Copying a useful thread on the Sussex board.

Going to kick off with Surrey following their signing of Tremlett today. My intial reaction was OMG, they must have an amazing squad now but having checked the BBC section they've still got a pretty average squad, in my opinion.

Batsmen
M Brown (ave 37 in 2009), Newman (27), Ramps (90 - class !), Jordan (30) and Meaker (26)

All-rounders
Afzaal SLA (57, 50 bowling), Batty (11 and 78 .. that's the batting one first btw), Hamilton-Brown OB (34)

Keepers
Davies (40), Wilson

Bowlers
Chawla LB, Pedro Collins LFM (31), Nel (28), Scofield LB (36,62 so poss an all-rounder), Dernbach (39) and Tremlett

Others : list of players who featured, or may feature but don't really amount to much
Evans, Harinth, Jewell, King, Lancefield, Linley, Logan, Roy, Spiegal, Waters.

So a 1st team might be ok but there's still no depth to the squad. And how or where is G Batty going to get a game ? In no particular order :

M Brown
S Newman
Ramprakash
Jordan
Hamilton-Brown
Davies
Afzaal
Chawla
Pedro Collins
Nel
Tremlett

Think Newman and Collins have gone elsewhere now. Be interesting to see how they go. Lots of activity but a lot has to go right cos its easy to forget how bad they were last year. Won just 8 games in all comps and their div 2 points tally would just about have got them relegated in Div one. Im not that impressed with all the signings really - I know Davies is a good bat but hes not a big enough improvemnet on Batty to make a huge difference. RHB has only played 8 FC games. Batty you know about. Tremlett did nothing last year (and Ive just read has an average of 44 at the Oval). I reckon Chawla is the key and may get them up - but even with him Sussex werent interested on keeping him because of prima donna tendencies.

45 quid a pint is cheap at half the price Serchers - like it

I don't think there can be a single county captain or director of cricket who wouldn't quietly enjoy giving this bunch a good hiding.

Trying to think of a good (cleanish) acronym along the lines of ABU for the alliance of small counties...

Ha ha .. I know where you've been !

If Newman and Collins have gone then they might be in trouble. I can see why Davies might have been offered big bucks. Could be a long 5 year plan for Surrey.

The real indicator there of the power of Slurry is the Tremlett signing...his Dad Tim is the Director of Cricket at Hants.- and so Chris has turned down both his Dad and Mr.Bransgrove's money.

Given that it must be a little cold in the Tremlett household tonight- if Chris Tremlett can be turned by Slurry, then who is immune?

Newman is now at Middlesex

Yes, sorry for out of date info. Blaming BBC ! At least they're trying to keep up whereas cricinfo still shows 2009 squads and stats.

I still think Worcs will be in the mix this season, mostly because the other counties have pretty poor squads.

Jordan and Meaker are seam bowling all-rounders who, like most of the squad last year, batted everywhere in the line up so that Grizzly could see who was prepared to climb mountains. Naturally he hadn't decided who was going the moment he arived at the Oval.

IMO Spriegel is underrated and is the man who will keep Batty out of the eleven.

WBB There are two gentlemen at Canterbury who are immune. RHB was third choice.

I've heard Robinho has been linked on a loan move and is pencilled in to open...

I like the look of the bowling attack, and obviously the keeper, think they are a batsman or two short of dominating CC Div 2!!!

But something tells me Tremlett won't be the last signing before the season starts.

Here's a very interesting article on TME. I couldn't decide whether to post here or any one of either Dobellwatch, Club finances, AGM etc.

http://www.testmatchextra.com/Blogs.aspx?BlogView=Post&PostID=4af5ad8c-65b0-4835-a828-a4b6f2de49bf&BloggerID=e7006e8f-7d67-46a1-9c0f-a1c0f94edf21

Sussex have made a small profit after several years of heavy losses. Plus they also got relegated last year. So how do we compare ? And is the doom and gloom from some quarters (eg Dobell and a few disgruntled supporters) fair on WCCC. If Sussex, winners of several trophies and with a decent squad stuggle then why should we be any different ? Perhaps the management and coaches at Sussex are terrible (if you follow the illogical arguments from some). Key points/comments :

But Brooks, celebrating his first year in the top job at Hove this month, forecasts another difficult year for county clubs as the effects of the recession continue to bite.

Sussex’s coffers were boosted considerably by last June’s four-day game against Australia which was sold out on three days and attracted a total attendance of more than 25,000.

It made up for lower gate receipts and hospitality income from Sussex’s group games in the Twenty20 Cup which Brooks blames on the earlier start to last year’s competition.

Sussex went on to win the title for the first time, which earned them a place in the inaugural Champions League in India, as well as retaining their Pro40 title and reaching the Friends Provident Trophy final.

But all that success in one-day cricket was not the cash cow it might have seemed.

Brooks said: “You don’t tend to make money winning those competitions because the prize money tends to go back into player renumeration.

"Gate receipts in the early stages of the FP Trophy were non-existent and our Twenty20 group games were awful, both at the gate and commercially, because it started earlier.

“It will be tough again in 2010 because every year the smaller counties start from nil. You have to persuade members to renew, sell tickets and attract sponsors and this year we are going up against the football World Cup.”

Money from winning the two trophies and in Indian Twenty 20 competition went to the players. Should the money go to the players as they are well paid these days?

Oh. Another club losing money. Gloucs have lost £160,000. And some cricket correspondants kindof made out that it was just Worcs being inept.

http://www.testmatchextra.com/Blogs.aspx?BlogView=Post&PostID=bf0a207a-ef18-4ecb-9bdc-aeaf6ec21595&BloggerID=61ba7734-5291-4db7-91eb-89589b30a87e

“I believe we must continue to host international cricket to be viable from a financial point of view. And that viability will enable us to have the best possible team because anything we do on the financial side is aimed at boosting performances on the field.


Meanwhile, I expect Kim must be on the brink of a breakdown with this news :

http://www.testmatchextra.com/Blogs.aspx?BlogView=Post&PostID=21e24d8b-ee40-4864-8046-b3f1f591d583&BloggerID=c84ade10-92a1-47bd-81ad-7a789e37350b

Wow, that is incredible, NZ going for him.
Be very interesting to see how that goes as they ain't that bad a side, or I should say 'Weren't too bad a side'

Its totally unbelievable, Serchers - totally.

Derbyshire doing ok, made profit fourth year running, be it only £14,000

http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/sport/County-cricket-Derbyshire-post-fourth-successive-profit/article-1783574-detail/article.html

Kent meanwhile are in dire straights. Made a loss of £700k previous year and last year's results to be announced soon. But bad enough for the chief exec to leave in November and membership prices for 2010 have shot up 50-70% > although to be fair I think they were too cheap before as membership this year is now £200.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/cricket/counties/article6966893.ece