Bethell is a superstar in the making. If we can continue in this vein then I'll hold my hands up and say fair play to Robinson for having the courage of his convictions and giving the younger talent the opportunity to thrive.
Having said that, Barnard has shown why it was folly to leave him out of the side for six games. He is a class act. Nice to see Benjamin time one or two, maybe a big contribution is around the corner.
Only negative was the injury to Gleeson but we have plenty of options, although Hassan is out too now. Bring on the Pears.

Good to see Wylie brought in for experience. If Yates isn't fit that is a big loss to a light batting unit. Having said that, he has only made one big contribution in six matches.
Robinson's comments on our form is baffling. He is delusional by failing to acknowledge the fact that the bowlers have bailed us out each time. We will be found out.
There's a lot of pressure now on the younger stars. I get the feeling they are desperately hoping one of Mousley, Bethell or Benjamin have a stellar season and win us some big games.
Anyway, I would bring in Barnard for Benjamin and Hassan for Woakes if fit to play.

Bowlers won it again for us. I wouldn't have fancied our chances at chasing down 170.

Benjamin is just a walking wicket now. He is shot. What good does Robinson thinks he's doing by sending the poor guy out there? For his own sake he needs to be taken out of the firing line. Hopefully he come in again back on form for the One Day Cup.

Hopefully Woakes in for Jamal and Barnard for Benjamin. Then it's between Gleeson, Garton and Hassan for two spots.

Interesting comments from the head coach in the preview defending using the competition to develop young batsmen, which is fine, but you have to get the balance right. One senior overseas middle order batsman would have addressed that balance and taken the pressure off the likes of Yates, Benjamin, Mousley and Bethell.

When Robinson talks about having the best bowling options in the competition it is deflecting from deficiencies we have seen in the batting. Hopefully Barnard can contribute and help to give us a platform to bigger totals.

Wylie might even be worth ago in the T20!
Hopefully Woakesy is ready to be back in the first team fold this weekend. A great addition to our bloated white ball bowling unit.

Not surprised it was Redfern who missed the run out. However, that wasn't the reason we lost. We weren't good enough.

We have prioritised our budget to target this tournament yet the everyone can see our deficiencies with the bat. It is a batman's game in this format and we are overloaded with bowlers.
A big reset is needed. It simply cannot go on with Benjamin. I'd even consider giving Rhodes a go. Barnard is good enough to warrant an opportunity too. Burgess maybe.
If Robinson isn't strong enough to make the necessary tough decisions to find a winning formula then I'm afraid he has to go after another season of failure.

This is a wake up call for Robinson that we cannot afford to carry passengers. How many more chances do we give Benjamin and Mousley waiting for them to get a score? Changes need to be made.

A few observations on yesterday's game:

The batting is obviously a concern.
The fielding is sharp.
Davies captain's really well in this format.
Garton. The jury's out but he could be a game changer once he finds his rhythm and has a few shots in his locker.
Mousely needs to find some consistency with the bat.
Benjamin is a liability currently.
Get rid of that awful stadium announcer screeching "bring the noise" every ten minutes. Bring back Becky Wood.

BristolBear wrote:

Hold on this is a long one; but hope it explains where a lot of us are coming from.
This is all about perspective though, let’s be honest, everything is targeted at this competition, this is the priority. Yes they’ve won the two games. Both because of the bowling. The batting was average, no better, no worse.

The problem is, as we’ve found out the previous 2 years, you need to be strong in both aspects, and 3-5 players performing consistently in each. Last year Yates and Hain carried the batting, no one else was consistent, and it’s looking the same again. And that doesn’t work come knock out time against the best teams.
And considering the amount of money poured into this t20 team, at the expense of the championship side, it’s not unreasonable to have high expectations.

I think the other issue is, we’ve seen Robinson have a reluctance to change players despite a lack of performance, and use 1 decent performance after 6 poor ones justify that decision, and that lack of consistency doesn’t work in one off knock outs. We have a lack of consistency, with players like Benjamin and Bethell being passengers for a season now.
This is all made worse if the likes of Gleeson, Garton or Ali is hurt long term. As that was the entire off season recruitment, and it hurts the genuine strength of the side, wondering whether changes need to be made based on that is perfectly valid.
It’s about building a side to win the entire competition not the group. And going in with the same batting lineup that failed last year and expecting something different is just odd, especially when we’ve seen how good Barnard has been since mid way through last year; and that Burgess went on loan and outperformed almost all our batters. Every other side rotates, uses players in form, Robinson just doesn’t, it’s a locked door, just because we drop a player doesn’t mean they can’t come back in, but why not especially early on see who’s performing?
Winning now doesn’t equal winning later; and actually the way we’re going about this year seems very similar to the last couple of failures, which is why there’s the concern that we’re just repeating ourselves for a third time, which is even more egregious with how much we’ve targeted this competition.
Totally agree with your sentiments, Bristol. However I would perservere with Bethell. He is an outstanding fielder and classy batsman. His bowling should be utilised too, when needed.
Robinson must be more ruthless and drop Benjamin for Jamal or Burgess. He is desperate at the moment.

We have a serious bowling attack this year. Gleeson is quicker than I remember. Lots of skill and variation for the captain to call on. I still worry about the strength of our batting but I think Bethell will have a big breakthrough year.

Chris's father passed away. Thoughts are with him and his family.

ajones1328 wrote:

Inside-edge wrote:

Squad:
Davies (c,wk)
Hassan Ali
Barnard
Benjamin
Bethell
Briggs
Garton
Gleeson
Hain
Lintott
Miles
Mousley
Yates

Barnard/Bethall and Miles to miss out ?

With that batting line up I can see us being down 30/4 a few times.

Andy wrote:

Gleeson and Garton are rapid, no?

From memory they regularly hit mid 80mph but not rapid Mark Wood pace. Quicker than Miles though, who is genuine medium pace. I do like Hassan in this format, who I would describe as 'skiddy'.

Short of a gun overseas batsman and overloaded with medium pace bowlers. I have lower expectations than usual but I hope to be proved wrong.

I would bring in Benjamin, Lintott and Ali for Hain, Mousley and Simmons.

Someone hit the nail on the head earlier regarding the batting. Our batting has been weak for years and the only constant during that time has been the batting coach. Has any player improved under Tony Frost? All I can see is regression. I recall when Sibley wanted to work on technical things he paid for the services of an external coach. This speaks volumes. Yet Frost survives year after year despite a catalogue of failure.

To be fair, Rae had a decent debut. Che Simmons should get credit for a good debut too.

Looking forward to another post match Robinson interview about "taking the positives" from the defeat. We shouldn't be losing from that position.