Will Sussex get relegated?

[Gwylan]

V Notts at Horsham:-
Nash
Yardy
Joyce
Goodwin
Hopkinson
Wright
Hodd
Rayner
Beer
Collymore
Sandri

I agree that Sandri should have a go as Lews can't seem to hack it....but I'd bring Tucker back for his home ground and bring in H-B for Goodwin

I'd have

Nash
Yardy
Joyce
Wright (he fancies a bat higher up the order)
Hoppo
H-B
Hodd
Yas
Tucker
Collymore
Sandri

possibly Beer instead of Colly if it looks like being a bunsen

 

[Uncle Buck]

Yasir is shit. We made a total f***-up in bringing him back.

That statement is absolute rubbish, just shows your lack of knowledge when it comes to cricket, hence the inflamatory comments, as you will have nothing to back it up with.

The issue with Yassir is that we have no fast bowlers to back him up. He has never been a strike bowler, always more of a partnership breaker. However we cannot play Collymore and Lewry in the side, too similar and too slow and if the ball is not swinging they become redundant.

Time to bring in Sandri for Lewry and seriously consider Simon Jones on a pay as you play deal next year.

 

[Pavilionaire]

The advent of Chawla seems to have knocked the wind out of Rayner's sails.

Nash's match-changing contributions have come in the one-dayers, not the CC.

Goodwin can't get any worse, and won't we have Prior back for the September matches?

I think we'll be OK. Worcs and Yorks to go down.

 

[Gwylan]

The issue with Yassir is that we have no fast bowlers to back him up. He has never been a strike bowler, always more of a partnership breaker. However we cannot play Collymore and Lewry in the side, too similar and too slow and if the ball is not swinging they become redundant.

Time to bring in Sandri for Lewry and seriously consider Simon Jones on a pay as you play deal next year.

I agree with this Collymore, Arafat and Lewry must be the least-feared strike attack in the CC. Sandri might at least have some menace and Simon Jones is a good call - even if he is crocked more often than Darren Anderton.

It reminds me of the season when Sussex's seam attack was usually John Spencer and a permutation of John Denman, Roger Marshall and Paul Phillipson - I'd have fancied facing that attack.

 

[Gwylan]

Nash's match-changing contributions have come in the one-dayers, not the CC.

That's the case for most players though. The number of match-changing performances in the CC are few - Mushy could do it, but there aren't many Sussex players who could do it.

Nash averages just under 50 in the CC - by anyone standards that's impressive. He's not a natural one-day player even - only a couple of months ago he was quoted in the Argus that he was going to be sidelined for a bit as he wasn't in the Sussex one-day 20/20 teams. He's certainly proved his worth since then but he, Yardy and Wright have been the only consistent players in the CC this year - that's what's so worrying.

 

[mona]

I agree that Sandri should have a go as Lews can't seem to hack it....but I'd bring Tucker back for his home ground and bring in H-B for Goodwin

I'd have

Nash
Yardy
Joyce
Wright (he fancies a bat higher up the order)
Hoppo
H-B
Hodd
Yas
Tucker
Collymore
Sandri

possibly Beer instead of Colly if it looks like being a bunsen

Well picked team! I like your decisiveness in dropping Murray G. There is incredible complacency on the SCCC board. People don't seem to realise that relegation will inevitably lead to several good players leaving.

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

County P W L D Bat Bowl Deds Points
Durham 12 7 0 5 33 36 1.00 186.00
Nottinghamshire 12 3 1 8 44 31 0.00 149.00
Somerset 12 3 1 8 39 33 0.00 146.00
Lancashire 13 3 2 8 27 37 0.00 138.00
Sussex 12 2 3 7 36 29 1.00 120.00
Warwickshire 12 1 2 9 43 26 0.00 119.00
Yorkshire 12 1 2 9 35 32 0.00 117.00
Hampshire 12 2 3 7 34 29 3.00 116.00
Worcestershire 11 0 8 3 18 27 0.00 57.00


Current table and its all too bloody close for comfort, can anyone say why we have had a point deducted. That one passed me by.

