If Hassan and Norwell are still both unavailable for Durham, I wonder whether Garton might be called up? It has been said that he could be considered for redball. He is genuinely quick and a left armer is something we have been sorely missing since Barker left.

Good call on Garton; any variety in our attack in terms of pace or left arm is a must, particularly if the square reacts in the same way as it did last year.

Glad to see that my analysis was well received.

A few points in response to your responses:

Its an interesting point about population on geographic location of counties. Sussex for example are surrounded by Kent, Hampshire, Surrey and the sea; their catchment area is limited as a result as they are fighting over the same youth players. On a similar basis, Warwickshire have several neighbours, but alternatively have Birmingham, Coventry and effectively Wolverhampton as cities in their catchment area and the Birmingham League; yet we have issues developing players. I often wonder if it's a case of smaller counties having to produce players because they are unable to afford to attract more established players.

I agree, I absolutely do not want to see any reduction in the Championship or First Class cricket, in my opinion we play too little as it is.

A few of you proposed and I agree, an analysis of ODI and T20 debuts would be interesting, I will look to put this together at some point.

Mad asked if class was a factor; I honestly cannot comment without knowing the bias of the selectors in question. I am convinced however that, at least in the past, selectors favoured players at certain counties for whatever reason. As many have said, the lack of international recognition for Warwickshire's 1994 team is disgraceful; its not like England were experiencing a golden age at that point.

On a wider point regarding player development, around 5 years back I remember reading an interesting article (Cannot remember where for the life of me now) that said that the number of Afro-Caribbean First Class cricketers had declined in England compared with the 1990s (The number of British Asian cricketers had marginally increased) whilst the number of cricketers educated at non-state schools had increased. For me, the slashing of state school PE budgets, the lack of free to air TV time for cricket over a number of years until The Hundred and the sporting monoculture that has developed around football in this country are to blame. Certainly, my kid's school (In a working class, multicultural part of Wolverhampton) play football and nothing else. My son and daughter are the only kids at their school to have played rugby or hockey, basically because my wife and I got them involved in clubs outside of school.

Some of you may I remember that several years ago, I produced a table on the old message board, comparing the number of England Test players produced by each country since 1985. Given the, in my mind, fair criticism that a club the size of Warwickshire have a mixed record in producing players who go on to enjoy successful domestic and international careers, I thought it was time to update the table, this time taking in the past 50 years (So 1973 to the end of 2023)

The table should be fairly self-explanatory; the number of individual players who have made their Test debut while at the county, the total number of Tests played by that player (Even if some appearances were made after moving counties) and the date of the last player from that county to make their England Test Debut.

Derbyshire x7 Test players, earning 152 caps, last debut 1995
Durham x10 Test players, earning 298 caps, last debut 2022
Essex x15 Test players, earning 520 caps, last debut 2017
Glamorgan x7 Test players, earning 56 caps, last debut 2002
Gloucestershire x5 Test players, earning 63 caps, last debut 2021
Hampshire x10 Test players, earning 214 caps, last debut 2018
Kent x21 Test players, earning 231 caps, last debut 2022
Lancashire x22 Test players, earning 634 caps, last debut 2022
Leicestershire x13 Test players, earning 176 caps, last debut 2022
Middlesex x24 Test players, earning 681 caps, last debut 2017
Northamptonshire x12 Test players, earning 263 caps, last debut 2016
Nottinghamshire x12 Test players, earning 178 caps, last debut 2016
Somerset x13 test players, earning 386 caps, last debut 2022
Surrey x23 Test players, earning 611 caps, last debut 2022
Sussex x10 Test players, earning 143 caps, last debut 2021
Warwickshire x14 Test players, earning 349* caps, last debut 2019
Worcestershire x11 Test players, earning 218 caps, last debut 2023
Yorkshire x29 Test players, earning 760 caps, last debut 2022

*Boyd Rankin (1 Test for England) also played 1 Test for Ireland, not included in this table.

The figures for some counties are skewed by a player making a large number of Test appearances, inflating the overall number (Examples include Gloucestershire, with 54 of their 63 Test caps being won by Jack Russell and Somerset, with Ian Botham picking up 102 of their 382 caps)

It is also worth noting that several players made their Test debut after moving from, to put it diplomatically, unfashionable counties to "bigger" counties (Graeme Swann being a good example, who debuted and subsequently won 60 Test caps after moving from Northants to Notts. (This particularly skews the figures against the smaller counties, as players with Test aspirations don't tend to move to Derbyshire or Leicestershire)

As an aside, I also compiled a list of the number of players who played fewer than 10 Tests from each decade:
11x players <10 Tests in 1973 - 1979
32x players <10 Tests in 1980s
31x players <10 Tests in 1990s
23x players <10 Tests in 2000s
19x players <10 Tests in 2010s

Looking at the tables, I feel that the view that Warwickshire have a poor record of developing players is a fair one. The fact that Derbyshire, Gloucestershire and Glamorgan have each produced such a low number of Test players in 50 years (Derbys' last Test Debut was Dominic Cork!) personally makes me question their worth in First Class cricket, particularly when their Championship performance has been so poor (1995 and 1997 apart.) Alternatively, I am realistic enough to understand that budget considerations are different for each club, certain counties (Glos, Northants) have had successful limited overs teams and some players can be considered unlucky not to have been given a chance at Test level (Kevin Dean (Derbys), James Hildreth (Somerset) and David Sales (Northants) being examples) The second table also suggests to me that England have not had a consistency of selection for a number of years, with knee jerk changes to the Test team (Often cited as the mark of England in the 1990s) being an almost constant feature.

