BristolBear wrote:

Don’t disagree on Briggs being superb for T20. But by the 2026 season he’ll be 35. More and more we only play him in T20. That experience and achievement comes with a price tag. As I understand his family situation he doesn’t really want to travel much for franchise cricket. So would be against a T20 only deal, wants all formats.
Can you justify paying someone that much, when you could get an all format decent red ball spinner, plus have Bethell, Yates and Mousley for T20 spinners too. And we could have Moeen and Lintott as well still.
It’s a balance.

absolutely we aren't at all short of spin options

GerryShedd wrote:

There may be a bit of a Will Rhodes type dilemma in relation to Danny Briggs because my recollection is that he came to Warwickshire specifically because he wanted to play more red ball cricket. But the reality is that he hasn't delivered in red ball. So if part of his negotiation on a new contract is that he still wants a guarantee of red ball selection, that might be a problem.
I would imagine that counties generally will be looking at the spreadsheet and seeing who might be available soon.

wow, I didn't recall that.

on a related note, before Briggs came here I always compared his T20 figures to Jeetan's and assumed that, as his strike rate was much better than Jeets, he was a more attacking, toss it up, bigger spinner of the ball, who would if anything be better as a wicket-taking CC bowler. I literally never noted his CC averages.

Strange how someone so much better than Jeets at taking T20 wickets would be so much worse at taking CC wickets. I used to think it must be because he turned it more, but having seen him, i think he actually turns it less and gives it much less of a rip than Jeets; it seems to me it's just that, in the white ball game, Jeets absolutely hated getting hit for boundaries and bowled more defensively, where Briggs almost seems to relish batsmen having a go at him, if they hit a six 'please, try that again' and then the subtle variety in the next delivery = wicket.

I absolutely love watching Briggs at work but its a major liability that our premier spinner is so mediocre with the red ball

you missed out Barnard who has got oodles of white ball centuries over the last 2 years

BristolBear wrote:

Probably time to move on from Rushworth, Briggs, and Miles.

move Briggs on after his best ever T20 season for number of wickets taken, where he was like 2nd in the competition? i think that unlikely, as much as his red ball game is poor (that isn't the management team's priority, clearly)

i wouldn't get rid of the all time leading domestic T20 wicket taker when seemingly at the top of his game, myself

The comparison that comes to mind with Benjamin is Tom Banton.

When he first hit the scene he had two great years, like Benjamin he played quite a lot of ‘innovative’ type shots, the ramps and scoops and stuff

Then he had 3 absolutely terrible years, couldn’t buy a run IIRC.

But last year he came back to form and did very well again. So I do think it’s possible after a period of bad form/ being found out that Benjamin could return to form, but for his career a move was probably the best thing. Time will tell but I’ll be looking out for his scores

Sure, but in my opinion he wasn’t a better option than either Yates who has a better t20 record, or Barnard, who was in incredible white ball form

Rhodes was not the next cab off the rank even if they did drop Benjamin, which I agree they should have done.

You mention Burgess which is a really good point and I’d have him in the t20 team ahead of Rhodes, too.

Barnard deserved a shot in the t20 lineup before Rhodes did in any case, and Yates didn’t play much this year and has a better record than Rhodes, so it’s something of a moot point. I think there is very little case to be made that Rhodes was one of our 6 best t20 batsmen.

its a shame as I personally think he definitely has something and with the right coaching/support I still think he has a career in the game. he should have been dropped for his own good last season as his demeanour visibly got worse with each passing failure. His best performances had some shotmaking of real innovative aplomb.
i don't think his failure to develop and subsequent nosedive in form speaks too highly of the coaching setup.

I can entirely understand his moving to get T20 opportunities, for what its worth, as there is so much money to be made and careers are short. I think he may be a bit optimistic, though, and doubt he will be doing the Franchise circuit, unless his white ball game has significantly improved.

GerryShedd wrote:

Some fair points there. You don't mention, however, that in his last T20 season (2021), Will ,Rhodes easily topped the T20 bowling averages with 14 wickets at 11.71.

good point!

And as for batting, Chris Benjamin's figures this year of 114 runs at an average of 11.40 and a strike rate of 117.52 don't compare too well with those 2021 figures for Rhodes (192 runs at 19.84, strike rate 134.37), modest though Rhodes' figures were.

ok but its hardly fair to compare CB's worst season with Rhodes's best, lets compare Rhodes with compare Benjamin's best season, 2022, 354 runs average 39 strike rate 163 absolutely annihilates Rhodes's best season

Obviously Rhodes is a big loss to the club as a whole, seems to have been a great leader and man to have around and a big contributor to the red ball team and whatever success they have had in his time with us. I regret his leaving greatly.

regarding his non-selection for the T20 lineup, though, I have to say with some posts above I can't work out if it is poor memory or selective memory, that he 'wasn't given a chance'

as a T20 player Rhodes was somewhere between mediocre and poor and had plenty of chances in his early career with the Bears

from 2019 to 2021 he had 35 games. he played virtually every game, and, forgive me for shooting bambi here, but he basically stank the house out. he was an awful T20 batsman. Which his average being under 20 and his strike rate being way under 130 very quickly shows.
Sam Hain scored more runs in the 2024 year than Rhodes managed in 35 games over 4 seasons.

His best year was 14 matches for 258 runs at 134 strike rate. Chris Benjamin gets absolutely crucified on here for having better seasons statistically.

I'm all for mourning the ones we regret losing but perhaps some perspective?