14 man squad:

Davies (c)
Benjamin
Briggs
Ali
Brookes
Bethell
Barnard
Hain
Lintott
Miles
Mousley
Woakes
Yates
Stirling

Brookes, Bethell and Mousley to miss out? Or do we Brookes to be a fifth seamer, or the fourth in place of Miles?

I'd be surprised if Mousley missed out.

I ain't got a clue though, I'm hopeless at predicting line ups in this format.

Is Barnard a certain starter? Was in and out of the Worcestershire T20 side at times, more often in and admittedly, and his record/stats in this format are mediocre.

Think it's one out of Brookes and Miles.

Can't see Bethell playing. Said when we signed him, do we really need Paul Stirling? For the sake of only 1 or 2 games I'd rather give one our younger guys, like Bethell, a go.

Exiled Bear wrote:

14 man squad:

Davies (c)
Benjamin
Briggs
Ali
Brookes
Bethell
Barnard
Hain
Lintott
Miles
Mousley
Woakes
Yates
Stirling

Brookes, Bethell and Mousley to miss out? Or do we Brookes to be a fifth seamer, or the fourth in place of Miles?

Given the performances in the 3 Seconds T20 games this week, I think Briggs, Brookes & Benjamin will miss out.

We'll go with one frontline spinner (Lintott), with backup from Mousley (who has been used as the first change bowler) - Briggs did nothing in his two 2nds games. Bethell has done more than Benjamin in all the 2nds games this season (red & white ball). Brookes will only come in when Woakes goes off to England.

The_Lickey_Banker wrote:

Exiled Bear wrote:

14 man squad:

Davies (c)
Benjamin
Briggs
Ali
Brookes
Bethell
Barnard
Hain
Lintott
Miles
Mousley
Woakes
Yates
Stirling

Brookes, Bethell and Mousley to miss out? Or do we Brookes to be a fifth seamer, or the fourth in place of Miles?

Given the performances in the 3 Seconds T20 games this week, I think Briggs, Brookes & Benjamin will miss out.

We'll go with one frontline spinner (Lintott), with backup from Mousley (who has been used as the first change bowler) - Briggs did nothing in his two 2nds games. Bethell has done more than Benjamin in all the 2nds games this season (red & white ball). Brookes will only come in when Woakes goes off to England.

I'd pretty much go with TLB, certainly re Briggs and Brookes. I think it will be a toss up between Bethell and Benjamin. Benjamin has the experience, but has had a poor Seconds season, with the exception of a trademark quickfire 42 from 17 balls on Wednesday. Bethell is still learning, but fast and he has had a great season for the 2nds already.

I know form for the seconds will be taken into account, but will we really leave out the Blast all time leading wicket taker? He's one of the most experienced members of the squad, too. How similar are pitches used for the second XI games compared to the Edgbaston ones? We do have a wealth of spin bowling options though, with Yates and even Stirling as well, though I can't see them bowling more than the odd over here and there.

For me Mousley plays over Yates, otherwise agree with you Exiled. Mousley is a more explosive batsman, we already have two openers (in Stirling and Davies) and Mousley offers an equal amount with the ball.

Briggs surely will play, and as said Brookes only plays when Woakes isn't available.

No Hassan Ali is a big disappointment - could be the difference between winning and losing

Ali, Bethell and Barnard miss out. I don’t think any of us saw that coming.

Is Hassan injured then?

Apparently, yes

Hain again. Steadied the ship and then led the way

Hains class the difference today. Which considering the batsmen out there today, says a lot about just how good he is.

Slightly concerned about Lintott. Got Malan but went at 15’s. Just wonder if teams have worked him out, as he went off the boil a bit the end of last year too.
Left arm leggies are very rare, so wonder if he benefitted from that for a couple of years but he’s been seen enough now to be less of a mystery. Without a hundred place too this year.

I always feel a bit alienated in T20 due to the Birmingham Bears shambles.

