Clydesdale Bank 40 Discussion Thread

[Shelsey93]

First topic message reminder :

The CB40 can be a damp squid of a competition. The format is wrong (debatably), the picture of a final on a damp September day in front of a half-full crowd is in my head, and there are too many dead games, leading to counties fielding virtual 2nd XIs with regularity.

But that is what we have, and the tournament starts tomorrow with a repeat of Surrey v Somerset.

The three groups were drawn as follows:

A: Netherlands, Leicestershire Foxes, Worcestershire Royals, Lancashire Lightning, Middlesex Panthers, Essex Eagles, Gloucestershire Gladiators
B: Scottish Saltires, Durham Dynamos, Hampshire Royals, Surrey, Welsh Dragons, Somerset, Nottinghamshire Outlaws
C: Unicorns, Derbyshire Falcons, Yorkshire, Kent Spitfires, Warwickshire Bears, Sussex Sharks, Northamptonshire Steelbacks

Matches to be played over the Bank Holiday weekend are:

Friday 4th May

Surrey v Somerset @ The Oval - Live on Sky Sports 4, 3.00; Commentary link http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/17909365 (BBC London/ BBC Bristol)

Surrey 295-6 (Hamilton-Brown 101, Davies 72, Meschede 2-57) Somerset 190 (Compton 53, Meaker 3-24)

Surrey won by 105 runs

Sunday 6th May

Scottish Saltires v Surrey @ The Grange - Commentary link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/17910138 (BBC London)

Surrey 187-7 (Rudolph 69, Haq 2-27) Scot 118-6 (Berrington 43*, Spriegel 2-16)

Surrey won by 18 runs (D/L)

Gloucestershire Gladiators v Netherlands @ Bristol - Commentary link http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/17910365 (BBC Bristol)

Neth 239-6 (Myburgh 77, Young 2-31) Gloucs 238-8 (Howell 72*, Seelaar 4-42)

Netherlands won by 1 run

Lancashire Lightning v Leicestershire Foxes @ Old Trafford - Commentary link http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/17910367 (BBC Lancashire)

Lancs 296-3 (Croft 82, Prince 79, Moore 74, Cobb 1-37) Leics 291-7 (Cobb 137, Boyce 64, Kerrigan 3-44)

Lancashire Lightning won by 5 runs

Unicorns v Derbyshire Falcons @ Wormsley

Derbys 287-3 (Guptill 125, Durston 120*, Querl 2-58) Unicorns 158-9 (Reece 36, Hughes 5-29)

Derbyshire Falcons won by 129 runs

Warwickshire Bears v Northamptonshire Steelbacks @ Edgbaston - Commentary link http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/17910141 (BBC Coventry and Warwickshire/ BBC WM)

Northants 209-7 (Hall 52*, Barker 3-41) Warks 212-4 (Bell 82*, Clarke 54*, de Lange 2-31)

Warwickshire Bears won by 6 wickets

Yorkshire v Kent Spitfires @ Headingley - Live on Sky Sports 2, 1.30; Commentary link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/17910369 (BBC Leeds/ BBC Kent)

Yorks 175-9 (Root 49, Coles 6-32) Kent 176-6 (Stevens 59, Rafiq 3-22)

Kent Spitfires won by 2 wickets

Monday 7th May

Leicestershire Foxes v Essex Eagles @ Grace Road - Commentary link http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/17910698 (BBC Leicester/ BBC Essex)

Match abandoned without a ball bowled

Middlesex Panthers v Gloucestershire Gladiators @ Lord's - Live on Sky Sports 2, 1.30; Commentary link http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/17910932 (BBC London/ BBC Bristol)

Middx 157-8 (Simpson 29, Young 3-26) Gloucs 161-5 (Howell 45*, Rayner 2-29)

Gloucestershire Gladiators won by 5 wickets

Hampshire Royals v Welsh Dragons @ Rose Bowl - Commentary link http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/17910694 (BBC Solent)

WD 173-7 (Walters 68, Ali 3-44) Hants 151-2 (Vince 83, Carberry 60, A. Jones 1-4)

Hampshire Royals won by 48 runs (D/L)

Scottish Saltires v Nottinghamshire Outlaws @ The Grange

Notts 219-7 (Read 59, Haq 2-34) Scot 108-0 (Macleod 58*)

Scottish Saltires won by 18 runs (D/L)

Northamptonshire Steelbacks v Unicorns @ Wantage Road

Unicorns 79-3 (Reece 27*, de Lange 2-19) Northants 16-1 (Coetzer 10*, Wheeldon 1-9)

No Result

Worcestershire Royals v Netherlands @ Kidderminster - Commentary link http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/17910696

Worcs 172-4 (Solanki 63, Bukhari 3-29) Neth 139-1 (Myburgh 74*, Borgas 55*, Shantry 1-23)

Netherlands won by 9 wickets (D/L)

[Guest]

Lancs vs Middlesex is tonight's televised game from 4:30pm

[jimbohammers]

James Vince, take a bow son

[Shelsey93]

James Vince, take a bow son

A good knock. He's a good strokemaker, but in some ways somebody that's disappointed so far in his professional career. As an 18/19 year-old he was talked about in the same breath as Taylor, Stokes, Bairstow, Hales and Buttler. Now I'd say he's some way behind that, particularly in first-class cricket, but hopefully tonight's knock can get him going.

