14 man squad, Hose drops out through injury, Malan and Woakes added to the squad for the first two games.

Highveld wrote:

14 man squad, Hose drops out through injury, Malan and Woakes added to the squad for the first two games.

I guess Malan will be in for Hose and Woakes for Miles today.

Bald_Reynard wrote:

Highveld wrote:

14 man squad, Hose drops out through injury, Malan and Woakes added to the squad for the first two games.

I guess Malan will be in for Hose and Woakes for Miles today.

Malan did come in for Hose, but CW came in for Bresnan - Miles stays.

We lost the toss and Derby elected to bat. Mousley & Woakes opening the bowling - not very successfully, Derby hit 17 off the first 2 overs.

A very patchy fielding display by the Bears. Mis-fields and dropped catches.

Chris Woakes showing how much the Bears have missed both his batting and his bowling.

Good win that, we made a fair few errors throughout but still got over the line.

Don't think Malan ever wants to see the Incora Country Ground ever again...

At least Malan is consistent.
It wasn’t the best but sometimes you just need to find a way to win. Especially in this format.

Winning without playing well is a good sign - the better performances will follow. Where did we get Malan from? When you consider Glamorgan got Marnus Labuschagne as their overseas batsman, why can't we sign a top player like him?

I'm sure Malan will prove to be a good signing. what we don't know is the size of the positive effect he has on the squad, with Bell, Trott, Ambrose and Patel retirng over the last few seasons, there's not a lot of experience in the changing room. something Malan was signed to provide.

A young whippersnapper called Woakes came in and had a good game. Bet Robinson had to re-introduce him to his team mates and say, "If those England selectors don't want you then we will have you in a shot.

Highveld wrote:

I'm sure Malan will prove to be a good signing. what we don't know is the size of the positive effect he has on the squad, with Bell, Trott, Ambrose and Patel retirng over the last few seasons, there's not a lot of experience in the changing room. something Malan was signed to provide.

He was surely signed to score runs? His scores have been abysmal. Vihari did better.

Who here would actually refer to have Viahari instead of Malan?

Yeah overseas provide the chance to players to learn from their experience, but that’s supposed to be learnt by batting with them, or showing them how to go about a chase etc. That’s very difficult when he scores less than any other batsman. At the end of the day, it’s all about the runs.
I’m sure there’s positives they can take like he’ll act like a good pro, train well etc. But to be honest you’d expect most of our side to understand that already, and definitely get it from the likes of Bresnan or OHD.
Also interesting to here Mousley talk about Hain and Burgess keeping him calm at the crease and talking through the plans. Those 2 seem to have both matured nicely in regards of contributions and leadership in both formats this season.

Highveld wrote:

Who here would actually refer to have Viahari instead of Malan?

Well given that Vihari has currently scored more runs than Malan, I’d choose him!

Another good win, I feel that this is definitely a game that we’d have lost last season - I think we’d have fallen short at the end. Our batting looks a lot better this year.

Malan so far has been a big let down. His career credentials are impeccable - a first class average of 44, list A average of 45 and T20 average of just over 40. For Western Province, he has a first-class average of almost 60.
None of which explains why he has to date failed spectacularly for the Bears.
My hope (and guess) is that it is only a matter of time before his quality shines through and he makes a few big scores.

I really hope so, I had high expectations as I remember him playing against England and hearing of his excellent first class average.

We really need him to ‘click’ and get it together.