I personally can’t understand the team selection in general. I think Briggs has done well, but do you really need a spinner in a 4 day game in Durham in April? Would you not rather have Mousley or Hose batting 6? Expect it’s going to be tough, and give yourself a better chance to put a total on the board?

Think this is one of those days that just happen in cricket. You learn the lessons from it and move on. If they get bogged down in it then they stand no chance. Come back tomorrow and start again.

I agree that every team has bad days, though there can't have been many worse than this.

It's a cruel game. We've had some terrific highs the past couple of weeks, seen Hain, Lamb and Yates bat well and show form, bowlers bowl well. And even bat well. Rhodes getting his first wins. Showing tons of resilience. Resilience we haven't showed in a few years to be honest.

We knew there'd be bad days, we're a team in transition, but this was just too much. I'm still stunned!

Oddly I'm probably more annoyed at how we bowled.

How do we not lose this from here.

I sat and thought about Vihari earlier, clearly a very good batsman but he was on a hiding to nothing here. He was never gonna do well over these 3 games. He's gone 0, 8, 32, 52. Not great. Recent form in India domestic was worse! Still got the 2nd dig here though and like I say even in his brief stays at the crease he's looked capable.

I think Malan will find it tough too, he's not gonna have played for a couple of months.

Would Mousley have made more runs? Perhaps, impossible to say. He did look good at the end of last season. 47, 31, 71 I think he went. And did well in T20's.

To get bowled out for 87 is bad enough but by a trundler like Ben Raine. We must have been poor, glad I was at work.

The wicket was two paced and had variable bounce, which didn't help. Also some, like Matt Lamb got unplayable balls. However overall the performance wasn't good enough. Sometimes psycological factors come into play and contribute to a team collapsing, today looked like one of those days.

I don’t think any of us can say if Vihari has been a worthwhile investment. We don’t know how much he’s cost us. We also don’t know how much he’s added in terms of passing on knowledge to our players, particularly in terms of playing spin (he looked completely untroubled by Harmer in the Essex match, especially in the first innings). His performance in the second innings against Essex was also very important. To be honest, it seems as though some people wouldn’t be happy even if he scored a century every time he batted!

Well, it’s a new day and a new opportunity.

We have shown a lot of character over the past couple of matches so I am hoping to see the same today. It’s not going to be straightforward as the weather looks mixed in Durham today.

If we can bowl them out today with a lead not too excessive that would be a good effort. There is a lot of time left in this match, we need to keep our heads up.

Streetly_Bear wrote:

Well, it’s a new day and a new opportunity.

We have shown a lot of character over the past couple of matches so I am hoping to see the same today. It’s not going to be straightforward as the weather looks mixed in Durham today.

If we can bowl them out today with a lead not too excessive that would be a good effort. There is a lot of time left in this match, we need to keep our heads up.

I admire your optimism. I hope it is justified but I fear that for it to happen, we would need to see not just clouds but pigs flying over the Riverside.

Exiled Bear wrote:

I don’t think any of us can say if Vihari has been a worthwhile investment. We don’t know how much he’s cost us. We also don’t know how much he’s added in terms of passing on knowledge to our players, particularly in terms of playing spin (he looked completely untroubled by Harmer in the Essex match, especially in the first innings). His performance in the second innings against Essex was also very important. To be honest, it seems as though some people wouldn’t be happy even if he scored a century every time he batted!

Yes there has certainly been a strange over the top reaction to his performances/signing

Notwithstanding all the above I'm very concerned about Burgess. His keeping looks pretty acceptable but his contributions with bat have been dismal. Not really up to date with our other wicket keeping options but I do wonder how much longer they can perservere with Burgess in this form.

Kelly has played the last two second team games just as a batsman, & not really contributed much.
D. Lincoln was keeping, he's player for other second teams, and again didn't contribute much with the bat.
Finding a new keeper may be a task for the winter.

I don’t think being optimistic, I think the game has gone from us (I’d love to be proved wrong though).

I just want the team to battle, look for small victories during the rest of the match and not capitulate.

Every team has bad days and games that don’t go the way they were planned but that is not an excuse for giving up. We have seen character in the past two games and I want to see the same with this one.

