GerryShedd
Super Moderator
It concerns me that, as a Director of one of The Hundred teams, he claims not to know whether it is making a profit or not. And presumably that means that he doesn't accept the conclusions reached by the Worcestershire Chair Fanos Hira earlier this year that the Hundred has lost around £9 million across its first two seasons.
Exiled Bear wrote:
It’s ok, this is all a tactic so that we’ll be able to bowl last on this pitch - get bowled out cheaply, follow on, get a lead and then skittle them…..
Is this known as Bearball?
I wouldn't want a ticket for day four.
I believe that Jacob Bethell has a back problem which means that he is currently unable to bowl but can (obviously) bat and field.
I agree that it's a strange and worrying article.
If 60% of attendees over the last two years have been newcomers to cricket, what has happened to them since? Are they coming back this year? Have they gone on to watch other forms of the game? Those would appear to me to be key questions that he doesn't answer.
Also, aligning himself with LIV and the Saudis seems a very dodgy link.
Regarding Norwell, what the Club said a week ago was:
“Liam’s had a setback and he’s still probably some weeks away. We’ve got to keep being patient with him because he’s got a bulging disc in his back."
He comes in for a two week loan period because Danny Briggs has a hamstring injury. This presumably means that he is available for the remaining T20 Group games.
Well spotted Andy, who said that Briggs was feeling his hamstring after the Worcestershire game. He's out but Dom Bess comes in on loan:
https://edgbaston.com/fixtures/first-xi/essex-vs-warwickshire-25-june-2023/#match-match-previews
There's no Woakes but Hasan Ali is still there. It seems like spin will be a big factor so maybe Dan Mousley the all-rounder will be to the fore.
It's probably not worth arguing about what happened 140 years ago, especially not on a sunny Sunday. But Duckworth, rightly or wrongly, paints a picture of the Warwickshire element as being a bunch of disorganised toffs and Ansell being the guy who pulled it all together.
Anyway, maybe it was a Warwickshire gentleman (and an Old Boy of my school) who came closest to the truth when he wrote:
"What's in a name? A bear by any other name would roar as loud."
(Or maybe that wasn't quite what he said - but that was the sentiment.)
Preview from the Essex perspective:
https://www.essexcricket.org.uk/2023/06/24/match-preview-essex-v-warwickshire-4/
I think the crowd was around 17,000 last night.
The Club do seem to have dropped the Birmingham name for the T20 team and just talk about "Bears" which is halfway towards going back to Warwickshire.
Incidentally, although I am very much into being a Warwickshire man, I was interested to re-read the Club history written by Leslie Duckworth almost 50 years ago. In it, he makes it clear that, when the Club was founded in 1882, it was a coming together of the existing Warwickshire and Birmingham factions. The original committee had four representatives from the Birmingham and District Cricket Association, three from the Warwickshire Gentlemen C.C.. two from Coventry and one from Rugby. It was William Ansell, who was secretary of the Birmingham Association, who masterminded the formation of the Club. So whilst taking pride in being Warwickshire supporters, we should maybe acknowledge that, without the role played by a Birmingham man and his Association, the Club would not have existed as a recognized fully fledged county club.
Sam Hain said on commentary that he hopes/expects to be back for the Trent Bridge game, which is good news - ahead of schedule.
My recollection is that when Henry Brookes first came on the scene, everyone raved about his pace. Since his back problem, he seems to be no more than fast-medium and so has lost what was his biggest asset.
It's obvious that all is not well at Leicestershire:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/65988108
Ex-Bear Chris Wright is, apparently, also leaving Leicestershire after turning down a new contract, though at age 37, maybe he is retiring.
Looks like there are a few players who may be on the move because their contracts are up:
https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/derbyshire-leus-du-plooy-middlesex-1382748
Leus du Plooy, Callum Parkinson and Colin Ackermann plus a whole load of Pears - Josh Tongue, Pat Brown, Ben Cox, Dillon Pennington and Mitchell Stanley.
Bearing in mind that Finals Day is only a week or so after the quarter finals and two weeks after the last Group match, I assume he is available. Australia will be still playing the Ashes series so it won't clash with any of their commitments.
But I could be wrong - maybe he has signed up for some other T20 tournament in Outer Mongolia or Azerbaijan.
I've seen (and occasionally played on) plenty of pitches that I would describe as shockers but I don't think this was one of them. It lacked pace and bounce and so wasn't a good Test match pitch BUT - it played its part in producing a great match. 36 wickets fell and more would have fallen if half a dozen chances had not been missed that should have been taken (plus a wicket fell to a no ball). So the pitch wasn't all that unfriendly to bowlers and we also saw some great batting.
As to Gary Barwell being over-sensitive, I suspect that he takes great pride in his work and in the work of his staff so it is perhaps natural that he resents criticism of the results of his and their work.
He has had plenty of well justified praise for pitches that he has produced in the past for international matches and also received awards so he is entitled to feel proud of what he has achieved overall since he arrived at Edgbaston.
What I would hope is that, regardless of whether or not he defends his pitch to others, he is asking himself what he could have done differently to produce a pitch with more pace. It's one thing to resent criticism from others and another to fail to be self critical.
I think that Bob Woolmer and Dermot Reeve are responsible for the reverse sweep craze.