[jimbohammers]

His one day stats are class, he's just struggled in the championship. like so many others have

[guildfordbat]

Despite Hants scoring 230, Notts are coasting to victory. They need 20 odd with 7 wickets and 8 overs left. Little Jimmy on 50 and still going.

Wouldn't want to play them in any format soon ...

[guildfordbat]

Comfortable 6 wicket win for Notts. James Taylor - or as some joker called him at Guildford on Sunday, 'Jimmy the Mascot' - made 74.

[jimbohammers]

Thought we had enough to defend to be honest. Average first inngs score there is 217, we got 230.

Only bowler who shone was Briggsy

[Guest]

Essex playing at home tonight at fortress chelmsford against middlesex

Lost the toss and batting first 25 over a side game.

[jimbohammers]

Essex playing at home tonight at fortress chelmsford against middlesex

Its not a fortress if you keep losing all the time CF

[Guest]

it is to essex fans

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Well, we are all agreed. To Essex (and Surrey) Chelmsford is a fortress. To everyone else it is a(n ironic) fortress.

[jimbohammers]

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Well, we are all agreed. To Essex (and Surrey) Chelmsford is a fortress. To everyone else it is a(n ironic) fortress.

Only minor problem is that tonight Essex forgot to pull up the drawbridge

[Guest]

Essex televised game today against Worecetsershire



Essex 160-1 after 28 overs

COME ON THE EAGLES!

[Guest]

surrey used 5 bowlers tonight, 4 of them were spinners, meaker didnt even get a bowl!

i have never seen trent bridge pitch spin as much as that!

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Surrey 63 - 3 chasing Notts total of 149. Recovered from losing the returning Hyphen cheaply and Roy first ball. Partnership of 60 for Davies and Wilson. With Davies out we are depending on Spriegel yet again to show his batting value in sticky situations in CB40.

Agree with CF - remarkable to have Meaker in team and not bowl him. Perhaps Surrey have been listening to Churchy's advice that Meaker could be a no 5 or 6 batsman for Surrey....

[Guest]

brilliant to see Hamilton brown back playing again, even though he's not skippering

[Corporalhumblebucket]

brilliant to see Hamilton brown back playing again, even though he's not skippering

[Guest]

wilson's gone stumped.

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Not a lot of batting to come. Ansari's in good form. The Brain's is in no sort of form....

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Spriegel and the Brain - important to keep runs ticking over. Spriegel scores the first run in 15 balls.....

[Guest]

84-4 66 to win from 84 balls.

[Corporalhumblebucket]

49 to win off 66 balls

[Corporalhumblebucket]

The Brain out after a leisurely 9 off 25 balls... Run rate climbing. Really need Spriegel and Ansari to get us close to the line...

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Surrey finish the job with some explosive hitting. Excellent and well timed performance yet again by Spriegel who top scored in the match, with good contributions at the end from Ansari and Batty.

There really must be a case for playing Spriegel in the cc... What more can he do?!

[guildfordbat]

Good win and turnaround by Surrey last night following their trouncing by the same CB 40 opponents recently at Guildford.

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Guildford - yes some good fighting spirit.

[jimbohammers]

Hants smashing Glamorgan yesterday. Awesome stuff from McKenzie, Wood and Briggs

[jimbohammers]

Warwickshire 5-3 vs Kent

[jimbohammers]

James Vince class again in front of the cameras, England are you watching?

[Shelsey93]

James Vince class again in front of the cameras, England are you watching?

Looks great in one-day cricket. When is he going to score some Championship runs though?

[jimbohammers]

Its a good point Shelsey, struggling atm, but perfoming brilliantly in the shorter format, a real class act

[Corporalhumblebucket]

KP out for a first ball duck against his former county, Hants. That will go down well in the streets of Portsmouth. Surrey slump to 16 - 3 giving Spriegel his usual chance to try and rescue Surrey from disaster in the CB40....

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Surrey 113 - 4 after 30 overs. Rebuilding job by the Brain and Spriegel. Not an easy pitch to score quickly but Spriegel has hit quite a few bad balls direct to the fielders....

[Guest]

Hants 149-4 in the 35th over

Essex racked up 318-9 against the dutch

netherlands are 177-6 after 29.

[guildfordbat]

Hants now 150-6 off 35.1.

Interesting ....

[Shelsey93]

Hants 149-4 in the 35th over

Essex racked up 318-9 against the dutch

netherlands are 177-6 after 29.

Dutch challenge has faded badly, which will be a bit disappointing as though a couple have been injured their team is really pretty decent.

