Sellsy's Monday Supplement

Predictions for the upcoming Ashes series please?  

The first Ashes Test starts in under four weeks time so we have plenty of time to make predictions: series score, leading batsmen, bowlers, England’s line-up etc.  

So here are my predictions for the forthcoming Ashes series: 

1. England will retain the Ashes.

2. Australia will win at least one Test match – probably in Perth.

3. David Warner will attempt to make peace with Joe Root, but he can get stuffed as far as I’m concerned.

4. There will be no urinating on the SCG pitch after the 5^th Test.

5. Steve Finn will play in Perth and will knock over the stumps in his delivery stride.

6. Kevin Pietersen will be the leading run scorer – he is due a huge series.

7. DRS will be used poorly by both sides.

8. I will attempt to watch the first day of the first Ashes Test on my iPhone but will fall asleep by lunch time.

9. England will win the toss at Brisbane and will bat, so no more Steve Harmison / Nasser Hussain rubbish.

10. Nearly all the commentators will say that Adelaide is one of the most picturesque grounds in the world.

11. It will be raining in England while the sun beats down in Sydney, making me contemplate my plans for next winter. 

Ok, 11 to go on with, there will no doubt be more to come from various sources over the weeks leading up to the first Test. But the most important XI will be who will start for England in Brisbane. 

For me there are two places up for grabs, the number six position and the third seamer spot. The other nine places have somewhat picked themselves, just hope there is no complacency within the ranks. 

Alastair Cook will open with Root, Jonathan Trott at three followed by Pietersen and then Ian Bell. It will be either Jonny Bairstow or Gary Ballance at six, which will probably go to Bairstow, but it should be Ballance. Matt Prior at seven, followed by Stuart Broad (why?), Graeme Swann, Jimmy Anderson and then one other. 

Three players are in contention for the one other spot: Steve Finn, Chris Tremlett and Boyd Rankin. I would off thought that Finn will get the nod over the other two, but he did have a bad summer against the Aussies, so he is not really nailed on to start. 

England have three four day warm-up games before the first Test, starting on Thursday in Perth, which is about right, not too many and not too little so as to be undercooked. So no doubt the trio of seamers will be busting a gut to get the nod for Brisbane. Only, 23 more sleeps before the first Test, not that I’m counting, come on England! 

I also see that the Vatican City has launched its own cricket club and is looking to play a Church of England XI next year at Lord’s (how apt). I wonder if Adam GilCHRIST will play! –The best I could do, can you do better?  

Ok, enough of that, it’s 5.27ish, no skittles tonight, so no Thatchers at the Cottage. Will have to watch University Challenge instead!

Sellsy's Monday Supplement

The English cricket team will soon be jetting off to Australia to defend the greatest prize in sport – The Ashes. But can you cast your minds back to January 2003, in fact January 2^nd – 6^th 2003, a Test match to remember - Australia v England at Sydney, the 5^th Test.

With Britain in the grips of a big freeze, I had just come off Bondi Beach after an early morning dip, well getting rid of my New Year’s hangover, and a journey to the SCG beckoned.

England were already 4-0 down in the series and the Aussies could sense a whitewash, so a dead rubber with hell of a lot to play for, in fact a very exciting Test unfolded, with incident on and off the pitch.

Day 1 – England won the toss, decided to bat, lost two early wickets, Nasser Hussain and Mark Butcher resumed some control, with Butcher smashing a ton. England closed on 264-5. That’s enough about the cricket. My ticket for day one was for the infamous Sydney Hill area of the ground and on a hot day liquids had to be consumed. I did part-take in a few watered down lagers and so did a few hundred Aussies and English. So much so by the last session all you could see was beer snakes and a lot of jollity. This continued after the close all the way down to Sydney Harbour in the evening.

