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HAMEED AND JAMES LEAD NOTTS TO 83 RUN VICTORY
Notts opened their Royal London campaign with a comfortable 86 run victory over Warwickshire on a flatdeck at Edgbaston today. In cloudy conditions a crowd of around 600 gathered,scattered around the ground, they were treated to a fascinating day of cricket played by two young teams. Notts left out Fletcher from the starting eleven as Notts gave List A debuts to Budinger, Patterson-White, Evison and Schadendorf. Peter Trego, clearly enjoying the occasion, skippered the team.
After being inserted Notts made a brisk start with Slater and Budinger adding 54 for the opening partnership in 43 balls. The key stand was for the third wicket between Slater and Hameed which added 127 in 21 overs. Slater slowed down after the power play but eventually got to 86 off 101 balls (9x4, 1x6). Hameed with deft placement, added later with more brute force played the innings of the day scoring a List A best of 103 off 92 balls (10x4,1x6). He was well supported by South African debutant Matthew Montgomery who scored 35 off 32 balls, and the pair added 66 in 9 overs for the 4th wicket. Montgomery born in Johannesburg and with first-class experience with Kwa Zulu Natal is a former Captain of the South African Under 19 team and is currently studying at Loughborough University. He followed up his confident batting display with a good performance in the field and an 8 over spell for 39 runs with his off spin. After being 263 for 3 in the 42 over, Notts lost some momentum only adding a further 60 runs against the largely inexperienced Bears attack. Their eventual total of 323 was still somewhat imposing. Like Notts, Warwick got off to brisk start with left handers Pollock and Yates adding 62 inthe power play until James removed Pollock. James ended up with figures of 5for 48 taking the last 3 wickets to fall. But apart from Dane Paterson (6-0-45-0),all the Notts bowlers exhibited excellent control to restrict the run scoring.Yates top scored with 103 off 105 balls (9x4, 2x6) but needing 8 an over offthe last 20 overs they Warwick collapsed from 163 for 2 to 237 all out.
Slater hit two fours off the opening over bowled by Sidebottom (Pavilion End). Off spinner Yates bowled for the second overfrom the City End. Slater and Budinger tucked into Sidebottom who went for 31in his first three overs. The 50 partnership came up in 35 balls. Right armseamer Manraj Johal replaced Sidebottom. Budinger (29) fell in the 8th over slogging Yates to Sidebottom at extra cover, 54 for one. Notts finished the 10 overs of power play on 66 for 1.
Yates with 5 overs for 25 made way for Sidebottom at the City End and with his third ball the Aussie had Trego (6) caught at backward point by Ethan Brookes, 70 for 2. Slater cut Johal for six over point. Seventeen year old slow left armer Jacob Bethell came from the Pavilion End inthe 17th over. Rhodes came on for the following over with Slater reaching his 50 off 53 balls with a four through backward point. Yates returned for the 26th over. Hameed hit Bethell for six over mid wicket. Bethell was then replaced by medium pacer Ethan Brookes in the 29th over. A single from Hameed off Yates saw him to 50 off 53 balls. Sidebottom returned for the 32nd over. Slater holed out to the deep square leg ropes caught by Kiel van Vollenhoven off Brookes for 86 off 101 balls, 197 for 3 in the 33rd over. Leg spinner van Vollenhoven came on for the following over with Bethell returned for the 40th over. Hameed and the confident Montgomery reached a 50 partnership in 43 balls; Montgomery was dropped on 25, a caught and bowled chance to Bethell. In his next over, Bethell had Montgomery stumped for 35, 263 for 4 in the 42nd over. A nudged single by Hameed off Johal saw him to 100 in 88 balls. James (9) was run out by a direct him from van Vollenhoven as Hameed went for a two, 277 for 5 off 44 overs; James being slow to turn running for the second. Rhodes returned and had Hameed bowled making room for 103 off 92 balls (10x4, 1x6), 278 for 6. Hameed looked in fine form throughout, and was an innings of class. Brookes returned and had Patterson-White (2) caught at short fine leg by Johal, 281 for 7. Evison and Schadendorf nudged and nurdled to start with. Evison hit Brookes for 6 over point and then 4 through mid wicket, the 48th over going for 16. Evison perished for 17 caught on the cover ropes by Bethell off Rhodes, 313 for 8. Next ball, Schadendorf (16) was caught attempting a straight hit, Ethan Brookes taking the catch, 313 for 9. Hutton (9) hit Johal for 6 over mid wicket but two balls later was caught at cover by Rhodes, Notts 323 all out off 49.4 overs. Rhodes 3 for 40.
