Northamptonshire Road to Glory

[CrazyCaptain101]

Northamptonshire Career - Road to Glory

In this story, I will aim to win Northamptonshire their first ever County Championship. It will not be an easy feat, but I feel if we can pick up some good youth players and some handy veterans, we can bolster our squad and look to be promoted within a couple of seasons.

Goals for this save

- Obviously win the County Championship
- Build a dynasty

In this first season, I want to try and push for Knockouts in the LO matches as well.

Without further ado, let's go make a dynasty!!!

[CrazyCaptain101]

Contracts

I look into youth players and find Barry White, whose averages in 2nd team cricket of 51, 40, and 37 stand out to me. I give him a 3 year deal and hope to develop him nicely. I also pick up Lukas Carey on a 1 year deal as a backup pace bowler.

Squad Overview

Batters

We have a few handy openers, such as Ricardo Vasconcelos and Emilio Gay, with Prithvi Shaw also an option when he comes back from the IPL. Our middle order is where it gets a bit fragile though, with only George Bartlett and Rob Keogh looking half-decent in that area. Justin Broad and Barry White also provide some youth. Karun Nair will likely hold down the No. 3 position in most formats as he is our most experienced batter.

Keepers

Vasconcelos will likely take the gloves in the Championship, while Lewis McManus is also an option. In the Blast, Matthew Breetzke will be available as a hard-hitting option for the top order.

All-Rounders

David Willey will be a good all-rounder but won't play the first 7 weeks of the season, so we will need to find a replacement. Luke Procter looks handy but scores very slowly, so Saif Zaib will likely start in that position. In the Blast, we are spoiled for choices, with Ravi Bopara, Sikandar Raza and Ashton Agar all available.

Bowlers

This is where we look frail. Ben Sanderson is obviously a class act, but after him there's not much. Michael Finan looks handy but has a horrible economy rate, while Chris Tremain provides experience.

Overall, this first season is very important. I want to play well in the Championship and push for promotion, and qualify for a LO Knockout stage.

[CrazyCaptain101]

Sussex v Northamptonshire

Sussex XI - T. Haines, T. Clark, C. Pujara, T. Alsop, J. Coles, J. Simpson, F. Hudson-Prentice, J. Archer, B. Currie, A. Karvelas, O. Robinson
Northamptonshire XI - R. Vasconcelos, E. Gay, R. Keogh, K. Nair, G. Bartlett, B. White, S. Zaib, M. Finan, G. Scrimshaw, C. Tremain, B. Sanderson

To be brutally honest, I have no idea what the starting lineup should look like, so I let the AI picked it and just made a couple of changes.

Win Predictor is not very kind here - only a 10% chance we win this match.

We lose the toss and get forced to bowl first, with Tremain picking up Haines in the 3rd over. A big 105 run stand between Clark and Pujara set them up nicely before it becomes overcast and we pick up consistent wickets to leave them 227 all out after 77.2 overs.

Gay formed a handy 35 run opening stand with Vasconcelos before a procession of wickets left us 5-66. Handy lower order runs from Bartlett, Zaib and Finan helped us get past 200, but only just.

Clark and Haines batted well up top, with Clark scoring 72. Alsop's 89, along with quickfire 40s from Simpson, Hudson-Prentice and Archer helped them get 369 and leaving us a target of 392 over 4 sessions.

Another top order failure left us 5-18 in 12 overs before Zaib and Gay saw out Day 3. Gay fell early on Day 4 and despite some handy runs from our tail, we were bowled out for 154.

Match lost by 248 runs
MOTM - Saif Zaib

A deflating first game. Zaib played extraordinarily, scoring 2 50s and taking 7 wickets, but no one else supported him.

[CrazyCaptain101]

Northamptonshire v Middlesex

Northamptonshire XI - R. Vasconcelos, E. Gay, R. Keogh, K. Nair, G. Bartlett, J. Broad, S. Zaib, M. Finan, G. Scrimshaw, C. Tremain, B. Sanderson
Middlesex XI - M. Stoneman, N. Fernandes, S. Eskinazi, L. du Plooy, M. Holden, J. Cracknell, R. Higgins, M. Andersson, T. Roland-Jones, T. Helm, E. Barber

Just the one change for us, White coming out with a stomach bug, so Broad will replace him.

We win the toss and bat, and I am left to question my decision when Vasconcelos is out in the first over for 1. Not one partnership was worth more than 50 as we were bowled out for a measly 151, Gay top scoring with 42. Broad also got injured and retired hurt on 13.

A century from Fernandes and 50s from Holden and Andersson meant they were bowled out for 334, leaving us 183 in errears.

It looked like we could form a handy score after Keogh and Gay combined for 67 but another all out collapse occurred. Gay ended on 71 but no one else passed 30 as we were bowled out for 178.

Match lost by an innings and 5 runs
MOTM - Toby Roland-Jones