Hampshire Cricket Club 2022

[John B]

Ben Brown: Hampshire sign former Sussex captain on two-year deal

Must admit never heard of him has he signed as a Batsman or Wicket Keeper/Batsman

[Barsiem]

Could be a brilliant signing tbf.  Averages over 40 with the bat throughout his career and over 50 last season.  Are batting has been shite for years so hopefully he’ll help us immensely on that front

Edited 16 January, 2022 by Barsiem

[Pilchards]

Plans for an extension plus a fans village.

Also starting to get a few promising players in for this season.

Looking good Hampshire.

[Hodgey]

Season about to start - alsop and McManus on loan so what are our predictions ?

I still think we are an opener short - weatherly and Holland deserve another shot after last year but I’m not convinced. Middle order looks stronger with Brown, Gubbins and Donald fit, and tail that can wag. Bowlers will fancy early green wickets (esp Abbot, Barker and Abbas) but think they might all be too similar when teams dig in / flat pitches.

Expecting big things from some of our younger players this year - can Prest and Currie kick on ?. Organ has been very strong in friendlies - genuine all rounder ?. 
 

Think we will still struggle in T20 despite couple of useful additions, but after last year aim must be championship ??

[Picard]

Off we go! Somerset missing a few players so hopefully Hants can take advantage.

[Barsiem]

Going very well so far!  Bit miffed at Brown’s debut innings for us though.  He came in with us needing 3-3.5 an over to get a final batting point, and proceeded to plod along at a strike rate of 0.29 so we fell 15 runs short!

Still can’t complain too much.  Hopefully there’s enough in the pitch to get 10 wickets for the win

[Dark Munster]

Great result today, albeit against a weakened Somerset.

Shame about the result at the other part of Southampton.

[stevegrant]

I think our bowling attack stacks up well against anyone in county cricket, but as mentioned earlier the batting is still a bit of an unknown against a full-strength Div 1 bowling unit. Somerset were without a whole host of players for this game, including Overton and Leach, so while it was a very good performance to win in the way we did, it needs to be taken in context.

This week against Surrey at the Oval will be a much tougher examination, I think, especially considering our appalling record there.

[Dark Munster]

8 hours ago, stevegrant said:

I think our bowling attack stacks up well against anyone in county cricket, but as mentioned earlier the batting is still a bit of an unknown against a full-strength Div 1 bowling unit. Somerset were without a whole host of players for this game, including Overton and Leach, so while it was a very good performance to win in the way we did, it needs to be taken in context.

This week against Surrey at the Oval will be a much tougher examination, I think, especially considering our appalling record there.

Didn't Hants get a grand total of 1 point at the Oval last season? That's quite an achievement.

Edited 11 April, 2022 by Dark Munster
1 point, not 0

[Dark Munster]

Deja vu all over again. 

And after the one good innings against a weakened Somerset I see that Weatherley is back to his normal level.

[Hodgey]

Think that game showed where we thought we might be. A very forgiving batting track and our batsmen were found wanting against a decent bowling attack (but we’ll face better). 6 for Dawson, 27 Gubbins, 17 Organ all very disappointing - the rest all got in and out. Positives were Brown shoring up the collapses a bit, Weatherly making a decent score in the second, but overall that batting line up looks a far cry short of a championship run. Then again I said that last year and we almost won it. Comparing our batting line up to Surreys is frankly frightening.

[Hodgey]

So for the 2nd of only 3 matches Hampshire amassed a huge 1st innings score. Have I got it wrong - was Surrey a blip and our batting line up strong ?

good to see Organ positively involved, and a massive score for an out of nick Dawson. Crane has to be disappointed with no wickets there on a worn pitch (all be it still a decent batting surface)

[badgerx16]

11 hours ago, Hodgey said:

Crane has to be disappointed with no wickets there on a worn pitch...,..

