Gloucestershire - That Elusive Championship (Story)

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Glamorgan - Away - 2014

Glamorgan	Gloucestershire
R. Coop	T. Price
S. Walters	C. Rogers
C. Kapugedara	I. Cockbain (C)
J. Allenby	R. ten Doeschate
N. James	M. Yardy
G. Rees	H. Marshall
M. Wallace (C) (K)	C. Herring (K)
D. Lloyd	I. Saxelby
G. Wagg	D. Payne
M. Hogan	L. Norwell
H. Waters	G. Dockrell

Past Meetings

2013 - Home - The One Where We Got Thrashed.
2013 - Away - The One Where... We Got Thrashed.

Okay so... I'll admit that our previous matches against Glamorgan, the only team we haven't played yet this season, have not been great for us... we've been beaten well both times. However, good news! Glamorgan haven't won a game in their first 8 matches, so they're almost guaranteed to break that duck this week. They really are a poor side, playing poorly. They pick 3 bowlers and Allenby, and have a specialist batsman at number 8, albeit one averaging 13 in his career to date.

We make 2 changes from our last, victorious team, as Dent and Lynn, both severely out of form, drop out as Rogers returns from international duty and Herring makes his first championship appearance of the season after some good form with the seconds. This is the last match before the T20 break, and the bowling 4 still pick themselves rather, with Thomas/Payne the only thought yet to be fully resolved. The incumbent keeps his place for now. The weather looks mostly cloudy, and the pitch mostly good, so it will be an intriguing match. We win the toss and bat first. Tom Price cuts a nervous figure as he gets ready to face the first ball. Or maybe that's just the Welsh cold.

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Must do better.



This defeat's properly deflated me, and I have to say this match report will not be the longest! Rogers and Cockbain only managed single figure scores, but a fightback from Tendo and Yardy left us 153/4 and feeling like we could post a competitive first innings total. From there, we collapsed, with Yardy making it 67 but the tail all faltering, as we made it up to 222.

Walters 109 was very impressive, and whilst he hasn't set the league alight this year, he is a handy player. Past Payne, who was for once brilliant, our bowling was very poor, as we failed to take advantage of the new ball or the very cloudy weather conditions. They took a good lead. We were sad.

We didn't do much better in our second innings, as no-one passed 43. We were 183/8 at one point, at which time the game was really lost, and even the 60 added by the last 3 didn't really help.

We got steamrolled, really. We did get them to 99/5, but James and Wallace just beat the others away.

Championship State	We're 12 points off 2nd having played 1 more match. We have 7 matches left, I reckon if we get 4 more wins we'll be right up there.
Batting Award	Mike Yardy - His 67 was stolid, and the only thing we saw in the match really.
Bowling Award	David Payne - Glad of his 7 wickets, which will keep him in the team for a bit.

Also, before our next match, we have new youth players! Gareth Hopper, a 19 year old right handed batsman, I feel is unlikely to make the grade, and will not be getting the extra help required to do so, but Rob Norris, a left arm medium fast bowler who can bat more than a bit, will likely be given a chance late in the season to show that he's the man who can add that different angle and extra pace to our attack.

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Glamorgan - Home - 2014

Gloucestershire	Glamorgan
H. Rutherford	D. Swinburn
C. Dent (K)	R. Coop
I. Cockbain (C)	C. Kapugedara
R. ten Doeschate	J. Allenby
K. Lynn	S. Walters
T. Price	N. James
P. Thomas	G. Rees
E. Young	M. Wallace (C) (K)
I. Saxelby	G. Wagg
L. Norwell	M. Hogan
G. Dockrell	H. Waters

Past Meetings

2013 - Home - The One Where We Got Thrashed.
2013 - Away - The One Where... We Got Thrashed.
2014 - Away - The One That Only Just Happened. How Do You Not Remember This?

We only just played Glamorgan, but we quickly get a chance of revenge against them at Bristol. We make a massive 5 changes to our side, some more straightforward than others. Rutherford returns and comes in for Rogers. Simple. Dent replaces Herring, who looked out of his depth, and returns to open the innings with Price moving down the order. Marshall is out of form, Lynn is back into it, so they switch. We've prepared a turning wicket, so Young comes in as a second spinner for Payne. Finally, Yardy is injured, so Thomas replaces him mainly for his batting potential. His pace will also be used though.

