posted 4 Weeks Ago

Interesting signing, I hope it works out for him and he finds some form again next year. Does anyone know how he's doing in South Africa at the moment?

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posted 4 Weeks Ago

Everything in life is "expectation" versus "performance."

Monty came into the England squad with very moderate expectations and over performed.
Turned into a cult hero.

Then when the expectations went sky-high, he couldn't handle the pressure.

What he needs is some low pressure, low expectation cricket, and the work his way back up, rebuild his confidence.

The fresh start at Sussex can only help. He needs to forget about England for the next 12 months, and work on his fundamentals. I suspect he will be back to the old Monty, only this time mentally tougher, in due course.

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posted 4 Weeks Ago

A completly pointless signing IMHO. If he does well he will be selected by England and if he doesn't we are stuck with an expensive flop!

Spinners

Panesar
Rayner
Beer
Hamilton-Brown
Yardy
Nash
Wells

Seamers

Arafat
Collymore
Martin-Jenkins
Wright
Kirtley
Aga
Liddle

We have as many spinners as seamers!

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posted 4 Weeks Ago

Overrated.

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posted 4 Weeks Ago

Interesting to note that the regulars on here all agree that he's surplus to requirements. Well he's a Sussex player now so I'll get behind him, but I feel absolutely rotten for Billy Beer just about now.

Congrats to all the B&HA Sussex fans are in order. Nice to hear Sussex by the sea being sung so lustily yesterday at st mary's. What a performance! 2nd best team on the costa do sul.

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posted 4 Weeks Ago

I think we really need a quality swing bowler more than anything else. Kirtley isn't the bowler that he was and we're really missing Rana.

Will Beer may still have a lot to learn but Ollie Rayner is progressing nicely and Rory Hamilton-Brown - future England captain - is also developing some dangerous spin bowling. I just hope the Sussex management haven't gone and convinced themselves that the myth is true that Sussex was only ever about Mushie. We got relegated last year because of a lack of quality swing bowling and some decidedly poor batting performances.

That said, everybody had written off Mushie when he came to Hove (and Saqlain for that) so if any county can get the best out of Monty it'd be us.

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posted 4 Weeks Ago

pompey,

Amazing what a new manager can do to a team. It took Poyet just 3 days to sort out the Brighton defence, while our Keegan/Toshack forward combo can finally get on winning us matches.

I am so excited I even took a 16/1 bet that Brighton will be promoted this season. The team are only 10 points behind the play-off positions with close to two thirds of the season still to come.

Umm, now back to cricket. Monty who??

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posted 4 Weeks Ago

We have as many spinners as seamers!

======================

Maybe, but three of them are part-timers (Yardy, Wells and Nash). That'd be like England saying "why do we need to call up Rashid to the test squad when we already have Swann, Pietersen and Cook?"

If you look at out-right spinners (i.e. not part-timers or all-rounders like H-B), we'd have three, Rayner, Monty and Beer. Not the end of the world. Especially given that Beer is still hugely inexperienced and I wouldn't be playing as a main spinner in LVCC cricket for a few years yet, let him learn his craft and all. So that means we effectively have Rayner and Monty as the two main spinners, with monty able to give some advice and experience to the young 'uns. Rayner hardly set the world on fire last season, did he. Averaged 43, yes? Frankly, Monty would be in above him simply because he's a better spinner, and if Rayner doesn't like it...well, he's not that great a loss if we're honest if he's having seasons like that on one of the best wickets for spin in the country.

We do need a quality seamer, but there's no reason why we can't get one of those as well. I can't imagine Wright will be playing test cricket next summer, so for most of the season we'll have an attack of Kirtley, Arafat, Wright, Panesar and Collymore. Probably one of the best attacks in the second division. If we get an extra seamer to cover injury and so on, fantastic.

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posted 4 Weeks Ago

Suits him really. Second division!

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