Ritchie Benaud once said that when Jim Laker took his 19 wickets against Australia at Old Trafford in 1956, Tony Lock bowled better but only ended up with 'the other one'.

[Hodgey]

Hampshires ‘feast or famine’ batting continues. Be lucky if we get to 100 at this rate

[John B]

5 hours ago, Hodgey said:

Hampshires ‘feast or famine’ batting continues. Be lucky if we get to 100 at this rate

I thought the same but 246 was a decent recovery

 

But I would like to continue with Mason Crane who has gone to Sussex on loan

 

I am continually disappointed with him and his early promise has disappeared but feel the club's spin future could lie with Organ who can bat a bit

It is all very sad really I thought Mason would develop into a top class bowler but it never seems to happen.

 

[Picard]

6 hours ago, Hodgey said:

Hampshires ‘feast or famine’ batting continues. Be lucky if we get to 100 at this rate

Makes sense really as both Kent and Somerset had poor bowling attacks.

[Hodgey]

Like last season mainly saved by having a long tail (fuller is very handy with bat as a no 9). Still in the game if they can bowl out Lancashire for c 300. I do wonder what has happened to Crane - coaching ? Confidence ? Chances ?. With two batting off spinners and wickets favouring seamers I do get why they would send him on loan.

[Dark Munster]

So basically a one innings match. Weatherley out for nought. A grand total of 1 run for the match. Can’t they find a better opener?

[Hodgey]

He also dropped two catches - not his finest hour. Seems to be a real struggle batting against new ball seam for both teams. They are still in a good position but think we’ll need a wag from the tail to win it.

[Hodgey]

Another win despite a very odd collapse in the second innings. Decent looking side with a couple of weak links but good start overall, and good to see Donald back and scoring.

[badgerx16]

I think we might just scrape past the Wurzels.

[Dark Munster]

Managed to get the 1 run in the second innings! Well done Hants, more good bowling. If only they had a strong opening pair they would probably be favourites to win the league.

I was thinking about the ridiculous situation of teams in Div 1 playing some twice and others only once. I came up with this change, and I was wondering what others think. It's based a bit on what happened last year (which led to an exciting group for the championship), as well as what they do in Scotland in the top division:

In Division 1 each team plays an initial 9 matches, once against each of the others. After that, the top 6 go to a mini group and play each other once again (5 matches). All results/points they had against each other previously carry forward, but the results against the bottom 4 do not. Winner wins the championship. Similarly the bottom four play each other again (with only results from those 4 teams carrying over) to determine the 2 relegated teams. Div 2 stays the same as they have 8 teams and play each other twice.

The only downside I could think of is that some teams may have had more home (or away) matches to play than others in the carry over split divisions. But this isn't football, so home/away isn't a big issue I think, and they would have played each team in their split group once at home and once away. Certainly better than playing one team once and another twice!

[badgerx16]

How about scrap The Hundred and play each other twice.

[Hodgey]

Great win, Bowling unit very strong and having Barker and Fuller as 8 and 9 saves us frequently from batting collapses. Openers are a problem but Organ has done OK there and with Donald back that means genuine pressure on Weatherly and Holland (who is also a useful bowler)

 

[Dark Munster]

17 hours ago, badgerx16 said:

How about scrap The Hundred and play each other twice.

That would be better but won’t happen (money, money, money). 

[badgerx16]

5 minutes ago, Dark Munster said:

That would be better but won’t happen (money, money, money). 

One good thing about the Hundred is that the tickets for Lancashire's 50 over match against Northants in the Royal London Cup at Blackpool during that tournament are £10. Hope the sun comes out.

Edited 22 May, 2022 by badgerx16

[Barsiem]

T20 starts for Hants tonight.  For those who don’t know virtually every game is being streamed on YouTube this year by the home team of each game.  Basically every game not on sky is being streamed

Hants started brilliantly!  3 wickets already!

