Sonny Baker and Alfie Ogborne used to live together in a flat on the ground at Taunton. Very cool to watch them steaming in over the last few days. According to the iHawk data, both clocked at over 89mph.
Piece with them. Extremely fun bowlers.
I think he's improving in both facets - looked nice with the bat today for 30. He's been used with the ball predominantly at home, which might be instructive, but not to say that'll always remain the case
Really enjoyable day at the Utilita: 10 players under the age of 25 making this an extremely watchable, high-quality game.
Decent blow for Derbyshire, who are losing Mohammad Abbas for three Champo games in May after his Pakistan recall:
Regrettably, the replacement trial is becoming an ever-growing farce.
After right-armer Ajeet Singh Dale went down for Lancashire, Tom Bailey was rejected as not like-for-like enough.
Instead, left-armer Ollie Sutton is driving across from a 2s game.
🤷♂️
Majority of England Women's players back in county action this weekend - and beyond. No more training camps between now and the NZ series in May; availability broadly dependent on individual workloads.
No England players available for tomorrow's round of women's One Day Cup fixtures.
Don't quite understand how/why, after a winter of training camps and no competitive cricket, they're missing competitive cricket for... another training camp.
Good to chat with Malaga-born Seb Morgan, an 18-year-old quick with Keaton Jennings, Cam Bancroft, James Bracey and Jake Libby among ten first-class wickets.
Part of the side that reached the U19 World Cup final and highly regarded well beyond Middlesex.
The injury/illness replacement trial is well-meaning in its conception.
But its rough edges need ironing out, its loopholes need closing, a cut-off needs adding and the bye-weeks need addressing.
It's meant to be an equaliser, not an advantage.
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Fran Wilson's World Cup winner's medal sits on the same shelf as her Pointless Celebrities trophy.
Went to Bristol to speak to her, after becoming the youngest county head coach in the country. Hugely ambitious, very well regarded, and in no rush.
Beyers Swanepoel has had his Lions contract terminated. He's in England but not in Worcestershire's squad for tomorrow at Lord's. Pending CSA's disciplinary process, Worcs expect a resolution before they play again, on April 24:
Good to chat with Craig Miles, who returned to Gloucestershire at the end of last season, about the challenge facing a threadbare seam attack - he is one of four senior seamers on the staff - tasked with getting through a tough Championship campaign.
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Keith Dudgeon had never missed a game through injury. So, he was devastated to rupture his ACL a week after joining Kent. A year on, he's profoundly grateful to be back from South Africa for another stint, with a newborn son now part of the equation.
Fascinated to see how tier one plays out this summer, particularly with the combination of a T20 World Cup and England A series through June.
Big test for the depth across women's county squads, a challenge raised by multiple DoCs involved in this piece, and an opportunity for tier two:
Great to sit down with Issy Wong.
An interview about her second-coming as an England player, the road back from rock-bottom - a disastrous T20I at Chelmsford - and how getting to this point again taught her to appreciate it more.
Gloucestershire challenging the over-rate penalty handed to them after defeat by Middlesex. Currently has them on -1 points at the bottom of Division Two:
Significant change deep in this year's Champo regs.
Any team whose pitch is rated "below average" will be docked all points from the game, regardless of result or bonuses - ie. you'd get 0 for a win.
Likely, you'd think, to impact spinners in particular.
Much to be excited about in Seb Morgan & Naavya Sharma, two young Middlesex quicks to have played for England Under-19s in the last 18 months.
Twice their age, Toby Roland-Jones has 259 wickets at 23.4 since turning 31, with 10 5fers in his last 25 games.
Good to catch up with Tom Smith, England Women's new spin coach. Comes highly recommended by literally everyone and reckons his white-ball predominance as a left-arm spinner can only help:
Leus du Plooy averages almost 80 as a county captain and almost always looks the best batter on show. Finishes the first day unbeaten on 98, having ended last season with an unbeaten 263 against the same opponent.
"My hunger is higher than it's ever been."
Interview with Dom Sibley, last season's leading run-scorer in Division One, five years on from his last England cap. A far better player, a far readier person. Still only 30...
A few county coaches considering enlarged squads for Champo games, given the replacement trial and like-for-like emphasis.
Gist being: if a batter breaks a finger, no point replacing him with someone 200 miles away if you might be all out before they arrive. Particularly pertinent for away games:
Many issues at Middlesex that need resolving, but not convinced the accusations levelled at the players in this week's open letter - "soft touch" and "lacking fight" - are fair. Nor is the idea of a youngster shortage.
Not always an easy club to play for:
"I had sleepless nights for weeks."
Went to Durham, ran my eye down their squad photo, wondered how they ended up relegated and found a group of people refreshingly willing to reflect on what went wrong and what's been done to correct an aberration.
Middlesex still in the market for an overseas seamer after Sam Elliott's injury. They're hoping to sign Eathan Bosch, the South African bowler, for the majority of the season, across all formats.
It's been five years since James Bracey's England caps, the aftermath of which affected him for a while.
But in the last two seasons, only seven players have scored more Champo runs.
He'd love another go, knows it's unlikely, cherishes county cricket and has found total contentment:
