What can we expect ?

Well its wet, not just wet but sodden, dripping; it feels more like November than April and those of us counting down the days to the start of another season will have to wait a bit longer for the action to start.

​So what can we expect when the sun finally comes out and play gets under way?  With the first 3 championship matches at home there is a fair bet that we will be asked to bat first.  

​Perhaps someone will emulate the achievements of  C.J.B Wood that revered opening bat of a hundred years ago. In 1911 he created (a then unique) record becoming the first player to carry his bat through both innings and score a hundred in each innings. The 9th Duke of Rutland, later to become president of the Club sent good old Cecil a telegram which read:

​"Many congratulations to you on your wonderful achievement. I hope the rest of the Xl will put their backs into the game and help to win a match soon"

A sentiment all followers of our beloved Foxes will echo 107 years on !

​Did we get any clues from the 2 and a bit days of practice so far, well not many.  The coach writing in this weeks 'TheCricket Paper' suggests that he is pretty much decided on the 13 man squad for Sussex next week. If so then its probably fair to say that the batting is going to centre around ​Carberry, Horton, Dexter, Cosgrove & Ackermann and the bowling around Chappell, Raine, Griffiths, & Klein. Of course we have not yet seen our overseas wizz Muhammad Abbas but I would expect him to feature.

​Nico looks to be keeping us guessing over the wicketkeeping slot with both  Ned Eckersley and Lewis Hill sharing the duties in the practice games. He is one of the most naturally gifted players we have in the squad and with his cultured 85 against Notts I would be disappointed if  Lewis Hill were to miss out.

​So what of new recruit Ateeq Javid and Parky. I guess with things being so wet you could argue there is no place for a spinner but I really hope not. We suffered so much last season through a lack of variation in the bowling dept that I would like to think we build some sort of strategy around getting Parky as much game time as possible. He proved last season in August & September that he is a real wicket taker.

​I just hope that the selection lottery of last season is a thing of the past and we show some consistency from the off.

For what its worth and a week away from that first game, I would go with
1. M.Carberry
​2. P.Horton
3. N Dexter
4. M.Cosgrove
5. C.Ackermann
6. L Hill
​7. B.Raine
8. Z Chappell
9. C.Parkinson
10. G.Griffiths
11. M.Abbas
​

It's the 20 year anniversary of our last winning of the trophy for 'proper cricket' but I find  professional sports people are not big on history & records they perform in the here and now.  Preferring to focus on the moment not the past.

Its the older times like me that live on the memories, each year I dust off the commemorative plate from 1998 and wonder what might be, I know languishing in the 2nd tier that past glories are some way off but with a new coach fresh optimism 2018 might just be a step in the right direction.