[Lighthouse]

Decent start to the chase, albeit first wicket just gone. Got my tickets for Monday against Somerset and going with a big group to the Essex game. Should be decent.

[Lighthouse]

No sooner have I said it, we lose 4 for 17. Oh well.

[Hodgey]

Thanks for the YT tip - wish I had looked here yesterday !. Close game yesterday, hard to work out how good Hampshire are in short games as last year I wrote them off and they got to the finals - team on paper looks better this year so let’s see..

[Hodgey]

That was a really poor batting effort bar Fuller. We seem to have a load of batters who get a run a ball and hit 20. I reckon Somerset will knock this off in 15 overs…

[Dark Munster]

Maybe they're trying to emulate last season, scraping fourth after looking dead and buried?

P.S. Is Chris Wood any good? They wheel him out for one day matches and he seems to contribute nothing.

[Lighthouse]

Just got back, Fuller aside that was a pretty forgettable batting performance. Thought we weren’t going to make three figures at one point. Also the end of May should be warmer than this but at least it wasn’t rained off.

[Barsiem]

10 hours ago, Dark Munster said:

Maybe they're trying to emulate last season, scraping fourth after looking dead and buried?

P.S. Is Chris Wood any good? They wheel him out for one day matches and he seems to contribute nothing.

Bowled 4 overs for 20 runs the other night.  He gets a lot of stick but has put in a lot of cracking performances for us over the years

[Weston Saint]

First, they are using a new hybrid wicket and the team hate it.......but that is supposed to be progress.

OK, it is the same for both sides but our players have it in their head in a negative way. They have got to learn to adapt

Having been put in and with rain forecast they were worried about DL so went about trying to push the runs early. Just did not come off and the rain did not appear.

Lets see what happens tonight with their first away game!

 

[Window Cleaner]

Well, that was another horror show.  The batting is extremely poor but the bowling just defies any sort of hope. Unless we can use any of the front line 4-day bowlers, we're in for a very,very poor T20 campaign.  The two overseas players look rank average in English conditions. Mc Dermott may hit the ball hard but he's not finding the gaps like the Essex blokes were.

Edited 31 May, 2022 by Window Cleaner

[Hodgey]

Think I’ve seen enough to call this one. The team are getting worse and it’s a strong division. Last year some momentum got them to the final but the team was poor. Where are our power hitters ? They all seem to be content with a run a ball, Vince is horribly out of Nick yet Fuller who is a very limited cricketer looks our best batter and bowler - frightening stuff. Bowling extremely average as well, any power hitters can tuck in.

[Weston Saint]

21 hours ago, Weston Saint said:

First, they are using a new hybrid wicket and the team hate it.......but that is supposed to be progress.

OK, it is the same for both sides but our players have it in their head in a negative way. They have got to learn to adapt

Having been put in and with rain forecast they were worried about DL so went about trying to push the runs early. Just did not come off and the rain did not appear.

Lets see what happens tonight with their first away game!

 

Put paid to that theory (which came from one of the team players)

 

[Window Cleaner]

Don't need to understand any theories to work out what's wrong with Hants T20 campaign so far. We don't score enough runs in the power play, play silly shots thereafter and bowl abysmally .  We are using second string bowlers to give them a game. Then again Dawson got absolutely hammered at the end of his spell yesterday, probably because he's bowling on a wicket where there's nothing for him. Wood wasn't great in the first two games but Curry was abysmal, as were Wheal and Crane.

 Ellis at least didn't get hammered but then again he only bowled two overs.  Beginning to wonder if Vince is really up to the captain's job in T20 cricket.

 

Think we may need to change the batting order for the next T20 joust, Weatherly to open with McDermott, Donald at 3, Vince at 4. 

