Due to the runaway sucess (!) of this feature, I have put it on the Raggybear archive as a permenent post.
Warwickshire's start to the season has been disrupted somewhat by various injuries and problems with availability of key players. As usual news is a little patchy and in various places, so this is where the Raggybear comes into its own (with its patented traffic light system for availability, specifically for those people who are in a rush, or who are illiterate but with the capacity to recognise names). News as at today is:
Tim Ambrose - was available and waiting on Sunday, will play in the Championship game against Northants this week.
Ian Bell - will join up with the team for this week's championship match
Monde Zondeki - due to join the squad this week and expected to make his debut in the Championship
Boyd Rankin - missed out on last week's game through a lack of match fitness following his recovery from a broken foot but has now picked up a new shoulder injury which is ruling him out for now. He is due to have a scan this week.
Jim Troughton - continues to be troubled by the back injury he picked up before last week's game. Is due to begin training today, but is very doubtful for the game on Wednesday.
Naqqash Tahir - has begun light training following his shin splints problem, is unlikely to play this week.
Jimmy Anyon - has started training again, following recovery from a torn muscle in his right forearm but could still miss out this week. - updated, in the squad for CC match against Northants
Ian Salisbury - is in the squad for the CC game against Northants.
Stuart Hole - last reported to have a hamstring strain on 9th April, still out as far as I know.
Nick James - has fully recovered from the broken toe he suffered in the nets and played for the seconds last week and was in the squad for the FP Trophy game on Sunday.
Monday, 21 April 2008
Injury Update
Monday, 31 March 2008
Bowling Developments and rumours
Tom Allin: a 20yo fast bowler from Devon has been signed on a two year summer contract. He is currently studying sports coaching and management at Cardiff UCCE. He played 4 of Devon's five Minor Counties matches last year and took 33 wickets for North Devon in the Devon League Premier Division. He was clocked at 85mph in the nets at Warwickshire, so certainly seems a promising prospect.
Monde Zondeki: Ashley Giles is still hopeful of having Zondeki avaliable for most of the season, dispite his call up for South Africa's current tour. Warwickshire are waiting to see if there are any developments before looking for a replacement. In the first match of the current tour he did not play in the team, so there is a possibility he will be avaliable for more matches than was initially feared following his call-up.
Majid Haq: He impressed enough on his trial with Warwickshire last week to earn an extended trial in May. He is now touring Nambia with Scotland and will join up with Warwickshire on his return. He said in an interview with The Herald; "They've asked me to come back for another week in May, probably to play some games for the Second XI," he said. "I'm hoping something will come of it but Scotland definitely still comes first, at least until there's something signed. But the first week down there was good. We spent a lot of time in training doing sprinting work which was a real change for me."
Tim Southee: This one almost slipped past me, but the teenage New Zealand bowler may be joining up with the Bears later in the summer. Last week in the Telegraph, Charles Randall reported that Andy Moles, Tim's coach at Northern Districts, has recommended that the teenager links up with Warwickshire following the conclusion of Nez Zealand's tour of England. He may be being lined up to replace Zondeki in the event he is called up to the South Africa team, which would fit in pretty well.
Others: Nick James and Ian Westwood have recovered from a broken foot and thumb respectively and Boyd Rankin is still making progress on his stress fracture, but is not yet fully fit
Friday, 21 March 2008
Zondeki to arrive late
Events outside of their control have conspired to weaken the bowling attack for at least the opening game of the season against Worcestershire, and possibly beyond, as Monde Zondeki was called up to South Africa's tour of India.
While it appears to be good news for the player, it is not quite so good for Warwickshire as they lose arguably their only truly fast bowler. The call comes following another ugly dispute in South African cricket over race and quotas. Andre Nell was dropped from the tour party in favour of Charl Langeveldt, purely on grounds that Langeveldt is mixed-race and therefore fulfils one of the mandatory "coloured" player slots in a touring party. Upset by this turn of events Langeveldt withdrew from the side himself, saying "I have always fought for a place in the team but I don’t want to be put there because of my colour".
In 2002 South Africa, under Ray Mali stating they were moving from the divisive quota system to a softer "target" system, but since Mali stepped up to the ICC Presidency following the untimely death of Percy Son, the CSA have moved back towards stricter quotas of 7 "coloured" players in a touring party of 15, or 6 in a party of 14. The new, more combative head of the CSA, Norman Arendse, is keen on the quota system, but this is not a popular position and resulted in a recent cautious vote of confidence from the General Council of Cricket South Africa in his leadership
Following Langeveldt's withdrawal Zondeki was called up as a replacement into the side and has said he was overjoyed at the call; “It is nice to be rewarded for all the hard work I have put in this season,” he commented. “I wasn’t expecting it quite yet but I will grab every opportunity that I get. I toured Sri Lanka in 2005, so I do have some experience of the conditions on the sub-continent.”
