Southern League - Week 1

Match 1
Hampshire Royals vs. Middlesex Panthers
Conditions - Definitely not a pitch designed for the seamers this week, with Batsman, should they fancy it, being able to hit off the square easily. It's going to be a good turner, with spinners looking likely to dictate proceedings. With poor weather looking likely to play a part later on, the onus is really on batting first.

Match 2
Surrey Lions vs. Sussex Sharks
Conditions - A pitch for all comers, the dry nature of it is enough to keep all interested, with some pace and bounce for the seamers and enough going for it so that the spinners can have a say in proceedings. That said, batsmen will find runs easy to come by if they get themselves in. A high scoring game could be the case here.

Match 3
Essex Eagles vs. Somerset
Conditions - A pitch for the tactile. The small boundaries may suit those who like to give the ball some welly but truly, those bowlers who can keep it tight will have a large say in who wins this one. Overnight rain has slowed the outfield right down so the batsmen who can accumulate quickly are a necessity here.

Pitch is going to make this one hell of an interesting game CF

We each have a few big hitters in our line ups

yh i agree hodge, although it will require a lot of thinking


IS THIS WHERE WE POST TACTICS?

Yes it is cf

Provisional XI for Middlesex:
1 Shane Watson (o)
2 Brendon McCullum (o)
3 Dale Benkenstein (kolpak)
4 Dawid Malan (u25)
5 Eoin Morgan (u25)
6 Neil Dexter (kolpak)
7 Irfan Pathan (o)
8 Gareth Berg
9 Daniel Vettori (o)
10 Tom Smith (u25)
11 Steven Finn (u25)

Provisional Somerset XI

1) Chris Gayle (c) (Overseas)
2) Craig Kieswetter (wk) (U25)
3) James Hildreth
4) Wes Durston
5) Jos Buttler (U25)
6) Albie Morkel (Overseas)
7) Tim Southee (U25 & Overseas)
8) Alfonso Thomas (Kolpak)
9) Lewis Gregory (U25)
10) Shaun Tait (Overseas)
11) George Dockrell (U25)

Provisional XI for Surrey:

1) Steve Davies (wk) - (U25)
2) Brandan Taylor - (O)
3) Jason Roy - (U25)
4) Mike Hussey - (O)
5) Rory Hamilton-Brown - (U25)
6) Angelo Mathews - (U25) (O)
7) Darren Stevens
8) Zaffer Ansari - (U25)
9) Imran Tahir - (O)
10) Rana Naved ul-Hasan - (O)
11) Chris Tremlett

Provisional XI for Hampshire:


1. Graeme Smith (Captain) - Overseas
2. Jimmy Adams - England
3. James Vince – Under 25/England
4. Umar Akmal (WK) – Under 25/Overseas
5. Ravi Bopara – England
6. Steve Smith – Under 25/Overseas
7. Dwayne Bravo - Overseas
8. Dimitri Mascarenhas - England
9. Nayan Doshi - England
10. Danny Briggs – Under 25/England
11. Chris Wood – Under 25/England

i doubt i will do a provisional XI lol

i will just wait till i get my tactics up

and how do you know im just not trying to make you double guess who i'm going to pick

i never take any notice of other teams or tactics, i do my own and only concentrate on my own.

cricketfan90 wrote:i never take any notice of other teams or tactics, i do my own and only concentrate on my own.

Explains your IPL voting then...

Sainty wrote:

cricketfan90 wrote:i never take any notice of other teams or tactics, i do my own and only concentrate on my own.

Explains your IPL voting then...

Sainty wrote:

cricketfan90 wrote:i never take any notice of other teams or tactics, i do my own and only concentrate on my own.

Explains your IPL voting then...

:facepalm

of course i look at tactics when i vote!

however now i come to think of it, lecistershire's top 3 falls very quickly

Beats blown away!

Middlesex team and tactics away to Hampshire:
Middlesex Panthers:

No	Player	Ave	SR	Bowling Ave	Econ
1	Shane Watson (o)	31.29	144.84	24.75	7.28
2	Brendon McCullum (o, c, wk)	32.55	137.24
3	Dale Benkenstein (kolpak)	25.87	129.38	26.95	7.35
4	Dawid Malan (u25)	32.15	118.00	23.00	6.90
5	Eoin Morgan (u25)	26.33	130.64
6	Neil Dexter (kolpak)	20.86	110.93	26.96	7.54
7	Irfan Pathan (o)	22.97	127.97	24.31	7.57
8	Gareth Berg	29.70	151.53	49.22	8.12
9	Daniel Vettori (o)	19.40	122.87	21.16	6.25
10	Tom Smith (u25)	22.50	109.75	24.16	7.72
11	Steven Finn (u25)	9.00	90.00	25.76	7.54

Toss: Bat first and try to build a big score, then use spin to suffocate. I think I have the stronger batting line up for this one, and at worst parity in the bowling unit so feeling confident.

