After consultation with the counties, the ECB have announced a new structure for county cricket from 2020 onwards. Most of the changes were rumoured, but there are a couple of curveballs in there as well. I’m not convinced these alterations will benefit English cricket. When the County Championship was two Divisions of 9, every team played every other team an even number of … [Read more...] about Dan Kingdom: County Cricket’s latest structure – good for the game?
T20 – my thoughts so far by Dan Kingdom
Sneaking through to the quarter-finals of last season’s Blast represented an improvement for Somerset after several years of declining t20 performances. The team was flawed, especially in the areas of seam bowling and overseas players, but things started to click after 2016’s bottom-placed finish. This season, Somerset have made a good start, winning three of their first … [Read more...] about T20 – my thoughts so far by Dan Kingdom
Azhar Ali to join the Somerset cause
Somerset’s overseas replacement for Matt Renshaw is experienced Pakistan opener Azhar Ali, one of the world’s top batsmen. He has a compact technique, built around getting behind the line of each delivery. He averages 45 in test cricket and certainly knows how to knuckle down and play a long innings, with 14 test centuries and a strike rate of 42. First class cricket is his … [Read more...] about Azhar Ali to join the Somerset cause
Q&A feedback
Somerset’s Q&A sessions are always a valuable source of information from the club; the latest one contained a few useful titbits. Andy Hurry began with a review of the season so far – he was obviously very pleased with how Somerset won their opening two County Championship matches, and showed resilience to draw with Lancashire. There was of course disappointment that the … [Read more...] about Q&A feedback
Should Somerset terminate Bancroft’s contract?
Well we didn’t need that, did we? Just a couple weeks on from Lee Cooper’s announcement that he’s stepping down, Somerset’s new overseas signing has been accused of ball tampering. Cue the outrage and the calls for him to be sacked, banned, thrown in the gulag etc. It’s pretty clear that Bancroft has done a bad thing – he broke the laws of cricket. Not only that, but … [Read more...] about Should Somerset terminate Bancroft’s contract?
