Ball one: Going from A to Z not just A to B

The lack of imagination in naming the One-Day Cup groups “A and B” led me to wonder about the lack of imagination more generally in what is something of a free hit for limited-overs cricket. With 29 days available to whittle down 18 counties to two finalists, are two groups of nine the best way to do it?

Is there an opportunity to create more jeopardy through greater use of knockout matches and repechages? A set of mini-series of three matches to create narratives across, say, a weekend, as happens in baseball? Bonus points for bigger wins?

That’s off the field, but what about on it? A captain is very restricted in how he can set a field, so how can more innovation be encouraged? Maybe he could nominate 10 overs (each signalled at the start of one so designated) to withdraw a fielder in return for 10 overs in which they could introduce an extra man? Should LBWs be given for balls going on to hit the stumps, even if struck outside the line of off stump playing a shot? Should bowlers be given a maximum allocation of 12 overs?

Tinkering maybe, but the white-ball game has seen so many changes over the last 60 years that trialling a few more would not hurt. Perhaps the best suggestion of all might be to play 40 overs per side, restrict run-ups and start at 2pm – but where does a crazy idea like that come from?

Ball two: Lewis Hill sets Leicestershire’s batting on upward trend

Leicestershire have the only 100% record in a rain-ravaged Group A, their two crushing wins auguring well for the matches to come. The victories were different in style, chasing down Surrey’s 325 all out with 46 balls in hand, then setting Kent a mountainous 381 before bowling them out for a pitiful 116 (Roman Walker bagging six wickets with his seamers) but the underpinning tactic was the same.

Seven Foxes batters have taken strike in each match and Rishi Patel’s 50 against Kent is the only innings that reached double figures in total but not triple figures in strike rate. Lewis Hill is taking a leaf out of Ben Stokes’ book and attacking with everything, everywhere all at once – and it’s working so far.

Ball three: Taylor weaves some drama out of ragged chase

Gloucestershire enjoy the only 100% record in Group B after a match that threatened to disappear twice before two revivals made a day of it.

The Cheltenham crowd must have been contemplating a late afternoon visit to one of the spa town’s many tearooms as the home side subsided to 142 for seven in the 30th over. But Graeme van Buuren was still there and still looking for a partner – eventually finding one in veteran Pakistan international pacer, Anwar Ali, the two adding 104 for the eighth wicket. Game on.

Game off again 16 overs into Northamptonshire’s reply with the scoreboard displaying a sorry 54 for six, Ajeet Singh Dale and Tom Price knocking over the home side’s top order. But there was another big stand to come, 106 for the ninth wicket between Tom Taylor, making his maiden century, and Jack White, whose unexpected 29 from No 10 added to his List A total of 38 runs from his previous 13 matches.

The tail’s heroics were not enough to pull off a shock result, but the hour was more suited to steak and wine than scones and Earl Grey when the day’s entertainment concluded.

Ball four: Worcestershire rue Rew as his career leaps forward

Worcestershire, the only county to have completed three matches, failed to make it six points from six after going down the M5 to Taunton only to run into the batting juggernaut that is James Rew.

They felt the force of the Somerset teenager’s second List A century to go with his six first class tons, as he continued his extraordinary season. At the crease from the 18th over until the 48th, his knock’s value was underlined as the home side lost six wickets for 46 runs in the last nine overs. Over to the Somerset bowlers then, who kept taking wickets at good times (OK, there’s never a bad time I know), but seven Worcestershire batters got starts with only Ben Cox crossing 50, the chase stalling repeatedly.

Rew has played age-group cricket for England and his name must be high in selectors’ thoughts as squad rebuilding is on the agenda post-Ashes and post-ODI World Cup. Whether he should retain the gloves is probably a conversation for another day but the weight of runs suggests his position in this match, No 4, is probably the right one in the longer term.

James Rew batting for Somerset against Worcestershire in the One-Day Cup. Photograph: Harry Trump/Getty Images Ball five: Batter of the week

Kent’s 21-year-old all-rounder, Joey Evison, finished last season’s One-Day Cup holding the trophy in one hand and the player of the match award in the other – a happy memory to comfort a less happy season at Canterbury.

It must have given him confidence as he walked to the crease to join Ben Compton with the score on 49 for four. They added 219, Evison’s share 136, with Compton notching a ton of his own, the pair responsible for a remarkable 90% of Kent’s runs off the bat.

Six can be a very tricky spot in 50-overs cricket – sometimes one has to rebuild, pacing an innings against defensive fields whilst ensuring that there are wickets in hand to charge for the line and sometimes it’s about converting strong foundations into match winning totals. Evison got his knock just right and his team were rewarded with the points.

Ball six: Bowler of the week

It is rare for the same player to be batter and bowler of the week but Ben Coad opened for Yorkshire and went through his full allocation to return, wait for it, 10–3–16–3. That may not be the best analysis of the week – and a combination of rain and Kent’s James Bazley did enough to ensure that Duckworth, Lewis and Stern sent the points south – but forgive those of us of a certain age a little wallowing in nostalgia.

That sequence of numbers conjures thoughts of Richie Benaud getting carried away at a Gillette Cup match, the curtains drawn against a high summer sun the better to see the screen. Of Jim Laker and John Arlott (introduced by Peter West, blazered but a little windswept on the pavilion balcony) commentating on a JPL match from Headingley, as Monday morning (and school) loomed on the horizon. Of Barry Wood, Jack Simmons and David Hughes not being hit for four no matter who the batters were.

Proust can keep his madeleines – I’ll take Ben Coad’s bowling analysis, please.

This article is from The 99.94 Cricket Blog Follow Gary Naylor on Twitter