Twenty20 Cup

[Vrock]

Originally Posted by Rowan

Where is hodge, because he is a decent 20/20 batsman?

I agree, Hodge is a very good Twenty20 batsman and would have provided good stability in the middle order.

I think the answer lies here.

Originally Posted by lccc.co.uk

After the 'A' team tournament, which lasts the whole of July

[Quagmire]

I forgot he had the Australia A vs New Zealand A

[Vrock]

Surrey's game last night against Kent followed the same pattern as their first. The top three; Benning, Brown and Ramps. All made healthy contributions; 88, 25 and 58. Then the rest of the order failed to get into double figures. No partnerships for Kent cost them the game, only the first wicket stand really was the only decent one.

James Franklin had a very good all round performance last night as Glamorgan beat Warwickshire. Having taken 1-24 off his four overs Franklin then smashed 69* off 27 balls to secure victory by six wickets.

Game of interest today: Leicestershire v Lancashire, Lancs will be fired up to get themselves back into contention after their loss against Derbyshire.

[Vrock]

Sky are showing Lancs v Leicestershire and it's proving to be a very interesting contest given that Grace Road has such big boundaries.

The charity 'Cab Corner' is about 90 yards away! Not much money to be raised tonight I doubt unless Mal Loye straightens his sweeps up.

Leicestershire, having won the toss and elected to bat, are 77-2 after nine overs. After an excellent start Lancs pulled it back with a couple of quick wickets.

[Vrock]

After an amazing run chase that went right down to the wire in favour of Lancashire they can be in the knowledge that they are back in the mix of things once again.

Tonight on Sky is Essex v Hampshire - should be good and I look forward to seeing some good cricket shots, of which we have seen a decent percentage of them actually being so far!

Goughy is playing - I hope he can last 4 overs of bowling.

[darksideofthemoon]

Originally Posted by Vrock

After an amazing run chase that went right down to the wire in favour of Lancashire they can be in the knowledge that they are back in the mix of things once again.

I don't think so. We are now missing Loye, Anderson, Mahmood, Cork, Chapple, Hogg, Sutton and Hodge - in fact most of the team. Chilton is not really a player in this form of the game. His average last season was 9.50 with a high score of 12 from 10 games. Astle was dropped from the NZ team because he was out of form and still looks out of form. The rest of the team have never played 20/20 before except for Law and Keedy who has played 8 last season. If we qualify now it will be a miracle.

[Vrock]

Originally Posted by darksideofthemoon

I don't think so. We are now missing Loye, Anderson, Mahmood, Cork, Chapple, Hogg, Sutton and Hodge - in fact most of the team... If we qualify now it will be a miracle.

The loss of Loye is the big one for me, he and Stuart Law have formed an opening stand which allows for perfect balance. Loye playing all of the shots mainly through brute force and good timing with Stuart Law playing the fiddly shots to provide stability and also he gets boundaries with them to keep the scoreboard ticking overs.

Qualification now looks a little more tricky with Notts looking better than usual and Leicestershire in fine form. Another loss in the next couple of games would really put the pressure on.

[Notts Exile]

Originally Posted by Vrock

Qualification now looks a little more tricky with Notts looking better than usual and Leicestershire in fine form.

Let's hope! It's really quite boring having the same teams at finals day year in year out! It would be good to have Notts there for Trent Bridge finals day! I'm hoping that Somerset, Glamorgan and Surrey all miss out, too.

[Vrock]

Mixed luck for Somerset so far in their four matches; an impressive victory first up against Gloucestershire last week. Then a tie and a loss in mid-week wasn't the best thing for confidence. Sadly yesterday against Warwickshire their bowlers just couldn't produce the goods, Andy Caddick going for 51 runs off only 3 overs.

Taking a look at the tables there are two major surprises so far: Lancashire are at the foot of the North Division with injuries to many key players being a contributing factor and Kent, generally not regarded as the greatest of one-day outfits top the South Division - a major factor in this being Andrew Hall who is in good form with both bat and ball.

[Vrock]

A much needed win for Lancs yesterday evening against Debyshire, now the table is looking more even - four teams on four points and somewhat amazingly Yorkshire are up there having beaten Durham also last evening.

Watching Sourav Ganguly help Northants win last night was refreshing, he was hitting the ball well and was looking good to be not out at the end apart from a stupid run from himself cost him his wicket.

This evening Glamorgan are continuing their great start to this campaign with 42 runs for no loss and only 3.1 overs have been bowled. They've clicked as a side in this competition and it's good to see given their poor championship form.