Southern League - Week 2 - Pitches

Match 1
Sussex vs. Hampshire

A greenish pitch on a day where the overcast conditions will mean the ball will swing quite a lot, the ball may spin later on. Batsmen may struggle with the conditions so thorough application is required.

Match 2
Somerset CC vs. Middlesex

A batting paradise at Taunton, the ball will race off the square and bowlers will find it tough going, it may well be a case of who outguns the other.

Match 3
Essex vs. Surrey

Chelmsford's small boundaries will come into play once more in this clash, however, the pitch has dried somewhat meaning that this is a clash of the spin bowlers. Batsmen may not enjoy the surface but application and shot selection may dictate the outcome here!

Surrey Lions - Provisional Side to face Essex

1) Steven Davies (wk) - U25
2) Brandon Taylor - O
3) Jason Roy - U25
4) Rory Hamilton-Brown (c) - U25
5) Mike Hussey - O
6) Angelo Mathews - O U25
7) Zaffer Ansari - U25
8) Chris Woakes - U25
9) Murali Kartik - O
10) Jeetan Patel - O
11) Jade Dernbach - U25

Provisional XI to face Somerset

No	Player	Ave	SR	Bowling Ave	Econ
1	Shane Watson (o)	31.29	144.84	24.75	7.28
2	Martin Guptil (o,u25)	36.78	132.02	-	9.50
3	Brendon McCullum (o,wk)	32.55	137.24	-	-
4	Dawid Malan (u25)	32.15	118.00	23.00	6.90
5	Eoin Morgan (u25)	26.33	130.64	-	-
6	Dale Benkenstein (kolpak)	25.87	129.38	26.95	7.35
7	Irfan Pathan (o)	22.97	127.97	24.31	7.57
8	Daniel Vettori (o,c)	19.40	122.87	21.16	6.25
9	Jack Brooks	14.75	134.09	30.15	6.93
10	Tom Smith (u25)	22.50	109.75	24.16	7.72
11	Steven Finn (u25)	9.00	90.00	25.76	7.54

4 seamers, 2 frontline spinners and batting to #10

I'm not going to be about much tomorrow, so

XI to face Somerset

No	Player	Ave	SR	Bowling Ave	Econ
1	Shane Watson (o)	31.29	144.84	24.75	7.28
2	Martin Guptil (o,u25)	36.78	132.02	-	9.50
3	Brendon McCullum (o,wk)	32.55	137.24	-	-
4	Dawid Malan (u25)	32.15	118.00	23.00	6.90
5	Eoin Morgan (u25)	26.33	130.64	-	-
6	Dale Benkenstein (kolpak)	25.87	129.38	26.95	7.35
7	Irfan Pathan (o)	22.97	127.97	24.31	7.57
8	Daniel Vettori (o,c)	19.40	122.87	21.16	6.25
9	Jack Brooks	14.75	134.09	30.15	6.93
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: Bowl first, I back my batsmen to chase whatever's needed on this road of a pitch. With club captain Dexter out injured Dan Vettori takes the reigns. Martin Guptil plays after being injured in week 1, while the England Lion Jack Brooks comes in for Italian rep Gareth Berg.

Batting: With Guptil, Morgan and McCullum in the side (2, 3, and 4 on the international T20 batting rankings) plus Watson who's not far behind, attack will be the way forward. Watson and Guptil open and look to take full toll in the Powerplay. Should we lose a wicket inside the powerplay then McCullum comes in at 3 to carry on the attack, otherwise he's held back to lead the 2nd half of the innings assault with Morgan. Depending on circumstances Pathan could come in ahead of Benkenstein for extra hitting power in the last few overs too. Vettori at 8 has Brooks and Smith who're no slouches with the bat behind him.

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

On what's going to be a tough pitch for all of the bowlers mixing things up is the order of the day. Finn leads off the bowling in the powerplay, and hopefully his pace and extra bounce can pick up a wicket or 2 before Watson takes the 5th over. Brooks bowls the first over from the other end, before giving way to the variety of Pathan and then Vettori. The bowlers get rotated regularly through the middle stages to add some variety, before death specialists Watson and Pathan finish off, using every variation they can muster.