Massive changes for us, but still-bottom Glamorgan only make one. Lloyd drops out of the side, and young opener David Swinburn makes his début at the top of the order, with centurion Walters dropping down to number 5. A second XI average above 60 shows he might have potential, so we'll have to be careful. The addition of Young to our team will be almost useless if we lose the toss, and... oh. We have lost the toss, and must bowl first. This could end badly.

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Gloucs in crisis!



It seemed that on this pitch, it was hard to bat at first for everyone, but when you were in it was hard to get you out! Débutante Swinburn showed us this early on, as after we removed Coop and Kapugedara early, he and Allenby hit a century partnership. Allenby was out for 64, but the 22 year old opener continued on his way, eventually reaching his maiden century in his maiden championship innings. Rees and Wallace added a few down the order, but that was pretty much the entire innings!

We started slowly knowing the surface was bad, and got our rewards. The openers put on a mighty 134 partnership to get us started well, and Cockbain's 22 steadied the ship after Rutherford left for 65. We then went through a period where we lost 7 wickets for 70 runs, as the middle order struggled, and it was left to Peter Thomas to hit a ferocious 77* to take us over 300 and defend the tail.

In their second innings, we actually started really well. A couple of good bursts from Norwell and Dockrell reduced them to 103/5, but an 86 partnership between Allenby and Rees gave them a chance at making enough runs. Wallace didn't stay around for too long, but a partnership between Rees and Wagg, worth 105, was the real killing blow for our chances as it took our possible target beyond 300. It was poor bowling, no-one could force an opening, and we were disappointing generally.

If we hadn't started so poorly, we might have had a chance. Reduced to 37/3, we knew the game was already pretty much up. Ten Doeschate was again impressive, and whilst Lynn played well, when he was on 36 he had his arm broken by Allenby. Price came in and played stolidly, but after he and Tendo got out we had no resistance. Never mind.

Championship State	After 10 matches for everyone, we're still 3rd, but now 35 points off 2nd. Promotion's looking further away each match.
Batting Award	Chris Dent - His first innings 90 was good, and he just edges this.
Bowling Award	Peter Thomas - He was only meant to be a back up bowler, but got 5 wickets as we chopped and changed to break partnerships.

We now have a month's break, but Lynn is out with his arm for 8 weeks. The next team could involve just as much change as this one did!

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Kent - Home - 2014

Gloucestershire	Kent
H. Rutherford	S. Northeast
C. Dent (K)	R. Key (C)
I. Cockbain (C)	B. Nash
R. ten Doeschate	A. Blake
M. Yardy	M. Powell
T. Price	F. Cowdrey
P. Thomas	D. Smith (K)
I. Saxelby	M. Coles
D. Payne	A. Hopps
L. Norwell	B. White
G. Dockrell	M. Davies

Past Meetings

2013 - Home - The One Where Runs Were Scored
2013 - Away - The One Where I Won After Following On
2014 - Away - The One With The Sporting Declaration

We decide, for once, to play to our strengths instead of the opponent's weaknesses. We get rid of Young again and replace him with left armer Payne, and set up a seamer's pitch to try and force a positive result. Since we last played a match, the team has got to (and lost in) a T20 final, bowled out for 89 by Bopara, who took 7/29 for Leics! Yardy also comes back in after his injury for Lynn, who is out with his.

Young bowlers Hopps and White for Kent have only played a match apiece before this one, but when these players are chucked straight into the team very young, one has to be careful, as Swinburn showed last time out. Simmons is on international duty, and Australian Dan Smith takes over there for them. We won the toss, and will bat first.

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We needed this win, and we got it pretty easily.



It was a low scoring match, and the progression of the innings rather suited that. Dent was out early for us first up, but Rutherford, Cockbain and Tendo all got starts, on a pitch where no batsman ever really looked set. Yardy made only 10, and at 120/5 when Ryan fell we felt like we had serious problems. Price (25) stuck around for a 20 partnership with Thomas, but it was the young allrounder who made 59 from 114 balls who saved our innings, dragging us up past 200 and a batting point.

