Kent (A) - 12-15 May

Badges wrote:

Cee Gee wrote:According to the cricinfo match report Sam Curran bowled spin today - was anybody there to witness this???

I saw it on TV/Livestream.It was towards the end of the day's play.

Had the ECB given him permission to bowl spin?

Well Jack's performance today was probably equal to if not better than either Virdi or Moriaty, but it was the pace and aggressive bowling of Overton that shook them up. If they prepared a flat track to keep us at bay it worked against them. Probably just a little more help in the wicket today as well. I said yesterday I hoped for a better day, and somewhat surprisingly it was. Bowlers were tired after tea, hence some unexpected Curran spin and some accurate bowling by CdG. Maybe it'll be Curran and Jacks taking on the spinners roll! Should be an interesting last day now.

offdrive4 wrote:I am astonished at the improvement in the team, we have not seen cricket like this since 2018!  

It is still early in the season and Kent are a poor team, but we pounded their bowling and then got them out leaving us four sessions to secure a win.   My opinion of Batty could scarcely go any higher, the attitude of the team has been transformed.   Looks like Surrey knew what they were doing when they batted very long,  I certainly felt a declaration at 500 would have been timely.

Nice to see Jacks pick up wickets, I have always felt he was a decent spinner - Joe Root level.
I would still like to see our mainstream spinners involved very soon.

Hi offdrive - very much with you concerning the team's improvement. One additional aspect to emphasise is the high quality and consistency of our catching. We've come to take it for granted from Foakes but others have also excelled this season, especially in the slips and also on the boundary. Takes from Pope, Overton, Jacks and Curran immediately come to mind.

Chinaman,can’t see how Jacks performance was better than Virdi or Moriarty, they weren’t playing!!!! Jacks bowled well on a dry wicket with attacking fields and plenty of runs in the bank. I’m sure Virdi or Moriarty would have been more successful.

I just hope we aren't thwarted by the weather. There seems to be a bit of rain about this morning with further scattered showers likely. I never expected to get such a big first innings lead. Kent's dropped catches on day 2 may end up saving them.

Pink Panther wrote:I just hope we aren't thwarted by the weather. There seems to be a bit of rain about this morning with further scattered showers likely. I never expected to get such a big first innings lead. Kent's dropped catches on day 2 may end up saving them.

The overcast conditions with overnight showers freshening the pitch can only work in our favour today.

Off for rain. I now have a bad feeling about this.

I was surprised when Ben Compton was given "not out" albeit after a long delay,when his helmet fell off and crashed in to the stumps.

I asked an ex umpire and Fabian Cowdrey at Sutton yesterday for their verdicts and both said "out."

Badges wrote:I was surprised when Ben Compton was given "not out" albeit after a  long delay,when his helmet fell off and crashed in to the stumps.

I asked an ex umpire and Fabian Cowdrey at Sutton yesterday for their verdicts and both said "out."

This was mentioned in the cricinfo article, it’s something to do with an ECB regulation from before 2021 encouraging batters to wear helmets. I’m gathering the end result is you can’t be given out hit wicket if it falls off - in the UK anyway.

Let’s hope the pitch has sweated under the covers . Might help the seamers hopefully!

Feels like it's going to be called off at this point

Cee Gee wrote:

Badges wrote:I was surprised when Ben Compton was given "not out" albeit after a  long delay,when his helmet fell off and crashed in to the stumps.

I asked an ex umpire and Fabian Cowdrey at Sutton yesterday for their verdicts and both said "out."

This was mentioned in the cricinfo article, it’s something to do with an ECB regulation from before 2021 encouraging batters to wear helmets. I’m gathering the end result is you can’t be given out hit wicket if it falls off - in the UK anyway.

Yes correct. It's classed as protective equipment and you can't have "bowled helmet". It also covers a gum guard popping out onto the stumps, but not false teeth as they are not classed as PPI.

Just got home from Beckenham. Doubt they'll be any more play. Mind you the weather forecasts are useless, it's raining and they reckon it's sunny. Mind you in the 8 overs played we didn't much look like getting the nightwatchman out, let alone taking 9 wickets.

What a bizarre match. Yesterday, under warm sunny skies, our bowlers went through Kent like a dose of salts. In the relatively short amount of time available for play today, in damp conditions and under glowering skies, Jamie Overton and Jordan Clark looked fairly innocuous. Will Jacks could hardly be expected to thrive in such conditions.

We have a week off next week, and we need to do a collective rain dance so that our challengers do not take much advantage. As we have the chance to reflect on our start to the season, we have to give the team credit for a huge improvement in attitude and performance. It's been refreshing and enjoyable to see so many players playing to their potential or in some cases raising their game. Being harsh, perhaps, only one win from Gloucestershire, Northants and Kent can viewed as a missed opportunity, even though the pitch and weather played some part in us not beating either of the other two. We have to be ruthless against the weaker sides. On a more positive note, Yorkshire seem to be holding out in the Roses match.

The last thing we really need right now is a prolonged break from championship cricket. We are on a roll, and have an embarrassment of riches at our disposal. I just hope that by the time we come to select the side for Taunton next month we are not having to fill gaps created by England selection or injury,

Miss me out of the rain dance please.I'd rather the thousands of people (including me) who have booked tickets,transport,hotels etc got to see some Cricket.

Badges wrote:Miss me out of the rain dance please.I'd rather the thousands of people (including me) who have booked tickets,transport,hotels etc got to see some Cricket.

I'd rather lose in a full game than scrape a draw because of the weather.

As a contribution to the "should they enforce the follow on" argument, Notts stung themselves at Lord's by not doing so and to add insult to injury were deducted FIVE points for slow over rate because the rain archered them. Clearly the better side but they end up with one fewer point.

I was going to defend this wicket, but Rob Key puts it better than I can (timestamp 31:02) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDhFZhj_ccU&t=1862s

Jackers wrote:What a bizarre match. Yesterday, under warm sunny skies, our bowlers went through Kent like a dose of salts. In the relatively short amount of time available for play today, in damp conditions and under glowering skies, Jamie Overton and Jordan Clark looked fairly innocuous. Will Jacks could hardly be expected to thrive in such conditions.

We have a week off next week, and we need to do a collective rain dance so that our challengers do not take much advantage. As we have the chance to reflect on our start to the season, we have to give the team credit for a huge improvement in attitude and performance. It's been refreshing and enjoyable to see so many players playing to their potential or in some cases raising their game. Being harsh, perhaps, only one win from Gloucestershire, Northants and Kent can viewed as a missed opportunity, even though the pitch and weather played some part in us not beating either of the other two. We have to be ruthless against the weaker sides. On a more positive note, Yorkshire seem to be holding out in the Roses match.

The last thing we really need right now is a prolonged break from championship cricket. We are on a roll, and have an embarrassment of riches at our disposal. I just hope that by the time we come to select the side for Taunton next month we are not having to fill gaps created by England selection or injury,

With apologies to anyone who might be offended by such partisanship, it looks like my rain dance has worked. Yorkshire and Hampshire are likely to be in contention, and both made strong starts yesterday. Lancashire and Essex are also key rivals, and the first day was even but rattled along in terms of progress. A drop of rain all round will help level the playing field after what happened to us at Beckenham last Sunday. Sorry not sorry!