I assumed he’d been signed for the whole summer. Surely you sign him and say if you want to go back to SA during the 50 over comp then fine. But make sure you’re back ready to go for the red ball again in September.

Derbyshire v Essex has been abandoned due to a positive Covid case - I assume this means that Essex now can't qualify for Division 1?

The ECB states that "confirmation on the awarding of points from the match will be announced in due course."

This could work out quite well for us. Obviously hope everyone is fine though.

Re Essex v Derbys, they haven't decided what happens to the points yet. Might give Essex a win bearing in mind a Derbys case...

Irrespective, good start to the day and seems we're one of not many starters. What's the weather like in Worcs? It says rain here in London but had been a bright morning.

The forecast doesn't seem to be too bad now actually. There's not much rain on the radar either, but I guess there could be a bit of drizzle around.

For Essex, I think it was all mathematical anyway. They needed a full bonus point win, plus both Durham and ourselves to only get 3 or 4 points each.
I can’t see them being awarded the win either. As in last year’s abandoned matches each side received 8 points for a draw plus any bonus points acquired.
In my mind, it’s now a case of matching Durhams points to qualify.

Yes I think it is unlikely in cricket bearing in mind how much of the game there is to play and how difficult it is to win. I mention it as this was how rugby games were settled this season: if you have an outbreak and the game is cancelled as a result, the other team get the win.

BristolBear wrote:

For Essex, I think it was all mathematical anyway. They needed a full bonus point win, plus both Durham and ourselves to only get 3 or 4 points each.
I can’t see them being awarded the win either. As in last year’s abandoned matches each side received 8 points for a draw plus any bonus points acquired.
In my mind, it’s now a case of matching Durhams points to qualify.

I thought it was strange how rugby dealt with it, it's almost as if they were saying it's the team's fault for having a Covid outbreak.

The BBC live text is suggesting that Essex are categorically not going to finish in the top two.

Shocker of a decision for the last LBW with the ball hitting outside leg stump and also going down, but fortunately it shouldn't matter.

Let’s hope Lintott, and perhaps the occasional spin of Lamb, Sibley and Yates can do the job here.
It clearly started really turning for Sodhi, all but 2 wickets fell to spin.
Burgess got an absolute jaffer, pitched well outside leg, hit middle and off. Then balls later Lamb got one that did nothing. Hard to score big on a wicket like that, which means that great start, and batting first could be huge.

The New Road pitch is strange, can be docile for hour after hour and then out of nowhere things can happen.

Re. the umpiring, there was a couple of odd decisions, Lamb's was iffy, looked like it may have been sliding down.

Nice to see us put up a total batting first, Malan and Sibley have been due and we had good contributions from Rhodes and Lamb, that was a good partnership this morning and allowed us to take control of the game.

Exiled Bear wrote:

Shocker of a decision for the last LBW with the ball hitting outside leg stump and also going down, but fortunately it shouldn't matter.
Having watched the replay at actual speed and frame by Frame, It looks a sound decision.
Pitching on leg and turning enough to take leg.

Seems the first day and the new ball are the best time to bat. It’s when Malan and Sibley, and Rhodes and Lamb did well. Mitchell and Libby looked set there too.
Now suddenly Libby got one that kept seriously low, and Yates turned one enough to get Fell.
I wonder if we’ll see any Sibley leg spin.

Highveld wrote:

Exiled Bear wrote:

Shocker of a decision for the last LBW with the ball hitting outside leg stump and also going down, but fortunately it shouldn't matter.
Having watched the replay at actual speed and frame by Frame, It looks a sound decision.
Pitching on leg and turning enough to take leg.

I also watched it frame by frame and if you line up a piece of paper along leg stump (which you can see a few seconds before) then you can see that it hit Sidebottom comfortably outside the leg stump

Exiled Bear wrote:

Highveld wrote:

Exiled Bear wrote:

Shocker of a decision for the last LBW with the ball hitting outside leg stump and also going down, but fortunately it shouldn't matter.
Having watched the replay at actual speed and frame by Frame, It looks a sound decision.
Pitching on leg and turning enough to take leg.

I also watched it frame by frame and if you line up a piece of paper along leg stump (which you can see a few seconds before) then you can see that it hit Sidebottom comfortably outside the leg stump

I thought it was poor also. I have just got back and the pitch looks bland and uninteresting, like the 1970's Worcester pitches and unlike the 'Result' rubbishy pitches they had in the 1980's.

Leg stump wasn't visable at anytime on the clip of Sidebottoms dismissal.
He took a middle stump guard and the leg stump was not isable at any time. Te ball would probably have hit t both middle and leg stumps.

If given an identical ball in the games i'm due to umpire this week, the batsman would be given out.

The Worcester wicket is slow and low, but the entire square looked very damp indeed both on Friday and yesterday.

The absense of Briggs could hurt us in this game, we are missing his ability to bowl long tight spells.

Cricinfo report on the day https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/county-championship-2021-1244186/worcestershire-vs-warwickshire-group-1-1244298/match-report-2

Highveld wrote:

Leg stump wasn't visable at anytime on the clip of Sidebottoms dismissal.
He took a middle stump guard and the leg stump was not isable at any time. Te ball would probably have hit t both middle and leg stumps.

If given an identical ball in the games i'm due to umpire this week, the batsman would be given out.

The Worcester wicket is slow and low, but the entire square looked very damp indeed both on Friday and yesterday.

The absense of Briggs could hurt us in this game, we are missing his ability to bowl long tight spells.

Cricinfo report on the day https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/county-championship-2021-1244186/worcestershire-vs-warwickshire-group-1-1244298/match-report-2

I've drawn on the location of the stumps here:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/sJw1Dkhi8rCtGzUWA

I suspect that you'll have a lot of disgruntled batsmen if you give those out! The fact that only the bowler appealed says it all really.

Batsmen are always disgruntled, and if apeals are turned down bowlers and fielders are too :-)

With the points that we have now accrued, I think it is mathematically certain that we will qualify for Division 1, assuming we draw.