Nottinghamshire CCC - The return of DaveK

[DaveK93]

Following the success of last year, I decided now would be a good time to bring back Nottinghamshire under my leadership. We have a great squad, and hopefully we can be a major challenge on all 3 fronts. I won’t be taking England for the foreseeable future, as I want to create the cricket version of the “Invincibles”, and dominate.

The squad we have is more than capable, but there is the need possibly for another batsman, so into the transfer market I delved. Out I came with Brian McGregor, a 21 year old right handed opener, Tom Ramshaw, a 22 year old right hander, and Joseph Murray, also a 22 year old right hander.

3 new batsmen into the team, and they will all play in the match coming up against Durham UCCE at the start of the season.

First up, we play Middlesex at Trent Bridge in the CCD1 opener.

[DaveK93]

Nottinghamshire vs Middlesex

First game of the season then, and some tough choices to make in terms of team selection.
This was the resulting team selection:



Jo Murray makes his Nottinghamshire debut ahead of Wessels, and the other major change is Shahzad being selected ahead of Patel. Hopefully Broad will be able to step up with the bat to make up for the change.

Toss: Middlesex win the toss and bat first.

Day 1:
Definitely a day for the batsmen. Middlesex finished on 379-7, led by a virtually chanceless century from Chris Rogers. The bowling didn’t look great, and we struggled on a flat surface. We were also not helped by our inability to remove the tail end batsman, Murtagh currently 65* at the close. We need some quick wickets if we want to win this.

Day 2:
We did not get the quick wickets. Murtagh finished on 109, and Harris 68, as we face a real uphill struggle to get anything from this match, Middlesex finishing on 466.

Until the last session, we were doing ok. We lost 6 wickets in the last session to leave us at risk of following on. A small consolation was half centuries for Cowan, Hales and Taylor, with Murray also getting one, unbeaten at the close.

Day 3:
We had the tailenders to thank for a sterling batting performance. Murray top scored with 73, as we avoided the follow-on with ease. Swann got a half century and Fletcher got some useful runs, as we look to take quick wickets in this second innings.

We don’t understand quick wickets apparently, as Middlesex finished 272 ahead on 191-2. I would imagine this is going to finish in a draw now.

Day 4:
Middlesex declared on 245-3, leaving us a mammoth 330 to chase from 2 ½ sessions. We finished at lunch on 100-1, Hales getting a quickfire half century. Cowan did fall though, but James Taylor continued where he left off.

At tea, we were 220-3, needing 110 runs to win. We suffered a major blow though as Murray departed in the last over of the session. Hales has an unbeaten century, so we will be looking to him to see this through for us.

It all came down to the final over. Hales and Read started the session slowly, before Lumb replaced Read and immediately increased the run rate. With 40 mins to go, Hales finally fell, replaced by Broad. With 4 overs to go, we were 26 short, but a nightmare over for Roland-Jones saw us gain 16 from it with two 6’s, and put us in the driving seat. With 4 balls to go, Shahzad, replacing Lumb, hit the ball to the boundary to win the match. Undeserved? Perhaps. Delighted? Definitely.



Batting Award:
Alex Hales – Showed real composure.

Bowling Award:
Shahzad, if only because he got the most wickets.

Points:
Middlesex 8, Notts 22

[KGKOOLKAT777]

Haha. I always love the come-from-behind win. Would you mind giving the new players 2nd team stats?

[DaveK93]

I can indeed, will post a little later.

[DaveK93]

Nottinghamshire vs Durham UCCE

As requested, the 2nd team stats for my new trio of youngsters:



An experimental team for this :



No major match report for this, but here’s the scorecard.



We won, but it should have been so much better. We need to improve, or we are going to struggle.

[DaveK93]

Nottinghamshire vs Derbyshire

Squad News:



All three of the young batsmen stay in, as James Taylor and Andre Adams come in for Fletcher and Gurney. A risk, yes, but hopefully a worthwhile one.

Toss: Derbyshire win the toss and bat first.

Day 1:
Yet again, the bowling was useless. Derbyshire 343-7 at the end of play, and I’m left pulling my hair out at some poor bowling. Must improve.

Day 2:
495 all out. My bowlers should be appalled. At this rate, they’ll all be getting put in the 2nd XI.
We responded by losing both openers cheaply. However, among the rain delays, McGregor and Ramshaw remained unbeaten as we finished on 177-2, both batsmen finishing in the mid 70’s.

Day 3:
We collapsed early on again, but thanks to Read and McGregor, we avoided the ignominy of the follow-on, as we fell just short of 400. A wonderful innings by McGregor, and if Cowan can’t find form, he may well find a regular spot in the team.
Derbyshire reached 65-0 at the close, and this is heading for a draw.

Day 4:
Derbyshire declared just after lunch leaving us 283 to win.
I’m starting to think I made the right choice in selecting Ramshaw. Between him and James Taylor, they won me the match. Some hard hitting from both of them, with strike rates in the 90’s, saw us get an unlikely victory for the 2nd time in 3 matches. Nottinghamshire are not good for the nerves.



