Smith, Sarwan, Eckersley and Thornley are not natural 20/20 players. Unless those batsman signifcantly change their styles Leicester can't go into a match with all those four playing out of the top order. Only one can play at most.
Boyce has upped his strike rate this year.
But consider that the following were not picked and have better 20/20 strike rates sitting in the seconds: Taylor (who swung the last game was dropped or injured) Jefferson, Ali, Mommsen and Dixey, who I rate currently as a better one day player than Eckersley.
The coaches have had limited choice.
Jefferson still recovering from injury I assume.
Taylor I assume was injured as he has done well in this campaign and Dagnall even thought he was in the side.
Mommsen has demonstrated very little to suggest he would add to the players there, and would presumably only be picked ahead of Taylor/Thornely in the allrounder position
I haven't seen Eckersley bat but I thought he could hit the ball - I couldn't possibly argue either way but he seems to be the better long term prospect.
Never likely that a ball would be bowled.Bad luck for James Sykes and Will Jones today who were going to be given a run out at the abandoned T20 match as we make the most of being out of the competition by giving these players a chance. Henderson and Du Toit were left out of the 13 making it clear what we will be doing with the last few games.
Never likely that a ball would be bowled.
The interesting thing will be selection for the resumption of the Championship games. It should give clues to the make up of the released/ retained lists. You mention Du Toit & Henderson. For entirely different reasons this must be their last seasons. It generally happens with players of his sort of age - i.e. they go one season too far, but Henderson might have a future in coaching at the club- where surely changes have to be made. As for Du Toit - well he has been given far, far too many chances for very poor returns and Boyce similarly (tho' he always seems to do just enough to retain his place and a contract from a benign management).
I would think Henderson when Naik comes back from injury may move aside more in 4 day cricket. I still think he can play part time in 40 and 20/20s though.
I agree on Du Toit, but you can't compare him to Boyce in the last 2/3 seasons the first has averaged about 15 and the later around 30. Who would you replace Boyce with? - Jefferson is injury prone, Thornely unproven long-term and Ali has a first class average no better and we know the troubles Smith has had this season and the first part of last.
I thought he has actually Boyce has improved in limited overs cricket 40 and especially 20/20 this season being far more aggressive He has Leicestershires highest average, highest score and a close third behind Razzaq and Cobb in sixes.
Surely there must be a minor Counties side who deserve a crack at it more than Leicestershire?
The have some quite high rollers as backers yet they have no financial clout at all, it seems like a total waste of time to me and it's actually more embarrassing to see the scores like the Durham game than if they were not even competing.
Whilst we on this forum quite rightly criticise the current set up, and Redditch is right that the financial situation means we are struggling to compete, let's not forget we won the CC twice in the late 90s and have won the T20 3 times, twice more than anyone else has. That is more success than most counties and your argument is the kind of one that Mark Nicholas (of Hampshire, perennial underachievers) spout in trying to get rid of the small clubs.
Sport goes in cycles and our 90s championship side was built from the ashes of some poor late 80s and early 90s teams. Our strategy at the time was to snap up players unwanted by other counties like Millns, Wells, Mullally and mix them with home-grown talent - we didn't buy our way to the title then. Unfortunately our recent signings of those unwanted by other counties nor our home-grown talent have made it to the same level.
P | Pld | Pts | |
1 | Leicester | 46 | 97 |
2 | Ipswich | 46 | 96 |
3 | Leeds Utd | 46 | 90 |
4 | Southampton | 46 | 87 |
5 | West Brom | 46 | 75 |
6 | Norwich City | 46 | 73 |
7 | Hull City | 46 | 70 |
8 | Middlesbro | 46 | 69 |
9 | Coventry City | 46 | 64 |
10 | Preston | 46 | 63 |
11 | Bristol City | 46 | 62 |
12 | Cardiff City | 46 | 62 |
13 | Millwall | 46 | 59 |
14 | Swansea City | 46 | 57 |
15 | Watford | 46 | 56 |
16 | Sunderland | 46 | 56 |
17 | Stoke City | 46 | 56 |
18 | QPR | 46 | 56 |
19 | Blackburn | 46 | 53 |
20 | Sheffield W | 46 | 53 |
21 | Plymouth | 46 | 51 |
22 | Birmingham | 46 | 50 |
23 | Huddersfield | 46 | 45 |
24 | Rotherham Utd | 46 | 27 |