But delicious to hear Nasser Hussain, Mike Atherton, Shan Masood, Sam Hain and Steven Finn all refer to a great “Warwickshire” victory.

Surely now is the time to correct the historic wrong and play as Warwickshire again? Such an easy win for the Club! That’s our name, our identity and our heritage!

T20 is so volatile. Only 2 of our batters came off today and we still ended up posting 200. Think that's how it might be for us again this season, the top 6 all hard and someone will come off and get us a score.

Quite liked the team selection to be honest, I said in posts further up in the thread that I'm not sure Barnard is a guaranteed starter in this format.

Hain sensational, he just finds a way and he's starting to make the difficult stuff look easy. A proper 360 player who has genuine power now, he's gone up a level, the stint with Brisbane Heat was good for him.

Chuffed for Henry Brookes, sometimes he'll get pumped and look bad but he is wicket taker, he looked quick again tonight.

Benjamin was Benjamin, he's chancey and rides his luck but he runs hard and is powerful down the ground, he got us going.

Mousley was a nice bonus with the ball, darted it in at the left hander and was hard to get away, hope he continues to get chances to bowl.

Woakes looked sharp too, easy to forget how good a T20 bowler he is. That ball that got Shan Masood was amazing.

I do find T20 a bit hard going, music blasting, screaming over the tannoy etc and some really odd (really drunk I mean) behavior in the stands but it was excellent to see so many young people and families in attendance. Great stuff.

BosworthBear, I could not agree more. It is after all, 'County Cricket' and not anything to do with 'Cities'. Having said that, I always refer to us as Warwickshire and always will and have never shouted out 'Birmingham' or made the mistake of using that name. Either way, thanks to Hain and Benj, we got a score way above what we thought and the bowling although ragged towards the end, was good. The usual array of so-called fans to ruin part of the day, cannot understand how people who keep going out to get drinks/toilet can't take their rubbish with them instead of sitting with it all around them and then kicked under seats and it is as much families as anyone else.

Great performance by the Bears!

BosworthBear wrote:

I always feel a bit alienated in T20 due to the Birmingham Bears shambles.

But delicious to hear Nasser Hussain, Mike Atherton, Shan Masood, Sam Hain and Steven Finn all refer to a great “Warwickshire” victory.

Surely now is the time to correct the historic wrong and play as Warwickshire again? Such an easy win for the Club! That’s our name, our identity and our heritage!

Although it's only a halfway house, it does seem that the Club has dropped the Birmingham title and just refers now to The Bears. Maybe the Warwickshire name will creep back in.

GerryShedd wrote:

BosworthBear wrote:

I always feel a bit alienated in T20 due to the Birmingham Bears shambles.

But delicious to hear Nasser Hussain, Mike Atherton, Shan Masood, Sam Hain and Steven Finn all refer to a great “Warwickshire” victory.

Surely now is the time to correct the historic wrong and play as Warwickshire again? Such an easy win for the Club! That’s our name, our identity and our heritage!

Although it's only a halfway house, it does seem that the Club has dropped the Birmingham title and just refers now to The Bears. Maybe the Warwickshire name will creep back in.

They definitely seem to be referred to as “the Bears” in Club communications and CEO confirms this. Maybe due to Birmingham Phoenix in the Hundred.

However the formal name still comes up as Birmingham so that’s still the listing on Sky etc

I can’t think of another team in world sport which doesn’t play under its own name!

Wasn't it done to satisfy the city council being as they provided a large sum for the ground improvements. They wanted WCCC to promote the name of Birmingham.

LeicesterExile wrote:

Wasn't it done to satisfy the city council being as they provided a large sum for the ground improvements. They wanted WCCC to promote the name of Birmingham.

Publicly the city council stated they weren’t pressuring the Club. In the days when Brian Halford could speak his mind in the Evening Mail.

But even if privately it was true they now have the Birmingham Phoenix.

This is such an easy PR and marketing win for WCCC to revert back to playing as Warwickshire Bears!