I can kind of forgive Smith he's only played a handful of first team games.

Benjamin however, despite a couple of good knocks recently, showed again that he's just not cut out for us in my honest opinion - he's not good enough.

Worcestershire away. New road in use so game will be switched to Edgbaston anyway. I'd prefer Kidderminster

Really, is that confirmed?

Either that or they move the game to Saturday and then the semi final at Taunton would have to be moved to the Monday but they've already been selling tickets for their semi final

Yes, confirmed by Worcestershire- match to be played at Edgbaston on Friday.

Ha. So after all that a home quarter in the end. Avoided Hampshire...

GerryShedd wrote:

Yes, confirmed by Worcestershire- match to be played at Edgbaston on Friday.

Pleased with the home tie on a personal level but it doesn't half sum up the absolute state the ECB has led the game to. Worcestershire one of those counties that last few seasons are shorn of and therefore need multiple days cricket to host in summer and a Lions v Sri Lanka game will have attracted maybe a couple of hundred to go and watch it. A plum semi-final against their local rivals will have had a fair few hundred more and they've been denied this. The game has and continues to be driven into the gutter by ECB shortsightedness

Dare I ask if any of our 100 players, no longer in their competition, might be considered for Friday eg Hain?

Liam Dawson played for Hampshire today after his team were eliminated from The Hundread, so no reason why we cannot have any of our players back and after the last 2 games, I would say we need them.

mad wrote:

Pleased with the home tie on a personal level but it doesn't half sum up the absolute state the ECB has led the game to. Worcestershire one of those counties that last few seasons are shorn of and therefore need multiple days cricket to host in summer and a Lions v Sri Lanka game will have attracted maybe a couple of hundred to go and watch it. A plum semi-final against their local rivals will have had a fair few hundred more and they've been denied this. The game has and continues to be driven into the gutter by ECB shortsightedness

Yep farce isn't it.

We're very lucky to be at home. Robbo said at the start of the comp it was great to have these games at Rugby but we are conceding some home advantage...and so it transpired. I must stress, I was all in favour of using an outground and I still am, some outgrounds are good, but 3 out of the 4 ODC home games all at Rugby School was just too much. People may complain about the pitches at Edgbaston but these pitches haven't exactly been great have they? Having said this I feel it would have been better and fairer to have had 2 of the games away from Edgbaston, 1 at Rugby School and another elsewhere at Nuneaton or Leamington or wherever. Rugby School is closer to Grace Road than it is Edgbaston, to be expected to trek over there 3 times in the space of 2 weeks was ridiculous.

The once a yearers and the casuals all had a great day though...

puts and helmet and body armour

I'm a once a yearer and personally thought my one day there, in the game Warks won, was great so remove myself from the debate on it. One logical point to add, it makes sense to have out ground days at the same place, there's bound to be economies of scale that way. Rugby was marketed as a festival, albeit in a soft way. Maybe it's Stratford festival next year (real ale tent please).

To the competition, I think there's two truisms to it. If you have players called up, you're at a disadvantage (we did) and if you break up a winning side, even, in theory, to strengthen it, you lose cohesion (we have and shouldn't consider recalling Alex Davies).

Well at the very least the Brummie contingent now appreciate the trek the rest of us have to make every time to get to Edgbaston (on the western edge of the county) to support our county now!

BosworthBear wrote:

Well at the very least the Brummie contingent now appreciate the trek the rest of us have to make every time to get to Edgbaston (on the western edge of the county) to support our county now!

Your point is well made, BB, Birmingham-centric supporters should be made aware how large a County, Warwickshire is - and followers in towns like Coventry, Nuneaton, Leamington, Warwick, Stratford-u-A and Rugby, deserve a bit of County Cricket occasionally.

If Birmingham Phoenix lose tomorrow night's match, they will be out of The Hundred. Could Ali, Bethall or Mousley possibly play on Friday?

At least one of Davies, Hain (is he even fit?) Plus the three Brum players as a package will be available by Friday. Whether they do or not, or whether they should, I dont know. What's definitely true is today was a weak batting performance and we only lost by 12 runs.

Devon_Bear wrote:

If Birmingham Phoenix lose tomorrow night's match, they will be out of The Hundred. Could Ali, Bethall or Mousley possibly play on Friday?

The loss of Yates and Shaikh have weakened the batting to the point where we are struggling to get enough runs on the board. Maybe we had a chance bowling first today but its a big ask for Malik to got the ground running. Wylie perhaps not ready to make the step up.
Of the more senior players, Rhodes form has tailed off after his departure was confirmed, Burgess hasn't got going and Benjamin is unreliable. That puts a lot on the shoulders of Captain Barnard.
Unless we can get some of the players back from the 16.4 our competition is over come Friday.
I'm a huge advocate of outground cricket and I'd like to see a game at Stratford or somewhere else in the county. Rugby isn't the best location to get to, and the pitch was perhaps only good enough for one match.
A big game awaits on Friday.

Tayls79 wrote:

At least one of Davies, Hain (is he even fit?) Plus the three Brum players as a package will be available by Friday. Whether they do or not, or whether they should, I dont know. What's definitely true is today was a weak batting performance and we only lost by 12 runs.

Devon_Bear wrote:

If Birmingham Phoenix lose tomorrow night's match, they will be out of The Hundred. Could Ali, Bethall or Mousley possibly play on Friday?

I can't see Moeen making himself available to play. He only seems interested in T20 and 16.4. I don't follow the short competition so I have no idea how many games, if any, the likes of Davies or Garton are playing or if they will be released.

BosworthBear wrote:

Well at the very least the Brummie contingent now appreciate the trek the rest of us have to make every time to get to Edgbaston (on the western edge of the county) to support our county now!

It was always very much appreciated, keep up the good work and dont be late Friday, i trust you'll be there...

Hope you've enjoyed the County Championship wins, Sunday League title wins, record breaking innings/partnerships, memorable victories, iconic Test matches, incredible World Cup matches and T20 Finals Days we've had at Edgbaston down the years. The home of Warwickshire County Cricket Club.

I'm sorry Edgbaston Cricket Ground and Birmingham is such a chore for you.

Roll on Friday. You Bears!

Andy wrote:

BosworthBear wrote:

Well at the very least the Brummie contingent now appreciate the trek the rest of us have to make every time to get to Edgbaston (on the western edge of the county) to support our county now!

It was always very much appreciated, keep up the good work and dont be late Friday, i trust you'll be there...

Hope you've enjoyed the County Championship wins, Sunday League title wins, record breaking innings/partnerships, memorable victories, iconic Test matches, incredible World Cup matches and T20 Finals Days we've had at Edgbaston down the years. The home of Warwickshire County Cricket Club.

I'm sorry Edgbaston Cricket Ground and Birmingham is such a chore for you.

Roll on Friday. You Bears!

Yes myself and my father (who is a continuous member since 1951 and been honoured by the Club) have enjoyed all those. We’ve also enjoyed watching Warwickshire play in Nuneaton, Coventry, Stratford and Rugby. But we’ve never enjoyed the incessant entitled Brummie whinging - admittedly from a few- every time they have to watch the odd game outside of Birmingham.

Bosworth Bear your name would suggest you should watch your cricket down at Grace Road!! Only joking, honest. I gave up my Warks membership a few years ago now as just found the M42/M6 journey such a chore and the country lane way always an issue when you hit the outskirts of the city.

Of course you are right - there should be some cricket played out in the county - hopefully this past week is the start.