Hampshire (A)

[ytsejam1]

I got hammered on here for my take on Elgar, who has ultimately proved me right. 61 runs from five innings since the tournament's resumption, a top score of 33 at a run-a-ball. He has no business in this format. The Nick Browne comparison with Rossington is spot on. Walter and Critchley were effectively invisible. That's four of our top six right there. Pepper has papered over some huge cracks and only his brilliance has seen us get even close to a top four finish. I don't blame Cox's injury at all because his replacement, Allison has scored over 100 runs in three innings. It's the untouchables within the line-up who've blown it for us.

As for the bowling, we're paying an overseas player to bowl one over a game and bat at nine, when based on tonight he should be batting at 11! No wonder it's seemingly caused unrest behind the scenes. Cook has leaked crucial runs at the back end of innings, arguably making us worse since coming back and as for Harmer, we all know his limitations in this format. Only Snater appears to have kicked on.

Not forgetting the fielding, which has been sub-par since coming back from the Championship break and the running between the wickets. We have a batting line-up full of crabs bar the youngsters and the amount of 2s we miss out on is infuriating. Oh for the days of Ravi, Tendo and Foz. Well played to Ravi by the way on his home quarter-final, if only we still had him around!

That's the debrief done with, a real failure to not make the top four and only a few can come out of it with heads held high. It's important not to place too much expectation on a young lad, but Benkenstein really does have the skills to potentially become an elite cricketer. I'd put him on the same level as Rehan Ahmed at this point and I suspect he'll be the first player we lose when injuries strike the crisp cup.

It's very hard to argue with just about anything in that post!!! A pretty accurate summary of a disappointing T20 campaign.

[bwildered]

 Just not good enough overall, particularly the seniors in the middle order. Like a boat losing its way when losing its Cox.
 Well a repeat of most seasons, scrambling to get to the quals yet again.
Wonder what will be said when the first team coach gets called into DoC office to explain non qualification to the  quarterfinals.

More importantly, were the alcohol sales increased at The Fortress on the big nights out.