 

Edited 1 June, 2022 by Window Cleaner

[Picard]

2 hours ago, Window Cleaner said:

Don't need to understand any theories to work out what's wrong with Hants T20 campaign so far. We don't score enough runs in the power play, play silly shots thereafter and bowl abysmally .  We are using second string bowlers to give them a game. Then again Dawson got absolutely hammered at the end of his spell yesterday, probably because he's bowling on a wicket where there's nothing for him. Wood wasn't great in the first two games but Curry was abysmal, as were Wheal and Crane.

 Ellis at least didn't get hammered but then again he only bowled two overs.  Beginning to wonder if Vince is really up to the captain's job in T20 cricket.

 

Think we may need to change the batting order for the next T20 joust, Weatherly to open with McDermott, Donald at 3, Vince at 4. 

 

As a side note for the Hundred, London Spirit have signed Dawson (in the top pay bracket), Crane, Wheal and Wood. To be fair to them they bowled well at the end of last season.

[Barsiem]

Any team ever lost every game before??  Looks like we’re going to have a crack at it this year…. Can’t say I agree with Vince’s captaincy being part of the issue though.  He’s taken us to 3 or 4 finals days and won the hundred last year.  

[Hodgey]

Good to see the Surrey thrashing at the oval continues…

[Lighthouse]

Good Lord this is bad. I knew when I decided to take on a more active support this season that they’d instantly become a monumentally s**t team. We won’t get halfway to the 230 odd we’ll need to win this.

[Window Cleaner]

Well, we might get at least half, but 'tis true we've been given a right old tonking. Why are we bowling Crane and Prest?  That's just asking for trouble really.  

 

[StDunko]

The year you can watch the games for free on youtube is the year hampshire are total dog turd...

[Lighthouse]

9 balls: W01W0W04W

[Picard]

Why is't Vince playing?

[Dusic]

Vince is ill.

I've watched all the games so far and whats stands out to me is:

- Batting wise we should open with Vince. He can hit the gaps and in the PP you don't need to try and hit the leather off the ball. Donald has really struggled and in the Essex game we went 8 balls in the PP without scoring a run. McDermott can hit boundaries but needs someone with him who has the class to rotate the strike, which Vince does.

- No 4/5 is a massive issue. Weatherley and Dawson ok in a low scoring game but if they come in during the PP they aren't aggressive enough.

- Whiteley and especially Fuller have been ok at 6/7 but have always been left with far too much to do.

- Ellis isnt a no 8, the tail is too long.

Bowling:

- Horrific. Especially Crane - what has happened to him? You can't succeed in T20 without two good spinners and whilst Dawson is consistent Crane has been genuinely awful - and adds nothing with the bat.

- Not enough wicket taking seamers.

Overall the only way we have a chance is if McDermott and Vince get us off to an absolute flier or if Whiteley/Fuller come in with 130 on the board with 5 overs to go.

With the best teams they are flexible but most games have the same batting order and bowling sequence. We are a shambles.

Might as well pick Tom Prest every game from here.

Edited 2 June, 2022 by Dusic

[Hodgey]

The batting just hasn’t been aggressive enough so they are always starting slowly. Aside from Vince, who is out of T20 Nick - I don’t see any truly explosive batters there. Whitely is horribly out of form and our tail is too long - 8-11 are all fodder. Then the bowlers, Crane is rapidly going backwards, Ellis looks pacey and neat but not a wicket taker, the rest - hmm, maybe OK if the opposition are chasing a high score. I’m with Dusic on this, might as well play the kids and give them experience. As I mentioned before, when Fuller is by far your best player you are in trouble 

[Window Cleaner]

Interesting  (or not?) theory expounded by the Surrey commentators on the live stream yesterday evening.

Seemed to think that we've spent a lot of money on our Championship side this season and are going all in to try to win it, having failed by a point last season and it being 50 years (is that right ?) since our last County Championship title. treating the Blast as a bit of a secondary event.

Don't know how true this might be but it's alright by me, Championship cricket being the true form of the game with the others and all their ancilliary face painting and stuff being just a form of filling the club coffers.