Norwell came out and started rattling through them. He eventually secured a massive 7/73, his best figures in an innings ever, with Saxelby, Payne and Thomas picking up a wicket each as Dockrell only bowled 2 overs. Hopps and Davies put on an annoying 30 for the last wicket, but our lead of 50-odd in the first innings seemed like it might be crucial on a pitch where that was a fair number of runs!

After a decent opening stand, we lost 4 wickets for 31 runs to be reduced to 76/4, and felt like we were struggling. Dent was playing well, however, and Price joined him and they started hitting out. Dent went unluckily for 49, and Price eventually made 40 from 69 after a half century partnership with Thomas. Peter then went on to add more to his tally with Saxelby, Payne and Norwell, for his 2nd 50 in the match and only his 4th in first team cricket! We were thankful, however, as we posted exactly the same total as our first innings after a very resilient (read: incredibly boring) 26 partnership between Norwell and Dockrell. To give you some impression of just how dull that was, Dockrell scored 9 from 57 balls. Sizzling.

We thought on such a tough pitch we should be able to defend those, and after taking out their top 3 for 37 we were even more confident. Powell was the only thorn in our side, as he and Nash added 73 and then he scored further with Cowdrey alongside. After that, we ran pretty routinely through the tail to wrap up a good victory!

Championship State	Lancashire won their 12th match, putting them well in control of the division, but being 42 points behind Northants with a game in hand, we feel we have a chance of sneaking that second spot still.
Batting Award	Peter Thomas - Two half centuries, pretty much the exact margin of our victory.
Bowling Award	Liam Norwell - His 7/73 in the first innings was the big reason we bowled them out so cheaply.

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Leicestershire - Away - 2014

Leicestershire	Gloucestershire
N. O'Brien (K)	H. Rutherford
P. Carson	C. Dent (K)
N. Marston	I. Cockbain (C)
S. Thakor	R. ten Doeschate
R. Sarwan (C)	M. Yardy
N. Eckersley	T. Price
R. Newlands	P. Thomas
J. Naik	R. Norris
R. Williams	I. Saxelby
M. Hoggard	L. Norwell
A. Ireland	G. Dockrell

Past Meetings

2013 - Away - Irish Eyes Smile on O'Brien
2013 - Home - Cockbain and Herring Wrestle Gloucs to Victory
2014 - Home - Irish Eyes Get Confused And Turn Other Way To Smile On Dockrell

We make one change from our winning side last time out in a bold move, as young Norris replaces Payne, who's been thoroughly decent recently. Norris has already played a couple of 40 over matches for the AI, so he obviously has some form of talent, and will be our left armer here. The weather's looking really bad for the first 4 sessions, so it would be an interesting toss to win and not a terrible one to lose.

Leics have lost their last 4 and sit rock bottom of the pile again, despite their fine looking top and middle orders. Our T20 final destroyer Bopara is missing to England, but youngster Marston must be decent if they're trusting him with number 3 in there. Newlands is a batsman who's never really shown his true qualities, and the same goes for Carson, an opener with a distinctly average record. Then again, I would say the same about Price if I were them. We win the toss, and due to the overwhelming cloud cover on day 1, decide to have a bowl.

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After the first innings, we were very disappointed with the outcome.



We actually reduced them to 8/3, a fantastic start from the new ball bowlers, and rather carried that form on. Thakor led a mini-revival with his 77, but the wickets tumbled at the other end, with Norris getting a wicket with his first ball in Championship cricket, and Norwell took a brilliant 6/45 from 20 overs and 5 balls.

Our innings started in equally jittery fashion. All the top 6 got into double figures, but not one of them passed 30, as all the Leics bowlers had a good spell and the cloud cover was still affecting the play. In this innings though, Thomas rescued us again. A 99 in partnership with the débutante Norris, 143 being our highest 7th wicket partnership in the career to date. Peter was very unlucky to be out 1 short of a maiden century, but Norris kept hitting after he'd gone and took us past 300. We were pretty happy with that.

