Print

[tailender]

Morning guys

I try to follow county cricket as much as I can (well as much as the misses will allow)

I follow Lancashire and get down to a few championship and T20 games when I can.  I try not to cast opinions on players much as I am more than aware that they are far better than many of us, but i have been particularly disappointed with Horton at Lancashire for the past few seasons now and cant fathom why he is A) a capped player and B) Vice Captain/Captain??

Lancashire seem to have a nack of signing "naff" players... Saj Mahmood, Mike Smethurst, Jamie Haynes, Scuderi (remember him!) to name a few!

I bet the county circuit is full of players who never seem to be flamboyant/stand out players yet still do very well from the game.

Be interesting to hear what everyone else thinks.....

[Manormanic]

If you looked at it in Moneyball terms, Horton is probably just about worth the money - he has made decent numbers of runs in the past and all that, even if he is an annoying whiny git and clearly wouldn't even get into the Yorkshire Academy side (sorry, but can neer pass up a chance to kick a Lancastrian when they're down!).  As for the others, most counties can probably list a number of players who never quite acheived what it was hoped they might acheive - for Yorkshire I'd mention Richard Stemp, who came from Worcestershire as the next big thing of English spin and proen to be little more than a clubbie, and the legend that was Chris Pickles...

[tailender]

haha any excuse to get one over on a Lancastrian!

It baffles me how such players get through the ranks though. Surely at 19... it was apparent that Horton wasn't going to be anything special, as with many others, or maybe they are brilliant at a young age and plateau?

I wonder how much the likes of Horton will be on, given that he is capped etc

[Manormanic]

To be fair, he does average over 37 in first class cricket, which is not totally whack.  If your fifth or sixth batsman did that eery year yo'd be quite happy...problem is, for Lancashire he's more or less the main man.

[tailender]

37 is a bloody good effort IMO, but I suppose I always think of a professional player as being someone much better than a club cricketer, truth is I have played with many club cricketers who would get into that Lancashire squad without a doubt, not just Lancashire mind.

[Stuey]

From my experience, Counties (I'll use Essex as my example), focus on certain Schools to provide source of their playing staff and then select clubs for them to play at. If you don't go to the 'right' school or play for the 'right' club you will rarely get a look in. I believe this is why a lot of journeyman cricketers are able to make a living in this country and potentially far better players get missed.

[tailender]

From my experience, Counties (I'll use Essex as my example), focus on certain Schools to provide source of their playing staff and then select clubs for them to play at. If you don't go to the 'right' school or play for the 'right' club you will rarely get a look in. I believe this is why a lot of journeyman cricketers are able to make a living in this country and potentially far better players get missed.

Yes, I agree, I think it isn't too far from the truth to assume that for every "average, but the face fits" player that gets a contract, many naturally gifted players slip through the net.  At some point though, it must boil down to wages etc? as it makes financial sense to have 5-6 young lads on particularly low wages with one or two top earners in the squad.  Ive often wondered what goes on behind the scenes at a club i.e the process of selection, the allocation of wages, the allocation of caps etc

[wayward_hayward]

Surely Saj Mahmood is stealing a living at Essex currently. Barely plays for the 2's and normally doesn't bowl!

[tailender]

That's an interesting one.... I heard Mahmood was playing for a team in the Liverpool Competition for a ridiculous amount of cash..... I checked the competition website and he barely got any wickets.  So not only is he robbing a county career he's taking the place of a poor club cricketer paying subs to fund his wages lol!

[Alvaro]

It could be that Horton is worth more to the team than the numbers suggest?

[Bats_Entertainment]

From my experience, Counties (I'll use Essex as my example), focus on certain Schools to provide source of their playing staff and then select clubs for them to play at. If you don't go to the 'right' school or play for the 'right' club you will rarely get a look in. I believe this is why a lot of journeyman cricketers are able to make a living in this country and potentially far better players get missed.

Which are the right schools and clubs in Essex?

[tailender]

It could be that Horton is worth more to the team than the numbers suggest?

Interesting point, care to elaborate?

[19reading87]

Great topic, however with the fact there are rumoured to be a number of current county players on here. Let's not be to hard towards them. After all they are doing a job the majority of us can only dream of doing

[Twelfth Man]

Which are the right schools and clubs in Essex?

Felsted is certainly one on their list. Look up the private schools and you'll have a few for the list.

[iand123]

Pretty much anyone Kent brings in from other counties tend to be at the end of their careers, resulting in a decent start and then either mediocrity until the end of the contract or injury