Hampshire Specsavers D1 at Welbeck CC Draw

Day 4 

WELLIES THE ONLY ATTIRE SUITABLE FOR WELBECK

As unseasonable weather patterns prevail and the match is drawn

I think the umpires took marginally longer today to conclude it was too wet and would remain too wet even if it stopped raining for long enough to start the drying out process. So Notts follow up the fighting draw at Edgbaston with a limp effort of a damp drawn game; but were once again the second best of the two teams.
Day 3

NO PLAY ON DAY THREE AT WET WELBECK
Another total wipe out with the umpires ruling out any play for today at 9AM.

Day 2

DAY TWO WASHED OUT AT WELBECK

Day 1
NOTTS AGAIN SECOND BEST IN UNHAPPY RETURN TO WELBECK

Hampshire ended the opening day of the inaugural championship fixture at Welbeck in an extremely strong position after yet another poor Notts batting performance in front of a crowd of around 1,000.

 South African Kyle Abbott did most of the damage taking 6 for 37 off 14 overs. Too many Notts batsman were culpable for their own dismissals as skipper Steven Mullaney played a lone hand scoring a patient 45 off 114 balls (4x4, 1x6) as Notts scored a paltry 162 all out, well under par on a pitch with bounce and some sideways movement but no real terrors. Teams have got wise to the fact that they just need to frustrate Notts and limit run scoring opportunities and then sooner or later a daft shot will be played, the ability to bat time seems an alien concept to the expensively compiled top order. It is telling that the highest partnership was a meagre 51 runs for the seventh wicket between Mullaney and Pattinson. Hampshire lost Soames early to the wholehearted Fletcher who conceded 10 in seven overs. Change bowlers Wood and Ball carried little threat as Weatherley and Rahane added 80 for the second wicket in 27 overs batting exactly like you should on the wicket i.e. with patience. Rahane was out to Ball just before the close but Notts finished the day with the familiar zero points haul.

Hampshire won the toss and inserted Notts after an uncontested toss. In came Wood and Ball and out went Carter and Broad from the Birmingham game. Patterson-White was frustratingly left out of eleven as the management continued to pick the same ever misfiring top order. Notts lost a wicket with the third ball of the day, Slater playing on to Barker (Scoreboard End), 0 for 1. In the sixth over, Abbott (Bowling Green End) had Nash (6) leg before, 17 for two. Six overs later, Clarke (6) edged Abbott to Weatherley at second slip, 41 for three. A heavy shower stopped play at 1215 with Notts 54 for three after 17.1 overs. An early lunch was taken.

Play resumed at 1325 and Duckett (22) was out 11 balls after the resumption, being caught behind off Fuller having had a dreadful waft outside off stump, 55 for four. Mullaney and Patel added 30 for the fifth wicket until another bad stroke this time from Patel saw him edge Abbott (Bowling Green End) to keeper Alsop. Moores (6) was next out leg before to a well pitched up delivery from Barker (Scoreboard End), 105 for 6. Mullaney hit Fuller for six over mid wicket, probably the highlight of an appalling day for Notts. Tea was taken at 1600 with Notts 145 for 6 off 55 overs with Mullaney on 37 and Pattinson on 18.

Collapse o'clock

After tea the timetabled collapse arrived on schedule, Mullaney and Pattinson had added 51 for the seventh wicket when Pattinson (22) lost his middle stump to Abbott. In his next over Abbott picked up his fifth wicket with Wood lost his off stump departing for a duck, 158 for 8. Fletcher edged the next ball for four through the slips but perished the following ball edging Abbott to Northeast at slip, 162 for nine. Mullaney (45) was the last man to go as three balls later he edged Fuller to Alsop. Notts 162 all out in 60.2 overs, Abbott 6 for 37. Notts had lost their four wickets for six runs in 16 balls.

Dropping rare chances

In the third over of the reply, Fletcher got Soames (2) to edge to Mullaney at second slip, 5 for one. Fletcher bowled a seven over spell from the Scoreboard End and was replaced by Jake Ball. In his first over, Ball had Weatherley dropped on 15 at third slip by Nash diving to his right. With a large majority of the crowd on a cool chilly day gone, Ball finally picked up a wicket as Rahane (34) edged him to Mullaney at second slip, 85 for two. Night watchman Crane (5 not out) survived 14 balls as Hampshire closed on 93 for two off 33 overs with Weatherley on 47 not out. Once again Pattinson went wicket less. Luckily the ground managed to avoid heavy afternoon showers to the east and west as the full days allocation was possible as stumps were drawn at 1909. Notts will be hoping that the weather forecasters are correct and that little play will be possible in next three days. Despite wholesale changes to the playing staff, Notts now 12 championship games without a win continue to look a very poor underachieving uncompetitive outfit. 