Our bowling after it, however, was pretty shocking. We started okay, with two quick wickets, and then a fightback from Marston and Thakor was broken as we reduced them to 165/5 and not that far in front. We threw it all away though. Eckersley, Newlands and Naik then put on 220 between them, and we were right on the ropes, looking at chasing almost 250 to win on a difficult 4th day pitch. The last 3 added even more, and we felt like the game might have gone.

By the time we were 59/4, we knew it had. Our top order hasn't ever really functioned as a unit this year, with Cockbain in particular disappointing, maybe because of his great year last time out. Dent and Price (43) saved us from a lot of embarrassment in their 86 partnership, and then Norris added 49 with the rest of the lower order and tail to make it a good début for him with the bat, despite our loss.

Championship State	After that demoralising defeat, along with a win for Northants, it's looking very likely that for a second season in a row, we will not be achieving promotion. We've pretty much got to get it next year if we are to attain our goals. I'll rush through the rest of this year.
Batting Award	Peter Thomas - Norris had weight of runs, but Thomas batted better and deserved a century in the first innings.
Bowling Award	Liam Norwell - 10 in the match for the second time for him... his first 6 were great, his last 4 not quite so useful.
Team News	With Lynn still out, we don't change a thing for the visit of Sussex. Such a strong batting side for them. Day 4 looks like it could be a washout! We win the toss and bat.

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A resounding win against my home team.



We were really struggling at 68/4, as every innings seems to be going for us at the moment, but a combination of Yardy (42), Price, Thomas and Norris (32) pulled it round for us as we gained 2 batting bonus points on a seaming pitch. It was Thomas' 5th half century in 7 championship innings, and he's in fine batting form at the moment.

The opening bowlers got a wicket each to leave Sussex 13/2, and after Joyce and Prior had built a platform, Norris decided to rip through it. We took 5 wickets for only 19 runs conceded to leave them 60/7, with 4 going to the young left armer and the other being a stupid run out off his bowling! Khan hit a brilliant 63 at number 10, but Norris got the wicket of Jordan and Saxelby and Norwell finished the job off.

Rutherford was the only one to really get going in our second innings, but boy did he do that. The bulk of the innings was in 3 partnerships, firstly the 62 put on with Dent (32), followed by collapse and then 99 put on with Yardy, followed by collapse and then 62 put on with Norris (32). We were pretty happy all told, as 350 looked like a massive chase, especially on this pitch. Also gave us a fair bit of time to bowl, even including the possible rain.

Their top 4 got out for exactly 1 run each to the opening bowlers, and even allowing for a revival by Wright and RHB, Norwell ended up with a massive 8 wicket haul! His second 10 wicket match in 2 matches, and figures of 27.4 overs, 10/59 ain't too shabby, really!

Championship State	Well we're 41 points off second placed Lancs. We play them next though, so we could have an outside chance of promotion still if we can totally thump them.
Batting Award	Hamish Rutherford - The only time in his 10 innings he's looked good. He did look very good, though.
Bowling Award	Norwell/Norris - Norris broke the back of them in that first innings, and Norwell cleaned up the second.
Team News	We see no need to change anything. Thomas is definitely in as more of a batsman than a bowler now, though. Lancs appear to have picked 2 bowlers, 2 all rounders, and billions of part timers. This could be weird.

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Well that's the first bit sorted...



Dent was out early for 2, but we got a partnership going in the top order when Cockbain and Rutherford came together. 136 was the final level of the partnership, putting us in a very strong position in the match at 144/2. We lost the next 3 wickets for only 24 more runs, however, and were back to our usual selves in fine style when Price (34) and Thomas (29) were the ones who had to rescue us once again.

Once more, our seamers were right on the warpath with the new ball. We reduced them to 67/5 thanks to Norwell and Saxelby, before they rebuilt, and then another small collapse was triggered by Thomas and Norris, who was superb. Kabir Ali made a dent in our lead with his 26*, but Norwell sent Kerrigan packing and we didn't need to worry!

Again Dent went early, but Rutherford and Cockbain played pretty well, and when both Hamish and Tendo were out, Yardy showed his class in partnership with Ian and then Tom Price (65) to take us into a very commanding position in the game, from whence we declared.

