By Grockle
March 9 2024

Matt Renshaw returns to Taunton as the last piece of the jigsaw for Somerset's start to the 2024 season.  The Aussie will return for the first 7 CC games which take place before the end of May.  Somerset start in Kent in less than a month - but who will Matt be walking out with?

On Friday April 5 2024 at the Spitfire Ground in Canterbury, Somerset start their Championship campaign once more looking to win the coveted but elusive trophy.  Matt Renshaw has just been announced as the last piece in the county's next plan to make us the CC1 Champions while there is still time to do it.   But who else is part of that plan and how much of a real competitor for the title are Somerset?

Last season was not one of our best - we were never really in danger of being relegated but also never really in the race for the top spot either.  The heroics of James Rew, Matt Henry and Craig Overton probably kept us floating around the middle of the table but you could probably say we weren't in trouble because there were just poorer 4 day sides in the top half.  How long that will be the case is a question that should have worried the backroom staff at Taunton during the winter and they must have been looking at how to strengthen our red ball squad for the new season.

It was a long time coming but we now have pretty much of an idea which people will be part of the first month of the season.  Tom Kohler-Cadmore will not be available for the first 4 weeks at least as he is contracted to the IPL.  That may make selection easier in fact as the one thing Somerset do not lack is middle order bats looking for one of the 6 front end berths in the red ball line-up

Additions to last season's group are Jake Ball who will come in as a replacement for Jack Brooks who retired in September.  Matt Henry will not be returning as he is a main part of the New Zealand Test side presently, showing his class against the Aussies presently at home.  His role will be taken by Will Sutherland who is signed until the end of the Blast group stages.  Finally we now have the confirmation that Matt Renshaw will be back for a third summer at Taunton to add to his 14 appearances since 2018.

We have a couple of questions about availability that won't be answered until the season starts.  Andy Umeed who had a phenomenal last third of the 2023 season with the bat was called up for Scotland's winter tour but broke a finger and is presently rehabilitating in preparation for the start of 2024 in the UK.  Jack Leach has had knee surgery in the last couple of weeks and will also be rehabbing - it is unsure whether he will be a starter for the beginning of April.  Also Shoaib Bashir will be returning to Taunton from a very successful Test debut tour in India.  There has been a lot of talk about making the young spinner available so he can play in the 4 dayers.  Will that be allowed early or will England want him rested after a heavy workload in the Tests which ended on Saturday with an innnings defeat where he took his second career 5-fer and ended the season as the top England wicket taker.  We will have to wait and see. It will also be interesting to see what happens when both our England spinners are available for selection.  Maybe the ECB will finally allow counties to prepare wickets that a spinner would like to bowl on in tandem in an English summer.  

So with all those caveats, what do we have to start the 4 day battles? It is more a case of WHERE people will play rather than WHO will play in most areas.  One would expect a teamsheet to have the following players pencilled in

Matt Renshaw - Tom Abell - James Rew (wicket keeper) - Lewis Gregory (capt) - Craig Overton (VC) - Will Sutherland - Josh Davey - Shoaib Bashir/Jack Leach

Players who will hope to be considered for the small number of other places in the side will include

Sean Dickson - Tom Lammonby - Jake Ball - Tom Banton - Lewis Goldsworthy - Andy Umeed 

That is probably the block of players who will attempt to make up the first eleven of the season.   15 players looking to fill 11 spots.

Looking at the areas we have the following to consider.

The Opening Trio

An area of problem, especially in the first innings for most of 2023 is our opening partnership and first change

The usual pair expected to establish the base for the games last season were Sean Dickson and Tom Lammonby. 

A lot of Lammonby supporters made much of the fact that Tom had the best average of all red ball batsmen at the ground - though as it was under 30 it wasn't anything to write home about on an individual or team basis.  He has been the main choice in an opening position for the last 2 seasons but hasn't 'kicked on' as they say to any real extent.  One wonders if he will be considerd as a left hand seamer in the new season after not bowling last year because of a persistent ankle injury - will that be a consideration?  

Sean Dickson was his most likely partner, primarily because of his Durham experience - however he did struggle to make the opening spot his own in the higher division and looked much happier and effective in the middle order for the T20 side and in later CC games. 

