Leicestershire under GrahamB

[GrahamB]

SQUAD THOUGHTS

Being a Kiwi with no Leicestershire knowledge, the first thing to do was to suss out the squad I had available.

At first glance, it seems like there's a fairly solid backbone to the top and middle order of the batting, but the bowling stocks look rather woeful.

Perusing the transfer market, my first priority was to bring in a decent bowler, so 26 year old slow left armer Bradley Wadlan stood out like a sore thumb.
He was happy to join us on a three year contract.

Amongst the youth players available was a batsman averaging 55.
I was sorely tempted to try and snap him up as well, but I figure that I'll need a good number of coaching and physio sessions, so I sadly had to pass the opportunity up.

My initial thoughts are to prepare home pitches suited to spin and going in with at least two spinners, probably Wadlan and Jigar Naik.
Charlie Shrek looks like he's seen his best years, so Anthony Ireland and Alec Wyatt are likely to share the new ball initially.
So that I have some left arm variety, I'm thinking of starting Rob Taylor at number seven, rather than Dan Redfern.

The top six are likely to be Greg Smith, Michael Thornely, Ramnaresh Sarwan (captain), Ned Eckersley, Shiv Thakor and Niall O'Brien (keeper).

Amongst the other batsmen, Angus Robson looks like he could develop into a useful opener if required.
Amongst the other bowlers, Ollie Freckingham and James Sykes could well be required to make contributions throughout the season.

[Lukesspurs]

There has been some interesting Leicestershire stories and I'm sure thus will be to

[MarksNotts]

Leicestershire appear to be very popular at the moment, it is a difficult challenge and I am enjoying all the stories.

[DaveK93]

Welcome to Leicestershire. Now, run, run while you still can!

Seriously though, best of luck

[GrahamB]

Welcome to Leicestershire. Now, run, run while you still can!

Seriously though, best of luck

Cheers Dave.
Of course, I'm following the other Leicestershire stories as well.

Looks like a good challenge, which I guess explains the popularity.

[GrahamB]

A great start to our County Championship campaign with a win at Kent.
New signing, Bradley Wadlan, starred with the ball and took man of the match honours.

[GrahamB]

As hinted at, we've prepared a turning pitch for our first home match, against Glamorgan.

Just one change to our playing eleven, with Matthew Boyce replacing Rob Taylor in the middle order.
With cloudy conditions not expected, there was no real need for a part-time medium pacer, and Boyce had performed exceedingly well in the second XI.

Alec Wyatt gets another shot with the new ball, but will need to put in improved performance if he's to hold his spot.

G.Smith
M.Thornely
S.Thakor
N.Eckersley
R.Sarwan (captain)
M.Boyce
N.O'Brien (wk)
B.Wadlan
J.Naik
A.Wyatt
A.Ireland

[GrahamB]

We had Glamorgan on the ropes in their first innings at 139/5, but they were saved by three big partnerships, Rees getting sterling support from Walters, Wagg and Hogan.

We needed more time following that to push for a win on the turning pitch, but sadly them's the breaks!
The match was drawn, although it was a morale booster to come so close to another win.

[GrahamB]

Next up is a visit to Essex in the County Championship.

As their pitch is going to favour the seamers, I've had to make the tough decision to leave Jigar Naik out in favour of a third seamer. Charlie Shreck gets his chance to show that his age is no barrier to success, while Alec Wyatt gets a reprieve from the selectors' axe. Let's see if he can deliver to repay the faith shown in him.

G.Smith
M.Thornely
S.Thakor
N.Eckersley
R.Sarwan (captain)
M.Boyce
N.O'Brien (wk)
B.Wadlan
A.Wyatt
A.Ireland
C.Shreck

[GrahamB]

We made a disastrous start against the strong Essex side, when Thornely was run out without facing a ball!
With a longer tail than in our previous two matches, I was a bit worried at that stage. However, centuries from Eckersley and Sarwan set us up for a big total.

Anthony Ireland stood out amongst all the bowlers on display, taking 10 wickets for the match, but again there wasn't enough time for us to set up a fourth innings run chase for Essex that would have given us a fair chance for victory.

[GrahamB]

With regards to the Twenty Over competition, I think I'll just do a summary once all of the games have been played.

Our next County Championship match is at home against Hampshire.
The groundsman has again prepared a pitch to suit our spin attack.

As there are likely to be cloudy/very cloudy conditions prevailing throughout the match, I've put Rob Taylor back in and left Matthew Boyce out. Taylor's part time left arm medium pacers give an added option.
The batsmen have all performed well this season so far, except for Niall O'Brien. With Eckersley fully capable of taking over the gloves, Niall will be looking to produce.

The only other change is that I've brought Ollie Freckingham into the side to partner Anthony Ireland with the new ball. Alec Wyatt and Charlie Shreck both get the chop for now.

G.Smith
M.Thornely
S.Thakor
N.Eckersley
R.Sarwan (captain)
N.O'Brien (wk)
R.Taylor
B.Wadlan
J.Naik
O.Freckingham
A.Ireland

[GrahamB]

Our first loss in the County Championship sadly came at home against an aggressive Hampshire side.

[GrahamB]

We're currently 1 win and 1 loss in the Twenty Over Cup, and now it's back to the real stuff - the County Championship.

We're off to Glamorgan where the turning pitch will hopefully suit our spin trio of Wadlan, Naik and Sarwan.
Niall O'Brien has been dropped due to being out of form, so Ned Eckersley takes over the keeping duties for this match.
This means room for both Matthew Boyce and Rob Taylor in the middle order.
Although Ollie Freckingham did take a couple of wickets in the previous match, it was felt that Charlie Shreck would be a better new ball partner for Anthony Ireland in these conditions.

G.Smith
M.Thornely
S.Thakor
R.Sarwan (captain)
M.Boyce
N.Eckersley (wk)
R.Taylor
B.Wadlan
J.Naik
A.Ireland
C.Shreck

[GrahamB]

Choosing to bat first under cloudy skies proved to be a mistake, but my thinking was that the pitch would be deteriorating and that bowling in the fourth innings was preferable.

In reply to our meagre 164 all out, Glamorgan were themselves in trouble at 76/5, but a double century partnership between Cooke and Walters eventually saw them gain a huge first innings lead.
Charlie Shreck took a six-fer to prove that his selection was the right choice.

Things again looked dicey for us when Greg Smith fell early in the second innings, but Thornely, Thakor, Sarwan, Boyce and Eckersley all went past 50 to salvage the situation for us.

Glamorgan decided that going for 200+ in just over a session was too stiff a task and batted out the remaining time.

[GrahamB]

After winning another match in the Twenty Over Cup (now 2 wins and 1 loss there), we have a County Championship match at home against Gloucestershire.

I've given away the thought of using Rob Taylor as a part-time medium pacer in the longer form, even though he does okay in 20/20.
As his batting hasn't been good enough to warrant his retention in the side, I've brought Niall O'Brien back in purely as a batsman, with Ned Eckersley retaining the gloves. Niall had a good outing in the second team and backed that up with a good knock in the Twenty Over Cup.

G.Smith
M.Thornely
S.Thakor
R.Sarwan (captain)
N.O'Brien
M.Boyce
N.Eckersley (wk)
B.Wadlan
J.Naik
A.Ireland
C.Shreck