An excellent win after a sporting declaration fro Durham to make a game of it.
I was critical of Booth after the previous match but he stood up here with bat and ball. Special mentions to Barnard, Smith and Bamber for showing great character under pressure.
Obviously we need more runs from the middle order and more threat with the ball, but this win will give confidence to Westwood and the team.

Solid start. A draw pitch. Some good contributions.

Similar to last season we need to find ways to consistently be able to take 20 wickets. Booth hasn't impressed at all. Miles isn't good enough. Rushworth is always injured. Hopefully when OHD is fit and Woakes and Webster are available we will have a much stronger attack.

Come on You Bears! A coach we can all get behind and the beginnings of a new team. Welcome to the new cricket season...

Robinson has pitched up at Sussex, working as a coach for the next two months.

No mention of whether he is on a white ball only deal. It seems a waste that we have a left arm fast bowler on the books not playing Championship cricket.

Clearly Robinson was waiting for some sort of payout or settlement on his contract. He wouldn't walk. After three successive home T20 quarter final defeats, two one day cup semi final defeats and only one championship win last season he had to go.
Looking to the future, if Jimmy Troughton comes in as director of cricket with Bell as batting coach, and Frosty back in the mower, it feels like we're getting the band back together.

Good. This should have happened months ago. I wish Robinson well, but he wasn't the man to deliver success.

I really like Hassan and he is a great addition to the squad.

Robinson is back among the quotes so I guess we are stuck with him for another season of mediocrity.

Jason Gillespie is available after resigning from Pakistan. Whatever happened to the end of season review anyway? Three months later and still nothing. Meanwhile we have a lame duck head coach effectively still in post.

I've got no doubt that Jimmy T would act quickly to do whatever is right for the club to be successful, starting with a new head coach and recruiting some good players.

One positive of Bethell getting a central contract is that it means another salary saving to go into our recruitment pot.

Troughton did OK as head coach for us but I think DoC would suit him really well. He may even be able to persuade Bell or Trott to come in to replace Robinson.

Stokes said yesterday that Smith will come back in with Pope going up to three:

Pope has reiterated his preference for batting at number three and Stokes said England will revert to type when Smith is back in the summer.

"We will no doubt see Pope back up to three and Smudge back into his role," said Stokes. "Last week we had a problem and we found a solution to it. We have looked back at that game and the whole team set-up looked really good."

Bethell gets a two year England central contract. We won't see much of him in a Bears shirt now.

A surprise Larsen went so suddenly. It indicates a ruthlessness which has been sorely lacking. At least he handed us a nice parting gift of Tom Latham.

No mention of the lame duck Robinson still, hopefully they will be equally as ruthless and we can start with a clean slate.

Troughton would be a good pick for Director of Cricket.

"Big overseas player" inbound today. At last a new recruit!

I doubt the Bears will see much of him now he is on the international and franchise circuit. There are big holes to fill in our squad.

Bethell should be in line for his test debut this week. Jordan Cox has broken a thumb and Ollie Pope will have to take the gloves for the first test while they await Ollie Robinson's arrival as replacement wicketkeeper.

c2aw wrote:

https://www.ecb.co.uk/news/4171567/vitality-blast-mens-competition-fixtures-2025

Am I the only one saddened by the fact that the name that appears on the list doesn't include our proper name, but only by a nickname which isn't unique to us as it's shared by others including Chicago, Bristol etc?

It appears they have quietly dropped Birmingham but I won't rest until Warwickshire is fully reinstated to our name.