I think we’re talking about two very different things here. The CC is of course going to struggle to attract a younger audience. Part of this is due to scheduling - it’s hard for parents to take their kids along when there are so few games played at the weekend or in the school summer holidays. I’m sure more could be done to encourage younger people to go to a CC game, but I think most of the effort goes into getting them along to a T20 game in the hope that they’ll then go to a one day cup match or a CC match further down the line. That’s where the problem with the hundred comes in. As these teams exist solely to play this format, there’s no link to the longer forms and so it’s much less likely that any of these new fans will make the transition.

coolerking wrote:

If county cricket could be promoted such as to entice families in the way The 100 does then counties would have done it years ago.

But that’s exactly the point - counties cannot afford to throw tens of millions of pounds at advertising. I have absolutely no doubt that if the Blast had been marketed and promoted in the same way that the hundred has, with the free-to-air exposure thrown in, that it would have seen similar levels of growth. And on the point of offering things for kids, of course a day at a championship game is going to be difficult for that, but there has always seemed to be lots going on at T20 games for kids, so I don’t think that’s anything new

Another cracking game! I thought we’d lost it at the end there but the wicket of Pujara proved crucial. Fair play to Garrett for holding his nerve! Still undefeated…

Support from the England captain:

https://twitter.com/benstokes38/status/1554888153609256962?s=21&t=MvmFMF_Zug7V4zsLrkPW-g

I've fixed the link (it's a bug with the forum).

Highveld wrote:

If seems our not very "Super moderator" is becomng the local "Stan Flashman" touting even more tickets.

Obviously he seems to think he can totally and deliberately ignore the ticket conditions of sale and the law.

"The unauthorised sale and/or offer to sell a Ticket, exposure of a Ticket for sale and advertising that a Ticket is available to purchase will constitute a criminal offence under the Birmingham Commonwealth Games Act 2020 and action may be taken against offenders."

Please give it a rest. I know that the real reason that you keep bringing this up isn’t because you actually care passionately about this issue, but is actually a result of your long-running vendetta against Terry, which I know has been a thing since the old bearsfans forum. I will reiterate, again, that I have no issue with what Terry is doing and this is the last time I expect to have to comment on the matter.

I’ve got no problem with it. It’s not like they’re being sold for a profit.

Great to have Norwell back at least.

In fairness I think the club were caught rather off-guard by the sudden retirement of Bresnan. We were obviously expecting to get another year out of him, and the fairly late decision meant that it was a bit late to try to find a decent replacement. We have certainly missed his charisma and determination this season.

That being said, things have still been particularly poor this season. The worst thing is that people will now think that last season's title was just a fluke. I'm sure the shorter league format did play into our hands a bit, and perhaps some of our players were playing above their ability, but we still deserved it.

It takes an impressive effort to lose by such a large margin after bowling out the opposition on the first day for 160-odd

This is going to be an embarrassingly heavy defeat.

I think I read somewhere about a weekly highlights programme for the Blast on free-to-air TV? Other than that though I agree it's pretty concerning.

This also has the potential to be much hotter than any previous heatwaves, and over a much larger area.

An enjoyable day overall in the end. A good recovery, particularly in the evening session. I thought all bowlers bowled well, there were very few freebies, which makes a change from recent games! Hopefully we can keep the pressure on tomorrow morning.

Also a word on the Rose Bowl - it was my first time there for a county game (saw England there a few years ago) and it’s a bit soulless. They also seemingly couldn’t be bothered to have a working PA system in most of the ground!

Two out bowled not playing a shot. Dreadful

Olly Stone is 12th man and is having a bowl on the square during lunch. I wonder why he isn’t playing? Given the weather I would’ve thought that the pitch will suit his bowling

GerryShedd wrote:

If you thought that the Bears took a beating, just be grateful that you're not a Derbyshire supporter.
I'm annoyed that, because Somerset qualified and the Bears didn't, Exiled Bear's mate Harry Everett will get the nod to report for Deep Extra Cover on Finals Day. It's a great day to be in the Press Box - lots of excitement and non-stop food!

Ha! I will pass on your annoyance!

Slightly annoying also that they took away the two records that we broke just a few weeks ago! And it also got more coverage than it did when we broke them, but then Somerset are a more "trendy" county...

That was embarrassing. I made a late decision to go to the game after landing back in the UK at lunchtime today. I don’t regret it as it’s probably the only time I’ll get to Edgbaston this season but crikey that was poor.

Did the pitch conditions change? It looked like we were batting on a completely different pitch to Hampshire. I think we barely middled or timed half a dozen balls in the whole innings!

Also, why did Mousley not bowl?

It's not uncommon to play three spinners these days either, plus his batting is good enough on its own anyway.