Interested to hear your views?

Agreed, I regard this as a good season after two up and down years; we over achieved winning the Championship in 2021, we under achieved last year; 2023 represents an accurate reflection of where we are at present.

As an aside, I sat upstairs in the Press Box Stand today for the first time in a few years (Certainly it was pre-COVID the last time I went up there) and sad to say that the whole upper tier is looking fairly unloved at present. Rust leaking out of much of the metal work, most of the paint peeling from the railings and walls, the guttering at the front of the top tier clogged with litter and vegetation, with weeds growing in several parts of the gutter, and a metal bar (Presumably used to secure advertising hoardings in a previous life) disconnected from the rest of the railings and abandoned in said guttering don't do much to create a good impression on visitors.

The ECB need to seriously look at the state of the balls they are using this season- we have just had the fourth unscheduled ball change in the last 3 days.

Frankly that is farcical.

Another interesting day, didn't see that coming at 100 for 5!

As has been said, a determined innings from Davies under the circumstances, pleasing efforts by Brookes and Burgess too.

Very interesting day today; arrived at 15 for 1 and stayed until the end.

One minor criticism, I felt our field settings could have been more aggressive at times, particularly early in Brookes' first spell (He was posing some real questions of Lancs) and during the second new ball (OHD was bowling with just two slips with the ball just 6 overs old)

However, we stuck to the task well and got crucial wickets just when Lancs looked settled at the crease. A big day tomorrow; hopefully roll the last pair over quickly and then a big score.

Simply brilliant today; I honestly didn't see this coming back in April, at the start of the season I would have been satisfied with qualification for Division 1.

As others have suggested, this is a developing team. Personally, I don't think we have the best team in terms of the best XI (Especially given the bowlers we have been missing this year) but we have the best team in the way that they work as a unit; that side play for each other.

This Championship means more to me than any since 1995; I was away with work for much of 2012 (So hardly saw any cricket) and 2004 was mainly won by batting teams into submission. This was a memorable season in so many ways, partially due to the fact we couldn't go last year.

I will be interested to see how the side develops over the next couple of years, but that is a discussion for another day; tonight is for enjoying the moment. My congratulations to all at the club!

The incident represents an inability of any party to take responsibility for their actions. The club and the ECB have been happy to build up the Hollies Stand as the place to go on a T20 or England match day if you want to get hammered, not watch the cricket and generally make an a*se of yourself (Sorry, "The Party Stand") I can imagine nothing worse than sitting there for a Test Match or T20 game.

The organising company cannot promise "free flowing pints" and a "Summer Day Party from the gods" (The company's own advert, according to the BBC website) and then act surprised when some of their clientele cant hold their beer.

Alternatively, those who got hammered, broke the ground regulations and potentially landed the club in the sh*t also need to learn responsibility for their own actions; they may be banned from Edgbaston for life (Not that most of them will care) or they may be expelled from their university (Which they will care about) either way, they may be about to reap the consequences.

Tea being taken now- a most frustrating rain break this; drizzle so light that most at the ground haven't bothered with an umbrella, the sun is trying to break through now too, despite the continuing rain...

I thought that Notts' field placings were a little odd- I know that Norwell was hitting out, but it seemed that they had every man on the fence at one point, resulting in several easy singles for him and OHD. Ah well, not our concern of course...

Interesting decision regarding Hameed; I would be interested to hear the reasoning behind the decision. With regards to this match, selfishly I obviously want him out cheaply, but with regards to him and England it would be good to see him get a few. He has all the talent to succeed at the highest level, if he can harness it.

What I find saddest of all is the line "In return, (Streak) received two Bitcoins and an iPhone for his wife."

Selling your soul and your sport for such a low amount?

A wonderful run chase! Brilliantly paced too as others have said.

Two impressive wins in the last two games.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/56744899

An interesting article on the BBC website. I would argue that anything that attracts people to watch Warwickshire can only be a good thing (Note I say Warwickshire and not a ridiculous Birmingham Phoenix) as a COUNTY club, we need to represent all potential cricket players and followers in our traditional boundary, whether that is people out in the shire or those in inner-city Birmingham.

Your thoughts?

We really need to finish teams off when we have them on the ropes!

119 for 6 should not become 273 all out.

Hopefully Matt Lamb will be given the time needed to develop this part of his game; I have always been impressed with how he has done whenever he has been given a decent run in the side (And that isn't my usual Wolves bias speaking!)

An article I wrote back in 2019 regarding The Hundred:
http://www.thecricketdiaries.co.uk/the-hundred-english-crickets-biggest-gamble/

I cannot help but feel that the tournament will not be allowed to fail...

Weather looks changeable throughout the four days (Understandable as it is early April) but it should be largely dry.

The early season optimism has yet to be beaten out of me (Give it a couple of weeks!) but as a first choice XI I think that looks reasonable, certainly enough to overcome Derbyshire.

What happens when we lose players to England or injuries is anybody's guess however...

Glad to see the forum back! I have missed it...

Hope that all members and Bears fans here are fit and well; I am optimistic that we are approaching a time when we can enjoy the pleasures denied last year. I said in my last post on the old forum that I will enjoy my next visit to Edgbaston more than I have since I was a kid; that still holds true.

As an aside, has anybody considered sharing the news of the new forum on other cricket sites? (Thinking https://twitter.com/youbearsfans?lang=en etc.) It may get our message out to others who don't realise that there is a new bearsfans.org