Wellington under GrahamB (NZ domestic story)

[GrahamB]

As Wellington start with the most lowly rated squad overall, I decided to take up the challenge of taking control.

EXPIRING CONTRACTS

12 of the 24 man squad had their contracts expiring.

We re-signed only 4:

- opening batsman Stephen Murdoch
- batsman/keeper Craig Cachopa
- RFM bowler Matt McEwan
- RMF bowler Iain McPeake

The other 8 players were allowed to leave the squad:

- opening batsman/all rounder Luke Woodcock (SLA)
- batsman Hamish Marshall
- batsman Michael Pollard
- batsman Fraser Colson
- all rounder Alecz Day (OS)
- RFM bowler Brent Arnel
- RFM bowler Dane Hutchinson
- English import all rounder Scott Borthwick (LS)

TERMINATED CONTRACTS

Of the remaining 12 squad members, 3 had their contracts terminated:

- opening batsman BJ Barnett
- batsman Matt Taylor
- RFM bowler Anurag Verma

SQUAD MEMBERS RETAINED

The 9 players left with existing contracts (joined by the four mentioned earlier who were re-signed) were:

- opening batsman/keeper Michael Papps
- keeper/batsman Luke Ronchi
- keeper/batsman Tom Blundell
- batsman Jamie Gibson
- all rounder Grant Elliott
- RMF bowler Hamish Bennett
- RFM bowler Ollie Newton
- RMF bowler Matt Bacon
- OS bowler Jeetan Patel


Next up, the new signings and the Wellington squad for the new season.

[GrahamB]

NEW SIGNINGS

- opening batsman Ben Smith (previously Central Districts)
- batsman Tom Bruce (previously Central Districts)
- batsman Henry Nicholls (previously Canterbury)
- batsman Ken Dyson (youth signing)
- batsman Fawad Alam (overseas signing from Pakistan)
- RFM Matt Quinn (previously Auckland)
- RMF Sitiveni Rokocoko (youth signing)


FULL SQUAD WELLINGTON 2016

Opening Batsmen
Ben Smith
Stephen Murdoch
Michael Papps

Other Batsmen
Fawad Alam
Tom Bruce
Luke Ronchi (keeper)
Craig Cachopa (keeper)
Henry Nicholls
Tom Blundell (keeper)
Ken Dyson
Jamie Gibson

All Rounder
Grant Elliott (RM)

Pace Bowlers
Sitiveni Rokococo (RMF)
Matt Quinn (RFM)
Matt McEwan (RFM)
Hamish Bennett (RMF)
Ollie Newton (RFM)
Matt Bacon (RMF)
Iain McPeake (RFM)

Spin Bowler
Jeetan Patel (OS)

[GrahamB]

NORTHERN DISTRICTS v WELLINGTON (FC Match in Hamilton)

Prior to the match, Luke Ronchi was called up by the NZ selectors and Matt McEwan picked up an injury in training.
However, Northern Districts were hit much harder with the call up of Kane Williamson, BJ Watling, Corey Anderson, Tim Southee and Trent Boult!

The playing elevens selected were:

[GrahamB]

A poor start to the season with a loss to the depleted, but still strong Northern Districts side.
Tom Bruce and Henry Nicholls were the best of our batsmen, with good knocks in both innings, while young batsman Ken Dyson proved to be a real handful with his left arm medium pacers.
I expected much better from our new squad. Hopefully the next game will show that this was just a blip.

[GrahamB]

CENTRAL DISTRICTS v WELLINGTON (FC Match)

With Fawad Alam flying out to join his Pakistani team mates, English batsman James Vince comes into the bating line up.
As the pitch and conditions are expected to favour the seamers, Grant Elliott has been rewarded for a sterling second team bowling performance by replacing spinner Jeetan Patel.

[Graham_5000]

Look forward to your new story. I ought to start a South African one.

Unlucky in your opening match - looks like Wellington will be quite a challenge. Have you got an idea as to what a par season would entail?

[GrahamB]

Look forward to your new story. I ought to start a South African one.

Unlucky in your opening match - looks like Wellington will be quite a challenge. Have you got an idea as to what a par season would entail?

Hi.

I expect to finish midtable at least in FC, but hope to do better than that in the shorter forms.
Hopefully I'm not being too optimistic! :-)

Cheers,
Graham.

[Sureshot]

Great to see, Graham. I've started a save with Auckland. Been through contracts, but nothing else yet!

[GrahamB]

Another disappointing performance sees us slip to our second consecutive loss.
Stephen Murdoch and Ken Dyson have not contributed with the bat in either match and will need to start producing in a hurry.
Our young pace bowler, Sitiveni Rokococo, has had a quiet start to his career, but Matt Quinn and Hamish Bennett haven't been setting the world on fire either.
I still have faith that things will improve!

[GrahamB]

NZ 20 Over Trophy

This didn't go well for us.
We won two of our first four games, but the tactics I'd successfully used previous to this story weren't good enough to overcome the overall weakness of our squad.

[GrahamB]

The next four games. Not pretty viewing from a Wellington perspective.

[GrahamB]

The final two games plus the tournament table. So much for finishing at least mid-table!

[Raver]

I'm enjoying this one - mainly because I'm playing as Wellington myself, and doing just as badly. My FC record is 1 win, 1 draw, 1 loss ... I'm happy with that. But finished the T20s with 3 wins, bottom of the table. And so far in the ODs I'm 1 from 3. My old tactics that stood me in such good stead in CC2015 are just not quite cutting it in this one. I do feel that like you say, a good part of it is the squad - lack of really good bowlers combined with average to poor batters. Hang in there - maybe you can attract the likes of Boult to the squad next year!

[GrahamB]

Wellington v Otago (FC Match)

One first class fixture before heading into the One-Dayers.

Matt McEwan returns from injury and replaces Hamish Bennett in the bowling attack.
Fawad Alam has returned from international duties, so James Vince's appearance was a fleeting one.

Ken Dyson has been relegated to spending some time in the reserves, with Craig Cachopa taking his place.

With the pitch expected to favour the seamers, we've decided to leave out Jeetan Patel and use batsman Jamie Gibson as a fourth seam option rather than Grant Elliott.
Alam provides a part-time spin option.

Can we steady the ship?

[GrahamB]

I'm enjoying this one - mainly because I'm playing as Wellington myself, and doing just as badly. My FC record is 1 win, 1 draw, 1 loss ... I'm happy with that. But finished the T20s with 3 wins, bottom of the table. And so far in the ODs I'm 1 from 3. My old tactics that stood me in such good stead in CC2015 are just not quite cutting it in this one. I do feel that like you say, a good part of it is the squad - lack of really good bowlers combined with average to poor batters. Hang in there - maybe you can attract the likes of Boult to the squad next year!

Cheers for that.
I know that I'm not completely useless at this game, but you have to have a good squad.
As you rightly say, the bowling attack is poor and there are too many ageing batsmen.

Looking forward to getting a couple of seasons under my belt, so that I know the squad is completely my own work.

All the best with your game and thanks for taking an interest.