GerryShedd
Super Moderator
As an aside, Keith Barker was today announced as the Cricket Writers Club County Championship Player of the Year.
Full awards:
Bob Willis Trophy for England Player of the Year, sponsored by Smile Group Travel: Jonny Bairstow
Peter Smith Award: Katherine Brunt
JM Finn Women’s Cricket Award: Nat Sciver
NV Play Young Cricketer of the Year: Jordan Cox
LV Insurance County Championship Player of the Year: Keith Barker
Greater Than Gin Emerging Cricketer of the Year: Freya Kemp
Lord’s Taverners Disability Cricketer of the Year: Josh Price
Derek Hodgson Book Award: David Woodhouse for "Who Only Cricket Know"
Well, you said that the Club had no idea how to handle players; but maybe we can just agree to disagree.
I thought we were discussing Keith Barker and you were suggesting that he was badly treated but I pointed out that he had his own personal reasons for leaving so it was not fair to criticise the club.
It may not fit in with a "Bash the Club" agenda; but I have it on the authority of a close friend who knew Keith Barker at the time that Keith had strong personal reasons for wanting a move to the south coast.
Good to see Chris Woakes starring for England yesterday. Let's hope that his knee op has worked and he is fully fit again.
It's become the orthodox wisdom here to say that Welch left because of Robinson; but do we have any hard evidence to back that up?
David Hopps, not entirely disguising the fact that he is a Yorkshireman, has decided that the person responsible for Warwickshire's survival in the top flight is not Liam Norwell but - Joe Root!
To be fair he has some interesting things to say about the wider issues of county versus other cricket and some of the assumptions and assertions made in the Strauss Report:
https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/county-championship-2022-joe-root-puts-golf-before-yorkshire-in-symptom-of-system-in-crisis-1337441
Reabank's analysis is here:
http://sideoncricket.blogspot.com/2022/01/warwickshire-2021-accounts.html
Highveld wrote:
Has it been confirmed Lamb is leaving?
Lots of rumours (e.g. that he's going to Sussex); but as far as I know, nothing official. If there was any substance in the Sussex rumour, the fact that they have sacked their Head Coach today might put a spanner in the works of that deal.
With the Club still owing the City Council £20 million which they have no realistic hope of ever re-paying, it's not surprising that the Council can call the shots, even though it's unlikely that they would ever put the Club out of business by calling in the loan, because of the loss of a facility that brings so much money into the City on big match days. Hence both parties dance around the debt, pretending that it will be repaid one day. It's like the patient in the dentist's chair who, when the dentist starts his drill, reaches out and gently grasps the dentist's private parts, saying: "Now, we're not going to hurt each other, are we?"
paulbear wrote:
I memory serves me correctly, wasn't last season's win v Somerset, the very last game to be completed and if so, that means Liam Norwell has bowled the last ball of the season, 2 seasons in a row, come on stato's see if that has been done before.
You could say Norwell did it twice last season - he took the last wicket to win the Championship but then, the following week, he also took the last wicket against Lancashire to win the Bob Willis Trophy at Lord's.
Just issued today:
https://edgbaston.com/news/new-masterplan-and-levelling-up-fund-bid-to-transform-edgbaston-stadium/
It says: " Building on the success of the Birmingham Bears and Birmingham Phoenix brands, the proposed redevelopment will help to make sport and its associated health and wellbeing benefits more visible and connected to the local community." No mention of Warwickshire there; and I'm not sure how the Phoenix Brand that promotes Butterkist sweet popcorn fits in with health and wellbeing. Even so, it's an interesting and ambitious project.
Good to see Stingray posting. Here's the article by George that she mentioned:
https://www.thecricketer.com/Topics/countychampionship/warwickshire_hampshire_liam_norwell_makes_amends_i_was_the_man_get_us_over_the_line.html
It's not just county cricket that comes out of yesterday well, it's those who write about it - some really good articles such as George's plus Ali Martin in The Guardian, who points out that there were 16,000 watching on-line, not bad for a Thursday afternoon.
George mentions comparisons with Botham bowling England to victory in 1981. I was there that day - I'm still trying to find the hat that I lost in the excitement. To that occasion, I would add last year's final day Championship win and yesterday as highlights of my Edgbaston memories.
I'll shut up for the winter (or for an hour or so) after just adding praise for a couple of others - Will Rhodes who has been so heavily criticised on here but who made the bold declaration on day two and also told Liam Norwell in no uncertain terms to keep bowling when he wanted to go off. And Gary Barwell and his staff who got the ground fit for play despite the rain and who also produced a pitch that was ok to bat on but gave the bowlers just that bit of help that they needed.
I think we can conclude that Yorkshire are not taking it well:
https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/cricket/yorkshire-ccc-a-club-relegated-and-a-club-destroyed-chris-waters-3861999
Lots of questions to be answered.
In the meantime:
https://deepextracover.com/2022/09/lv-county-championship-warwickshire-v-hampshire-day-four/
The BBC get it both right and wrong:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/63075267
(And in case the link gets corrected, it reads: "Warwickshire (21 pts) beat Yorkshire (4 pts) by five runs".
After the match, the players will be in the Dollery Lounge to thank members for their support:
https://edgbaston.com/news/players-to-visit-tom-dollery-lounge-after-hampshire-fixture/?utm_campaign=13498719_Warwickshire%20Members%20Newsletter%20%2828.09%29&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=DotDigital&dm_i=1AFS,81BOF,8II8VY,WVPO7,1
A chance for Alex Davies to say how much he appreciates all the support he has been given.
At one stage this morning, I definitely thought that I could hear Steve McQueen revving up his motorbike; but now I'm not so sure.
Someone else telling us what went wrong:
https://wisden.com/stories/county-cricket/county-championship-2022/warwickshires-journey-from-championship-winners-to-relegation-contenders-explained
Not much new insight but worth a read.