Remaining fixtures with two massive home games

Wednesday, 02 September 2009
LV County Championship: Division One
Lancashire v Sussex, Old Trafford, 10:30

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Wednesday, 09 September 2009
LV County Championship: Division One
Sussex v Warwickshire, Hove, 10:30

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Wednesday, 16 September 2009
LV County Championship: Division One
Sussex v Yorkshire, Hove, 10:30

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Wednesday, 23 September 2009
LV County Championship: Division One
Nottinghamshire v Sussex, Trent Bridge, 10:30

 

[8ace]

Current table and its all too bloody close for comfort, can anyone say why we have had a point deducted. That one passed me by.

Slow over rate vs Worcs I believe.

 

[Uncle Buck]

Pretending you know more than someone else when, in reality, you have no way of knowing if that's the case is a very unattractive characteristic Piers!

We are, of course, talking about CHAMPIONSHIP cricket here, where I think Yasir is shit. Good one day player, and capable of making a good contribution with bat and ball he is, but championship wicket taker he is not. The reason I say we made a f***-up with him is not because I think he's worse than any of our other bowlers, but because you're only allowed one overseas player. The rules of supply and demand mean that of all the international cricketers available in any one summer, they can't all play - what with there only being 8-10 counties worth joining. As we're one of them, I feel we should have got someone better. For me, the fact we've wasted our overseas allowance on Yasir who, as we already knew damn well, won't take any 4-day wickets is why we're in the thick of a relegation battle.

So we took on a player that was a proven performer on the county circuit and took his share of wickets in a side that won the County Championship and also won the C&G Trophy. In reality, we needed a pace bowler and we signed on in Yassir. The problem is we were too loyal to veteran performers and Rayner has not kicked on, it is not Yassir that can be blamed, he was the correct signing. However in your world (that does not rate Strauss as Captain), he is not good enough.

Case closed, I guess.

 

[Andrew]

We'll be fine now I would have thought.

 

[Uncle Buck]

I totally agree with us being too loyal to veterans, and that we did need to sign a pace bowler. However, to compensate for the fact that Lewry/Kirtley/RMJ won't take championship wickets, we needed to make the most of our overseas wildcard and sign someone who GUARANTEED wickets. Yasir is not that man. I don't mind him as a player - in the 1 day stuff he's very good - but when it comes to the all important wicket-taking in 4 day cricket he's shit. Better than what else we have - yes, probably. But good enough to carry the old guard - sadly not. In truth, our whole championship bowling attack needs an overhaul, and if surrounded by better players then Yasir would have been a decent signing. But bearing in mind some of the rubbish we were already carrying what we needed was a main man, a player to RELY on for wickets, and he wasn't right for that.

Yassir is not shit as a Championship bowler, the guy was part of a Championship winning side and took a number of wickets in that side.

 

[jordanseagull]

Not too bothered really, we are more of a quick fire team it seems.

 

[mona]

I see your point. If our permanent English players were good enough then Yasir's contribution would also be acceptable, but facts are they're not so we have to overly rely on the foreigner to run through teams. And we're using our ONE space on someone who's not taking wickets.

Just to bring stats in to back up my case (shamelessly stolen from cricinfo), this year Yasir has taken just TWELVE championship wickets at an average of 52. Even compared with other Sussex bowlers (who, let's not forget, are also part of this team that can't bowl ANYONE out), that's poor. Collymore has 27 wickets at 31, sexy Luke 21 at 34, Chawla 19 at 21, Rayner 18 at 44, RMJ 16 at 38, and even Dwayne (who you'd hardly consider a proper bowler) has 12 at a better average of 35. Ok, Yasir has played less games than a few of those, but I still don't think he's value for money in the longer form of the game.

I think and hope that Yasir can do better. He's more effective with an older ball and can reverse swing it. The bowlers need to be a tighter unit with perhaps Yasir coming on first change and RMJ bowling line and length to frustrate.
Relegation is a real possibility and would be bad news. Last season Sussex were complacent and did a BHA on the final day of the season.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

I'd drop Goodwin

Yeah?

 

[Gwylan]

Yeah?

He didn't make any runs in the game though. It would have been a good call.