions at Canterbury after a deluge there the day before the game.
Despite the switch we still expected to go there, put up a good fight and win the game but it didn’t go according to plan. Kent played well and set a pretty good total on what was a good out ground wicket which proved to be too many for us as we spluttered along and lost wicket in quick succession which is what you cant afford to do.
The schedule of matches hasn’t been that kind to us what with being away at Tunbridge Wells and then at Whitgift School after which we had to sandwich the quarter final in before travelling back to Taunton late on Thursday evening.
The championship match against Yorkshire was very much an up and down sort of affair and went right down to the wire. We threw it away in the first innings and only took two batting points but we then got ourselves back into the game having bowled them out for 200 in their second innings.
The pressure told though and chasing 323 to win we lost four wicket wickets early on, and then looked like we were going to rescue it, but in the end we didn’t quite get home, which was disappointing.
The first division is going to be very keenly contested this year because there doesn’t seem to be a run away leader.
From our experiences so far there are certainly no easy games and every point could end up being vital when it gets to the end of the season.
Twenty20 cricket is a great concept, one that has really captured the imagination and attracted a new generation of spectators to the game.
When it was first introduced to the cricket calendar back in 2003 I think that its popularity took many people involved in the world of cricket by surprise. Since then however it has gone from strength to strength and it attracts capacity crowds wherever it is played.
Certainly everybody at Somerset seems to enjoy it and all the thrills and spills of the short form of the game have really caught on with our home fans at the County Ground and there is no better place to play.
There is nothing that we enjoy more than playing in front of a packed home crowd who cheer every run and wicket, so you can bet that all of the Somerset players will be going out to do their best to win all of our games and send our supporters home feeling happy!
We have got a lot of players in our squad who play expansive cricket and are ideally suited to the short form of the game so this season we will be looking to do better than we have over the last couple of years and win through to the latter stages of the competition.
Hopefully we will reach the finals that for the first time ever are being held at The Rose Bowl, which will be a spectacular venue for such an occasion.
Those of us who helped to win the Twenty20 Cup in 2005 will never forget that special day at the Brit Oval when we beat Leicestershire and then Lancashire in the final.
Twenty20 is such a fast and aggressive form of cricket that you have to be prepared to take risks and not be afraid of going for your shots, very much like Cameron White and Justin Langer did when they helped to set the record score of 250 for three against Gloucestershire back in 2006.
At the County Ground we always get big crowds who get right behind us so we will be looking for them to cheer us on and get our campaign off to a flying start by winning our first two home games against Northants on Wednesday and Warwickshire on Saturday.
Despite the switch we still expected to go there, put up a good fight and win the game but it didn’t go according to plan. Kent played well and set a pretty good total on what was a good out ground wicket which proved to be too many for us as we spluttered along and lost wicket in quick succession which is what you cant afford to do.
The schedule of matches hasn’t been that kind to us what with being away at Tunbridge Wells and then at Whitgift School after which we had to sandwich the quarter final in before travelling back to Taunton late on Thursday evening.
The championship match against Yorkshire was very much an up and down sort of affair and went right down to the wire. We threw it away in the first innings and only took two batting points but we then got ourselves back into the game having bowled them out for 200 in their second innings.
The pressure told though and chasing 323 to win we lost four wicket wickets early on, and then looked like we were going to rescue it, but in the end we didn’t quite get home, which was disappointing.
The first division is going to be very keenly contested this year because there doesn’t seem to be a run away leader.
From our experiences so far there are certainly no easy games and every point could end up being vital when it gets to the end of the season.
Twenty20 cricket is a great concept, one that has really captured the imagination and attracted a new generation of spectators to the game.
When it was first introduced to the cricket calendar back in 2003 I think that its popularity took many people involved in the world of cricket by surprise. Since then however it has gone from strength to strength and it attracts capacity crowds wherever it is played.
Certainly everybody at Somerset seems to enjoy it and all the thrills and spills of the short form of the game have really caught on with our home fans at the County Ground and there is no better place to play.
There is nothing that we enjoy more than playing in front of a packed home crowd who cheer every run and wicket, so you can bet that all of the Somerset players will be going out to do their best to win all of our games and send our supporters home feeling happy!
We have got a lot of players in our squad who play expansive cricket and are ideally suited to the short form of the game so this season we will be looking to do better than we have over the last couple of years and win through to the latter stages of the competition.
Hopefully we will reach the finals that for the first time ever are being held at The Rose Bowl, which will be a spectacular venue for such an occasion.
Those of us who helped to win the Twenty20 Cup in 2005 will never forget that special day at the Brit Oval when we beat Leicestershire and then Lancashire in the final.
Twenty20 is such a fast and aggressive form of cricket that you have to be prepared to take risks and not be afraid of going for your shots, very much like Cameron White and Justin Langer did when they helped to set the record score of 250 for three against Gloucestershire back in 2006.
At the County Ground we always get big crowds who get right behind us so we will be looking for them to cheer us on and get our campaign off to a flying start by winning our first two home games against Northants on Wednesday and Warwickshire on Saturday.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
