Somerset look as though they have every chance of defending their T20 Blast title AT Edgbaston later in the season, yet it’s the performances of George Thomas and Jack Leach that have caught the eye in the victories over Surrey and Hampshire writes Merv Colenutt.
Gerry Wilson has been saying for some considerable time, that this lad is a talent waiting to burst onto the scene, Gerry believing the 20 year old has a big future in front of him and the opening batsman obliged in the best possible fashion with scores of 40 and 29 and he does already look to be some future star.
At the other end of the scale, bringing in left arm spinner Jack Leach in an unnatural role in the white ball game has also looked to be an inspirational choice as over the 2 games Leach has bowled beautifully, flat yes, but he has been rewards with the remarkable figures of 3 for 27 in 5 overs, a brilliant return and England’s no 1 spinner in the test match arena has adjusted to the white ball game in remarkable fashion.
Talking of Test Match cricket, England’s innings victory over the West Indies was outstanding, but surely cramming in six test matches in seven weeks will have it’s toll on the quicker bowlers, it will be interesting to see.
In the days of when it was just red ball cricket, the very best English bowlers would get selected for their country when it was almost injury free months of summer cricket spread over a four month period, but now with the T20 Blast and the Hundred taking more centre stage, test match cricket despite it’s ongoing popularity, it has to be said, is now taking a back seat in our summer months.
With bowlers having to adjust from bowling 24 balls maximum in the T20 Blast and just a maximum 20 balls in the Hundred, adjusting to a different body action and adjusting to different lines and length as well as variations in speeds for the quick bowlers, is it hardly surprising I should be saying, how many of our quick bowlers will get injured during the two test series which ends on 10th September.
Joffra Archer, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, Ollie Robinson, Olly Stone, Josh Tongue, have all found themselves on the sidelines and you could say the same for both Jamie and Craig Overton over the past two seasons, so with cricket being played all around the world throughout the calendar year now and money proving to be the big draw, how much longer can test match cricket survive and the same has to be said of county cricket.
Test match cricket is still a huge draw, the Ashes series next year will draw thousands to our test grounds and county cricket will remain the foundation to bringing young players through the ranks, but the lure of money and one day white ball cricket will surely have a big say in whether these outstanding youngsters in the future would rather represent their country or look to increase their bank balance.
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