Hutton (Pavilion End) opened witha maiden. In the 4th over, Yates smashed Paterson for six over square leg.Paterson got hit for a huge leg side six by Pollock in the eighth over. In the following over, Yates hit Hutton for 6 over mid wicket. James came on for the last over of the power play and had Pollock (16) dismissed via a well judged catch by Slater and the square leg ropes, 62 for one after 10 overs.
Off spinner Montgomery was introduced in the 11th over and his first over went for 4. Yates raced to 50 in 43 balls, with a swept boundary off Montgomery. A leg side boundary for Rhodes off James brought up the Warwick 100 in the 20th over. After a spell of 7-0-36-1, James was replaced by Evison from the City End. Rhodes (39) fell to an outstanding catch on the square leg ropes by Slater who acrobatically threw the ball to himself to take the catch off inside the ropes, Evison the bowler, 142 for 3.
Patterson-White replaced Montgomery after a composed 8 over spell for the 27th over. Burgess making room to cut was bowled by Patterson-White for 11, 163 for 3 in the 31st over. A cover drive from Yates off Patterson-White saw him reach his ton off 102 balls. But he departed for 102 chopping onto his bails as Evison picked his second scalp, 171 for 4 in the 34th over. A wicket maiden for Evison. Warwick were now to fade away.
Paterson returned for Evison for the 38th over and Slater dropped a sitter on square leg ropes as Bethell was given a life on 5. Slater had been barracked by the Reabank for some time by some supporters up on thenReabank who questioned the validity of the catch to remove Rhodes. Shortly afterwards he let a ball go for four off Paterson, which intensified the laughter, Fletcher wearing his safari top came round the boundary to give him moral support.
The end of the innings came swiftly as the last 6 wickets fell in 15 balls, After two overs, Paterson was replaced by James who removed Bethell for 20, caught at deep mid wicket by Hameed, 226 for 5 in the42nd over. Next over, Lamb (38) was caught at long on by Hutton off Patterson-White, 229 for 6. In the same over, Ethan Brookes was bowled off his pads for 0, 230 for 7. Ashish Chakrapini, the Solihull Scholl pupil, was caught by Trego running in from long on off James, 234 for 8. Next ball, South African Kiel Van Vollenhoven was leg before to James for 1. Sidebottom was last man in,batting with a runner. Johal was the last man out caught in the covers by Hameed off James. Warwickshire 237 all out off 44 overs.
The good away contingent made their way home very content following a fine performance from a largely young and inexperienced team with all-rounders James, Evison and Patterson-White sharing the 10 wickets. Montgomery only signed earlier this week also impressed, having played the majority of the season with Notts seconds he scored two sixties for Bears Twos in their successful T20 day at Arundel. Notts though were first to get his name on the dotted line. Dane Schadendorf, as he did on his championship debut,was impressive behind the stumps. He looks a natural keeper and celebrates his 19th birthday in 6 days time. The future for Notts cricket looks extremely bright. With the restrictions now lifted, hopefully a good crowd will gather to support them at Welbeck later in the week. MAG
Warwickshire (not Bears) won the toss and inserted the Outlaws.
Prematch
Most counties are, it appears, using this competition to blood youngsters. Yesterday for example Sussex Sharks (narrowly defeated by the vastly more experienced Lancashire - no Lightning), had (I think they said) 9 List A debutants in their side with the average age of just 20 years of age (several 16/17 year olds in their mix). Perhaps necessity meant they had to get the balance slightly wrong between young and experience but the enthusiasm was refreshing to watch and the back drop of Sedbergh and fells of grazing sheep was magnificent.
For Notts to have an average age of just 20 and also have the inclusion of new skipper Peter Trego (40) and the choice of obvious opening batsman Ben Slater (29), the other 9 players would have to be 17 years olds - obviously the wrong balance if we want to be competitive this season, and the inclusion of Luke Fletcher, Liam Patterson-White, Lyndon James, Sol Budinger and Zak Chappell would also appear to make sense.