One of these two will make way for Matt Renshaw in the top 3.  It is expected that the Aussie will open and the third member of the initial line-up will be Tom Abell who has given up the captaincy and is coming off a good South African winter.  Will these 2 open?  The selectors went back to the Dickson/Lammonby pairing at the end of last season though there were other options available in the run down.  Maybe they will do the same again but one has to say that trying the same and hoping for a different result did not work last year so why would it in April?

Other options are Umeed who is probably our most effective opener in any format - signed as an opening bat, with experience there but then under used until the 2023 Metro 50 cup where he dominated most of the games he played in and then made his CC debut at number 5 at the end of the summer.  In those late games he was probably the most stable bat in the line-up as the front end continued to collapse.  As stated above, he starts the season as an injury worry but it is a 'make or break' season for him probably in a Somerset shirt.

Tom Banton who opens for us in the T20 format seems to be the 'forgotten man' of our red ball side.  It is  doubtful that he would be considered as an opening partner for Renshaw  - both of them expansive players with the bat - but if there was a possibility that Matt would be in at number 3 then 'Bants' might certainly be an alternative for the opening pair with Tom Abell or Sean Dickson.  The concept of Banton being in a side where James Rew is moved up the order so as to take the pressure of the keeping duties is also a consideration - but probably outside the scope of our present selection mindset.  Something to consider is what the future of Tom Banton is seen to be in Taunton.  His contract comes up for renegotiation at the end of this season and he may see his role as a more expansive one than the management of Somerset do and it may mean we see the last of Tom this summer as he looks for more opportunity elsewhere.

Renshaw - Umeed - Abell would be interesting

Abell - Banton - Renshaw would be exciting but a gamble

Renshaw - Dickson - Abell  is probably what we will see.

The Middle Order

The most competitive part of the 4 day side one would expect.  Numbers 4, 5 and 6

James Hildreth is no longer the established number 4 and those already named in the top 3 debate will be looking for a spot in the front half if they aren't named in the top 3.  However others also come into the equation and personally I believe 2 players must be very solid options in the next section of a succesful 4 day side.

Lewis Goldsworthy missed out as an early selection last season because of the presence of Cameron Bancroft and then because of injury he didn't get a red ball look in until the CC games after the August break.  He will hope to be seriously considered during the new campaign.  He may also have to be an option if Leach and Bashir are unavailable early on (there is no RvdM this season with the red ball as he has opted for a white ball contract) because of his bowling which has developed after another season.  Again, one has to wonder what Goldsworthy's value is to the county if he is not to be used as the obvious red ball batsman that he is.  He really has to be in that middle order to provide stability should Tom Abell go early and therefore he would join the obvious James Rew in the middle order at 4 and 5. 

Whoever is not used of Banton, Lammonby, Dickson, Umeed and eventually TKC will be fighting for the last middle order position - along with Will Sutherland who may see himself as a higher option than expected in the 'all rounder' category

Goldsworthy - Rew - perm any one from 6

would be the preference expected for the next 3.

The All Rounders

It is not much of a prediction that the skipper will take the number 7 spot or that Sutherland, Overton and Davey will be the main options for 8 to 10 - they are all pretty effective bowling bats and could come in any variation.  Craig will probably see himself as the 8 but Josh gave him a run for his money last year and Will could be anywhere

In any order one would expect we start with Gregory - Overton - Sutherland - Davey 

There are a number of interesting variations here as the season goes on due to form and injuries

Kasey Aldridge made a claim for a spot last season on his batting prowess alone and got a Lions berth on the back of his performances with the willow.  His bowling had not moved on all that much from 2022 but his work with the bat makes him a very credible option for later games.

Ben Green can be very effective all round talent.  His work in the Blast last season was fundamental to the county's appearance in the competition's final and should anyone open the door he will be in 'like Flint'.  His batting can be devastating at the back end of an innings and he must be considered as a future captain option for the club.

Jake Ball has not signed a three year deal to be an injury alternative and he may be part of a rota group to effectively support our seam attack.  He will also be ready to take a spot should there be an opportunity but he probably won't be an early starter unless there are early fitness issues.

Number Eleven?

Will be the spinner most likely whether it is Jack Leach looking to get some long format overs under his belt or Shoaib Bashir looking to get some domestic wickets in order to book a place in the summer Test Squad.

