https://edgbaston.com/fixtures/first-xi/worcestershire-vs-warwickshire-monday-9th-september-2024/
A draw with decent bonus points is probably plenty to be safe. Especially as I can’t see Lancs or Notts coming away from Durham and Essex with a win.
Just stay in Div 1, and let’s get into the winter and start making the changes needed.
We’ve won the toss and bowl first.
Yates
Davies*
Rhodes
Shaikh
Hain
Barnard
Burgess+
Briggs
Rae
Rushworth
Olly H-D
So Booth and Lintott miss out.
How nice to see us wearing traditional cable knit sweaters in the club colours.
Yea fairs fair how did that happen?
Credit where it’s due!
Hope it includes the white stripe as per proper Warwickshire sweaters rather than those awful things some members are wearing!
This is getting annoying now, another case of us not wiping out the tail quickly enough.
BosworthBear wrote:
Yea fairs fair how did that happen?
Credit where it’s due!
Hope it includes the white stripe as per proper Warwickshire sweaters rather than those awful things some members are wearing!
It does!
Worcestershire's day you'd have thought, probably just about edged it? Hopefully finish them off quickly tomorrow, they definitely bat deeper than we do I'd say, Tom Taylor's an extremely useful no. 9, he normally bat's a bit higher and Virdi made 42 v Essex in the last game we could really do without things getting away from us.
Yesterday summed up our bowling season in a single day.
Let them off the hook massively. Going to end up getting at least 100 runs more than they should.
Just as in the rest of the season, it was obvious we needed someone with that extra yard of pace to be the point of difference as a partnership breaker and for mopping up the tail. Or a more attacking spinner who can bowl teams out in the 4th innings but also has the flight and guile to get early innings wickets even when the pitch isn’t offering much.
Well on the positive we’ve now not had to bat at the ridiculous 1030 start time on both days so far.
Although Yates has just committed hari kari
BristolBear wrote:
Yesterday summed up our bowling season in a single day.
Let them off the hook massively. Going to end up getting at least 100 runs more than they should.
Just as in the rest of the season, it was obvious we needed someone with that extra yard of pace to be the point of difference as a partnership breaker and for mopping up the tail. Or a more attacking spinner who can bowl teams out in the 4th innings but also has the flight and guile to get early innings wickets even when the pitch isn’t offering much.
If there's anyone out there who can wave a wand and deliver this, can they also make me six inches taller and fifty years younger - thanks.
GerryShedd wrote:
BristolBear wrote:
Yesterday summed up our bowling season in a single day.
Let them off the hook massively. Going to end up getting at least 100 runs more than they should.
Just as in the rest of the season, it was obvious we needed someone with that extra yard of pace to be the point of difference as a partnership breaker and for mopping up the tail. Or a more attacking spinner who can bowl teams out in the 4th innings but also has the flight and guile to get early innings wickets even when the pitch isn’t offering much.If there's anyone out there who can wave a wand and deliver this, can they also make me six inches taller and fifty years younger - thanks.
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate they don’t just grow on trees. But at the same time, acknowledging you have a problem is the first step. And we’ve either ignored it or thought we were smarter than everyone else, and tried to do it on the cheap with the likes of Booth and the bowling of Yates, Bethell and Mousley.
We could have kept Stone over Norwell or Miles. Both Parkinson brothers signed for Div 1 teams this off season.
It’s a case of prioritising, and we clearly didn’t make it a priority. Other counties can do, so it’s not as if it’s impossible we just chose not or didn’t realise we should. Both equally scary scenarios.
I’ve really not enjoyed this season, we’ve been bad before but there is something about this year which is really grating and I’m not sure what it is.
Complacency? Self entitlement? Obvious shortcomings not being addressed?
I’ve just been left feeling detached and lacking any enthusiasm, even when we were winning matches in the T20 I didn’t seriously think we would progress as I simply didn’t think we were good enough.
And now we are struggling against our neighbours who lost several key players last year, have also had lots of injuries and are fielding players we deemed not good enough to play for us.
Demoralising.
I know what you mean, it might not be anything major, just maybe a series of things which keep repeating themselves. For instance in this latest game, we had them 67-4 and they get 307, we were 76-1 and are now 112-4. It is because we have seen it so many times over the last 3 seasons (including this one) and it gets to be a little bit annoying to the point that you wonder, if you like me, are a member, is it worth renewing for the 2025 season. The combination of performance and the feeling that sometimes it is frustrating to see the same mistakes being made over and over and that the management appear to not address it or make excuses, the old "We will take the positives...." baloney. There are certain things we haven't got but would like, 1. A couple of big nasty fast bowlers who can wipe out the tail 2. A good, reliable overseas player who will stay for a decent length of time to make a difference 3. Batting that is consistent in most games 4. the ability to win knock-out games. The first one might be the hardest but surely the second can not be that hard. The third one, well, we have the batsmen so it is up to them and the forth one is just about lifting yourself for the whole occasion and pushing yourself that bit extra to get over the line, maybe it's not even that as Friday's game should have been won without raising a sweat. Perhaps all this could be changed by new management but sometimes at this club, it is easier to keep your job than lose it. I think enthusiasm goes once you have nothing to play for as far as winning a cup is concerned. I just want us to avoid going down and for the season to be over soon.
I agree about what we ideally need. Letting Olly Stone go was a tricky decision. I've always had a soft spot for him because I interviewed him when he first joined and he came across as a lovely guy, grateful to be signed even though he was injured. But he had such a track record of injuries thereafter that I could understand why he was let go.
As for the Parkinson brothers, I don't think either of them would solve our problems. Matt is averaging over 50 per wicket this season and Callum has a career bowling average of over 40. If only we could find another Jeetan Patel!
Agree, he was an absolute diamond, wanted to play in all the games and trained like mad to make himself the first name on the team sheet. I voted for him as our best overseas player ever and although I loved AD, Jeetan was more successful because we were very successful during his playing years. We did get lucky though with him because New Zealand refused to pick him so he was available all the time. We also appear to be unlucky in getting players from other counties recently and obviously I am not including OHD, Barnard, Rhodes or Burgess in that as they took over from Clarke, Chopra, Ambrose, Rankin, Wright, etc.
We can take a little comfort from the fact that Lancashire, Notts and Kent look unlikely to get much from their current matches.
Also worth mentioning that Alex Davies passed 1000 championship runs for the season and is only the second player to do so in Division 1. He's had a lot of stick since joining us but has definitely been a lot more consistent this season.
Exiled Bear wrote:
Also worth mentioning that Alex Davies passed 1000 championship runs for the season and is only the second player to do so in Division 1. He's had a lot of stick since joining us but has definitely been a lot more consistent this season.
I read he was the first to do so in our division. Hopefully his captaincy will improve too, it is his first season so I'm sure we will persist with him.