NORTHANTS claimed their first win of the CB40 campaign on Sunday - but the Unicorns aren’t the greatest of sides are they?
It’s hard times at the County right now because there are lots of changes happening.
It’s all about starting to build confidence, getting the right players and looking to the future.
They’ve got some good youngsters and one of them is Ben Duckett, who I’ve seen play during his time at Stowe School. He’s a very talented young player.
I think he’s done well and he’s just one of a number of young guys Northants will look to as they have a limited budget.
IF there was anyone to fill the void left by Ravi Bopara for the second Test against South Africa it’s James Taylor.
The Nottinghamshire batsman deserves it because he has been knocking at the door for ages. He thoroughly merits a place in the side.
England would have given Bopara three Test matches had he not pulled out for personal reasons.
But this gives Taylor a real opportunity. It’s going to be a big ask for him but there’s no one else. You couldn’t play someone like Jonny Bairstow.
What Taylor has done for England Lions before means he’s the man who deserves the call-up. Some people have talked about the curse of No.6 for England, with the likes of Eoin Morgan, Bairstow and Bopara struggling there.
But I don’t think there’s any curse, and if Taylor comes in and does well he’ll be held in very high regard.
England batted very poorly in the first Test as they slumped to a big defeat.
They would have looked at the video and they will have seen they got themselves out.
In contrast, South Africa made the most of the wicket and they played to their ability. That was the big difference.
England got themselves out and threw it away. They were 273 for three and Kevin Pietersen got out late on the first day, so that was the turning point.
The following day they should have doubled up that score but they didn’t, they got bowled out.
That’s where it all went wrong and the other thing that happened was that England never got the ball to swing. We had the best conditions to get it to swing and we didn’t, which susprised me.
On the second day when we had to bowl it was still favourable and it then got hot later in the afternoon, so there’s a big question mark against what our bowlers did in that first Test.
They let the team down very badly.
In terms of the mentality ahead of the start of the second Test, England have been there and won from behind before.
The defeat won’t affect their thinking, they’ve just got to come back and play good cricket.
I’VE really enjoyed the Olympics so far and it was brilliant to see GB get their first gold medals yesterday.
Rowers Heather Stanning and Helen Glover won their event, while Bradley Wiggins stole the show again in the cycling. This could be the start of something good.
I know Daley Thompson was saying once GB got their first gold the rest would flood in, and let’s hope that happens now.
I think the Games have been really great so far, I was just disappointed there has been such bad publicity surrounding it. It really is fantastic, it’s been great viewing on television.
I thought the opening was a bit slow to start off and some of the broadcasting has been a bit below par.
I watched the road race the other day and I thought it was badly covered. They didn’t have the split times on, which I thought was diabolical, so I think the BBC are going to have to really improve on what they’ve done so far.
I didn’t think their coverage was that great for the opening ceremony, and you can’t really go wrong in covering the swimming and all that type of stuff.
But I thought the road race was broadcasted badly because no one seemed to know what was going on the majority of the time.
Saying that, I am looking forward to the rest of the Games and I’m really excited about seeing Usain Bolt in action this weekend.
That’s what I’m looking forward to, seeing if he reaches the 100m final on Sunday.
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