Something is clearly wrong somewhere...and things have to change very soon as the supporters are getting extremely agitated in terms of where the club are heading. MAG





Squad news

Stuart Broad will not be available for the Welbeck game, opening the door for a possible Jake Ball return. (NP)

The squad also sees Luke Wood return from Northampton and Zak Chappell returning from his latest ailment,

Ben Duckett
Ben Slater
Chris Nash
Steven Mullaney
Joe Clarke
Samit Patel
Tom Moores
James Pattinson
Luke Fletcher
Matt Carter
Jake Ball
Luke Wood
Liam Patterson-White
Jake Libby
Zak Chappell

12 Games without a win

The first anniversary of Nottinghamshire's last championship win will be with us soon and at times since, it has felt like just that. That the win at Chelmsford June 2018 will be Notts' last championship win, certain the last in Division 1 for a while. We haven't been in the hunt (for a win) since last June and have more often then not been on the wrong end of a good hiding too.

MAG has made table of the 12 games in the near 12 months:

Opposition	Venue	Toss	Result	Batting	Bowling	Total points
WORC'SHIRE	TB	U	D	4	3	12
SURREY	TB	U	LI183R	1	2	3
Hampshire	Rose Bowl	U	L270R	-	3	3
Surrey	The Oval	U	LI125R	-	3	3
YORKSHIRE	TB	U	D	5	2	12
ESSEX	TB	W	L8W	-	3	3
SOMERSET	TB	L	LI146R	-	2	2
YORKSHIRE	TB	U	D	4	3	12
SOMERSET	TB	U	LI14R	2	3	4*
Essex	Chelmsford	W	L8W	-	3	3
Hampshire	Newclose	U	L244R	1	3	4
Warwickshire	Edgbaston	L	D	-	1	6

*one point deducted for poor over rate

 Played 12 Won 0 Drawn 4 Lost 8 Batting 17 Bowling 31 Points 67

So what has gone wrong? Head Coach Peter Moores would have it nothing much is wrong (since the revamp of the batting at the end of 2018); it's a new team bedding in (as it were) and young players are by nature inconsistent are excuses he's used only this week. Peter loves to make it simple, "batters" bat and score runs and bowlers bowl and take wickets. A good simple plan. Unfortunately, "batters" aren't batting for long enough or scoring nearly enough runs and the bowlers are bowling too long and not taking wickets quick enough. Bring fielders into the mix and you would say too many catches are being put down compared to what you'd expect from a professional team in this era.

One good note, at least on D-Day Notts dug-in, gritted it out under constant pressure over the whole of Day 4 at Edgbaston and came away with a draw but more importantly stopped Bears recording another win, a win that would have pushed us further back. But with Chris Nash, Ben Duckett dug-in applied himself for 2-3 sessions. He admits to regrets of not finishing the job, and indeed his wicket lead to the familiar Notts wobble accompanied by 3 more wickets in quick succession, but even his harshest critics would have concede that Ben made a significant improvement in his red ball form for Notts in that second innings.Prior to that innings Duckett had been too flamboyant as an opener, carelessly gifting his wicket repeatedly but Peter Moores, as loyal ashe is, will see the Duckett 140 as vindication to his decision to utilise Duckett as an opening partner for Ben Slater.

Collectively the batting was a shambles again in the first innings at Edgbaston, so change has to be implemented, in personnel, in batting order or in both probably.

Ben Slater has been better than expected since his one way ticket on the Red Arrow last year and plays in the same way, regardless of format or match situation, his natural game I suppose and as a opener only; so do we stick or twist with one or with both openers? Slater has been the one ray of hope at times in 2019 as was Joe Clarke until we returned from the One Day Cup to the red ball, what has happened to his form? Perhaps nothing, he's got out or been got out all too quickly into his innings to know.

That win 350 days ago was skippered in Steven Mullaney's absence (he was doing something with the England Lions at the time) by Chris Nash. 

Are we now allowed to question the selection of Samit Patel? He has rarely been a wicket taking spin bowler, likely to put the jitters into the opposition's minds. Combine that with his zero form with the batin 2019 and you have to start wondering about alternatives because he isn't justifying Peter Moores' undying faith in him.

The bowling unit in general hasn't shown that it can bowl a side out twice yet thisseason, but this is precisely what it has do to generate the wins we need if we are retain our Division 1 status.

We have had Stuart Broad available all season so far and he hasn't delivered; has he lost the plot? Has Jake Ball lost pace, as well as his mojo? Andy Pick's cartel is on rocky ground. Poor Fletcher is again carrying his colleagues and perhaps deserves a rest.

James Pattinson was rusty at Edgbaston, but the expected bounce at Welbeck is likely to bring back his shine and his presence is sure to put doubts into the minds of the Hampshire skipper; do they bowl first on Sunday, effectively choosing to bat last on a club ground wicket or do they opt to have the toss and a chance to face Patto's 90mph bullets.

Peter's options

Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, springs to mind as there hasn't been a net gain in sun loungers since last season, the departures cancelling out the new arrivals. Add to that the sick notes and the see that the management have left the squad worse off than they were. There is just the potential for those players to be better than the predecessors but more" inconsistent".

So what are Peter's options?:

• do nothing
• shuffle his deck and change the batting order
• introduce some "new faces"

Who might the "new faces" be; Mark Footitt, Lyndon James and Jake Libby or should he go for the form players in Liam Patterson-White and Joey Evison? You could make a case for the inclusion of each of these players and perhaps a couple of others not mentioned but PM will see their selection as a gamble even though sticking with the usual failing (to win) suspects is perhaps the greater gamble. Changes in September will be too late.