A weird innings. Some big overs but quite a few with very few runs as well.

On a separate point, we need to get much better at leaving the ball when it’s wide. Could probably have had another 5 runs if we did, there were two in the last over alone that would have been wide if left.

Benjamin continues to look horribly out of form. Only one run off the last over of the powerplay, atrocious

(Hoping this anti-jinxes him)

paulbear wrote:

Nothing worse than seeing a side scrape into the quarters and get to finals day and win it.

I dunno, I enjoyed it quite a bit when we did it 😁

I think a return to one division would be a huge backward step as by the halfway point in the season most matches would be meaningless. If there’s nothing to play for then the players aren’t going to play with the same intensity, thus the matches are more likely to be boring.

There were many potential turning points (as there always is in a test match) but bowing 23 no balls is unforgivable.

Let’s not forget Briggs at the end there as well - that six off the last ball of the penultimate over took a huge amount of pressure off the last over.

…and he has now been called up by Pakistan. He leaves on 3rd July. I wonder if we’ll try to get a replacement, as we’ll miss him in the championship unless Norwell is fit soon.

That’s a good win. Didn’t realise that we hadn’t won there since 2017!

England 3-2. Can’t see there being any drawn tests unless the weather intervenes.

Lumley598 wrote:

mad wrote:

Yes we might not finish in the top two now

There's still a lot of cricket to be played yet, Warks have a game in hand on Surrey and the immediate teams below us. 32 points behind with 8 games left is going to be difficult to make up but not impossible.

Agreed. I think we’re still in a good position for second at least, and the game at the Oval may end up being important as well. The weather could also have an impact at any stage.

This feels like a potentially huge turning point in the season

No protection for the bowlers run-ups seems “convenient”

Looking at the radar, I think that could be it for the day. A big thunderstorm moving in

BristolBear wrote:

Is it me, or does our top 4 seem to bat very slowly this year compared to last?
Hain seems to have gone very anti-BazBall. Davies and Yates take a long while to get going too.

Rhodes goes at a more brisk pace, but really hasn’t scored that many this year.

Puts all the pressure on Mousley, Barnard and Burgess to up the rate.

Really? I’d say that we’re scoring a lot faster than last season generally. One of the problems we had last season was that we scored so slowly that often by the time the second new ball came around we were only on 200-odd, so even if we hadn’t lost wickets the opponents were always in the game.

Yeah I think 150 would probably have been about par, especially with our spin options. We could have bowled all 20 overs with spin!

Highveld wrote:

meashambear wrote:

And now Davies out with a ridiculous shot

What the hell are these batsmen thinking?
You could write the above about Davies almost every time he bats!

Surprised you haven’t mentioned the fact that Benjamin is now averaging 9.57 from 7 innings. I’m sure you would’ve done if it was Davies.

Highveld wrote:

Looked a good decision, pitched around middle and leg, from a left arm wrist spinner and turned to be hitting middle.

You can't blame the umpire for a bad decision by the batsman.

Hitting middle?! Are you watching the same game?! 😂

The_Lickey_Banker wrote:

Yates and Hasan are back in tonight - for Woakes and Brookes.

It’s Barnard who is in for one of them - Yates played the last match.

Hoping that Hasan gives our pace bowling that much needed edge.

To be fair Moeen and Mousley were our only good bowlers tonight. Everyone else was off it and those must be among Woakes’ worst T20 figures. I think if Moeen hadn’t come in as captain it wouldn’t have been so much of an issue.