There's plenty of spare overs available, so anyone who's having a really bad day can have their quota reduced in favour of those having a good day.

hmmm well i certainly have plenty of spinners to choose from for this game

Surrey Lions tactics versus Essex Eagles @ Chelmsford

1) Steven Davies (wk) - U25
2) Brandon Taylor - O
3) Jason Roy - U25
4) Rory Hamilton-Brown (c) - U25
5) Mike Hussey - O
6) Angelo Mathews - O U25
7) Zafar Ansari - U25
8) Chris Woakes - U25
9) Murali Kartik - O
10) Jeetan Patel - O
11) Jade Dernbach - U25

Toss: Bat first put a big score on the board and then use our plethora of spinners to squeeze the Essex batsman out of the game.

Batting:
Davies can do what he always does and attack from the off, hopefully hitting the Essex opening bowlers out of the attack, at the other end Brandon Taylor will rotate the strike whilst still being able to hit any bad balls that the Essex bowlers bowl. Roy at 3 is similar to Davies and will look to keep us motoring along at 8+ runs and over. The importance of the powerplay is huge and we will look to attack the pace bowlers as much as possible. RHB at 4 can knock the ball around nicely and will look to play sensibly, both him and Taylor are greta against spin. Hussey at 5 needs no introduction and will look to score quickly, he has shown he can hit spinners for 6 with ease (See Ajmal in the World T20). Mathews is our finisher at 6, he will look to attack as much as possible. Ansari and Woakes at 7 and 8 can both bat well and even Kartik at 9 has a decent strike rate.

Bowling:
We will open up with Dernbach and Woakes but with Dernbach being saved for the death he will only bowl the one over. This will mean that Mathews will bowl one and Kartik will start his spell in the powerplay. After the powerplay our spinners will come into action with Kartiki bowling 3 of his overs straight with Jeetan Patel bowling two from the other end. Ansari will then come on bowling overs 12 and 14 (If his first over is too expensive then RHB will bowl the 14th). Angelo Mathews will return for over 11 with his cutters. Jeetan Patel will then return for overs 13 and 15 completing his quota whilst we keep Kartik's last over back for over 17. Dernbach as mentioned will bowl his three remaining overs at the death (16,18,20) with Woakes finishing off his quota with the penultimate over. If any bowler is too expensive then Ansari, RHB and/or Mathews can bowl an extra over.


Overs:
Woakes - 1,3,5,19
Dernbach - 2,16,18,20
Mathews - 4,11
Kartik - 6,8,10,17
Patel - 7,9,13,15
Ansari - 12,(14)
RHB - (14)

Hampshire Royals Tactics vs Sussex Sharks
Venue: Sussex

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. Wayne Parnell – Under 25/ Overseas
10. Danny Briggs – Under 25/England
11. Chris Wood – Under 25/England

Toss: Bat first and build a big total, and then hope the combination of the overcast condition and the pitch turning more will be able to see us over the lines.

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 but there main aim will be to save wickets for later on in the innings. They will look to attack the part time bowlers of Sussex. 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, 16, 19)
Dimitri Mascarenhas (Overs 6, 15, 18, 20)
Danny Briggs (Overs 7, 9, 11, 13)
Wayne Parnell (Overs 8, 10, 12, 14)

Bowling plans:
Wood and Bravo to start off looking to take early wickets, both looking to get some swing.
Mascarenhas will finish off the powerplay.
Then Briggs and Parnell will come on and bowl the next 8 overs. Briggs will look to contain and nick a couple of wickets with Parnell bowling aggressively looking to take wickets.
Then the combination of Mascarenhas, Wood and Bravo will finish off the innings.
With 4 seamers in the team we will look to take advantage of the overcast conditions and hopefully Briggs will get some success out of the pitch as well.