Roderick, Fessey and Croft were the only men to score more than 20 in their second innings, but all 3 got 50s as we were made to work for our win. Dockrell was the one to take the fore, on a pitch that was turning just enough for him, and his 6 wrapped up the game rather.

Championship State	Well we're now 23 points behind them, with 2 matches to go. If we can win both and they can only draw or lose both, then who knows!
Batting Award	Ian Cockbain - Runs from our captain! He's not been in good form, but both his 71s were crucial here.
Bowling Award	George Dockrell - Finished the job as safely as possible for us on that fourth day.
Team News	Lynn's back from his injury! We actually ask Lynn to see the physio though, and ask Price to continue his so far so good work at number 6. At home against Northants, we win the toss and bat.

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A really good win! Shame Lancs won too, really.



Dent and Cockbain fell easily for us first up, but Rutherford and ten Doeschate put on 90 to put us into a decent position, before those two and Price all fell together and we were 137/5. Thankfully, Yardy hit a patient 41 in his resurgence late in the season, and young Peter Thomas was back in the batting action, with 62 runs from 85 balls as he's hit a good run. Saxelby played a good supporting hand with 29, and 281 was a decent first innings total with some bad weather coming.

We started well again in their innings, but they kept plugging away, and in the middle order put together a number of good partnerships that threatened to rather bat us out of the game. In the end though, Norwell came up trumps with a 6 wicket haul, and we were only 51 runs in arrears.

This time, our opening partnership held up well in a 73 partnership, before Cockbain stuck around for a bit while Dent did some more hitting. Ten Doeschate fell very quickly, and then Dent did himself, before Yardy and Price hit a mini-revival but only made it to 159 before they both fell. Thankfully, Thomas was once more our saviour. None of the tail supported him for that long, apart from Dockrell who managed 36 minutes, mainly at the non-striker's end. Thomas ended with 57 from 80 balls, and had taken us to a lead of just over 200.

After their openers put on 66 together, we weren't confident of victory. After we took all 10 wickets for just under 100 though, we'd won anyway! Dockrell was again key in the second innings, his 6 overs spent taking 4 wickets for 13. Thomas also bowled well to remove 2 of the top 3.

Championship State	Despite our impressive win against the leaders, Lancs also won and we're 21 points behind them with a match to play. We've been good this year, but nowhere near consistent enough. We're 18 points clear of Hampshire in 4th, who we play in our final match.
Batting Award	Peter Thomas - 2 more half centuries for the 20 year old. Looking really promising now!
Bowling Award	Liam Norwell - Another 9 wickets for him, the country's second highest wicket taker in the Championship this year. Azharullah is top.
Team News	We drop Rutherford for Lynn to get a better thought about next year, with Price opening again. Thomas moves up the order to 5 to see what he can do, as well. Cockbain, Saxelby, Norwell and Dockrell have all been everpresent this term.

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A curious end to a rather curious season.



After both our openers were removed fairly cheaply, we had a great stand between Tendo and Cockbain, 198 runs, that really was the main bulk of our innings. They both pulled up centuries, a third of the campaign for each, although I don't think either will say their time has been the happiest this year. Thomas got 20, and Yardy's 42 and Lynn's 49 were pretty much the rest of the innings as the tail folded.

I don't know what I can say about our bowling in the second innings apart from wow! We reduced them to 7/4 early on, and then 33/7 not too much later! After that, we were rather disappointed that Chris Wood got going and we could not finish the tail off as quickly. Norwell got some more mind-boggling figures to add to his collection from this year!

Their second innings, following on, went rather differently. By the time they were 375/1, we'd given up most hopes of possible victory, and decided to settle for a draw as they continued going like a train through their two centurions, even though afterwards Norris gave us a couple of reasons to be cheerful about next year.

Dent and Cockbain were the two men out as we batted out the fourth day resolutely, with Price making sure he'll be offered a new contract in the process as his 71 was solid.

Championship State	We finished third. I'll stick the full table in the season review.
Batting Award	Ian Cockbain - A few more first innings runs than Ryan, and the captain hasn't been in great nick this year.
Bowling Award	Liam Norwell - Despite the poor second innings, his first innings figures were amazing.

Next - A season review, in which I find yet another new way to rate my players' seasons.