Day 2 – “Ticket for non-alcohol stand please!”  – As hangovers go, this one was quite horrendous, was dehydrated, head thumping, it was baking hot and the only seats available in the shade were in the non-alcohol stand, which was fine by me. Plenty of water and ice-cream and by mid afternoon I soon perked up. Thankfully I did as an enthralling days Test cricket developed. England battled their way to 362 all out. Andy Caddick then turned up the heat taking three Aussie wickets and there were only 50 on the board – England could smell blood.

However, the number five batsman was Steve Waugh – cometh the hour, cometh the man. Waugh dug in, and quietly started to consume runs. Two more wickets fell; the Aussies were on 150-5. In any normal Test side if five wickets are down you are usually into the tail or one wicket away from the tail, but not Australia as Adam Gilchrist walked to the wicket. These two started to compile runs, and compile them quickly. 

Waugh passed 10,000 Test runs, and as the day drew to a close a century beckoned for Waugh. The noise rose, every run for Waugh was cheered immensely. On his home ground, the Australian captain drove the final ball of the day from Richard Dawson to the cover boundary to complete his 29th Test hundred, equalling Sir Donald Bradman's record. The Aussies closed on 237-5, still behind but back in the game.

On leaving the ground that evening I had to pass the Sydney Hill, and there were a lot of drunken Aussies. All you could here was “Steve Waugh, Steve Waugh” being shouted to any Englishman who walked by, combined with the smell of BO, alcohol and urine, exiting the ground that day will be one I would never forget.

Day 3 – Saturday – Got a ticket from tout, something I wouldn’t usually do, as the demand to get in that day was very high especially from Aussie public. After purchasing my ticket, I noticed the date was for the previous days play. I grabbed the tout, asked for money back, a face value ticket for today or I would get the police involved. Funnily enough he agreed!

With all these Aussies cramming in to see Waugh push on, they were soon heartbroken as he was out in the second over of the day. Gilchrist shouldered on, he smashed the ball all round the park, he made 133 and the Aussies were all out for 363.

England’s response was quite remarkable, some backbone which was sorely missing in the first four Tests, they closed on 218-2, with Michael Vaughan unbeaten on 112. But my biggest memory of the day was this family of five sitting in the row behind. They all got ejected for being too drunk, all five of them, and did we give them a very English send off.

Day 4 – Back in the non-alcohol stand – No more touts, went to the ticket office and the only seats left were for you know where! Vaughan continued where he left off the previous day, and when he was out for 183, England were already 344 runs ahead. One thing I do remember about that innings was the six Vaughan hit into the crowd. This spectator caught the ball leaning over a safety rail, however the momentum took him over and he ended up in a heap at the bottom of these stairs – ouch! England declared on 452-9, setting the Aussies an unlikely 452 for victory, but anything could happen in this Test. The Aussies closed on 90-3.

Day 5 – Ladies Stand – Yep, in the Ladies Stand, the members enclosure, how? Well got a bit lucky. However the day belonged to Somerset’s Andy Caddick. He took five wickets on the day, including the dangerous Waugh, seven in the innings and 10 in the match, leading England to victory. Unknown to him at the time this would be his last Test for England – very harsh indeed.

After all that excitement, is now 5.27, time to get ready for skittles.

Sellsy's Monday Supplement

I would like to start by wishing Over Stowey cricketer Rhys Satchell a speedy recovery from his horrendous car accident on Saturday morning. I know all from the Cricket Club and those from Bridgwater and Albion RFC wish him well.

Rhys was due to pick up an award on Saturday evening at the Cricket Club awards evening, most catches for the 2^nd team, but alas this was picked up by Phil Rich on his behalf, who promptly dropped it! Apparently there was talk on Saturday evening for a new award with Rhys in mind, most wides bowled in a season, thus Rhys would be a permanent winner of this award.

I know I haven’t done a blog for a few weeks, holidays and moving and since there has been a lot of going-on’s in the cricketing world. Four major things come to mind:

1. Somerset finished sixth in Division One of the County Championship, avoiding relegation, and thus sending down Derbyshire and Surrey.