Learn the lessons and make progress.

A flying pig or two would be good to see as well!

110/0 after 58 overs. How can we be so comprehensively outplayed by an average Durham team? I hope we at least get some bowling points!

I don't think it's fair to single anyone out. For four sessions we've been completely outplayed and only Liam Norwell, if anyone, gets a pass.

SC_Bear wrote:

Notwithstanding all the above I'm very concerned about Burgess. His keeping looks pretty acceptable but his contributions with bat have been dismal. Not really up to date with our other wicket keeping options but I do wonder how much longer they can perservere with Burgess in this form.

I think you're doing his keeping a disservice, as glovemen go, he's excellent. I'm not sure I've ever seen him drop a catch. He also looks like he's a popular member of the team.

Agree batting wise he's in poor form, but it's hardly like everyone else is tearing up trees currently. What I don't understand is that for the majority of his career Ambrose would always bat 7, I'm not sure why we bat Burgess at 6. Burgess played as a batsman only in 2019 and he looked good. Since he's taken over the keeping full time, he's found it more difficult. Not excusing the form, but most keepers bat at 7 for a reason. I think we need to give the likes of him, Bresnan and Lamb a proper platform for once, they're supposed to be attacking batsmen, not digging us out a hole batsmen.

We might end up with zero bowling points the way Durham are going at 183/0! Only hope is if it rains!

Few points about this game, but this about Burgess I think is interesting. By way of comparison, there was some data out recently that Bairstow and Buttler in tests have got the huge majority of their test match runs in innings one of four in the match. Preaumably once they've kept in the field their concentration is then shot. Could well be the same with Burgess. Basically being a batsman keeper is really tough and especially so if your top order fold all the time and you come I at 30/4 all the time.

*BristolBear wrote:**

SC_Bear wrote:

Notwithstanding all the above I'm very concerned about Burgess. His keeping looks pretty acceptable but his contributions with bat have been dismal. Not really up to date with our other wicket keeping options but I do wonder how much longer they can perservere with Burgess in this form.

I think you're doing his keeping a disservice, as glovemen go, he's excellent. I'm not sure I've ever seen him drop a catch. He also looks like he's a popular member of the team.

Agree batting wise he's in poor form, but it's hardly like everyone else is tearing up trees currently. What I don't understand is that for the majority of his career Ambrose would always bat 7, I'm not sure why we bat Burgess at 6. Burgess played as a batsman only in 2019 and he looked good. Since he's taken over the keeping full time, he's found it more difficult. Not excusing the form, but most keepers bat at 7 for a reason. I think we need to give the likes of him, Bresnan and Lamb a proper platform for once, they're supposed to be attacking batsmen, not digging us out a hole batsmen.

Few points about this game, but this about Burgess I think is interesting. By way of comparison, there was some data out recently that Bairstow and Buttler in tests have got the huge majority of their test match runs in innings one of four in the match. Preaumably once they've kept in the field their concentration is then shot. Could well be the same with Burgess. Basically being a batsman keeper is really tough and especially so if your top order fold all the time and you come I at 30/4 all the time.

*BristolBear wrote:**

SC_Bear wrote:

Notwithstanding all the above I'm very concerned about Burgess. His keeping looks pretty acceptable but his contributions with bat have been dismal. Not really up to date with our other wicket keeping options but I do wonder how much longer they can perservere with Burgess in this form.

I think you're doing his keeping a disservice, as glovemen go, he's excellent. I'm not sure I've ever seen him drop a catch. He also looks like he's a popular member of the team.

Agree batting wise he's in poor form, but it's hardly like everyone else is tearing up trees currently. What I don't understand is that for the majority of his career Ambrose would always bat 7, I'm not sure why we bat Burgess at 6. Burgess played as a batsman only in 2019 and he looked good. Since he's taken over the keeping full time, he's found it more difficult. Not excusing the form, but most keepers bat at 7 for a reason. I think we need to give the likes of him, Bresnan and Lamb a proper platform for once, they're supposed to be attacking batsmen, not digging us out a hole batsmen.

Well this has been a pretty shocking effort so far. There's a very real chance that we could come away from this match with zero points!