Following another Somerset, Waraksire and Sussex collapse we delve deeper into what is needed in todays county championship to have a sturdy batting order.
With my Iphone 7 stuffed in my pencil case, youtube turned on and french teacher rambling away the conditions were perfect to peer over at Sussex vs Leciestershire, only to gaze in horror as Sussex lost 5 wickets for 49 runs and crumbled to a below par total yet again. As i frustratingly switched my phone off and after I had paniked through a short answer in French my mind drifted off in wondermont centred around one question, what makes a good batting order in the county championship.
Openers
The most succesful ever opener in first class cricket is Jack Hobbs who has 61,760 runs to his name. Combined the openers for Warakshire, Somerset and Sussex don't even make 10 percent of Hobbs figure. So, what are the openers missing? Experiance! While Dom Sibley has played for England and Will Rhodes is becoming a county stallhort the pair are short of form due to being dropped and becoming captain. As for Somerset and Sussex their openers only have three thousand runs to their name. So, if you are missing experience in your top order then runs can be hard to come by. If you look at Notts, the team imperious opening up, their pair of Slater and Hameed share international experience paired with county cricket experience a stable platform is crucial for batting in first class cricket.
Top/ Middle Order
Regardless of opening batting it is in the middle and top order where collapses occur. So, what do you need to avoid this. Well looking at a team like Lancashire who have been mostly clear of collapses this season then we can judge that what is required is players like Josh Bohannon, fresh faced young and aggresive willing to take on bowlers without enough experience to be bogged down by results. Batters like Dane Villas and Rob Jones are needed in the middle order, experience and intelligence but also grit and determination as to ride out tricky parts when collapses are common.
So what is Warakshire missing?
Looking at Waraksire's starting xi for this current match in the top order we see Sam Hain originally alien to English conditions with more age and a low stike rate. Further down we see Chris Woakes appearing ludicrusly high however it is Michael Burgess and Matthew Lamb which strikes me as wrong, too great batters but are lacking in experience, age and are too tendant to attack the bowling which is an issue when wickets fall. Lacking experience stability and batters in the correct position batting is a recipe for collapses as far as Warakshire are concerned and a young player like Ali Orr and experienced overseas bat like Azhar Ali are what is required to glue their order back together and gain some stability.
Somerset's Issues are...
Somerset are almost polar opposet to Warakshire in where their issues lie, they have the young attacking bat of Tom Banton, the experienced overseas bat of Azhar Ali and the calming fluency of captain Tom Abell. Where they are lacking is opening batsmen, with Devon Conway going they are forced into merging youngsters into their setup. The inexperienced likes of Green getting out in the first over of the innings like what happened today open up the heart of Somerset's batting order with the ball swinging and bowlers ontop. A confident opening batsmen like Tom Haines and an Egland experienced player like Sam Robson need to be drafted in to mend the top order and stop opening up the gut of the top order or else collapses will just keep coming.
And Finally Sussex?..
Well with Sussex their issue is a batting crisis. Missing the likes of Phil Salt, Stiaan Van Zyl, Travis Head and Tom Clarke has left Sussex in dyer straights and having bowling all rounder George Garton bat 4! With a dissproportionate gap filled, inexperienced at out of position batting order means collapses are common and expected. For them all they need to do is build up their order with the likes of Luke Proctor, Bell-Drummond or David LLoyd will certainly strengthen their top order and squad and prevent these common collapses in the near future.
So, in conclusion, we have learnt that in order to bat in the modern day county championship, internationally experienced gritty openers are required, flourishing young top order players willing to take on the bowling are needed, experienced rooks in the middle order to steady the ship if needed are a nessicity and batter strength and depth are a must. Combine these components and you gain a compotent ruthless side destined for the bob willis trophy like Notts, Yorkshire or Lancashire, these sides aren't likely to have collapses.
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