2. Jos Buttler has buggered off to Lancashire – you can understand why.

3. Sachin Tendulkar has retired from all cricket.

4. Over Stowey held their Presentation Evening.

A lot has been said about the first two and there is a lot of divided opinion about Jos leaving Somerset.

As for Tendulkar, he was one of the greatest batsmen to play the game, smashing all sorts of records throughout his illustrious career. Apparently there are 1 billion number one Sachin Tendulkar fans in India; I wonder what they are going to do now! I have only seen the “Little Master” bat live once. It was at Taunton during the World Cup against Sri Lanka, he was out for single figures – I just can’t understand what all the fuss is about!

The Over Stowey presentation evening went with aplomb on Saturday evening, good food, good company, good cider, awards going to the right people and nearly everyone was thanked for their hard work throughout the year.

For me there were two awards which not only went to the right persons, but the two recipients’ thoroughly deserved to be recognised.

Firstly, Mark Sortwell, who won the 1^st Team Player of the Year award. He had a great season, all ways ever present, never lets the side down, scored runs and took catches. It is also a tribute for the hard work he has put in to his cricket over the years and to the work he has contributed towards the cricket club throughout; a much deserved award.

Secondly, Carl Woodley, who won the Players Player award. This award is special because it is voted for by his fellow players on the night – albeit Dave Rowsell who wrote out the slip and forgot to put it in the voting box. Carl has probably the most difficult job in the whole club: 2^nd XI captain. The position has a bit of a double whammy when it comes to team selection, not only does he lose players due to them dropping out at the last minute, he will also get a call from the 1^st XI captain saying he wants a player or two on a Saturday morning, leaving Carl to phone round to see if he can get eleven players. I know how he feels, having been 2^nd team captain for a few seasons, but mobile phones weren’t invented then.

Carl would select his side for Saturday the previous weekend, with a list of players he could call upon if players drop out. When it comes to match day he would have nine different names in his starting XI. Thankfully he hasn’t had to go to number 42 on his list, yours truly!

Anyway, 7.27pm, time for skittles and a pint of Thatchers or two!

Sellsy's Monday Supplement

Surrey are relegated, national holiday follows, well celebrating in the streets of Somerset instead. Goodbye Gareth Batty, you’ll not be missed – unless there is another twist to the tale.

With time being lost during the Surrey match against Warwickshire and with relegation looming, “Money bags” Surrey managed to persuade Warwickshire to do some declarations, thus set up a run chase. Surrey knew the only way to have a chance of staying up was to win the match, and those declarations set up a run chase in which Surrey had to bowl out Warwickshire was the only way to do it. But it failed, as Warwickshire knocked off the runs.

It did leave me a bit bitter on Thursday to see what was happening, did the Warwickshire captain, Varun Chopra, understand the implications on other counties when he agreed to this? But it seems to me that he backed his batsmen to score the runs required and they did. Now, no favours for Derbyshire this week, please.

Yes, it’s the final round of matches this week, and with Durham winning the County Championship last week – well done to them – focus is now on who goes down. Derbyshire are in the relegation spot, 15 points adrift off Nottinghamshire and 16 off Somerset. So basically Derbyshire have to win, if they win then bonus points come in to play between all three counties. There are so many different scenarios, ifs and buts etc; there is even a scenario where all three teams could finish on the same points. I am sure we will have a better idea after the first innings have been completed, knowing who has scored what points, but who knows? Come on Somerset.

Ashes squad announced today – good to see Gary Ballance and Ben Stokes in the squad; why did they pick Monty Panesar and Michael Carberry? Also no place for Graham Onions and Nick Compton, did the selectors have a look at the County Cricket averages for 2013 before selecting the squad? Somehow I think not. Onions omission is crazy, top of the averages, taking wickets for fun which helped Durham win the County Championship, and surely he is better than Chris Tremlett and Boyd Rankin, surely? And surely Compo is a better opener in the longer form off the game than Carberry. “The door is not closed on Compton” - Yeah and I’m a Dutch virgin – to quote legsidelizzy on Twitter!

