I don’t know. Players go on much longer these days. And the thing I often forget about Burgess is he might be mid 20’s but he hasn’t actually played that much professional cricket and no injury history. So he hasn’t got the wear and tear on his body. I suspect both he and Davies will say they’ve got 10 years at least left. Whether Davies fingers allow him to do that as a keeper is another thing.
But just look at Murtagh at Middlesex, bloke is 40 and still opening the bowling and taking wickets. Darren Stevens another. I think these days, clubs are planning for players to be around longer.

I do have similar fears that he will essentially be Jake Lintott with the bat. He’ll try play in franchise competitions around the world, and the only competition he plays in for Warwickshire is the Blast.
His red ball record isn’t great, you’d think he’ll need to work very hard on that to contribute in all formats. But it’s completely dependent on the ECB, and how they arrange the schedule.

This game is approaching fast now, with the first QF having just finished. Judging by his inclusion in the 2nd team game Lamb isn’t in the running. No overseas players available and no confirmation if Hose is fit, so a tough one to call.
I suspect the side will look like this:

Pollock
Hose (if fit, Yates if not)
Hain
Rhodes
Benjamin
Burgess
Woakes
Mousley/Bresnan (depending on the pitch)
Briggs
Miles
Lintott

This suggests that OHD won’t make a recovery in time to contribute in the final red ball matches.
Also that Woakes will probably be summoned by England for the 4th test.

As expected the second teams from counties who are still in the T20, are being dominated by those who aren’t.
I wonder if that will play out in any advantage when the county championship returns.

If we did want to contact that viagra man though, how would we go about that…..👀

Having Kelvin Smith in would be an odd one, considering the travel restrictions. He’s down as keeping, but CricInfo says he’s a batsman and off spinner.
Suspect it’s a young kid, but who knows.
Either way it’s probably the final nail in Kelley’s Warwickshire career.
Matt Lamb playing suggests he won’t be required for Fridays quarter final at Kent too.

I think he’ll go to Australia, to cover for Stokes as much as anything.
He’s just a case of if he didn’t have bad luck he’d have no luck at all. He’s competing against England’s 2 most successful bowlers ever, and then he just can’t stay fit, and when he does get a run in the side he gets issues like covid isolating or rotation.
I do think going forward he’ll play a decent amount though, as England have this obsession of not having a long tail, so therefore picking bowlers who aren’t good enough, Sam Curran being the obvious beneficiary, but Overton, Dawson and Bess have also got caps through that thought process.
When no one could say that Curran is a better batsman or bowler than Woakes, and that would be his spot if he could stay healthy. England want a number 8 that can bat.

Rumour has it though, that Anderson has said he’ll pack it in at the end of next summer, and I think Woakes will be the one to benefit. You’d have Woakes, Broad, Robinson and Archer then as a relatively well balanced attack, with the desired batting in it, especially if Moeen continues to bat 7.

I thought 3 really positive things came from this competition.
1) Not only did the young bowlers get a chance, they took their chance and all performed at some point or another. All showed potential, and will have learnt a lot.
2) The “senior” batsmen stepped up. Lamb averaged 60, Yates, Burgess and Mousley averaged 40, Pollock was mid-30’s. They scored runs and got into form.
3) Return of Bresnan, Norwell and Miles bowling some competitive overs is a great plus for what’s to come.

I don’t think they quite deserved to go through, but performed really well considering , and I hated seeing some comments on social media about “disgraces” and the like, because they were anything but.

Now it’s time to get Hose and OHD fit; and the likes of Burgess and Rhodes will probably be crying out for a rest as they’ve played every match in all formats.

Andy wrote:

No doubt who player of the match is today...

The PCA MVP stats gave it to Charlseworthy from Somerset. Don’t need any more evidence than that of their redundancy.

At least Norwell, Miles and Bresnan will all have played some competitive cricket before September.

The pitch for most part seemed quite true in terms of bounce as it usually is at the Oval. But there’s a lot of turn there. A few seemed to just stop though, or at least didn’t come on as quickly as they thought, which did for Bresnan and Yates.
I hope Rhodes makes full use of 4 potential spinners in the side, I suspect how they bowl might be the deciding factor.

The threat of Steel, and even the control from Moriarty, you can see why Robinson kept the spinners in the side.
The balls that got Mousley and Burgess from Steel were excellent. One to Mousley turned big; then a cracking googly to Burgess.
When you see a wrist spinner bowl like that; it’s easy to understand why every side wants and is willing to give a chance to one.

Bulpitt and Johal both drop out for Miles and Bresnan. Seems harsh on Bulpitt who was just starting to hit his stride.

I don’t think you can take Bulpitt out after how he’s improved and how he was on Friday. But I think Johal and Carver might drop out.
Then you’ve got Miles, Bulpitt, Bresnan, Brookes and Rhodes as seam options. And Bethell, Mousley, Lamb and Yates for spin.
So you’ve got plenty of options for each depending on the pitch. But if it does look like one that’s going to really turn it might be tight between Brookes and Carver.

This is also the issue you can get with players that are essentially inspired by being a professional for anyone, or making as much money as possibly rather than a loyalty of coming through an academy, or the desire to win.
It’s definitely something that you can see in a lot do the T20 mercenaries around the world, results rarely matter, it’s the pay cheque that talks.

Thought Burgess and Rhodes batted the situation perfectly.
They settled it down, built a foundation at a decent pace; and set it up well for Mousley and Lamb to be confident enough to throw their hands at it in the last 10 overs or so.

Wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if that’s what he chooses. I think more young players will choose to do that.
You see a number of players now having it built into contracts that they can go to the IPL, CPL etc.

Things could all change. But today has shown the problem of having a very inexperienced, young bowling line up.
Chasing 280, which is roughly what it should have been, is very different to chasing 320. That immediately puts pressure on the batsmen anyway. And unlike this sides young bowlers, Yorkshire have the experience to really put the brakes on which we’ve seen in this match taking it’s toll on the form of wickets.
These players will all learn from this, better death bowling, better economy in the middle overs, and do better putting together a chase of this size next time.

I’d really like to see Burgess and Rhodes given a rest. They’re the only ones who have played every match this season. It’s counterintuitive but, in my mind, the club can’t win this competition with this weakened a squad.
But in T20 it’s just 3 matches.
And in the county championship they’re top of the table with 4 matches to play.
Winning is achievable in those. You don’t want players getting burnt out in this and jeopardising other competitions.