Tayls79 wrote:

Yeah. It's hard to think much further than money to be honest. Weirdly, bowling is now our issue and especially if Stone and Woakes are missing. The rest of the attack is right arm and not express so a left arm quick would have been great - this was obvious from the end of last year. Shaheen Afridi was available and keen on the UK - but ot looks like we could never get near him.

BristolBear wrote:

On McAndrew I believe he arrived at Edgbaston on the second day of the Essex match. So in the country just under a week.

I thought he was supposed to be a bit quicker, bowl a heavy ball, get some bounce, a bit like Norwell. But we’ll see how he pans out.

What doesn’t change is that in terms of available players, no way do I believe that he was the best possible bowler the club could acquire for the overseas position. I listed the calibre of players in an earlier comment, so I’d love to know want Farbrace was doing when all those other bowlers were signing deals elsewhere.

Yes I think lack of money was why we didn't join the Pakistani bowler chase. I have Warwickshire dead last in my county financial rankings (see below). Also signing Davies from Lancashire probably used up quite a bit of budget and left us rummaging through the bargain bin when it came to overseas four day players. And it's only one bad day, McAndrew may look like an inspired decision by the end of the season.

http://sideoncricket.blogspot.com/2022/04/bentley-forbes-consulting-rankings-2020.html

Wouldn't be the first time we got an overseas signing wrong but it is early days yet even though McAndrew hasn't got a first class record that would make a batsman shudder. Looking at the list of bowlers that other counties have managed to get hold of, seems as though we were a bit slow in getting someone.

I just looked him up on cricinfo and he doesn't even have a potted bio. I know the Aussies don't have many sides and play fewer FC fixtures but he's not far off 29 and this is only his 12th FC game.

Our overseas recruitment for red ball cricket was poor last season. Thankfully, we basically won the County Championship trophy without much input from 3 signings. Batsman Pieter Malan had visa issues in early April 2021 resulting in Vihari signed as a temporary replacement. West Indies quick Chemar Holder signed in August but failed to make any real impression. Fast forward to now and, not wishing to write-off Nathan McAndrew yet, but this appears to be another second-tier overseas signing. A top red ball signing would really enhance our line-up. Warwickshire is a big County and should be seriously looking at this position in future. I wonder how much was spent last season on Malan, Vihari and Holder?

The fact that Dan Mousley was carrying drinks in April and May last season whilst Malan and Vihari stunk the place out was so frustrating.

I thought McAndrew was a last minute replacement for Bresnan after his decision to retire so I can kind of understand that we were looking later in the window than some others. I was surprised that he opened the bowling though with OHD, I was expecting him to be a second change bowler who could add to the batting line up.

Early days for McAndrew, though I agree that he's hardly a top name.
I see that Chemar Holder has only played one match for Barbados since his time with the Bears. He took 0-99 across two innings at about four an over.

Thanks Reabank for the link. Unfortunately, it's a broken link, but I'm not surprised we're a bit up against it. When I was a kid I used to read our financial reports as accountancy practice so always find this interesting. What's our expenditure just now? I presume ground redevelopment still and problems from the pandemic. I guess our incomes are still fairly decent.

And agree that Davies as a permanent batting signing was the priority. Now it turns to a change-up seam bowler.

Reabank wrote:

Yes I think lack of money was why we didn't join the Pakistani bowler chase. I have Warwickshire dead last in my county financial rankings (see below). Also signing Davies from Lancashire probably used up quite a bit of budget and left us rummaging through the bargain bin when it came to overseas four day players. And it's only one bad day, McAndrew may look like an inspired decision by the end of the season.

http://sideoncricket.blogspot.com/2022/04/bentley-forbes-consulting-rankings-2020.html

Azar Ali, who cost Worcestershire a lot, is currently struggling and not scoring runs.

signing overseas players, especially at short notice is a lottery.

McAndrew: 25 overs cost 100 runs. Not great at all. Bring back Henry Brookes!

Not a very good start to the reply, we need some of our upper order batsmen to find some form. I wonder if there was a degree of complacency in expecting Somerset to struggle with the bat as much as they have in recent games?

Commentators on the live stream singing Keith Barker's praises! I always thought releasing him 4 years ago was a mistake. Anyway 60/3 now. Sibley was unlucky to be out lbw. The ball looked to be drifting down the leg side. He was none too happy with the Umpires decision!

It looks like is has all gone now, we will be lucky to draw, 92-6 and it has been a bowlers day, 199-12. And yes, the way Barker went was a shambles, he didn't even know before the lunch interval of his last game, whether or not he was off to his new county. We are making Somerset's ordinary attack look good and Rhodes must be kicking himself for having a bowl.

We might have to just write this one off. Every edge has gone to hand too. Just the way it goes. That's cricket, we're still a good team.

Interesting that McAndrew is coming in below Briggs. All-rounder would seem a bit generous?

Think we do have to write this one off. I understand why Rhodes chose to bowl so can't criticise too much but in hindsight clearly the wrong decision.

Definitely seems to be a couple of harsh decisions to Yates and Sibley.
Rhodes and Davies were very poor dismissals, and not the first time like that for either of them this year.
Overtons ball to Burgess was just a beauty, you get them sometimes.

What I would say, is that they seem to extracting a lot more movement in the air and off the pitch than our attack did. Which to me suggests whilst we’re definitely underperforming with the bat, they definitely over performed primarily due to some poor bowling. Not for the first time either this year, I wonder if we’re seeing the effects of no Pop Welch.

It seems that McAndrew can bat, at least

Alex Davies is a good player, but too much in white ball mode for me. Not a great day at all. Can we muster 3 runs tomorrow for a single batting point? Somerset have lost their first 3 games up until now. Suspect they'll enforce the follow-on...

It sometimes happens that after one side puts up a big score, the other side has a meltdown. Looks like that's what happened to us: the top order were out to a combination of brain fade and bad luck, then Lamb & Burgess got good balls. Hey, ho the draw is still possible with rain predicted for Sunday.

I'm pleased that McAndrew got some runs. Flying half way round the world to post figures of 0-100 on debut must be pretty gut wrenching. Will Rhodes did everything he could to gift McAndrew a wicket this morning but even the Somerset tail weren't going to co-operate. Nice to hear the rest of the team still encouraging him in the field. Perhaps a decent lower order knock will give him a lift.