Nottinghamshire Story

[DaveK93]

Notts vs Leics

A Ellis
J Casey
S Kelsall
R Wessels
B Read
K Tennison
S Mullaney
A Russell
P Trego
K Mills
D Mascarenhas

A better performance against a weaker team. Casey, a youth prospect from last year, and Wessels led the batting, before all the bowlers chipped in.



The Quarter Final Draw is in…



So it’s a rematch of last year’s final. Revenge is going to be oh so sweet.

[GrahamB]

It won't be too long before you're cleaning up all the competitions.

[DaveK93]

It won't be too long before you're cleaning up all the competitions.

It's starting to look that way, but I get the feeling that as the regens are phased in there will be a more level playing field. I hope so, just so it keeps me entertained!

[DaveK93]

Notts vs Derbyshire

Given that I am currently 70 points ahead, and I’m playing one of the weaker teams in the division, I decided to play a weakened team again. It will be worth it just to get some players some experience, and rest my main players.

A Ellis
J Casey
S Kelsall
R Wessels
B Read
K Tennison
S Wood
P Trego
K Mills
D Mascarenhas
N Arif

Morgan, Swann and Broad are with England anyway, so wouldn’t have been playing anyway. Andre Russell is T20 only as well, so can’t play. Sam Wood comes in for him as the spinner in the team. Elstone just misses out, as Kelsall will prove to be a more stable option I think. Arif comes in as well, as he hasn’t really played much this season.

OK, so that may have backfired a little. To be fair I never expected much, and I can live with a draw. Highlights are some good performances by the youth batsmen, and they are looking good to become the stars of the future for the club. Unfortunately, my youth bowling prospects aren’t as good, and once again, the bowling will need refreshing, with younger players if I can get them.



Next we have Scotland in the Challenge Trophy.

[DaveK93]

Notts vs Scots

A Ellis
J Casey
S Kelsall
R Wessels
B Read
K Tennison
S Wood
P Trego
K Mills
D Mascarenhas
N Arif

Closer than I would have liked, but the reserves did well enough. The youth batsmen all got starts but didn’t really push on, which was a bit disappointing, but the experience of Naved Arif ensured that we got home safely enough. The result leaves us 5th in the group, and still struggling, but I like a challenge, and will aim to top the group, despite being 7 points behind.



Next up Warwicks in the CCD1.

[habib]

Good progress so far!
Keep going

[cricfan1]

In which session are you

[DaveK93]

Good progress so far!
Keep going

Thanks, glad you're enjoying it

[DaveK93]

In which session are you

Halfway through my second season on here, in actual gameplay, I'm nearing the end of the season.

Due to my unreliable internet, I type it up on Word, then put a few match reports up at once. So the story is a little behind where I am occasionally.

[DaveK93]

Notts vs Warwicks

The team for this boasts youth and experience, as Kieswetter is injured, and Patel on England duty.

Therefore:
A Hales
J Denly
S Taylor
R Wessels
B Read
K Tennison
A Carter
P Trego
K Mills
D Mascarenhas
N Arif

Obviously not in batting order, as none of the team lists are, I don’t actually decide what order the batsmen come in until I get to that point.

Both Read and Tennison keep their places, so I can have another look at them.
In hindsight, I should have picked a spinner. That first innings, the pace bowlers suffered. I made the mistake, I can live with it. Fortunately, the batsmen were good enough and nearly managed to steal another victory at the end. It was not to be however.

Still, we have a significant lead at the top of the table, and my first team players are now sufficiently rested I feel, so the run out of the youngsters was worth it.

[DaveK93]

Notts vs Sussex T20 QF

M Lumb
A Hales
J Denly
J Taylor
R Wessels
E Morgan
S Patel
S Broad
A Russell
G Swann
B Rankin

Full strength for this, I want the victory.

A stark contrast to the final of last year as Sussex crumbled. They had no response to the spin twins, Patel and Swann, who took 7 of the 10 wickets, conceding only 29 runs in the process. And with Gayle going early, they lacked strength in batting.

For Notts, it was a case of knock the runs off carefully, which we did for the loss of only four wickets. However, those 4 wickets did all come early in the innings, and for a moment I worried that we may crumble just like Sussex. Fortunately James Taylor and Samit Patel showed calm heads under pressure to get the required runs.

The result seals our passage to T20 finals day for the 2nd year in a row under my management, where we will be playing Essex, as they beat Somerset in the other quarter-final taking place.

[DaveK93]

I apologise in advance here, due to a backlog, there will be quite a lot of new match reports going up in a short space of time.

[DaveK93]

Notts vs Yorks

M Lumb
A Hales
J Denly
J Taylor
R Wessels
E Morgan
J Dalrymple
L Fletcher
P Trego
D Mascarenhas
B Rankin

With Patel, Broad and Swann with England, Mascarenhas, Trego and Dalrymple stand in for this vital Challenge Trophy clash.

This was a really good game for the batsmen on a completely dead track. Yorkshire posted one of the higher scores of the season, as our bowlers couldn’t break through. The runs came from a selection of batsmen, the most coming from Jonny Bairstow who hit 64.

Nottinghamshire rose well to the challenge though, with Denly and Hales scoring well. The Yorkshire slip fielder will have gone into hiding though, dropping 3 easy chances at the start of the innings which could have given them victory. A mini-wobble saw Hales and Lumb depart quickly, Taylor following them back into the pavilion soon after. However, Denly, undoubtedly our star player this year, formed a partnership with Eoin Morgan, who hit a run-a-ball 64 in good support. Denly reached his 100 in style, and only departed when Morgan ran him out near the end, but by then, the damage was irreversible.



Next for us, Surrey in the County Championship.

[DaveK93]

Notts vs Surrey

We decided to continue with a full strength squad with the players available, to get the team in form before the T20 finals day, a competition I was determined to win this year.

A Ellis
A Hales
J Denly
J Taylor
R Wessels
E Morgan
J Dalrymple
A Carter
A Ireland
D Mascarenhas
B Rankin

Carter makes a return to the team as does Anthony Ireland, who has been less than impressive this year. Albert Ellis also comes in for the out of form Lumb, and will hopefully get some runs.

The move to put Ellis in was a successful one, as he had the best game of his career, getting 194 runs over his two innings. He was certainly the standout performer for us, as the match petered out into a draw. As we started the second innings, we were aware we wouldn’t win in a rain affected match, so we tried to bat it out. Ellis and Morgan batted well, and at the end, we put Surrey in to chase an unlikely victory. We took a couple of wickets, but a draw was inevitable.



Moving on from this, we play Derbyshire in the Challenge Trophy.

[DaveK93]

Notts vs Derbys

A Ellis
A Hales
J Denly
J Taylor
R Wessels
E Morgan
J Dalrymple
A Carter
A Ireland
D Mascarenhas
B Rankin

Same team to play this, I’m confident they can do the necessary job.
We just about stole the win here. It wasn’t a particularly high scoring game, but at one point we had collapsed to 89/6. Eoin Morgan stayed for a bit to provide a partner for Joe Denly, who survived the entire innings, but was the 4th wicket to fall. Fortunately, Ireland, Mascarenhas and Carter were able to sit tight for a bit allowing Denly to keep plugging away at the deficit. We won it with 10 balls to spare, but had it not been for Denly, and Morgan’s quickfire 37, we wouldn’t have got there.