Reports from South Africa though are mixed, with the main focus, understandably being on the circumstances of his call, which is unfortunate for a player who was the leading wicket taker in the South African domestic season. Independent Online, a South African news site is particularly scathing of the policy of quotas and comments that the call may not be in Zondeki's best interests, notably in the article "Zondeki is a quota player and he knows it".
Meanwhile Warwickshire are left to plan for Zondeki's absence from certainly the first match against Worcestershire and likely for the duration of South Africa's tour of England.
Friday, 18 January 2008
The Daily Pollock
So another day, no more really concrete news and yet I am writing another blog entry. Imagine if I was gainfully employed to sell newspapers? It would be even worse.
George (I feel we are on first name terms now after he appears to be considering me a source of forthright and well informed opinion on WCCC and is writing responses to my theorising in the Post, in a reciprocal manner to me ripping off all his stories and adding my own two pence - me? delusioned? Not a bit of it!). Anyway George (Dobell) has closed the book on the Zondeki signing and echoed my thoughts yesterday that he is almost certain to be in the squad for the SA tests this summer and therefore IF Pollock is signed there will only be a few games when they are both likely to be in the same team for Warwickshire.
Zondeki aparently added the illuminating comments: "The opportunity to work under Ashley Giles and bowling coach Allan Donald is too good to refuse. This promises to be a huge year for the Bears." In my head he went on to add the made up comments: "Its important to put the ball in the right areas. I feel its coming out nicely. My action is feeling really natural. AD will help me add some hostility to my game. The Edgbaston crowd generates a special atmosphere. They're a great bunch of lads in the dressing room." There is a possibility that the first set are as made up as the second.
George concludes; "Meanwhile, a host of counties have expressed an interest in signing Pollock. All will be disappointed. He has assured Giles that if he returns to county cricket, he would prefer to play at Edgbaston. The contractual details might take some time to resolve, but it is surely a question of 'when' not 'if' Pollock returns to Warwickshire."
Which sounds quite promising, but again does not add a great deal to Pollock's public comments from earlier in the week.
George - if you do read this blog (which would make a total of 4 people) then please refer to Pollock as "Polly" somewhere in your next article. It's a little out of keeping with your usual style, but not unduly so and It'll only be the two of us that'll know. Alternatively please refer to Pollock as "an old warhorse". Many thanks for your support George - it means a lot.
Thursday, 17 January 2008
Zondeki and Pollock signings "close"
George Dobell is reporting in the Post this afternoon that the deal to bring Monde Zondeki to Edgbaston should be completed today. While Cricinfo is reporting it as a done deal. George Dobell also reports that International duty with South Africa might mean he misses the first match of the season (against Worcestershire).
Also encouragingly Shaun Pollock is believed to have given a verbal assurance to Giles that if there is place for him at Edgbaston he will not be going elsewhere. This looks like being on a season long kolpak deal, however as far as I am aware he has commitments with the IPL Twenty20 tournament in India, which runs in April and possibly into May. So it is likely he will miss the first few weeks of the season as well.
It appears that Dobell has been faithfully reading the Raggy Bear, as I can only assume his comments regarding the irony/moral dilemma faced by Giles with the potential signing of Pollock following on from his pledge not to sign kolpaks; "His words and actions do not contrast quite as much as some might suggest". I can only think he must be referring to my post earlier in the week, where I pointed out the problem Giles has, which is largely restricted to a personal moral dilemma and one entirely of his own making.
I think the whole thing is probably a reflection of the relative inexperience Giles has in dealing with the media as a leader/figurehead (director of cricket), rather than a part of a larger entity (player for England/Warwickshire). It may well be that his comments have been reported out of context, or given undue weight, but in the 4 or 5 interviews where he has been quoted this winter he has consistently given soundbites/quotes promising no kolpak signings. Obviously he was referring to the likes of Alfonso Thomas and other journeymen on the circuit, not to players of the quality of Shaun Pollock. No sensible person would oppose the signing of Pollock, regardless of any commitments/comments/promises they believe Giles may have made, or on the basis it is likely to be a kolpak signing. Quite apart from anything else the rule to reduce counties to one overseas player is ridiculous when it is possible to sign so many inferior non-England qualified players. For this season it will likely mean that every Warwickshire player is technically England qualified, apart from two top class South African bowlers, which I for one wholly support.
I will also not lose too much sleep over the possibility of some of the younger seemers having reduced oppurtunities. Purely because I only expect both of the overseas players to be available for about 4-5 championship games (in May-June), neither to be available for the opening game. Furthermore there is now a proven bowling coach in place, coupled with the fact that having a chance to see how a bowler and cricketer of the class of Shaun Pollock conducts himself on a cricket field can only be a good thing. The biggest gap in the team was a senior seam bowler, I don't feel it is job Neil Carter can necessarily do.