Predictable!

There was no way they could play these matches at Edgbaston this year after what happened last year and this is the easiest solution!

Pretty clear from last year that Edgbaston just can't physically take the volume of cricket it had last year.

The wickets in all competitions were substandard towards the end.

I'm very passionate to see games taken around the County but was never under the illusion WCCC were doing this for altruistic reasons.

There is no way these games will be played on the edge of the Edgbaston square again this year!

I'm afraid he doesn't seem like a Warwickshire Captain to me!

I fear for this one.

The purpose of outground cricket is to take games around the County especially as we have become so Birmingham centric.

In terms of trains Nuneaton is the largest station in Coventry and Warwickshire with direct lines to Birmingham, Coventry as well as London, Manchester, Leicester etc

The largest populations starved of cricket are Coventry and Nuneaton.

However despite my small win I suspect their bigger agenda is to get wealthy sponsors from South of Warwickshire and set up a pseudo festival.

We’ll see. When I heard this at the dinner I thought somebody is reading this forum!!!

I actually like current people running the Club. They are polite, respond to emails and communicate well!

Hopefully can’t be to long for Birmingham Bears and we can revert to our proper name!

GerryShedd wrote:

Regarding out-grounds, I agree that it will be interesting to see which locations are chosen.
Middlesex are so strapped for cash that they are playing two of their T20 matches at Chelmsford on dates when Lord's is unavailable. According to The Telegraph, this will save them "a six figure sum" even though they will pay Essex a hosting fee.

At the end of season dinner the CEO and Performance Director said they were actively looking for an outground and would make an announcement in due course.

I always felt this was logical given the square was so over used at Edgbaston last year and the 50 overs matches became a joke as did a couple of proper County matches towards the end.

At the dinner he said South Warwickshire but I wrote saying this would be a major PR blunder if announced as majority of population live in the North of the County and there is a greater tradition of County cricket played there. He reassured me saying they were looking at the whole of the County.

I'd rather we produce our own players. We are supposed to be Warwickshire County Cricket Club.

I would hope they would be motivated to win a game of cricket anyway. If not we should be shipping them out and getting some local lads in!

In any case 3rd place completely now depends on the Hampshire result!

Given the Hampshire position we need 350 minimum here it seems to me.

At least this will waste a bit of time before we bat tomorrow.

Solbear wrote:

24-4, looks like a good toss to lose!

I did say I'd bowl.

No doubt we will get the usual suspects saying what great carry and what a good pitch but it looks the usual surface for Edgbaston this season.

well 1030 start now becoming academic but I think I would still bowl as the challenge will be to get 20 wickets to win in a weather affected match.

I looked out of the window this morning at the dew and mist and its unbelievable cricket matches are taking place at this time of year.

Add to that there's a storm on the way on Wednesday.

So another crucial toss coming up and if we win it I have every confidence weather permitting.

Screen says start at 1715 and we have 10 overs.

I think I would open with Barnard and Mousley

Who can we open with to knock this off v quickly?

1030 tomorrow is key!

A shame the ball is a bit older now but that half hour first thing will decide the game!

no further play today might suit us!

It's a difficult balance but I think we missed a trick here not declaring overnight.

Batting getting easier now and we look good.

very difficult and I suppose they took what was the logical decision to get runs on the board first innings.

They won’t do it but there’s a strong case to be made for declaring overnight so Middlesex have to bat at 1030 against a new ball in late September!

Oh dear no breakthrough so far after winning what seemed a crucial toss at this stage of the season.

Hopefully batting on a better track than those we've played on recently at Edgbaston may yet help.

Unfortunately we went down the road of calling it a stadium when its really the county ground.

So its functional and concrete rather than stylish and aesthetic.

The outside of the pitch outfield looks horrendous with the green artificial ring round it but that gets covered over during test matches.

Edgbaston is still a pretty ground though and has far more greenery around it than most grounds. Its still more attractive than the Oval even though we've ruined the pavilion End.

Until we get back to being Warwickshire rather than Edgbaston and have people in charge who know the cost of everything and the value of nothing we will struggle. But the ground and the history are wonderful despite the modern monstrosities!

Poor docile pitch. Certainly not a seamer or a batting track.

Another example that Edgbaston has been heavily utilised and WCCC need a better plan involving outgrounds.

We got home and credit to Burgess but not much beyond that.

Not really sure Robinson has much to crow about other than the outcome. Northants captain admitted they had no leg to stand on in the deal and we could have been more ruthless with that but cricket shouldnt be about deals anyway really.

Pretty unsatisfactory all round. Even Burgess played two horrendous shots late on.