Bit harsh that lbw decision wasn't it? Rhodes wasn't convinced.

Two wonderful shots from young Smith - keep him in the side!

This was a great opportunity for Benjamin to get his head down and play a decent knock. If Burgess still can't keep wicket in the next game, give it to Kai Smith.

Crikey, looks like we're only going to have to use 3 bowlers in this match!

BristolBear wrote:

The Barnard & Burgess partnership is a very strong 1 for us. Seen it a few times in the championship, now in the 50 over.
If only we could get to see it in T20.

Exactly, it's frankly hard to understand why they are not regulars in T20. I just can't fathom out why Benjamin is preferred to Burgess as a wicket-keeper in T20, it's a nonsense. Hopefully, both Barnard & Burgess will be selected (if fit) for the quarter-finals in September - they both deserve to be involved.

Inside-edge wrote:

Jayden Seales was with Sussex for the first half of the season and I believe he is keen to return there next year. He was due to join them in 2023 but was injured.

Thanks for the info and fair play to Sussex for signing him up. We could do with a young, quality fast bowler for next season.

Good to see Chris Woakes taking a few wickets, hopefully he can regain some form now. I like the look of the West Indies fast bowler Jayden Seales, he's only 22/23 & i wonder if we could get him for next season in the Championship? We desperately lack a real quickie in our line-up, and I know he would be more costly than the usual overseas bowlers we normally end up with, but it would be great to sign someone of his calibre, it would be a real boost to us if we could land him.

How come we are away for 4 of our first 5 fixtures in the One Day Cup? This coming week we're having to travel to Chelmsford, Leicester and then Hove all in the space of 5 days, that must be a bit of a disadvantage to us in the early matches due to all that travelling.

I thought that Chris Benjamin might have been selected for this game, to give him a chance to score some runs. It will be good to see Che Simmons back, he looked promising at the start of the season.

GerryShedd wrote:

Regarding Chris Benjamin, there is only so much a coach can do to help someone who is totally out of form. It's not a matter of technique, more an inability to time the ball and (probably) a major lack of confidence.
What was most surprising to me was the decision to promote him to Sam Hain's slot at number four. If (for whatever reason) he was to be preferred to Burgess as keeper, I would have thought that he would have been hidden somewhere in the lower middle order.
Am I right in thinking that he is no longer in the Birmingham Phoenix squad for The Hundred this year? If so, that may mean that he will play in the 50 over competition.

Birmingham Phoenix squad:
Chris Woakes, Tim Southee (o), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Ben Duckett, Benny Howell, Adam Milne (o), Jamie Smith, Louis Kimber, Sean Abbott (o), Tom Helm, James Fuller, Dan Mousley, Jacob Bethell, Aneurin Donald, Rishi Patel.

No Benjamin then, but a tasty looking squad!

Congratulations to Hamza for his century and also for captaining England to victory. Hope he gets a chance to play for us in the one day matches or even in the Championship.

Regarding the Benjamin situation, just what is the batting coach doing with him during the week? He hasn't improved at all, in fact with every game he looks worse and is clearly out-of-sorts. Surely there has to be questions asked about why he has been so poor and why there hasn't been any improvement from him all season.

Moeen's innings has been superb, now that was a good decision to have him open the batting!

It's clear for all to see that Benjamin has no confidence whatsoever, why on earth are they putting the poor bloke through it every week? It's become embarrassing. And how do they justify putting him ahead of Bethell & Barnard in the order?

I would choose the following as our best eleven:

Yates
Barnard
Mousley
Hain
Bethell
Moeen Ali
Burgess
Garton
Briggs (Capt)
Lintott
OHD

As we are now definitely in the quarter-finals, why not pick the likes of Burgess & OHD? I would have them in ahead of Benjamin & Miles anyday.

Looking at England's fixtures around the time of the Quarter-Finals, they are scheduled to play Sri Lanka in the 2nd test from 29 August - 2 September and the 3rd test 6 - 10 September. Then they play 3 20/20 games against Australia on 11, 13 & 15 September. If we do make the finals day then hopefully they won't select any of our players for the games against the Aussies!

As far as the tests are concerned, only Woakes is likely to be selected against Sri Lanka. However, if his current form doesn't improve then he might not make the squad at all, meaning he could well be available for the QF.

The Quarter-Finals are in the first week of September, starting on Tuesday 3 September until Friday 6 September (one QF per day).

Finals day Saturday 14 September.

Once again young Mousley batted and bowled well, i think he has been excellent this season in T20. Briggs too has been very good, and pleased to see Lintott getting wickets as well.

So if Davies is fit then presumably Benjamin will drop out, it would be hard to leave anyone else out after last sunday's win.

Jamie Smith plays second fiddle to Ben Foakes in the Championship, he keeps wicket for T20 & one day matches. I thought Foakes kept wicket superbly in India, and his batting was pretty decent as well. It seems McCullum & Stokes are obsessed with players who can smash the ball about a bit, but as we saw in India that doesn't always work, particularly in test cricket. Surprised by both Woakes & Bashir being selected, given their lack of cricket so far this season. And why do they constantly select Dan Lawrence in squads but never play him? Lawrence must now surely hold the record for carrying the most drinks out in test cricket history!