[guildfordbat]

No more stutters for Hants as they win by 4 wickets in the 39th over.

Seems like Surrey - not for the first time this season - had just too much to do after a dreadful start. Pietersen part of today's problem rather than the hoped for solution.

[jimbobgooner]

on paper the surrey top 3 look good sadly the game is not played on paper

[Mike Selig]

Been disappointed that the dutch have fallen off the pace quite so badly: seam bowling has always been an issue, and unfortunately Van den Gugten not the hoped solution. On the plus side, Tim Gruijters scored more today than he managed against France recently - obviously Essex hampered by the absence from their line-up of the gentle giant Rory Gribbell.

Been surprised by Surrey - last year and at the start of this one they really had the 40 over format sussed out. Roy has been particularly disappointing, for someone with his extraordinary talent. Call me vindictive, I'm rather pleased about a certain golden duck.

Looking onwards, I have a question about regulations: if 2 second placed teams finish level on points who proceeds through to the semis? Is it done on NRR or games won or...? I believe it's games won

Lancashire are already through from Group A. If I'm correct about the above question Middlesex have no chance of finishing a best second.

Hampshire have timed their run quite nicely - they've got a well balanced side, although their fast bowling is probably a weakness. If they beat Durham on the final day (or tie/NR) they will qualify, but if they lose they could be piped by Surrey (if they win their last 2 games) or Somerset (if they beat Surrey on the final day and turn around the NRR). Durham's challenge ended with their defeat today.

The best placed 2nd is likely going to come from group C, where 3 teams are still fighting it out. Sussex's extraordinary win today (16 off the last over? no worries!) puts them top of the table, but Kent have a game in hand so it really is all to play for. Realistically it's 3 teams for 2 places, and there are too many permutations to mention. Kent-Sussex should be a cracker.

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Call me vindictive, I'm rather pleased about a certain golden duck.

Mike - no idea who you are referring to.... But on a loosely related theme you may be interested to note that KP has had two one day innings this year against his former county. In each case they resulted in a golden duck.

[jimbohammers]

Dawson gets KP for a golden duck twice in 2 games

[JDizzle]

Somerset have had such a ridiculous CB season. Lose their first 4 games, have one rained off and then win their next six.

At least it looks as though they won't have a chance to bottle a final in this as they will struggle to make the Knock out stages unfortunately.

[Liam]

fantastic delivery by simon to get kp's wicket. he's bowling superbly as is dean cosker

[Fists of Fury]

KP made 43 today, a fine innings by all accounts until being undone by an absolute corker from Simon Jones.

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Surrey recorded a convincing win against Glam in the tribute match to Maynard.

I didn't see/hear any of the match but there were some familiar feature - Spriegel once again was mainstay of the innings, as well as bowling tightly, with Ansari also batting well. Batty again made a decisive contribution with the ball.

Good to see Hyphen getting some runs.

[guildfordbat]

Surrey recorded a convincing win against Glam in the tribute match to Maynard.

I didn't see/hear any of the match but there were some familiar feature - Spriegel once again was mainstay of the innings, as well as bowling tightly, with Ansari also batting well. Batty again made a decisive contribution with the ball.

Good to see Hyphen getting some runs.

I saw a few bits on SKY earlier on.

Hyphen was actually dropped behind off the first ball of the match but went on to make a useful score.

All in all, certainly convincing as the Corporal says.

[Carrotdude]

The match tonight was an excellent all round performance from Surrey, back to what we did so well last season in CB40 and early this year. A decent total, if not spectacular, and then excellent bowling, getting regular wickets and keeping the RR down all the time on a pitch that was a bit slow and helped the spinners. Batty, Spriegel and Kartik were all impressive and Meaker's pace and accuracy was also good to see.

Batting wise we are still fragile but it was nice to see Hyphen back in some sort of form, he got lucky when he was dropped off the first ball but the poor guy still had tears in his eyes from the minutes applause for Tom so it's understandable he was nearly out! He then played some great shots and was unlucky to get out off a bit of a pie thrown in half way down that he tried to whack round the corner and edge to the keeper. Roy was undone by a slower ball (not for the first time) by Jones who bowled well which was nice to see, his delivery to get Pietersen was top notch. Roy's had a complete nightmare in the CB40 this year, averaging just 11! Spriegel and Ansari once again held the innings together and kept the run rate up and Meaker hit a few boundaries to get us to a very respectable 219.

Glamorgan were never really in it and it was very comfortable in the end, brilliant performance in very difficult circumstances, hopefully we can kick on from here to try and save our championship status.

[guildfordbat]

Thanks for the report, Carrot.

Just watching a recording of the end of the Glammy innings now - a really wonderful catch by Ansari to dismiss Wright off Batty's bowling.

Btw, you might be interested in a post I've just made on the 'Surrey news / articles' thread. Suspect I might come across as too old school.

[Carrotdude]

Just seen that, guildford. Ansari's catch was absolutely brilliant wasn't it?

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