We won't have the scenic backdrop of the Yorkshire Dales to enjoy either but we will have a variety of venues to take in, some familiar and others less often visited. First up is the familiar surroundings of Edgbaston with all of its concrete with the backdrop a mix of chimneys, church spires, mature trees and skyscrapers but no sheep.
What youngsters get selected, will be exciting to see and who knows where it might lead them. 22 year old Chris Benjamin had previous made a couple of appearances for Durham University against counties before he played one Blast game (Bears) followed by his List A debut for Warwickshire earlier this week before being catapulted into the spotlight, replacing an injured Adam Hose in the Birmingham Hundred franchise collective.
Secret Squirrel donning his green uniform as announced a 14 man squad:
Ben Slater
Haseeb Hameed
Matthew Montgomery
Peter Trego c
Matthew Montgomery
Peter Trego c
Sol Budinger
Lyndon James
Joey Evison
Liam Patterson-White
Dane Schadendorf x
Brett Hutton
Dane Paterson
The mass cull of County players needed to swell the 100 Ball ranks has presented a fantastic opportunity for younger inexperienced players to shine at a higher level . They are getting first team chances that previously were pretty hard to achieve. So its a side benefit of the 100 Baller .
ReplyDeletePS
The continuous moronic chanting spoilt the match at TB yesterday . It almost drowned out the Vaughan and Tuffers BBC TV commentary .
But what do you expect when Notts CCC encourage groups of young men to start sinking pints of overpriced (£5) beer and lager at 11 am !?
Notts have alcohol outlets placed about every 10 yards round the ground perimeter plus extra ones in the various stands
The chanting ( call it singing if you must)did drown out the commentary.I’d need to listen again but to me it sounded canned and played on top of the live effects to give more” atmosphere “
ReplyDeleteJust a thought about yesterdays Royal London game which Notts won comfortably with a pretty strange looking side with all that youth!
ReplyDeletePerhaps we might not have gone so long ( over two years) without winning a 4 day County match if the younger players had been given a chance to prove themselves . PM and the DOC stuck pretty well with the same eleven month in and month out but we couldnt win a match.
What a change this season now that so many young players have been given a decent chance in the first team .
The first team are playing good attractive cricket now and are getting results and the Notts dressing room must be a far happier place with everyone pulling together .
So credit where its due
We wouldn’t of lost anymore matches if they had played would we? But yes, it’s great to see them playing ( and players of other counties too )
ReplyDeleteThe general mood of the writers on here is better in my opinion, and that’s because the younger players are doing well and results in the championship are much improved.
Certainly true the mood of writers/contributors on here has improved ten fold, Good results obviously help in that area If you add to that we now play far more of our home grown players and its not difficult to see where the upturn in mood has come from.
ReplyDeleteWe now look a side that will give anyone a game and you would have to say some of the credit is due to the coaching staff, I would be the first to admit to critisism of the way the club seemed to be heading and i like many others put that down to those at the top. Seems i was wrong and what Peter Moores was saying about a period of rebuilding was spot on, I suppose like many other supporters i wanted instant results, But as i now realise it takes time for grass roots to grow and for us to reap the benefits.
One plus factor that has come out of it is Notts now have a team that critics will find hard to label a team of imports, Warwickshire for example are far more guilty of that than Notts now, Take for example last week when the Lancashire player Alex Davies joined them if you add in Tim Bresnan, Craig Miles, Dom Sibley to name but a few you can see that Notts should not face criticism alone in that area.
I suspect that financial constraints as much as any other reason, have been a major factor in Notts having to bring in players from the seconds.
ReplyDeleteMullaney was the instigator in bringing in Harrison, and James, Evison and Patterson-White deserved to be selected on merit.
I think consistent pressure from disillusioned members has also played a part in the policy change,although I am sure Mick Newell will be happy to take the credit for the change of fortunes, which in my opinion, and in the opinion of many others, is undeserved, considering his default method has always been to recruit from outside the club.
In any event, Notts have found a nucleus of talented young cricketers to move the club forward, and create an air of optimism for members and supporters alike.
Necessity, the mother of invention - Plato
DeleteFair point Mark about MN, There is little doubt that he would want some credit forthe upturn in form this season, And in fairness he must have had some input in putting the coaching/cricket pathway into operation.
DeleteHaving said that i do feel that the input of the likes of Franks,Shine and Moores has been the real differnce from last season.