The Performance squad looks exciting, especially as they have picked some players worthy of the main squad itself, players like Moeen Ali, Chopra, Sam Robson and David Willey. Off course we must mention Jos Buttler and Jamie Overton who have also made that squad, well done guys, and Jos, just sign that new contract please.

Ok, that’s it from me for a couple of weeks – on holiday and then moving to Kilve. Don’t worry Rocket, only moving house, not moving my allegiances to another cricketing village, unless they give me a better offer!

5.27, time for a Thatchers before skittles. Have a good couple of weeks.

Sellsy's Monday Supplement

Calculators at the ready, nails ready to be bitten, hold on for a bit of a rollercoaster over the next two weeks, Somerset’s 1^st Division status in the County Championship is in a little danger.

Victory against Surrey last week has helped immensely; especially as Derbyshire threw away their match against champions elect Durham. And with Nottinghamshire drawing against Middlesex, they have now been dragged into the relegation dogfight.

 

So let’s look at the relegation contenders and their run ins:

Surrey – Two games left, maximum points available 48, to play Warwickshire away and Yorkshire at home, likelihood of relegation: pretty much nailed on unless they do something which they have only done once all season – win and win convincingly. In other words goodbye and good riddance.

Derbyshire – One game left, maximum points available 24, to play Warwickshire at home, likelihood of relegation: out of their hands somewhat, a win with maximum bonus points will make things very interesting indeed.

Nottinghamshire – Two games left, maximum points available 48, to play Durham away and the mighty Somerset at home, likelihood of relegation: very unlikely I would say as they should pick up enough bonus points in their remaining games to be safe.

Somerset – One game left, maximum points available 24, to play Nottinghamshire away, likelihood of relegation: in the balance. If Surrey fail to win this week the mighty Set just need to pick up one more bonus point than Derbyshire to be sure. If Surrey do manage a win, then the calculators will be out again.

The other factor will be the weather and the forecast is a bit indifferent indeed this week. Looks like rain in Birmingham on Tuesday and Thursday (bad luck Surrey) and good weather in Durham.

The bookies, who know a thing or two, have made both Surrey and Derbyshire certainties for the drop, both 1-100 favourites, and both Somerset and Nottinghamshire 1-33, with all nearly all the good money going on the former.

Anyway, enough of that, I have a headache just thinking about it (or was that from Bomber’s stag party on Saturday), 5.27, Thatchers and skittles in The Cottage.

Sellsy's Monday Supplement

Is this the most important week in Somerset’s season thus far? After the disappointment in losing against Derbyshire in the County Championship last week, Somerset have two massive games this week, starting with a YB40 semi-final against Nottinghamshire today, well in about 10 minutes, followed by a must win County Championship against Surrey.

Two victories this week may still not be enough to save their season, but will go some way in repairing in it.

I am not one to have a Spanish Inquisition in to why Somerset lost against Derby last week, unlike some others on the social media websites; in fact they nearly turned the game around on its head and forced victory. This shows some good fighting spirit, which they will need over the coming weeks, but the damage was done in the first innings.

Marcus showed some great faith in his side in winning the toss and deciding to bat. The old adage in sticking a side in during the month of September was thrown out of the window, but instead, get a big score in the first innings and let the spinners do the work, especially a quality spinner in the guise of Piyush Chawla.

Steve Waugh, who was one of the best captains in the modern era even though he is an Aussie, always backed his team – ok he did have a bunch of world class players at his disposal, but they still had to come up with the goods. I remember one Test in India, it was a misty morning, perfect for bowling, Waugh won the toss and batted, which bemused nearly every expert, critic alike. But Waugh knew two things. One, get through the first session, the sun will break through and it would be wonderful batting conditions. And secondly, the pitch will deteriorate quickly and would be perfect for spin; who did Waugh have in his side, Shane Warne. Runs vital, batting first vital, and it worked, the Aussies won.

