Nottinghamshire Story

[DaveK93]

Notts vs Middlesex

Middlesex are surely out for revenge after we stole victory from them last time.

The team selected is:
A Hales
J Denly
J Taylor
S Patel
S Elstone
R Wessels
S Kelsall
J Dalrymple
K Mills
L Fletcher
N Arif

Arif returns from injury and goes straight into the squad. Kelsall is place-holding for M Lumb who returns in 6 days, and Ireland is replaced by Luke Fletcher, who has 99 FC wickets.

A fair result in the end, as both sides had strong first innings, going over 400, and there wasn’t enough time to force victory. The declaration was more a case of trying to get my bowlers into some sort of form. Needless to say, it was Patel who got the wickets in the last innings, not any of my frontline bowlers. Typical.

Still, I can live with the draw, as I am 41 clear of Lancashire, who are 2nd in the table. It was nice to see Hales get a century though, who formed a good partnership with Kelsall (70). Overall, a decent result against a strong team.



Next, recently promoted Essex.

[DaveK93]

Notts vs Essex

A Hales
J Denly
J Taylor
S Patel
M Lumb
R Wessels
S Kelsall
J Dalrymple
K Mills
L Fletcher
A Carter

Another ridiculous end to a game. We bowled well in the first innings, limiting Essex to 300, before Hales and Denly hit an opening partnership of well over 200. We reached 457, and with poor conditions ahead, we were confident of finishing the match.

We were wrong. The Essex batsmen stood firm, and with an hour left of play, they declared, leaving us roughly 20 overs to chase our target. Poor move by the Essex captain. As we did against Middlesex earlier in the season, we went on all-out offensive and destroying the bowling attack, reaching the target from only 17.2 overs. Another thrilling game, in what has been an exciting season for us so far!



Next we play Durham in the County Championship.

[DaveK93]

Notts vs Durham

Squad selection proved to be interesting for this match as all of my IPL players returned, as did my English internationals.

So the team sheet looked like this:
A Hales
J Denly
M Lumb
J Taylor
E Morgan
S Patel
C Kieswetter
G Swann
S Broad
D Mascarenhas
K Mills

It’s a strong squad, hopefully they should win with ease.

If we had won this match, it would not have been deserved. We didn’t bat as well as we should, and we then let Durham off the hook, to post a lead that was just too much to chase. I’m disappointed. We didn’t look effective, and a loss would have been fair possibly, if Durham had left a little more time. Neither Morgan nor Kieswetter impressed on debut particularly, but Mascarenhas did pick up a couple of wickets with some economical bowling. However, having a substantial lead in the table has meant that I’m not excessively worried…yet.



Next up, Somerset in a one day match.

[DaveK93]

Notts vs Somerset

I think England are just trying to annoy me. Morgan, Hales, Kieswetter, Patel, Swann and Broad have all been called up. Thanks a lot ECB.

In light of these events, the following XI play:
J Denly
M Lumb
J Taylor
S Elstone
P Trego
J Dalrymple
R Wessels
A Carter
L Fletcher
D Mascarenhas
K Mills

Completely ridiculous. We failed with the bat, we failed with the ball. Unacceptable. I won’t write more on this, as I’m so angry about this shambles of a performance, that I’ll start ranting, whereas I could be playing another match.

[DaveK93]

Notts vs Lancs

The following XI play:
J Denly
M Lumb
J Taylor
S Elstone
P Trego
J Dalrymple
R Wessels
A Carter
L Fletcher
D Mascarenhas
K Mills

Same team plays. Mainly because I have nobody else.

A massive improvement. We struggled again in the first innings, but fortunately the weather turned, and Lancashire struggled in the conditions.
We then nearly threw it all away. James Taylor held the innings together, and gave us a chance of a victory. The second highest scorer was Andy Carter, which shows how well the supposed batsmen actually did. Usefully, the pace bowlers did their job in swinging conditions, all of my bowlers taking wickets in that innings. It’s an improvement, and hopefully we can transfer this form into the shorter version of the game. I want all 3 titles this season, and this kind of performance will help.

[DaveK93]

Notts vs Surrey

The following XI play:
J Denly
M Lumb
J Taylor
S Elstone
P Trego
J Dalrymple
R Wessels
A Carter
L Fletcher
D Mascarenhas
K Mills

Again, I go out with an unchanged team, due to international call-ups.
Another comfortable win. Most of the credit has to go to Denly and Taylor, who gave us a solid platform on which we could base our innings. Denly has been a revelation since he signed for me, my best new signing so far. Dalrymple also weighed in with some useful runs later down the order.
Surrey never really got going after some good opening bowling from Carter and Mascarenhas. They lost wickets at regular intervals, and Jamie Dalrymple mopped up the tail to give us a 59 run victory, and get us back on track in the One Day game.



We now start our T20 campaign against Leceistershire.

[DaveK93]

Notts vs Leics

The following XI play:
J Denly
M Lumb
J Taylor
S Elstone
P Trego
J Dalrymple
R Wessels
A Carter
L Fletcher
D Mascarenhas
B Rankin

Rankin comes in for Mills as Rankin is finding form again, and has a much better economy rate in this form of the game.