Batting Award:
Ramshaw/McGregor – Both scored great centuries, can’t call this one.

Bowling Award:
Shahzad again, only real bowling impact.

Points:
Derbyshire 6, Nottinghamshire 21

[KGKOOLKAT777]

Haha, after watching you the forum will go crazy for Chris to adjust the times of declarations. I love your aggressive captaincy. If it was me I would have gone onto 0 aggression and play out the draw!

[DaveK93]

I only go aggressive until the 6th wicket usually, unless there is no chance of victory. Got away with it twice so far, no guarantee that'll happen every time though :P I go on the logic that the team could score 200 in a T20 match, so they can attempt it in more overs in an fc match.

[DaveK93]

Durham vs Nottinghamshire

Squad News:



No change for the team, I keep faith in the youngsters

Toss:
Durham win the toss and bat first. A strange decision, but we’ll see how it plays out as the match goes on.

Day 1:
In a rain hit day, it was honours even as Durham reached 121-2. Not an eventful day, but we need a blistering start to day 2.

Day 2:
We actually managed to bowl a team out for under 300! I’m really quite proud. It’s a shame the batsmen couldn’t follow suit. We lost Hales and Cowan within 4 balls of each other, and then collapsed. It’s up to Read and Broad to give us a little dignity.

Day 3:
We owe a lot to Shahzad, and the two overnight batsmen for getting a point. Hopefully we can limit the lead they have over us.
Durham got 213-6, and apart from Collingwood and Borthwick, we bowled well. Still a lot of work to do on day 4 yet again. I don’t think I can cope with more day 4 drama this season.

Day 4:
Having taken no more wickets, Durham declared, leaving us to chase 333 to win in 2 ½ sessions. Here we go again…

At lunch we were 81-0, still 252 to win. 126 runs a session, we can do this.

At tea, 224-5. 109 to win. Cowan fell early on, but some quick runs by McGregor and Ramshaw put us in a decent position.

3 out of 3. Hales and Read saw us through for another late victory, although Hales couldn’t quite make it to the end. Maybe one of these days I’ll get to play a normal 4 day match? Or am I being optimistic?



Batting Award:
Alex Hales – Calm under pressure yet again.

Bowling Award:
Andre Adams – Quick wickets in the first innings saw us bowl out a team for under 300 for the first time in the CCD1 this season.

Points:
Durham 5, Nottinghamshire 20

[Alrounder80]

Haha, after watching you the forum will go crazy for Chris to adjust the times of declarations. I love your aggressive captaincy. If it was me I would have gone onto 0 aggression and play out the draw!

I don't think the timing of declarations is the problem, but the ease with which batsmen score with such high strike rates on day 4 day pitches. Surely the pitch should be deteriorated enough to cause trouble for batsmen and coupled with defensive field settings, it should be almost impossible for batsmen to score so quickly so consistently.

[DaveK93]

Perhaps, even when they were on a 4 aggression setting, I've got batsman lashing out as if they were on an 8.

[DaveK93]

Nottinghamshire vs Northamptonshire

Our first one day match of the campaign. This should be interesting.

Squad News:



Franks comes in for his first appearance of the season. He replaces Ed Cowan, who misses out for the 5th bowler.

Toss:
Northamptonshire win the toss and bowl.

Northants Innings:
We bowled very well to limit Northants to 191-9, and apart from Willey (49*), none of the batsmen got settled. All the bowlers got wickets, and by keeping the runs down under 200, we have a very good chance in this match.

Notts Innings:
It was slow, but we got there. Hales and McGregor scored slowly off the start, reaching 70 off the first 20. Once Hales fell, Taylor came in, and scored much quicker. He finished on 79 off 64 as we won with ease, McGregor also getting a very good half century. A promising start to the campaign, let’s hope we can keep it up.



Batting Award:
James Taylor – quickfire runs brought the runrate back under control

Bowling Award:
Andre Adams – most economical out of the wicket takers.

Points:
Northants 0, Notts 2

[DaveK93]

Nottinghamshire vs Kent

Squad News:



I make no changes for this, should get away with it against a weaker side.

Toss:
Nottinghamshire win the toss and bat first.

Nottinghamshire Innings:
We only just made it over 200, but we should have done better really. Hales and Taylor both made quick half centuries but we didn’t capitalise. Still over 200 though, so it is reasonably defendable, we just need to remove the batsmen quickly.

Kent Innings:
I’d forgotten how bad our bowling could be. We may have taken wickets, but our bowling was far too expensive. We are going to have some really issues if they bowl like that for the rest of the season.



Batting Award:
James Taylor – Scored some quick runs, shame he couldn’t carry it on

Bowling Award:
Andre Adams – Our only inexpensive bowler.

Points:
Kent 2, Notts 0

[UTBash]

Young lads doing decent!

[DaveK93]

Young lads doing decent!

They've been great! Will definitely save some funds in the long runs. Have dropped off a little in the last couple of games, but I'll keep faith with them for now.