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!

A crushing win, 7 bowlers used and everyone taking at least one wicket. A good move to give Briggs the captaincy instead of Moeen, i thought he did a good job in rotating the bowlers throughout their innings.

OMG 57 all out! Moeen 2-2! 2 catches for Benjamin!

36 - 6, pleased that Lintott has taken a wicket.

What a start, 4 down already!

So who will Moeen come in for? If Davies is fit, then it probably will be Benjamin with Moeen in at 6. However, if Davies is out and Benjamin dons the gloves, then who will drop out - will Moeen just replace Davies and open the innings with Barnard? Or will they bring in Yates to open and Moeen to replace either Lintott or Miles?

Very interesting team selection to look forward to tomorrow!

A brilliant innings from Hain this evening, and Garton played his part too - a good little knock and 3 very good overs in the context of the match. I thought Mousley bowled well too, and Briggs has a habit of taking wickets in this format. We have 3 very winnable games coming up against Notts, Worcestershire & Derbyshire so hopefully after those 3 we should have qualified for the quarter-finals.

I think they'll stick with Benjamin & i expect Foulkes to come in for either Booth or Miles.

Poss Team: Davies, Barnard, Mousley, Hain, Bethell, Benjamin, Foulkes, Garton, Briggs, Booth/Miles, Lintott

So will Moeen Ali come back into the side tomorrow as captain? New signing Zak Foulkes played for the seconds this week against Glamorgan, scored 28 off 30 balls and finished with bowling figures of 3-0-35-0. Chris Benjamin also played and scored 14 off 11 balls.