Whilst going into the match we were not expecting a result, it is pretty galling to see where we are now when compared to last night.
It’s going to take a monumental effort to stay in the division I think.
Whilst going into the match we were not expecting a result, it is pretty galling to see where we are now when compared to last night.
It’s going to take a monumental effort to stay in the division I think.
McAndrew's last game for the club. If he could sign off with a quick fire 6-fer that'd be welcome.
Don't think there's any need for panic. No game till Sept 11th now. Before then Somerset will collect 12 points today. Yorkshire are still within reach and still to receive some form of points penalty. Then Sept 5th is the cider derby at Taunton where we could do with the North Bristolians doing us a favour against the South Bristolians
That LBW shout on Amla then, how is Taylor not giving that after giving Burgess LBW earlier?!
Interesting there seems to be a fair bit of anger from the Warwickshire players.
OHD seemed to be saying something with a bit of a sneer to Billy Taylor after that Amla LBW was turned down. Plenty of throws going flying in with venom.
You wonder if they feel really hard done by after the events of this morning.
I can't look past that over this morning when Hain and Burgess were sawn off, too crucial.
Nah, too easy to pick on two decisions and blame that. If you're going to blame the umpire for screwing up then you also have to blame the players for screwing up. In our first innings most of them got in but didn't convert. In their first innings there were boundaries galore because the bowling was so poor, and we collapsed in our second innings. 6 wickets in 10 overs isn't good enough, no matter the howlers. Nevertheless, we still had a chance even then, if we bowled well. We haven't and lose by 6 wickets; considering the position we were in at the start of play this morning that's poor. All of that isn't the result of 2 bad decisions.
That is sickening. When you get beaten it always stings. But when it goes like that, it really feels gut wrenching.
Surrey batted well second innings and they did a really professional job on a pretty batting friendly deck at the end. But that position was manufactured by 2 pieces of horrendous umpiring that entirely changed the game. You take out the highest run scorer who’s set and looking comfortable. Then the second highest run scorer who’s just stroked 2 to the boundary.
It’s not all down to 2 decisions, but due to the timing and the players involved. Those 2 decisions have a much bigger impact than if those were given on the morning of day 1.
It was frustrating to see Surrey bowlers get more out of the pitch than ours.
Also letting McKerr and Overton put on 74 in the final session on Day 2 was a big moment in this game but so much had gone on afterwards, we recovered brilliantly from that on Day 3. Ultimately in the absolute crunch moment when the stage was set this morning with the game in the balance the umpire stuffed us and exposed our tail to the 2nd new ball. I've no issue with our approach this morning, we just set about putting the bad ball away with 2 set batters at the crease.
I've been critical of us the past few weeks but I feel like we've been sawn off on this occasion.
The umpires this morning have done us no favours and have contributed massively to our demise today but the position we find ourselves in is not down to these two wise men. These situations have been occurring all season, promising bowling performances exposed by an inability to take the last 3 or 4 wickets, promising starts (all too infrequent) that we have been unable to capitalise on and too many 45 for 3 first hours of day one. I still feel that we have some really competitive individuals but we lack the leadership on and off the field that gives us momentum, desire, hunger and expectation. Body language is absolutely dreadful and sessions, of what we would have called hard cricket, are difficult to recall. I am not sure that we can save ourselves ( or deserve to do so) but if we can a few people should be having a long hard chat with themselves and asking how this has been allowed to happen.
Massively disappointing to lose from the position of last night when most of us might have been expecting a declaration at some point. But when the 2 overnight players, well set, get out too early then it does expose the rest. We have come up against some dreadful umpiring in other games and it does make a difference as we have no idea what Hain might have done once he reached his ton and in a game where we looked good overnight it is a huge blow as another 60-80 runs would have leant a different approach from Surrey. The Somerset and Gloucestershire games take on huge significance as we need points. How have we reached such depths when poor sides like Northamptonshire are above us.
The side have lost the last two games since Matt Lamb was left out of the side,
They lost the one before that as well, when he was in the side and was out shouldering arms!
Ah I remember Benjamin out shouldering arms in that game too...
Moving forwards, who do people here want to see in the team for the next game?
& what do you think are the key reasons for the performances this season?
OHD, Burgess and Hain have been superb but so many others have had poorer seasons than last. Yates has gone downhill as have Briggs and Miles and not seeing much of Norwell hasn't helped. Add in some strange decisions at the toss and some equally strange team selections and you have a season that we all want to forget.
Well Stone, Norwell and Woakes have all appeared much less, or not at all in fact, than they did in 2021, that's absolutely huge.
Lamb not being in the side right now is looking more ridiculous by the game, especially looking at the averages.
Briggs has dropped off massively and its been coming, I said after only 3 or 4 games this season he looks out of sorts and his wicket tally was flattering him. It still is. Yes Miles has largely struggled too, going at 4 or 5 an over. I underestimated how much we'd miss Bresnan's batting, the lower order hasn't performed anything like it did last season.
The pitches this year have been very different to last year, lot of result pitches last year.
We were down and out in so many games last year but we kept on kicking and found a way. We seemed to lack that spirit from pretty early on this year. Did new signings and talk of further new signings from quite early on (early June, we were linked with Mo, Saqib and Barnard) destabilise the dressing room?
The messaging from Robinson and Farbrace has been a bit off too, they've pretty much just about stopped short of literally calling players shit on the odd occasion. The interview Farby did a few weeks ago criticising the bowlers and that he wanted to sign 2 or 3 more was unnecessary. Even if you think that, you don't say it publicly. Heads have noticeably dropped. Huge, like really huge, focus from the management on the Blast too. Right from pre season.
We desperately miss Welchy. The little plans we'd have for certain opposition batters and teams seemed to have vanished. The funky fields etc. A lot of that was Welchy, he'd speak of it a lot.
I expect the game v Somerset to be played on a 'result wicket'. Somerset have got some really good players despite their league position.
Briggs has had a hand injury that will have affected his bowling.
The continued selection of under performing players, particularly Yates & Davies, not only places pressure on the following batsmen, but has a negative psychological effect on the rest of the squad.
The injury absences of the top 3 seam bowlers also has a negative impact on performances.
Woakes and Stone played 6 CC matches between them last season so we've not exactly had the heart ripped out of the side. The big loss is Norwell: 49 wickets last season, 9 so far this season. Of the support bowlers, none of them is close to replicating their returns from last season except Danny Briggs albeit at twice the cost. It's hard to credit but the batters are doing better this year. In 2021 we didn't have anyone average over 38; in 2022 we have 3 who are averaging over 46. The whole of last year there were 8 centuries; so far this season there have been 11. Another problem is that half of last season's tons were by Rob Yates who has dropped off a cliff this year, contributing none. So we're not really trying to replace Woakes and Stone, because their overall contribution in the CC last year was minor; we're struggling to get the best out of players who excelled last year. Maybe some complacency set in, who knows.
Briggs form was struggling prior to that hand injury.
We won 4 out of the 6 games Stone and Woakes played, not having them available has been huge. Their impact, Stone in April and Woakes in September, along with the increased availability we had from Norwell last season cannot be overstated. Stone and Norwell also bolstered the tail whereas this we sometimes get 6 down and then all out very quickly unless McAndrew held an end up.
It may only have been 6 games but if they played zero games the outcome of last season is totally different.
It's difficult to pinpoint exactly where it's all gone wrong this season.
It would interesting to know the reasons behind the poor performance from Yates this season, and if he has some underlying off field issues that have affected his performance.