I don't think pace was the major issue actually. Those two deliveries that got Sean and Craig had late nasty swing and were on the money. Most batters would have had problems keeping those out. Sean's delivery was an absolute jaffer.
People are throwing their arms up and saying we can't face pace, but bowlers bowl jaffers, it's cricket.
Richie bowled well and got it going away from the righties and then the one that came back in, but the others didn't get much movement at all. We have two giant bowlers that can threaten most batters and yet our first ten overs in every game were largely unproductive with not a lot of swing on offer. A bit of that was because it's cricket and we could have gotten luckier but none of our seamers are quite accurate enough, there's often one, if not two average deliveries per over. If you're bowling less than 130 you need to be seriously on the money at international level. One boundary an over and you're going at 6 or 7. That's expensive.
I do think Blessing bowled a little too full, the idea being that length where you're not sure whether to go forward or back, but he's got the height and bounce to bowl top of the box directly at the batsman and make life really uncomfortable.
Also when he ran in and bowled slightly quicker he was different gravy.
Also there was a lot of wicket to wicket when 4th was sometimes a better option. I also think they could have used the short ball a bit more. Small margins and easy to say after the fact.
There may well be other new options as well as Myers next year if they're smart -
Bennet, Cartwright (?), Byrom, Welchx2, Schardendorf
There's not a lot in it at this level ability wise, it's who finds a way of making runs more consistently than the others. The coach clearly plays a part, but at this level the batsman has to find a way that works all by himself. You can't make one, he has to invent himself with your help.
We can't put all our eggs in one basket as we've done with Wes and to a lesser degree Milton. We need a handful of guys with what may be a higher ceiling. When your betting on the only two good young guys in the system to come good quickly what are the odds? I mean what happens if Madhevere gets a career ending injury and they don't have a single back-up?
That's where they're at now, it's just plain ridiculous.
Also good batters don't get a decent score 2 out of 3 innings on average. That's the real good ones as well.
In the highly unlikely event the Big 3 walked now we are finished as a cricketing nation. Its that serious. If Richie and Blessing walked we are equally fucked. I'm sure they know this, but looking at cheap miracle solutions of hoping someone we've seen multiple times suddenly coming good are slim. Picking guys not doing so well overseas is also slim, but all day its a better and the only option. The trick is to get them here for $200 a month.
An interesting one would be to know what our retired players are getting for this T10 vs what the current players are being paid. It will tell you directly whether they're serious about managing our cricket or lining their pockets.
We need serious people for the job at hand.
I get that we need a batting all-rounder that is a seamer. Dion would tick that box, but he needs to play full time cricket under good supervision to come close to achieving that, but he has no more ability than the guys I've mentioned. He's one guy. We need about 8 of them and pray 2 can step up. That's a great return.