There will be a space for an extra bowler should neither be available and Goldsworthy is seen as the slow option in the very early season.

Other Considerations?

Besides the names already put forward, there are some bowlers who might well be looking to make their names in the middle to late part of the Championship season.  The most anticipated, though he has suffered badly from injury is Sonny Baker who after 2 back surgeries will hope to finally get the chance to show what he can do in a full season. 

Ned Leonard will also want to consolidate his position as a possible bowling option in a CC side.  He also suffered from injury at the end of last season but will want to try and 'kick on' via the seconds initially this summer.

Alfie Ogborne got himself a CC taste against Hampshire in 2023 and will want more with his return from injury - which put him out of the Metro campaign last season.  It is certain that he will want to be a name consideration by September in the Championship

George Thomas will see this season as his opportunity to move to the next level of a county career and will be ready to offer something should he be called up to the first team as an allrounder

These guys are all looking at 2024 as their real 'breakthrough' season and the players above them need to be aware of their presence.

In April therefore there are a number of questions that have to be answered.  With half the long format season over by the end of May Somerset need to give the right answers from the start and as we don't play at home until we welcome Nottinghamshire to Taunton on the 19th, those answers need to be given on foreign territory initially.

The expected side seems to be

Renshaw, Dickson, Abell, Goldsworthy, Rew, Lammonby, Gregory, Overton, Sutherland, Davey, Leach 

Personally

Abell, Banton, Renshaw, Umeed, Goldsworthy, Rew, Gregory, Overton, Sutherland, Davey, Leach

Would be a side I'd like to have a look at - there are other variations.  I gues we'll have to see what comes to pass in Canterbury.

Renshaw and the Red Ball

Discussion started by Grockles.com , 09/03/2024 15:12

Grockles.com
09/03/2024 15:12

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2024:03:31:15:35:29 by Grockle.

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AGod
11/03/2024 09:31

They are very unlikely to change it, since change isn’t really their style, but:

I really do wonder whether some retirements (a few years ago) and some poor form from others has cost us the talented middle order stroke player that the club seemed to think it had coming through the ranks, in the form of Tom Lammonby?

They’ve pressed him into service at the top and he’s been a good soldier and done his best. He’s done okay… probably as well as could possibly have been expected for somebody shoehorned into a new role. Yet, typically, he often plays sensibly until he gets to about 30 or so and then there is often a lapse of concentration that arguably tends to occur earlier than it might with a specialist opener.

With Renshaw back in the ranks, I’d prefer to take the opportunity to try Tom L at 4 or 5. They have either Umeed or Dickson as possibles that could form a RHB / LHB opening tandem with Matt R.

I suppose TKC may miss several games at the IPL, which creates a middle-order vacancy.

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Grockle
11/03/2024 10:03

We have resources that certainly allow Tom L to play in the middle order. Have to agree. I don't believe the county care about CC1 as long as we survive comfortably and so won't look for a more dynamic option.

The seeming automatic assumption that TKC walks into a red ball side bothers me as we have others perfectly capable of playing his role on red ball terms rather than just sticking him in to play 'the way he does'. I saw him adapt against Hampshire and play his best CC innings so he CAN do it!!

It also bothers me that we don't seem to be interested in a 4 day Banton... I'm not sure whether there is a player there, just surprised we don't seem to be bothered to find out in a front end that hasn't fired particularly

But we'll see in less than a month

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AGod
11/03/2024 11:55

I confess that I’d forgotten all about Banton, when thinking about possible red ball permutations.

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ColinNo11
11/03/2024 15:08

Will the extent to which Tom Abell can / will bowl be a factor? If he is able to bowl, then I wonder if we need the four seamers in your expected or personal teams. That would free up space for an extra batsman, perhaps Tom Banton, to come into the line up. I would like to see Tom Lammonby in the team, albeit as others have said in the middle order rather than opening, because I think he is a good batting option but also because he brings a potential point of difference in the bowling - again, if he is fit to do so.

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Grockle
11/03/2024 22:08

Definitely on Tom L as a leftie bowl option. However I thinl we are more adventurous about options up front than the club selectors are. It does seem to be more, what won't lose us games than what will win them in the Championship.

Maybe Coxey may influence that a bit more... he starts his reign with an online Youtube session on the 26th I believe.

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