Batting: The general strategy will be to attack the seamers, and play spin on its merits, making the most of a long batting lineup. With Martin Guptil sidelined Brendon McCullum and Shane Watson open up and will be looking to get away to an explosive start. Dale Benkenstein and Dawid Malan should be pretty handy in the middle overs before Eoin Morgan leads the late innings attack. There's plenty of attacking batting behind them with Pathan, Dexter and Vettori, while Gareth Berg plays as a specialist end-overs hitter - a T20 career strike rate of 150, and a List A career strike rate of better than a run a ball imply fireworks. There are worse number 10s around than Tom Smith too.

Bowling:
Shane Watson (2 overs 5,19)
Dale Benkenstein (2 overs 11,13)
Dawid Malan (4 overs 7,9,14,16)
Irfan Pathan (3 overs 2,18,20)
Daniel Vettori (4 overs 4,6,15,17)
Tom Smith (3 overs 8,10,12)
Steven Finn (2 overs 1,3)

Steven Finn opens the attack with a 2-over burst to see if his extra bounce and pace can get anything out of a pitch that doesn't suit the seamers, while Irfan Pathan, fresh off some decent performances in Australia, has an over at the other end to take some shine off the ball before Vettori comes on in the 4th. Shane Watson rolls his arm over to see out the power play, like Pathan he'll be trying to mix his pace up and contain.

After the powerplay spin takes over, with Tom Smith, Dawid Malan, Vettori and Dale Benkenstein all contributing overs, providing a mix of left arm, leg-, and off-spin before specialist death bowlers Pathan and Watson come back at the end mixing up yorkers, slower balls and cutters. There are spare overs of spin available should anyone be having a bad day, while none of the seamers are scheduled to bowl out their overs (2 of them, Dexter and Berg, won't be used at all if things go to plan) so can be given extra overs if they're going well, or if the bad weather towards the end of the match causes the spinners trouble with a wet ball.

ESSEX EAGLES TACTICS vs Somserset

1.Liam Dawson (u-25)
2.Rob Nicol (O)
3.Owais Shah
4.Dinesh Chandimal (O-U-25)
5.Ryan Ten Doeschate
6.Shahid Afridi (O)
7.James Foster (wk) (C)
8.Stephen Parry
9.Tymal Mills (u-25)
10.James Pattinson (u-25) (O)
11.Doug Bollinger (O)

Toss: Bowl First (small boundaries at chelmsford means chasing is much easier, because you know what you have to do)

BOWLING: Bollinger and Pattinson to open the bowling. Hit the deck hard and swing the ball up top. They bowl 2 overs each and come back at the death..Mills and Ten doeschate then come on. Mills bowls 3 overs and then bowls one later in the innings, whilst ten doeschate bowls all 4 in one spell. Parry and afridi come on and bowl 2 overs each, to keep things tight, Mills comes back to bowl his last one...leaving Pattinson and Bollinger to bowl the death overs.

Bollinger-1,3,17,19
Pattinson-2,4,18,20
Mills-5,7,9,15
RTD-6,8,10,12
Parry-11,13
Afridi-14,16

BATTING: Dawson looks to get himself in by rotating the strike and looking for 1's and 2's, and the odd boundary..Nicol tees off from the start, taking advantage of the field restrictions and the tiny boundaries. Shah and Chandimal come in, during the middle overs ticking the run rate over, whilst chandimal looks to be the aggressor. Ten doeschate and afridi can hit out if needed, whilst foster can be the calm experienced man if a collaspe should happen. Hopefully the tail arent needed as there is a lot of batting there.