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2014 Season Review

Pos	Team	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points	Predicted
1	Northamptonshire	9	3	4	244	7th
2	Lancashire	10	1	5	242	6th
3	Gloucestershire	8	2	6	226	2nd
4	Hampshire	7	4	5	203	5th
5	Sussex	6	3	7	180	1st
6	Leicestershire	5	4	7	173	4th
7	Surrey	5	2	9	169	3rd
8	Glamorgan	4	6	6	151	8th
9	Kent	3	5	8	139	9th

So apparently my predictions were not as successful as they have been previously! Note that I sacrificed my promotion by losing twice to Glamorgan to get the bottom two correct. Our real problem this season was in that little patch in the middle, where we lost ground that we just couldn't recover at the end of the year.

Squad Ratings

Yep, this season I'm going to rate all my squad, out of 10. 6.5 is a totally average season, so 7 is positive and average and 6 is negative and average.

Batsmen

Hamish Rutherford - 5.5 - For an overseas pro, he didn't do much, averaging under 36 in his 7 matches. Didn't live up to the billing we afforded him.
Chris Rogers - 5 - Very similar to Rutherford, except he only averaged just under 30 in his 7. Won't be returning, age has finally got to him.
Ian Cockbain - 6 - He'll be staying as our number 3 and captain for the start of next year, and he eventually crept over 1000 runs for the season, but he was nowhere near the heights of last year.
Tom Price - 7 - Whilst in his 9 matches he didn't get the big scores to back this rating up, he got 4 half centuries and played a number of nugget-y innings from number 6 that deserved praise. We had numerous batting collapses, and Price dealt with nearly all of them.
Alex Gidman - 3 - He's 33 now, and his career average is slightly lower than that, so we can't expect much from him, but playing 5 matches without a half century is pretty poor. I doubt he'll get back into the team.
Hamish Marshall - 5 - He averaged a tad over 30 in the 9 matches I gave him without a century, and at 35 I feel there are probably younger, better options available now.
Ryan ten Doeschate - 7 - Averaged just over 45 for us, although his mammoth 198 was the biggest reason for that. Scored two other centuries as well, and the only bad thing about him is missing him for the first 6 games due to the IPL.
Mike Yardy - 6.5 - After a really poor season with Sussex, Yardy hit his straps for us early season, but did not score another century after his 175 and injury, and only regained a bit of form at the end of the season.
Kieran Lynn - 7 - I didn't know what to expect from the youngster, but I didn't expect him to play 10 championship matches! He looked good as an attacking batsman down the order, though the rise of Thomas looks likely to put paid to his chances other than as a reserve.
James Vince and Gareth Hopper - Unrated - Neither played a match for us, but played a lot of second team cricket. Vince showed he probably hasn't got the temprament for 4 day matches, despite being a big part of our T20 sucess, whereas Hopper looked okay, but not promising enough to force himself into the team.

Keepers

Chris Dent - 6 - The opener played 15 of our 16 matches, and was good with the gloves and... okay with the bat. 2 centuries, he'll be retained but who knows if we'll find someone better.
Cameron Herring - Unrated - Still only 20, he played one championship match where he did okay, and lots of second team matches where he did quite well.

All Rounders

Peter Thomas - 7.5 - Could be a real breakthrough for him. Didn't take as many wickets as he'd have liked but hit so well at number 7 that he almost went on the Batsmen list. Superb run of form at the end of the year.

Seamers

Rob Norris - 7 - Started his Gloucs career well, with 19 wickets in 5 matches and 228 runs in support, mainly with Thomas!
David Payne - 5.5 - Our other left armer wasn't as impressive, taking 19 wickets in 7 matches, but is still a handy performer.
Ian Saxelby - 7.5 - Our least likely everpresent, took 65 wickets at just over 30 and was an incredibly impressive new ball partner for the next man.
Liam Norwell - 9.5 - Our stand out player of the season without a doubt. Exactly 100 wickets in his 16 matches, averaged under 20, caused a lot of collapses! He's only 22.
Mark Footitt and Charlie Morris - Unrated - Mainly signed as backups, Footitt played one match and got dispatached, and Morris' record in the seconds was poor.

