So what can we make of the county season so far? We start with some extreme scores.
Big scores and little scores. We have seen 612/5, with 231 for James Vince (but off 220 balls). We have seen an even bigger 672/8; this time Ollie Pope was relatively slow in scoring 245 off 272 balls. Surrey again scored 560/7 including a Hashim Amla 215 with a more normal strike rate of 59. We even have some people talking about whether anyone will score 1000 runs before the end of May.
But then we have some truly dreadful scorecards. Middlesex 79. Essex 96 all out but they won that game because Durham flopped for 123. Essex crashed to defeat this week after being bowled out for 99. After another good score (470) Hampshire have been dismissed for 92 and 79. Kent were bowled out for 138 and 74 in a game. Warwickshire were bowled out 87. Sussex for 106.
Don’t get me wrong, some difficult conditions will have been involved as well as some great bowling. Apparently Kemar Roach was simply brilliant in Surrey’s destruction of Hampshire, but batting performances of 92 and 179 cause one to ask questions about the batting.
I wanted to compare that to England’s recent shambles in India. England’s scores ranged from 578 and 81. And you head back to England in the Trevor Bayliss era. 67 all out in the Ben Stokes Headingley test match. 85 all out against Ireland. I could go on with the low scores. But as well as 3 big scores in 2021 built entirely around Joe Root, you can point to some 600-ish scores in the Bayliss years.
England have tried to correct this tendency for high paced scoring – resulting in scores ranging from 67 to 600. They have looked to build. This has to be the way. I know it failed in India, but it is the right approach. With the types of scores we are seeing in the 2021 county season…it is little wonder we have seen an England side often unable to dig in and battle it out. Hopefully this change in approach from the top will effect the county game too, and we will not see so many big scores and little scores. Hampshire take note!
Cricketed 