SUSSEX SHARKS Tactics v Surrey Lions @ The Oval

Team line-up:

1 Chris Nash
2 Luke Wright
3 Virat Kohli (c)
4 Matt Prior (wk)
5 Scott Styris
6 Mohammad Shahzad
7 Ben Brown
8 Michael Yardy
9 Dale Steyn
10 Clint McKay
11 Harry Gurney

5 Overseas players (Kohli, Styris, Shahzad, Steyn, McKay)
4 Under 25s (Kohli, Shahzad, Brown, Gurney)

Toss

Chase if possible. The match should be high scoring and I back this line-up (Kohli in particular but also Styris and others) when batting second. However, on such a good pitch I have no qualms about batting first - Steyn and McKay should be formidable at the death and Yardy should keep the scoring rate down.

Batting Plans

- Nash to steadily build an innings, though playing his shots when the right ball comes along and once he is in.
- Wright to hit up front in the first six. Capable of going on with it if he survives.
- Kohli will bat at three and look to play a match-winning knock, particularly taking the attack to Tahir, Ansari and Tremlett on a flat pitch.
- If two early wickets fall Yardy can come in at 4 (particularly if Nash is already out) to steady the ship - otherwise he will play mainly as a bowler and might even slip below Steyn and McKay in the order if quick runs are needed.
- Prior, Styris and Shahzad will keep playing their shots as the innings progresses and the order they go in can be flexible if need be (i.e Shahzad is perhaps a better player of spin (see shot played against Ajmal recently and Styris a better hitter of the quicks).
- Ben Brown to add some additional aggression in the closing overs if necessary
- Steyn and McKay have demonstrated hitting ability at international level but ideally won't be needed.

Bowling Plans

- Nash to open with his off breaks
- McKay to start at the other end and come back at the death
- Steyn to come in after a few overs and return at the death
- Gurney to bring left-arm angle into the equation during the middle overs
- Yardy the holding spinner to keep the run rate down during the middle overs
- Wright, Styris and Kohli to bowl fill in overs - on this pitch medium pace probably won't cut it so I'll prioritise Wright

Approximate Plan - Nash: 1, 3
McKay: 2, 15, 18, 20
Steyn: 4, 6, 17, 19
Gurney: 5, 8, 14, 16
Yardy: 7, 9, 11, 13
Wright: 10, 12

+ Styris and Kohli in reserve if things don't go well

Surrey Lions tactics vs Sussex Sharks

Provisional XI for Surrey:

1) Steve Davies (wk) - (U25)
2) Brandan Taylor - (O)
3) Jason Roy - (U25)
4) Mike Hussey - (O)
5) Rory Hamilton-Brown - (U25)
6) Angelo Mathews - (U25) (O)
7) Darren Stevens
8) Zaffer Ansari - (U25)
9) Rana Naved ul-Hasan - (O)
10) Imran Tahir - (O)
11) Chris Tremlett

Toss: Bat first, set a high total with the bat and then squeeze the opposition and increase the rate

Batting: Surrey have a whole host of injuries this week however our batting isn't too badly affected. Davies is to tee off from the start trying to hit Nashdog out of the attack. Taylor is also able to hit the big shots but he will look to knock the ball around. Roy at 3 is another huge hitter of a cricket ball. RHB and Hussey can also hit the ball a long way but can also dig in if Davies and Roy get out early. With Mathews and Stevens at 6 and 7 our batting runs deep and these two can give it a whack so a high score should be on the cards. If it comes to it both Ansari and Rana can also bat at 8 and 9. We will be looking for a very high score on this pitch.

Bowling: Hopefully we should have a high total to defend and therefore our bowlers can force the batsman into taking chances. Tremlett and Rana to open the bowling. Mathews to bowl one in the powerplay. Tahir will bowl 4 and use spin to strangle the batsmen. Mathews, Stevens, Ansari and RHB will combine to complete the quota of 20 overs with Taylor bowling only if required. Rana to return at the death and do what he does best.

Overs:
Tremlett - 1,3,5,19
Rana - 2,4,18,20
Mathews - 6,14,16
Tahir - 7,9,11,13
Ansari - 8,10
Stevens - 12, 17
RHB - 15

Somerset CCC Vs Essex Eagles @ Chemlsford

Somerset batting line up:

1) Chris Gayle (Captain & Overseas)
2) Craig Kieswetter (WK & U25)
3) James Hildreth
4) Wes Durston
5) Jos Buttler (U25)
6) Albie Morkel (Overseas)
7) Tim Southee (U25 & Overseas)
8) Alfonso Thomas (Kolpak)
9) Lewis Gregory (U25)
10) Shaun Tait (Overseas)
11) George Dockrell (U25)

Win toss - bowl first

Batting info:
Gayle will be Gayle and when we bat let him go at his own rate. Kieswetter also will look to take advantage of the small boundaries of chelmsford. 3 & 4 we have Hildreth and Durston, Hildreth will look to build an innings around the opener that is left and if they go before him he should hopefully have his eye in for a T20 innings by the time Durston would come in and Durston would take Hildreth's role. Buttler coming in at 5 will play how Buttler players looking to time his inngings to cause max damage. Morkel at 6 should hopefully be coming in at a time where he can look to play some shots. After that is Tim Southee who has a great S/R in T20 and Alfonso can hold a bat.