Spinners

Ed Young - 3 - Took 3 wickets in his 3 matches played for us, and whilst he's useful as a backup spinner, he's not the top class performer we want!
George Dockrell - 7.5 - A good solid first season for the Irishman, with 65 wickets in the bag and his place secured. He, also, is only 22.

Next up, the dreaded business of contracts... that'll probably be up tonight because I'm excited about it!

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Contracts 2014

So to start with, we face that difficult challenge of deciding who gets extensions to their current contracts. The full list of players out of contract is Cockbain, Marshall, Price, Herring, Yardy, Norwell, Footitt and Morris, along with the overseas pros and the youth players. The no-brainers from my point of view are Cockbain, Norwell and Norris, who all get 3 year contracts for the amounts they ask for. Mike Yardy gets a one year extension, and Price and Herring are offered two year deals for slightly less than they want. Hopper, Marshall, Footitt, Morris and the overseas players are not offered any sort of new contracts.

The people offered the amount they wanted all signed, and Price must have realised he was being cheeky as he signed immediately too! Herring rejected the offer and is offered 500 quid more, while we scour the first pool for talent, with 225k in the bank after Herring. My eye instantly falls on Shiv Thakor, the 20 year old batsman having been released by Leicestershire, and we offer him the small sum of 63k to join us. Other signings will have to be considered during the second round, when more players become available.

Things then became tricky. Herring accepted our offer, so that completes our need for keepers, but Thakor rejected our offer and any chance of signing him looked miles away seeing that 9 other counties were in for him, and some offering way over the salary he requested. As such, we admitted defeat on that front, and turned our eye toward other batsmen who could be useful to our cause.

The first of these was Joe Irwin. He's 22, and having averaged 61 in 2nd XI cricket, has been going at 42.8 through 20 first class matches as well. He requested only 42k, although with Surrey also in to re-sign him, we upped our offer a little, and offered 3 years. In my other bid, to sign all Sussex players, we offered their vice-captain (and my favourite player. Who said I was professional? ) Chris Nash a 1 year deal on 40k. I managed to ignore the lure of Hamilton-Brown and Jordan though, so there's a bonus for you.

Apart from a young left arm spinner, an area I didn't feel we needed to improve much, there was only one other name on the list that caught my eye, that of Surrey keeper-batsman Steven Davies. I put in a speculative and cheap offer for him, but harbour no real intentions of making a serious offer with Dent and Herring in the squad!

As expected, Irwin and Nash both signed the deals we offered, strengthening our batting unit, at least on paper. With 148k left and no real clue what to do with it, I worked out what my first XI looked like for next season, and took it from there. To me it looked like Nash, Dent, Cockbain, Tendo, Irwin, Yards/Lynn/Price, Thomas, Norris/Payne, Saxelby, Norwell, Dockrell. I thought in that XI that the third seamer was the weakest position, and one I'd look for an overseas player to fill. I also took into consideration whether the players had played IPL this year. Throwing all that and his batting into the mix, we earmarked Chris Morris, the South African, as our priority, and paid 57k for the privilege. We allocated all our budgets to full, but still had 31k left over to spend. Never one to waste money, we offered 22 year old keeper Will Porter the 29k contract of his dreams to play for our seconds for a year.

Morris was indecisive as Hampshire also came knocking for him, but the 2k I had left over got used up as we offered him a little more. As a reserve, we went for West Indies left armer Sheldon Cotterrell, who rounded off our squad of 21 players. In summary then...

In	Out
J. Irwin	H. Rutherford (Overseas)
C. Nash	C. Rogers (Reserve)
W. Porter	C. Morris
C. Morris (Overseas)	M. Footitt
S. Cotterrell (Reserve)	H. Marshall
	G. Hopper

It's fair to say that was a much more settled contracts period than last time out, and that shows how much more settled our team is. Interesting quirk that we managed to both sign and release bowlers called C. Morris!

A small hiccup in our process is that Cotterrell has been selected for the West Indies early season internationals, and Chris Morris has been selected for the IPL for once... Ten Doeschate has not though, and that has to help our chances. Tomorrow the season starts in earnest!

[Dick Van Dykes Disco Dog]

Great contracts update mate - very good read as always.