Ahead of the Hundred draft next Wednesday (12th March) I will summarise the position I feel each of the men’s teams are in and where they might need to improve.
Birmingham Phoenix
Despite the retirement of Moeen Ali, Phoenix go into the draft in good shape. They’ve got a strong seam attack retained in the form of their Kiwi trio plus Wood and pace off options with Bethell,Livingstone, Mouseley and Howell. Mouseley in particular makes me think they can cope without Moeen as he can bowl some of his overs and bat higher up to cover. A front line leg spinner could still be on the agenda to add to the mix and maybe this could come in Rehan Ahmed. It is known that they were keen when he went to Southern Brave and he’d fit in well to the squad.
Batting wise, they’ve got 5 of a possible top 7 sorted with Smeed and Duckett opening and a middle order containing Livingstone, Bethell and Mouseley. Donald is also an exciting option off the bench too. It’ll be interesting to see what batters they target as I’d like to see Bethell bat at number 3 or 4 and a new middle order hitter added. With the abundance of top order bowling options retained, there isn’t really a need to add any more of those so they can go for the best out and out batter they can get.
Possible XI
1. Duckett
2. Smeed
3. Bethell
4. Livingstone
5.
6. Mouseley
7.
8. Howell
9. Milne
10. Southee
11. Boult
Wood
Donald
Possible targets: Legspinner, middle order hitter
Southern Brave
I really like the bowling attack for the Brave with plenty of pace options. I think an overseas spinner might be on the agenda to replace the outgoing Hosein and Ahmed. Whether Archer will play regularly in an Ashes year is doubtful though so they’ll need to add cover. An allrounder would be a nice addition too, as otherwise Jordan at 7 is maybe a bit high.
Batting wise I’m not too keen on the top order, Allen hasn’t performed well enough consistently for a long time and Du Plessis and Evans are both getting older. Du Plooy and Vince offer obvious strengths but the latter may have to drop down to number 3 to accommodate the overseas openers. I just don’t think it quite fits together well so it will be interesting to see how it goes.
Possible XI
1. Allen |
2. Du Plessis |
3. Vince |
4. Du Plooy |
5. Evans |
6. Coles |
7. Jordan |
8. Archer |
9. C Overton |
10. Briggs |
11. Mills |
Possible targets: Overseas spinner, allrounder, middle order batters
Welsh Fire
For me the weakest retentions of all the teams. I would talk about the bowling but it’s literally just Chris Woakes who may not play every game as an England Test player and a bit of Luke Wells. They basically need a whole new bowling attack and there aren’t a great deal of domestic options left once you remove Willey and Payne who weren’t retained by the Fire. Two overseas bowlers are essential to start this attack.
Batting wise there are a lot of top order right handers that have been retained. Bairstow, Smith, Kohler Cadmore and Eskinazi are all good players but they’ll all hope to bat in the top 3. It’s also Wells’ preference to bat at the top so it’ll be tricky to balance the batting order. Abell will come in at 4 or 5 and is a good player to have but I’m a bit concerned with the structure of this team.
Possible XI
1. Smith 2. Wells 3. Bairstow 4. Kohler-Cadmore 5. Abell 6. . 7. . 8. Woakes 9. . 10. . 11. . |
Eskinazi |
Possible targets: A bowling attack, all rounders and a batting finisher
London Spirit
Another team I’m not keen on the retentions of. It’s a lineup which feels like it’s built with batting on tricky wickets in mind but there is a serious lack of hitting in the batters retained. Williamson, Pope and Jennings is not an inspiring T20 top order and a lot will depend on how Smith performs. Letting Dan Lawrence go is a mistake in my view.
Bowling wise the 4 retained are all good options to have and I’m much happier with that side of the recruitment. Nathan Ellis going is a blow but there is a good chance he wouldn’t have played too often this season due to internationals so it is understandable.
1. Jennings
2. Pope
3. Williamson
4. Smith
5. .
6. .
7. .
8. Dawson
9. Stone
10. Worrall
11. Gleeson
Trent Rockets
I think these batting selections work. Hales’ departure means there’s a vacancy for Root to open the batting which feels like his best position in T20. Stoinis is a good all round addition to the squad with both bat and ball and Alsop and Hain are good options in the middle order.
Bowling wise it looks very light and a lot of work is needed to be done, so I’d hope to see bowling overseas recruitment for Rockets. Harrison, Cook and Turner are good bowling options to have though so a couple of decent overseas options would create a strong bowling group.
1. Root
2. Banton
3. Hain
4. Alsop
5. Stoinis
6.
7.
8.
9. Harrison
10. Cook
11. Turner
Possible signings: Overseas bowlers, all rounders, top order batting cover
Oval Invincibles
No major surprises here. The majority of last year’s winning squad retained with Zampa replaced by Rashid Khan. There’s not much else to say other than this is a fantastic squad who know their roles very well and it’d be a surprise if they weren’t in the top 3 come the finals. Only really an opening batter and opening overseas bowler needed to finish the team.
1. Jacks
2. Muyeye
3. Cox
4. S Curran
5. Billings
6. Ferreira
7. T Curran
8. Rashid Khan
9. Atkinson
10. Mahmood
11. Sowter
Possible targets- opening batter, overseas quick bowler, middle order batting cover
Manchester Originals
The prospect of Jos Buttler and Heinrich Klaasen batting together will be mouthwatering for Originals fans. With Salt as well you could see some big scores from this team. They would like to add some left handed batters and some finishers to round it off.
Bowling wise rumours suggest Noor Ahmed will be their first pick which makes sense at a traditionally spin friendly venue. I like Currie as a retention with the seam bowlers but the others don’t have a great deal of T20 experience so I’d like them to add an overseas quick to their squad too.
Possible XI
1. Salt
2. Hurst
3. Buttler
4. Klaasen
5.
6.
7.
8. Currie
9. Hartley
10. Tongue
11. Baker
Northern Superchargers
Possibly in a slightly different boat to most of the teams here with most of their bowling options tied down and lacking some batting at the top of the order. This may play into their favour at the draft as they may get a free run at their favourite domestic top order batter choice. For me I think Lawrence would be a great addition to this team, adding a top order bowling option that they’ve lost with Short’s departure too. Maybe Malan could be a target as despite his advancing age has continued to have a fantastic record at Headingley in the Blast. Miller’s availability might be an issue, though a post-Champions Trophy ODI retirement can’t be ruled out. A wicket keeper also needed for the Superchargers.
I’m surprised Dwarshius has been retained but the spin duo of Santner and Rashid is as strong as it gets in this competition and Potts was very impressive in last year’s tournament. I’m not sure Lawes and Brown are offering a lot to the squad as cover though. Carse hasn’t really sorted his game in t20 yet but is still probably worth keeping in the team as the potential is there.
Possible XI
1. Clark
2.
3.
4. Brook
5. Miller
6.
7. Dwarshius
8. Carse
9. Santner
10. Potts
11. Rashid
Lawes
Brown
Possible targets: top order batters, keeper, all rounder