Bowling/Fielding:

Look to limit Dawson and keep him on strike as he has a poor T20 record, 16 boundaries in 24 innings and a top score of 26 with a S/R of under 100. So put the pressure on him in the field attempting to make Nicol try and take too many runs off the balls he faces as a result. Try and get Nicol facing 'the great alfonso' to try and put doubt in his mind as whether to take the bowling of Thomas on. Attempt to save an over or 2 of Alfonso for Afridi & RTD.

Overs - Roughly:

Tait - 1, 3, 8, 19
Thomas - 2, 10, 16, 20
A.Morkel - 4, 6 (12)
Gregory - 7, 9, 13, 15
Southee - 5, 11, 17
Gregory - (12) 14, 18

Gayle, Durston if needed if bowler doing poorly or batman responding poorly to spin. If Morkel bowls poorly in first spell Gregory bowls 12, if Morkel's first spell is good he gets 12.

Hampshire Royals Tactics vs Middlesex Panthers.
Venue: Hampshire

Starting XI:
1. Graeme Smith (Captain) - Overseas
2. Jimmy Adams - England
3. James Vince – Under 25/England
4. Umar Akmal (WK) – Under 25/Overseas
5. Ravi Bopara – England
6. Steve Smith – Under 25/Overseas
7. Dwayne Bravo - Overseas
8. Dimitri Mascarenhas - England
9. Nayan Doshi - England
10. Danny Briggs – Under 25/England
11. Chris Wood – Under 25/England

Toss: Bat first and build a big total, and then hope the pitch detonates into a spinner’s haven.

Batting: Smith will look to see himself through the innings allowing people to tee off around him. A run a ball is his target. Adams will go gung ho looking for a quick 30 or 40. Vince, Akmal and Bopara will look to keep the scoreboard ticking during the middle overs, all being able to score at more than a run a ball. They will look to attack the part time bowlers of Middlesex. Bravo, Smith and Mascarenhas can come in and hit sixes for fun, so they should look to finish off the innings on a bang. The overall strategy will be to go after the seamers at the start and then looking to smash there part time bowlers all over the place, setting up a big score.

Bowling:
Chris Wood (Overs 1, 3, 5, 17)
Dwayne Bravo (Overs 2, 4, 19)
Dimitri Mascarenhas (Overs 6, 18, 20)
Danny Briggs (Overs 7, 9, 11, 13)
Nayan Doshi (Overs 8, 10, 15)
Steve Smith (Overs 12, 14, 16)

Bowling plans:
Wood and Bravo to start off looking to take early wickets.
Three seamers will see off the power play overs with a couple of wickets.
Then the three spinners will come on and look to suffocate their order whilst picking up some wickets. They will bowl from overs 6-16.
Briggs will look to keep runs down.
Doshi will do what he does and pick up lots of wickets.
Smith will just look to get through his overs quickly at a low economy rate.
Then the three seamers will come back after over 16.
Wood will look to bowl line and some yorkers.
Mascarenhas will bowl cutters and slower balls taking advantage of the pitch. He will bowl the last over.
Bravo will do the same but obviously not bowl the last over.

i think our game is going to be very tight hodge

cricketfan90 wrote:Bollinger-1,3,17,19
Pattinson-2,4,18,20
Mills-5,7,9,15
RTD-6,8,10,12
Parry-11,13
Afridi-14,16

RTD and Mills bowling 4 overs, but Afridi only getting 2?

yes, its not offering much spin, and RTD is a very good bowler, and i like mills he is very good..

afridi and parry split the bowling duties in this game.

But Afridi is the best T20 bowler in the world IMO, can keep it tight, and takes regular wickets. Interesting decision to say the least...

Dockrell picked but not bowling.

Realised i put gregory twice, dockrell supposed to be over 7 for 4 overs