Decent article from Cricinfo on Liam Norwell
Decent article from Cricinfo on Liam Norwell
BristolBear wrote:
How, even in the brutal environment of professional sport, can any club can offer more loyalty and support to someone like Davies who’s been there for 5 seconds, looked like he couldn’t care less half the time, and played poorly, than to someone like Matt Lamb? A player who’s been at the club since he was 10 or 11, plays with passion for the club every match, and performed well. It’s just bewildering.
It’s the sort of decision making you see in failed businesses all the time. People too arrogant, stubborn or deluded to admit a mistake, so they double down on their error by backing it further. And by the time it’s so obvious even they can’t deny they’ve made a mistake, it’s too late.
I’m just hoping it’s not too late, but I look at the loss of Stone, Hose, Sibley, Lamb, Sidebottom, potentially Burgess. And I see the players who are lined up to take their places and be big parts of the side; likes of Davies, Yates, Bethell, Mousley, Benjamin, Johal, Ethan Brookes, and at this moment I can’t see an improvement. The likes of Yates and Davies need a complete turn around in form. And the younger players need to come of age and start delivering more than just potential.
Completely agree with all you've said BB. The whole situation regarding contracts, selection policy and Coaching appointments has been a total shambles this season. I guess Farbrace must take most of the blame as DoC, but I'm sure Robinson must also be responsible for many of the decisions.
Farbrace going and the possibility of a new Director starting afresh on all those matters might be a help, but I'm not holding my breath, as I'm sure all the previous decisions on contracts (for players and Coaches) will still be in place and Robinson will still be there, to make sure his ridiculous team selections continue.
'The only good banker, is the Lickey Banker!'
For perspective the Robinson who was also there when we won the title 12 months ago. Guess we all need to ask why the change from then, is it the other coaching staff, bad luck with injuries or the poor overseas and domestic recruitment.
I think the biggest change has been the selection policy and player management. Last year it was clear that there were no favourites, selection was on merit, the 11 players with the best chance of winning were put out.
The changing room seemed more harmonious, it seemed like 1 squad, whereas now it seems very fractious and a big split between red ball and T20.
And the loss of pop Welch due to Robinson is massive too.
It's become the orthodox wisdom here to say that Welch left because of Robinson; but do we have any hard evidence to back that up?
What a relief to save ourselves by the skin of our teeth. We'll bowled Norwell and OHD. The less said about Brookes the better.
Now for the inquest. We have got good players but something went badly wrong with our season. We need some quality recruitment in the batting and bowling departments and Robinson needs to be given the chance to put things right. You don't become a bad coach overnight.
As for people going on about Lamb being some kind of panacea to our batting failures, get real. He is and always has been an average player at best and I'd rather we invested in players like Yates, Mousley and Bethall who have talent in abundance.
A busy winter ahead for the club.
No one on here ever said Lamb would solve any batting problems but we all expressed an opinion on why a bloke averaging 48 would be dropped when others got nowhere near that average and stayed in the side. You might think he is 'Average' but now we will never know if he could have had a good finish to the season and really made a difference. It is only your opinion that the 3 batsmen you mentioned have 'Talent in abundance' and doesn't mean they will flourish. I would rather have a batsman who can score runs whilst not looking anything special to watch rather than great talents who make pretty 20's and 30's. Either way, it was a strange selection policy that kept leaving Lamb out and it's not as if we are settled in the batting department so it becomes even more ridiculous every time you saw others failing time and time again.
On his performances, for all but 2 days, this season Yates did not perform at an acceptable level, indeed his performances made Adrian Shankar (the con man who fooled Worcestershire into signing him on a 3 year deal) look a world beater.
Lamb was doing a good job, averaging c48, was good in the field and was a localy born and produced player with lots of ability.
The waay he was dropped from the side and just forgotten about shows a failure of logical thought, and man management, that even Liz Truss couldn't manage!
On the Pop Welch thing, having spoken to a couple of people around the county circuit, it’s common knowledge that it was a personality clash, and Welch decided he would rather move on than work with him.
Regarding Lamb, no one has painted him as the second coming of Bradman. Just that you play to win, and you pick the players who give you the best chance of that. And a player averaging 48, contributes to wins a lot more than players with “talent in abundance” who average single figures. It’s about performances, not potential.
And beyond numbers, these guys are people too not just athletes, and I can’t imagine how Matt Lamb must feel (someone said he seemed very upset in the lounge after the final match). Having come through the ranks, been in the club for 17 years, since he was 9 according to cric info, you’ve just won the championship, you’re having a great season, averaging almost 50, and…. Dropped. Not offered a new deal, banished from the match day squads, the message was clearly it doesn’t matter how well you do, we don’t want you anymore. From his home club. Professional sports are brutal, but at least usually decisions are made on merit and performance. And I think that’s what really gets me about the Lamb situation, he did everything they could have asked of him, more than many others, and he just hasn’t been treated even close to fairly.
And you don’t become a bad coach overnight, but this was never about technical coaching or even tactics, it’s his man management and selection decision making that have been the issue. He’s got to get that changing room back together because all the noise in the press, around the leagues and the usual sources is that it’s not a happy place currently, it’s pretty split, there’s some big name established players who are unhappy with the treatment they and some other players have received, and that sort of fractured, dissatisfied environment is never going to be a recipe for success. And the problem is, it’s hard to fix a people problem like that if you’re the cause of it, because as George Dobell put it in his article, “players remember these things”.
For those in the know, was Lamb playing Seconds after being dropped? & how did he get on? Ta
As far as I can remember no.
There was no second team cricket while the RL cup was on, and Matt wasn't included in the side for the games after that competition.
Yates did play in the one game before the last series of championship games, and scored 4 in his only innings!
It looks like the club stopped him from playing for his club in the Birmingham league too, as he didn't appear in the last few games, unlike Ed Pollock of Worcs, who played on the Saturday before a championship game starting on the Monday.
Thanks H. As stated on here many times, absolutely appalling treatment of Lamb by Warwickshire. "One of our own"
Just looking at scoreboard again v Hants, of course our forced declaration meant they only got 1 bowling bonus point & ultimately lost second place & £145,000 by 1 point.
Excellent article by ali Martin of the guardian, talking to OHd & Liam Norwell about the last day
Yeah that's a terrific read
Yes, best article I've read in a long time.
Two points - Alex Davies comes out of it well.; and Liam Norwell still hasn't been awarded his county cap, despite those nine wickets?
Great article and as for no cap for Norwell, is that yet another bad move by the management this season. You would have thought his tireless work last season would have given him a cap.
Excellent article. And delving into the archives here once again superb; https://edgbaston.com/news/liam-norwell-best-bowling-performance-ever-for-the-bears/
Interesting article; and I think there is a fair case for making Norwell's performance the best ever because of the context - needing to win to avoid relegation and succeeding by the narrowest of margins. None of the other performances mattered quite so much.
I might take issue with Brian Halford twice describing Jack Bannister as a medium pacer - he was fast-medium compared with, for example, Tom Cartwright or Billy Ibadulla who were medium pacers. But I'd also put in a word of praise for Brian who reports for the Club and manages to steer a narrow line between over and under praising Bears' performances. He's employed by the Club, so he's never going to be too outspoken however bad the performance but you can sometimes read between the lines!
No cap for Norwell? He was instrumental in the Title win in 2021 and keeping us in Division 1 with an unbelievable 9 wickets against Hampshire.
For someone has been follower of cricket for 50? years, I'm embarrassed to say I am unaware of the significance of the County Cap. Can anybody help me?
I thought you received it on debut.