Plenty to cover since a long weekend in Leeds removed me from the peace and tranquility of London. Caddick’s injury doesn’t sound too serious from the official site but the trouble with backs is that they flare continually. Hopefully it will settle down enough for AC to play his full part in this season but it’s a real worry. Naturally, this places the spotlight on other seamers such as Steffan Jones and Ben Phillips who were amongst the wickets in the FPL win over Hants.
Nice to kick off with a win and Ian Blackwell won the plaudits for his 86* and John Francis weighing in with 48 not out. Both batsmen are in decent nick and it was interesting to see Kieswetter shunted up to open – with a circumspect 49 a fair start. Not sure I’d be too happy though if I had gone expecting KP to be in the Hampshire ranks. Sure he was eligible according to the ECB but guess he was too busy railing against his exclusion from the IPL.
Which leads me to neatly onto moneygrabbing. OK, a little harsh but it sits uncomfortably with me when players who represent their country, and are paid handsomely for doing so, whine about missing out. Yes, obviously if I had the chance to cash in so ludicrously for a few months work, I’d be looking to get a slice of the action - but over recent weeks, it seems cricket has fallen out of the spotlight in favour of how much money cricketers can earn. Whether welcoming a $10m-mini series against a West Indies side or moaning about not playing in the IPL, a few of the England side should realise that there are plenty in county cricket who are banging on the international door and the incumbents are not as safe as they think they are.
…and finally…the ECB has revealed the England Performance squad for 2008 and unless my eyes deceive me, no Somerset players are in the group which means they have everything to prove and Hildreth, Trego etc are still sadly some way off:
England Performance Squad: Ambrose (Warwicks), Anderson (Lancs), Bell (Warwicks), Bopara (Essex), Broad (Notts), Carberry (Hants), Collingwood (Durham), Cook (Essex), Flintoff (Lancs), Harmison (Durham), Hoggard (Yorks), Key (Kent), Mascarenhas (Hants), Mustard (Durham), Panesar (Northants), Pietersen (Hants), Prior (Sussex), Rashid (Yorks), Shah (Middx), Strauss (Middx), Sidebottom (Notts), Swann (Notts), Tredwell (Kent), Tremlett (Hants), Vaughan (Yorks), Wright (Sussex).
Good to see you back.
Sadly, Andy Caddick has got to leave eventually, and his back injury might even aid the transition to the youg’uns. But I’m sure we’ll get our money’s worth out of him this season anyway.
Too true…it’s a shame as he’s so important but there needs to be preparation for life post-Caddick! Ben Phillips is hopefully going to have a good season but as you say, it’s the younger seamers who need to impress.