Mousley terrific again, in all facets.

Yates, I'll say it again, he's quietly having a very good tournament.

How short was that boundary towards the Raglan side?!

I don't think he's been as bad as what some people on here have been making out. Last night was outrageous though.

Yates is under the radar having a very decent comp.

Think the thing that has impressed me about Chris Wright since leaving is the way he's stayed generally injury free. If you cast your mind back he had some terrible back injuries with us from about 2014 onwards.

2018.

I always stick up for Henry Brookes, but I can't defend that. No way should that have got that close!

That's frustrating, Mousley was looking good.

Strong start.

Expect wickets now I've said that.

H Ali rested.

What is happening?

I believe Worcs are in a pretty hopeless situation financially.

Sussex, Chris Wright.

Lawrence Booth, Paul Newman, Bumble and Nasser Hussain all slating the pitch in today's Daily Mail, Newman even described Gary Barwell as "the most sensitive man in cricket".

The pitch was a shocker no doubt but is Newman being a bit harsh on GB here?

I suspect he doesn't have the requisite quality. Buy I also don't think l he's been given a fair shake. We sometimes give up on players too early.

Hope he does well whatever happens as he seems a really nice kid who always says hi.

Careers suffered due to covid maybe? He finished 2019 in a really good place then covid hit and those who he'd moved in front of seemed to automatically jump back in front of him after restarting.

Jacob Bethell showed remarkable maturity last night. And Lintott boundary fielding proved to be absolutely massive.

SC_Bear wrote:

Edgbaston pitches have been like this for a long time now - plenty of CC games in recent years have gone the full distance either with successful big run chases or handshakes at 5pm on the last day. A cursory reading of recent stats would easily prove that and I suspect Ben and Baz are fully aware of that hence the declaration decision on Friday night. I've watched every ball so far and I think it's been a compelling spectacle.

Absolutely. Full credit to the quality of the players for producing such a watchable spectacle in spite of the pitch. There hasn't been a bad session yet.

Hopefully this bit of rain and cloud can juice it up.

It's a poor cricket wicket though. Atherton called it a "pudding pitch" this morning, Dobell was critical of it last night too.

Have to be very careful when commenting on Edgbaston pitches though, people get emotional...

Stokes wanted something flat and flat this indeed is but its also painfully low and slow.

Mikkyk wrote:

Yeah, Bethell has to play going forward even when Hain returns. On current form you would say Benjamin drops out.

Even though Woakes should be available to play for us if he isn't playing for England, I'm not expecting him to be available at any point.

I said before a loss may help us find a better formula that gives us more chance of winning the competition and we are starting to get closer to finding our best formula, but the seamers are still an issue. Not sure Barnard offers a fat lot in this format, and then we still have the conundrum of Brookes/Miles.

But a good win with some tricky fixtures ahead. I would say 3 wins from the last 5 gets us through, and 4 wins gets us a home QF.

Id have thought Barnard misses out when Hain comes back. Brookes is still ahead of Miles for me.

Mikkyk wrote:

Was a slightly strange declaration, I get the idea but surely we wanted to amass as many runs as possible.

I also noticed that Ethan Brookes was 12th man, there was another lad with him as well who I didn't recognise, anyone know if he's also one of ours?

Think Garrett and Hamza Sheikh were on duty too.

Really good win on a tricky ground. Field placement is absolutely crucial at New Road, that place has funny angles and if the Pears get on a roll with the bat they can take some stopping.

Bethell played an absolute gem of an innings. Just think of the games, in all formats, him and Mousley have missed out on playing in over the past 2 or 3 years due to the dodgy overseas players and other signings we've had. We don't properly back our own and we really should.

Anyway, brilliant from Bethell such clean hitting, transformed our innings and by playing the way he did he really got Mousley going too. Dan is so good to watch, he's gonna frustrate at times but when he's on he's unplayable.

Bethell, Brookes and Lintott IN

Hain, Ali, Miles OUT