SOMERSET & ENGLAND T20 REPORTS
JAMES Hildreth has been reflecting on the dramatic changes in T20 cricket over the course of his 200 games in the format for Somerset.
The 36-year-old batsman was scheduled to celebrate the latest milestone is his illustrious county career against Surrey at The Oval last night, having had the double century put on hold by the weather.
Hildreth would have played in the previous two Vitality Blast group matches against Sussex Sharks and Glamorgan, had both not been abandoned without a ball bowled, leaving him on 199 T20 appearances.
Plenty of players around the world have made considerably more. But none has done so representing only one team, as has been the case with James since making his Somerset debut in what was then the Twenty20 Cup back in 2004.
Kieron Pollard, for example, has racked up an amazing 540 T20 games, playing for West Indies and 16 different sides around the world, including Somerset.
It is a lifestyle Hildreth has never craved. Studies and later family ties persuaded him against seeking employment in other countries.
But no one is better placed to assess the evolution of 20-over cricket in England.
James’ debut against Warwickshire at Edgbaston came at the start of only the second season the domestic competition was played.
“T20 was hugely different back then,” he told me. “The format was looked upon as gimmicky and I remember Australia having nicknames on the back of their shirts.
“People weren’t taking it seriously and no one really knew how to play it effectively.
“Batsmen would either whack the ball from ball one, without much control, or bat too slowly to try and stay in.
“Many of the shots you see nowadays didn’t exist. Reverse sweeps had already come into white ball cricket, but it was only when Kevin Pietersen started hitting sixes by changing hands that others followed.
“It was the same with the scoop, made popular by the Sri Lankan batsman Dilshan. At the start of T20, bowlers would seek to send down yorkers, but that changed when batsmen started going down and lifting full balls over their own heads and the wicketkeeper.
“Things are still developing. Reverse hits are made by changing feet as well as hands and there is a shot for getting the ball to any part of the ground.
“Bowlers have responded with deliveries out of the back of the hand and slow bouncers, which can be very difficult to pick up.
“Another big change is that spinners were thought of as being cannon-fodder in the early years of the competition because they sent the ball down so slowly, whereas now they have developed the skills to be an important part of most bowling attacks.”
Hildreth himself has mixed orthodox shots with newlyacquired ones in accumulating around 3,800 T20 runs for Somerset at an average over 24, including a career-best 107 not out against Glamorgan at Taunton in 2012.
His favourite innings came seven years earlier when scoring just 16 not out against Lancashire at The Oval, a knock that included hitting the winning runs in only the third Twenty20 Cup final.
“Graeme Smith won us the game with a brilliant half-century,” recalled Hildreth.
“It was only my second season in the team, so it was amazing to even be batting with a great player like Graeme.
“Somerset have had many other wonderful overseas T20 players over the years, so it is a real disappointment that we have not lifted the trophy since.”
Just to disprove the theory that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, James has taken on a different role as opener in this season’s Vitality Blast and contributed 97 runs in his first three innings.
“It was an idea first suggested by Johan Myburgh during his time with Somerset,” he said.
“With no overseas batsman this summer, Jason Kerr and Lewis Gregory encouraged me to open, and I am thoroughly enjoying it.
“There is no pressure on me and I can free my arms from the start. If I get in and my other scoring areas are cut off by fielders, you might even see the Hildreth scoop!”
» Mark Thorburn could hardly have hoped for a better result and performance from his first game in charge of Gloucestershire.
The club’s performance analyst and bowling coach took the helm for Tuesday night’s Vitality Blast home game with Kent Spitfires because head coach Ian Harvey was absent as a Covid 19 precaution.
Harvey is spending ten days in isolation, while assistant Mark Alleyne has commitments at Marlborough College, so Thorburn will again be in charge for tonight’s South Group match against Glamorgan at the Bristol County Ground and the visit to Sussex Sharks tomorrow.
He will be hoping for a repeat of the Kent game, which saw Gloucestershire race to a brilliant eightwicket win with more than six overs to spare against the South Group leaders.
Mark told me: “It was a fantastic performance by the players. I wish I could say it was inspired by my Churchillian speech before the game!
“In fact, I said very little. The lads are used to my monologues after matches and it was just a case of reminding them what we do well. I was even more nervous than usual watching the game, but we played so well that the result was virtually beyond doubt after the first six overs of our innings.
“It made for a very exciting evening, capped when Glenn Phillips ended the game with a switch-hit six.
“I am enjoying the brief extra responsibility and it’s an amazing learning experience, but I’m not sure how Richard Dawson did the head coach job for six years. Six days will be enough for me!”
Thorburn, 42, joined Gloucestershire as performance analyst in 2006 and was later given the role of bowling coach by then director of cricket John Bracewell.
“My ambition at the moment is simply to continue working with the bowling group at the club, while also helping to develop the youngsters coming through,” he said.
Thorburn is hoping that Ian Cockbain’s ankle injury, sustained in a collision with Kent leg-spinner Qais Ahmad on Tuesday night, will not prove serious, but does not expect him to face Glamorgan.
Harvey should be back in charge for the Blast clash with arch-rivals Somerset at Bristol a week today.
❝ The format was looked upon as gimmicky James Hildreth