That couldn’t have been a better start to the campaign. The Leics openers started well, before a 3 wicket maiden from Carter halted all progress. From there Boyd Rankin took over and produced a great spell, getting figures of 4-14 from his 4 overs. Leics never really stood a chance, and the Notts batsmen knocked the runs off with ease.

[DaveK93]

Notts vs Derbys

J Denly
A Hales
J Taylor
C Kieswetter
E Morgan
S Patel
S Broad
A Carter
G Swann
D Mascarenhas
B Rankin

The England lads return and go into the squad, to ensure the strongest possible line up. Still no Russell, he’s with the WIndies currently.
We let them off the hook. Pure and simple. With 8 down, they should never have got there. Still, no matter, as we are only just into the campaign. At least Denly got more runs, he’s averaging over 45 in all competitions currently.

[DaveK93]

Notts vs Durham

J Denly
A Hales
J Taylor
C Kieswetter
E Morgan
S Patel
S Broad
A Carter
G Swann
D Mascarenhas
B Rankin

A closer game than I would have liked. My bowlers were a little expensive given the conditions, but thankfully Swann was on hand to do some hard work, and limit the score.

Having a long tail in a T20 game is risky, and it very nearly backfired on me here, as Patel started to run out of partners at the end. Andy Carter stepped up to the plate though, and allowed Samit the strike as he blasted the winning runs, getting 54 from 26 deliveries.

In the end, a win is a win, and more points on the board, so I’m happy.

[DaveK93]

Notts vs Lancs

M Lumb
A Hales
J Taylor
C Kieswetter
E Morgan
S Patel
S Broad
A Carter
G Swann
D Mascarenhas
B Rankin

Denly is out for 5 days, so Michael Lumb is drafted in at the top of the order.

Another comfortable win. Apart from Mascarenhas, all the bowlers performed well, as we limited a good Lancashire side to 148. Admittedly , the conditions were bowler friendly, but I still count this as an achievement.

We then knocked the runs off with ease, led by Michael Lumb who scored a good 70. That’ll make the selection at the top of the order more difficult if both him and Denly are in form. A nice problem to have though.

[DaveK93]

Notts vs Yorks

M Lumb
A Hales
J Denly
J Taylor
C Kieswetter
E Morgan
S Patel
S Broad
A Carter
G Swann
B Rankin

Mascarenhas pays the price for his expensive bowling as Denly replaces him, leaving us with only 5 bowlers, but a really deep batting line up. And the bowlers selected have all been in good form.

Another good win. We hit our highest total of the campaign so far, with contributions from most of the opening order, before we routinely took wickets to stop the possibility of Yorkshire ever properly getting into the game. Rankin continued his impressive form in this competition, as did Denly, and I am starting to entertain the possibility that we may actually qualify easily this year.

[DaveK93]

Notts vs Durham

M Lumb
A Hales
J Denly
J Taylor
C Kieswetter
E Morgan
S Patel
S Broad
A Carter
G Swann
B Rankin

This is becoming pretty routine now. We limited Durham to a meagre score on this kind of pitch, before we knocked off the runs easily. These reports may be a little mundane, but there really isn’t that much to say about these matches at the moment, hopefully they will become more exciting.

[DaveK93]

Notts vs Lancs

M Lumb
A Hales
J Denly
J Taylor
C Kieswetter
E Morgan
S Patel
S Broad
A Carter
G Swann
B Rankin

This was a bit more entertaining, but more importantly, it was a match where Craig Kieswetter finally got some runs. It’s the first time he has really looked to be capable of getting runs, and hopefully these runs will continue. Once again, it was fairly routine, as Carter removed the openers quickly, and then we just took wickets, and tried to press the advantage. With it looking like we may qualify in 1st or 2nd place, I may start to try and bring in the youth players and reserves, just so I know who should stay.

[DaveK93]

Notts vs Yorks

Before I list the team, a quick word on the new youth talents. We are joined by Brian Read and Keith Tennison, who are both middle order batsmen. Hopefully they will impress in the future.

M Lumb
A Hales
J Denly
J Taylor
C Kieswetter
E Morgan
S Patel
S Broad
A Carter
G Swann
B Rankin

The same team for this one, and then I’ll start the rotation I think.

Qualification achieved. It’s about as simple as that really. Yorkshire were undone by some great bowling by Rankin and Swann, and from there, it was an easy job to get the rest of the runs. Not too worried about the next two matches now, as we have qualified, so expect to see some of the younger players.



NB: No detailed match reports for the next two, owing to lack of significance, and in interest of getting through the competition.

[DaveK93]

Notts vs Derbys

The weakened team for this one reads as:
A Ellis
S Elstone
S Kelsall
R Wessels
B Read
K Tennison
S Mullaney
A Russell
P Trego
K Mills
H Gurney

Finally have Andre Russell available, great signing that was by me. Never mind…

Comfortable loss. Still, an impressive first knock for Tennison, who hit 67 on debut. Hopefully one for the future.