ESSEX EAGLES TACTICS VS surrey

1.Liam Dawson (u-25)
2.Rob Nicol (O)
3.Owais Shah
4.Dinesh Chandimal (O) (u-25) (wk)
5.Ryan Ten Doeschate (C)
6.Joe Gatting (u-25)
7.Shahid Afridi (o)
8.Brad Hogg (o)
9.James Pattinson (o) (u-25)
10.Stephen Parry
11.David Masters

Team talk: with foster leaving the club, ten doeschate takes up the captaincy

TOSS: Bat first: although easier to chase with small boundaries, the pitch will detoriate, and i have very good spinners, thus being able to restrict surrey's run chase.

BATTING: Dawson, nudges the ball around looking for 1's and 2's, whilst nicol tries to get the side off to a flyer, by taking advantage of the small boundaries, and field restrictions. Shah ticks the board over, as he is a class player of spin, and looks to bat through. Chandimal and RTD bat depending on the game situation, both can tick the board over or go for the big shots. Gatting and afridi can swap round depending on state of the innings. Hogg at 8 can bat, so should be plenty of batting.

BOWLING: Parry will open the bowling with his left arm spin, he is used to bowling in powerplays and is very good at it. Masters will share the new ball, and just bowl wicket to wicket, taking pace of the ball and bowl his cutters. Pattinson comes on first change and aims for the body, using his pace. Hogg and afridi come into the attack and spin a web, and tie the surrey batsman in knots. Masters and Pattinson bowl the death overs to hopefully either bowl surrey out, or restrict their chase

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

Currently drunk will do when i got in from town

Afridi to spin the ball? Isn't he basically a medium paced nowadays lol

SUSSEX SHARKS Tactics v Hampshire Royals @ Hove

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 Clint McKay
10 Monty Panesar
11 Harry Gurney

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

The conditions allow the returning Panesar to slot in for the injured Steyn with the temptation to play Darren Pattinson instead of Yardy or Styris resisted.

Toss

Chase if possible. Our batting line-up is well used to run chases and in these conditions it should be slightly easier to chase a score, though the toss is not that important.

Batting Plans

- Nash to be careful up front, though playing his shots when the right ball comes along and particularly once he is in.
- Wright to hit up front in the first six. Capable of going on with it if he survives. Wood, Bravo and Parnell all very attackable - taking some extra care against Mascarenhas and Briggs
- Kohli will bat at three and look to play a match-winning knock, particularly taking the attack to Briggs - a type of bowler he will be well accustomed to facing.
- 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 McKay in the order if quick runs are needed.
- Prior, Styris and Shahzad will begin to play their shots as the innings progresses, though Prior and Styris in particular will try to avoid reckless play against Briggs and Mascarenhas. 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
- McKay has demonstrated hitting ability at international level but ideally won't be needed.

Bowling Plans

- McKay and Gurney take the new ball to exploit swinging conditions. Gurney to be a particular threat to Graeme Smith, who has a poor record against left-armers
- McKay to come back at the death - a position he has bowled well in for Australia
- Panesar to bowl in the middle overs and create pressure, as well as having the ability to bowl wicket-taking balls
- Yardy the holding spinner to keep the run rate down during the middle overs and will also bowl at the death
- Nash, Wright, Styris and Kohli to bowl fill in overs - on this pitch Styris will be useful to add to the swing options but Nash will also get a go.

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

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

Please excuse being drunk

1) Trescothick (c)
2) Gayle (O)
3) Hildreth
4) Kieswetter (+, U25)
5) Van Der merwe (O)
6) Buttler (U25)
7) Meschede (u25)
8) Southee (U25 + O)
9) Thomas (K)
10) Gregory (U25)
11) Murali (O)

Overs:
Thomas - 2, 16, 18, 20
Southee - 1, 5, 7, 19
Gregory - 3, 9, 11,13
Dockrell - 8, 10, 12, 14
Murali - 4, 6, 15. 17

Batman to play their normal games

Damn Meschede replaces Dockrells overs as he isnt suppsosed to be in team, gayle, durston etc can bowls extra overs if needed

Gregers wrote:Afridi to spin the ball? Isn't he basically a medium paced nowadays lol

even if your only joking, probably not a good idea, to put down a member of an another team, if you are playing them in the same game.