That game against Derby, I believed Somerset had done enough in the second innings to win the game. However it took a world class player, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, to dent Somerset’s victory march and lead Derbyshire to a vital win, just.

Ok, tonight’s match and a trip to Lord’s to face Glamorgan in the final beckons. Pete Trego and Steve Kirby back from injury, Jamie Overton released by England (Jos Buttler isn’t, what’s the difference?), nearly at full strength. Nottinghamshire are favourite to win according to the bookmakers, so were Hampshire on Saturday, no pressure there then.

So a long afternoon is assured, ebbs and flows no doubt, and the final few overs of the game will be bowled while I am playing skittles, oh Skygo, how I do like you as an app.

Right, 4.00, time for you know what, come on Somerset!

Sellsy's Monday Supplement

As batting performance go, Aaron Finch’s 156 was one of the most remarkable I have seen for some time. It was just literally raining sixes, as he smashed 14 maximums in total – and quite disappointedly I didn’t see one being caught by a spectator.

For once in my cricketing life I felt myself semi-cheering on that Aussie for him to hit a double century – the games effectively lost anyway.

I suppose we had to let the Aussies win one token match this summer, a T20 match is not a bad one to lose, especially the way just took the English bowling apart – Joe Root’s over didn’t quite go to plan, only 27 came off it. And why oh why do England still pick Ravi Bopara? Poor bowling, with painful batting, he is just not good enough to play for England; there are much better players out in the Shires who can do far better than Bopara, to be fair it is not exactly difficult.

So England wrap up the Ashes Test series with a draw at the Oval and thus retaining the Urn by three Tests to nil. Some might say that the score flattered England a bit, but for me England were the better team by far in all departments. Thoughts now turn to the trip down under and who will be in the touring party. Somehow I can’t see Simon Kerrigan making the trip, perhaps time back in the Lions will suit him while he get his confidence back. England will need to take another spinner to back up Graeme Swann, but who Monty? Treadwell?

The top five batsmen we saw at the Oval will be the same for the first Test in Brisbane, but who will go in at number six? Recall for Jonny Bairstow? Keep with Chris Woakes? Or take a punt on Gary Ballance.

The three mentioned should go on the plane, but Ballance is guy who has been scoring a shed load off runs for both Yorkshire and the Lions. His opportunity surely must come this winter. It is also healthy to have competition like this, not only for the number six slot, but also to keep the top five on their toes.

With regards to the seamers, I just hope Tim Bresnan is back fit, he is the perfect foil for Jimmy Anderson and we can then drop Stuart Broad (only a personal thing). Chris Tremlett should also be on the plane along with Graham Onions.

But anyway, just my thoughts, there are still four weeks of the County Championship season left, and Somerset have some must win games coming up if they remain in Division One. They have three games left, Derbyshire this week, followed by Surrey and then Nottinghamshire in the last week of the season.

With Somerset hammering Middlesex last week, a much needed win, victory over the bottom two sides over the next two weeks surely should be enough to keep them up. However both Derby and Surrey are also fighting for their lives, so there should be interesting cricket being played over the next few weeks. Another factor is that Somerset will be without both Jamie Overton and Jos Buttler, as they have been selected to play for England in the One Day Series against Ireland and Australia. Good luck to you both, but I wish they had a Somerset shirt on instead of an England one.

In the middle of all this County Championship action Somerset has a YB40 semi-final coming up against Nottinghamshire next Monday evening. Nervous times ahead, just try being a Somerset supporter, they certainly put you through the emotions somewhat.

It is really difficult to comprehend that the 2013 season is nearly over; Over Stowey has just one game left to play and that will be that for the year. It feels like the season has only just started. We do have a few things to look forward to: presentation evening, AGM to name just two.

Oh well, it is skittles season now, and guess what we start tonight. So at 5.27, time for a warm up pint before the trip to Stogumber.