I thought that I would write a few reflections on our game at Tunbridge Wells as an overture to the next game against Sussex.
I was at Tunbridge Wells on Wednesday and Thursday. I had intended to be there Friday but there was a severe weather warning which included torrential rain for the whole of Kent. (in reality this turned out to be a short delay of 40 minutes at the start of play). I know that all cricket followers will recognise the dilemma of taking time off work to go to cricket and dealing with unreliable weather forecasts. I chose to go to work and was very sorry to miss Darren Gough’s 7 for 46. Readers may be aware that he is now the leading wicket taker with 24 wickets. Adil is second with 21.
However I did have the great pleasure of watching Joe Sayers compile a faultless 187. I think this was a titanic innings and Joes form is certainly a major boost for Yorkshire. However his careful play has twice now put is into a position where despite being in a dominating position we failed to realise a fifth bonus point. (The other occasion other was against Durham) . I had a conversation with some members about the options. Yorkshire could, (as Pinoy as Bill advocated on this Forum) have sent in Bresnan or some other hitter. Alternatively they could have told Adil to "get on with it". The word on the street at Tunbridge Wells was that Adil has been told that he is getting himself out too often and advised by the management team to play more cautiously. Perhaps he could have been told on this occasion that he should play in line with his natural instincts and that this would not be held against him later. Alternatively a message could have been sent via Adil to Joe Sayers that he should take the leading role and chase after Bonus Points. I feel that Darren Gough and Martin Moxon ought to consider a strategy. There is no way Joe can be left out so we need to find a way of working round his style to maximise bonus points. Although Adil scored slowly up to the 130 overs, ironically he moved into livelier action afterwards and scored a stylish 54.
It was great to see Anthony McGrath score 100. He played and missed a lot in the earlier part of his innings when facing McClaren, But in the end this was a muscular performance. As the innings went on you could almost feel his confidence coming back. Some of his cover drives were sublime.
One thing that puzzled me in the match was Kent’s reluctance to use McLaren more. When bowling at Yorkshires right handers he caused a lot of problems outside the off stump but with no luck at all. I watched him from behind the bowlers arm and he seemed to be landing the ball right in the corridor and getting some late movement. Every spectator I spoke to whether from Yorkshire or Kent agreed that he should have been utilised more. Only Kent captain Robert Key, could not appreciate just how well the South African was bowling.
I notice that there has been some comment on the Forum about the passive state of the wicket which some contributors thought lead to a draw. The reason is probably because in a recent season Kent were docked points at Maidstone because of a poor pitch. The club have now taken this ground from their roster of County Championship fixtures. The authorities at Tunbridge Wells obviously wanted at avoid this fate.
551 for 8 was a good score by Yorkshire but the game finished in a draw because we couldn’t bowl Kent out twice. This is not surprising bearing in mind Darren Goughs injury, Matthew Hoggard’s injury and his absence, through Test calls and the fact that Adil’s wicket taking magic seems to have (temporarily) eluded him.
|