Club Captaincy advice....

[Muloghonto]

Shortbread, to answer your original question (whether to promote yourself up the order or not), can you please provide a brief bio of your top 7 order ? Like what type of batsmen, strengths and weaknesses. Personally, I've been in the position you are in currently a few times ( I used to be a wicket keeper mostly who was a limited batsman or a bowler who was a limited batsman) and IMO tinkering with the batting order is situational, requiring additional tinkerings to compensate usually. If you are good at the role of an anchor, promoting yourself would be a good idea but you would have to compensate ( by putting a similar guy down to occupy your natural spot) or go all-in and get in with the next most solid guy in the lineup. Its difficult to tell without full info. But seems like the league you are playing in, survival is the issue #1 ( where less than 2.5 rpo is the going rate ?) and as such, the role of an anchor becomes premium. You need to identify the batsmen with the best anchor-like qualities. By that, i don't mean the best technique. Anchoring is more than technique, its about focus and ability to stick to a plan. Discipline. Hope this helps.

[BlueBee]

Good luck for your Match :cheer:

[shortbread]

Shortbread' date=' to answer your original question (whether to promote yourself up the order or not), can you please provide a brief bio of your top 7 order ? Like what type of batsmen, strengths and weaknesses.[/quote'] Thanks for the response: Bat 1, Ab: our most consistent player last season. Very patient and focussed. But has been getting out to low scores this season. Mostly caught at slip and point. Bat 2, Ud: new batsman, highest scorer this season. Plays everything of the backfoot (no feet movement). Is scary to watch as a captain but has been delivering the goods 8 times out of 10. Bat 3, Ad: poor technique but is a fighter. Effective against slower bowlers and part timers. Struggles against good quickies. Bat 4, Sri: My best batsman by far, Loves the ball coming onto the bat. I have seen him tear apart really good bowlers last season. Has been attempting shots very early this season and been geting out for single digits. Did spend some time last game and scored 43. Bat 5, Lu: Cocky restless player. Has plenty of shots but attempts them too often. He is a good batsman but gets out in his 20s. Expect 30 odd runs on a good day. Bat 6, Nv: New batsman this season, very good technique but low on confidence. Getting out to low scores. Bat 7, Myself: can defend any ball aided by a rather large body. Very limited number of shots, mostly play offside. My role is to anchor the innings in case (very often) of a top order collapse. Can stay on the crease for hours but will stifle the run rate. 200 odd is a very good score in our league. But the rival we are speaking about rely wholly on their bowling attack. If you are interested this is what their scorecard for this season looks like. Sat 24 May 2014: Opponent 60a.o. S Ling 27; J Holt 4-21, Our Rival 61for 5 L Thom 38no; S Ling 3-23 Sat 17 May 2014: Opponent 35a.o. D Mitchell 18; J Thom 6-20 inc 4 in 4 balls L Thom 4-14 Our Rival 37 for 4, J Thom 16no; D Mitchell 3-18 Sat 10 May 2014: Our Rival 253 for 8, F Summers 96, A Mirashi 50; A Grayson 4-56, Opponent (weak side) 116 a.o., W Clayton 17; J Thom 4-10, A Mirashi 4-44 Sat 03 May 2014 Opponent 100 a.o. R McEwan 27, P Cunningham 14; J Thom 3-15, Our Rival 101 for 3 (30) Grade 3 J Thom 48, R Kola 26; M Bestwick 2-26

[shortbread]

First of all, congrats on being an active player participating in this beautiful game. To add to the advice already given, maybe your batsmen should practice with the pitch length reduced to 20 yards instead of 22.

Thanks for the idea, will try it next practice session. Should make the nets more challenging for the batsmen. Hopefully this does not mean the bowlers will end up bowling short in the game.