September looks to be one of the biggest months ever for Somerset ccc as they remain the only county in contention to win all three major titles writes Merv Colenutt.
The obvious question I asked to several of the members on the final day of the county championship victory over Durham at the weekend, which of the three competitions do you believe Somerset will win and each and every one of the 12 said the 50 over competition and only the one went for the county championship title.
The 50 over competition to my mind really is the most obvious, in the fact that despite Somerset losing nine plyers to the Hundred competition, their strength in depth and ability in their ranks is way beyond what any other county could possibly put out, it just does to prove how well the academy is being run.
September the 22nd will be crucial to Somerset in picking up silverware and of course their defence of the T20 Blast gets underway today (Thursday) as they travel to Northamptonshire at the quarter final stage.
Somerset would be expected to win with selection going to be interesting, do they pick a very much in form Jack Leach after his 12 wicket haul in the red ball victory at Taunton at the weekend.
To be fair, Leach in the shorter form of the game this season, has been nothing less than brilliant, but just twelve months ago when the England spinner was struggling with ill health and to a certain extent form, the left arm spinner has bounced back incredibly well in all forms of the game and surely must be back in the minds of the selectors for the winter tour of Pakistan along with Shoaib Bashir.
Could England select two spinners both from Somerset for that winter tour.
Another round of discussions to be looked at by the county in the coming weeks, will have to be who will be retained and who will be released if anyone, this will be the biggest headache of all for Somerset, but as I have said all season, their depth with so many match winners in both red and white ball cricket makes Somerset the only county ready to challenge Surrey in the future.
I still find it hard to believe also, that despite Somerset having the best white ball record in recent times, that the England selectors still ignore the chance of picking anyone from Somerset.
I still find it strange also that with England and all their failures at the very top of the order in recent times, that Tom Abell has still been overlooked, let’s see what the touring party and who is selected at the end of the month will give us a better idea, as Gerry Wilson rightly states “younger players with potential are now more likely to get selected for test matches than those proven players who have been there and done it”
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