Looks like it could be one of those days.
Bowling hasn’t been expensive but still allowed too many easy runs. Limited threat from the seamers, Briggs has offered no threat.
Wonder why Mousley hasn’t been given a bowl.

Poor again. Batting was at least 100 runs short of a competitive total. The bowling is equally mediocre. This is such a disappointing season after last year's heroics.

Another game where we are looking at a draw as being the best we can hope for. Very ** off at not having Hain for this game, reminds me of 2010 when both Bell, Trott and Woakes were included in a Lions side to play India 'A' whilst Harmison was ripping us apart at Riverside. They would have got better practice playing for us instead of the Lions, where players are depriving their counties of their services in games that no one is really that bothered about. I know I am going away from the subject here but it is annoying and disruptive.

I think the club allowing Hain to play for the ECB shows their priorities this year.
When they chose the XI to play New Zealand they said no to Hain going but yes to Sibley and Burgess as it clashed with the T20’s. (No-one knew at the time that Burgess wasn’t being considered for T20, but it makes sense now).
Clearly showing what they prioritised this year.

Also makes sense with how earlier they rested Hain and Briggs for a Championship match but they played all T20’s. It’s a really poor approach to take in defending a championship.

It’s a squad with some flashy names and big contracts being carried by 4 players: Hain, Burgess, OHD and Hose. Players who probably aren’t on the biggest contracts and have been at the club a while. All 4 are in the final or penultimate year of their contracts.

Davies and Benjamin not entirely convincing here but their still there...

Top order doing sterling work again.

Be relying on Burgess and the tail again to avoid an innings defeat.

I really can’t understand the strategy here. Just letting Hampshire dictate everything. I get batting time and not taking unnecessary risks is part of that. But they can’t have 5 people round the bat if they’re worried about chasing a decent total, and having to keep the runs down.
Instead we’ve barely played a shot in anger, and letting them dominate and do as they wish.

The strategy has seemed off all season, this just has the showings of a team with no confidence in itself.

Only Burgess and Lamb have a strike rate over 50 of our batsmen and you can only add Hain and Sibley to those two who have an average over 40. Looking at the bowling figures is just plain depressing, without OHD we would be absolutely nowhere.

6 wickets down now so we finally have a chance of scoring some runs with Burgess and McAndrew at the crease

Yep we have a very negative and defensive mindset. Has Rhodes lost his captaincy sparkle I wonder or is this coming from the coaches?

Poor opening partnerships put pressure on the middle order, who are having to perform a recovery every time.

Allowing players with mediorce, or worse, performances to stay in the team does not lead to winning or attractive cricket.

Interesting to see Keith Barker still looking good - what a great decision to release him 4 years ago. This is so tedious, scoring at 2 runs an over! What has happened to the County 'Champions'?

Keith Barker: 4-23 in 18 overs. Now 212/9 at the close. Sliding to defeat.

There was off field stuff going on away from cricket that meant Barker had to leave. Apparently.

I admit i actually thought the time was right to move him on from a cricketing perspective, he was poor in 2017 and i felt he'd struggle back in Div 1 after helping us to promotion in 2018. He looked like he'd lost a yard, lost a bit of nip.

Good job they don't consult me on recruitment and player retention etc as he's done amazingly well at Hampshire!

I actually think he's a different bowler now to how he was when he played for us. Doesn't seem to swing it as much but finds great areas consistently and if there is anything in the pitch he will exploit it. Just a brilliant county bowler who knows the pitches/batters etc. He's better with the old ball now.

Andy wrote:

There was off field stuff going on away from cricket that meant Barker had to leave. Apparently.

I admit i actually thought the time was right to move him on from a cricketing perspective, he was poor in 2017 and i felt he'd struggle back in Div 1 after helping us to promotion in 2018. He looked like he'd lost a yard, lost a bit of nip.

Good job they don't consult me on recruitment and player retention etc as he's done amazingly well at Hampshire!

I actually think he's a different bowler now to how he was when he played for us. Doesn't seem to swing it as much but finds great areas consistently and if there is anything in the pitch he will exploit it. Just a brilliant county bowler who knows the pitches/batters etc. He's better with the old ball now.

And of course, he and all the other Hants bowlers, have been massively helped by the astute Coaching of a certain G Welch!

Pop Welch is definitely a major factor. I don’t think it’s any surprise that his going has coincided with the bowlers breaking down more and not performing as well. If the rumours are true that he didn’t want to work with Robinson, that’s very damning.

I’m also wondering why the player and coach interviews have stopped this season or are a lot less frequent. Most clubs hear from at least one player after each day, and from the coach and captain after every match. We’re lucky if we get 1 interview the whole match.

On coaching, what does Director of Cricket do?
Everytime I hear Farbrace speak, I am not impressed, even before he came to Warwickshire & was with England.
I am probably being unfair, but can we blame Paul Farbrace for so many failings this year?

Remember that Tom Rawlins, who was an excellent head of the media department, nad a cricket person has left the club.
The advert for his "replacement" was for a different role, where knowledge of cricket was optional, and fitting a number of PC catagories was given much higher priority.

The director of cricket role has responsibility for all cricket under the Warwickshire banner, so only a small proportion of his time is spent on senior mens cricket.

I don't think it's true that there have been more bowler injuries since "Pop" Welch left - think about how we had to draft in temporary replacements a couple of years or so ago. Liam Norwell has been an injury worry since he arrived (and when he was at Gloucestershire); and Olly Stone came to us when he was injured.
One of my friends bumped into "Pop" at the Aegeas Bowl and said that he needed to come back, to which "Pop" laughed and said he was happy at Hampshire!
I agree that there were personal reasons for Keith Barker's move so there was no way that the Club could have hung on to him. But he is certainly still missed.
As Highveld says, Tom Rawlings was great in his job and was a good friend to Bearsfans, very keen to keep open the link to the members and supporters. It remains to be seen if/how that link will be maintained in the future.

Didn't realise Rawlings had left, that's a shame.

Welchy would have stayed if he could have been left to do the job as he saw fit and not have people meddling.

Besides when you remember people like Allan Donald, Dale Steyn and Shaun Tait all applied for the job but we ended up with Matt Mason...that needs explaining.