We don’t have many squad options and I’m not sure that many of our first team regulars are that bad. I do think however that we need a far more robust attitude to our four day cricket, our bowlers and more importantly our captain and coach, need to realise that having the opposition 7 down does not mean they are all out! In addition our batters need to spend more time with a batting coach who impresses on them that 20/30 is not enough.

We Left when Burgess was out after a couple of balls, forfeited a night in the Premier Inn and headed for home so missed the only real resistance shown by Warwickshire players in three days. It is obvious that the toss was crucial but we have to be a bit more creative than shown this week. Bess bowled nearly 30 overs on day one, one maiden and went for four and a half an over never beating the bat. Mousley had taken four wickets 36 hours before the start of this game (admittedly with a white ball) and never got to turn his arm over, Yates bowled 2 overs for 4 runs? The start of day two was also strange in that we were presented with the only serious cloud cover of the three days and yet we started with Bess bowling from the river end whilst Hassan Ali stood scratching his head on the boundary with the ball twice going over his head for six as the Essex tail chased their final batting point. The endless conferences between Rhodes and Davies, with the apparent decision reached being “leave it as it is” was depressing. Batting on the same wicket an hour or so later we managed to make things look very different indeed, Davies still plays some very strange shots at times, deciding to lift his bat to avoid it getting in the way of the ball hitting the stumps is a decision that I hope he reflects on going forward.

Body language alone, in the last two games, seems to tell a story. The intensity that seemed so evident appears to have disappeared, it’s not difficult to come up with reasons for this, even if they are not entirely accurate. But I imagine that they might be.

Very nice win. Didn’t waste too much prime time, thankfully! Well done Bears.

Wasting prime time.

If we had shown the intent spoken of by the management, we would of won the game. Opportunity missed!

If we had shown the intent spoken of by the management, we would of won the game. Opportunity missed!

From 5.00pm/ish yesterday, I have no idea what our intentions have been? I thought that should be at least a semblance of an attempt to win the game. Perhaps I’m wrong.

Agree, I hope management are not patting themselves on the back because Norwell has dug them out of a huge hole today!

Cannot believe it! I’ve hated so much of our cricket this season but what an amazing end. Still in a daze.
Liam Norwell ……..what on earth can you say about that performance?

The table doesn’t lie, we are going to get what our performances deserve. This situation should never have happened, individually we are better than this, possibly not great, but better than this. Injuries, players not being available, extraordinary selection decisions, woeful captaincy, I would love a sit down with one of the squad who chose to explain this season to me.

Spineless

I appreciate what you say, and that was exactly what was happening, but given that one ball was always going to bring the curtain down, I personally bought it was the wrong call to expect all the runs to come at one end. It was disappointing to get so close!

The pitch has done plenty and it was obvious if you was out in the middle you needed to be scoring because eventually you are going to get one with your name on it! Sibley 5 in 35 balls set the tone, even at the end (and I know I will be criticised) but even OHD 2 from 28 balls stopped us getting what even now might be a critical point.

I might be wrong, but I wouldn't be that surprised if Rhodes welcomed some weight being lifted from his shoulders. It's certainly looked a burden at times.

Forums are great places to exchange, or very simply air, views and opinions that often vary greatly. Disappointment in our chosen sporting team can often be described as negatively, and perhaps rightly so, who am I to say. My comments yesterday were a reflection on a day spent at Edgbaston watching a Warwickshire team that should have won the cricket game in which they were involved. They were not a reflection on players that weren't there, for whatever reason, or on the basis that we may not of progressed any further in this particular competition or that. We should have won due to a brave and impressive innings by Ethan Brooks, a cricketer who has never really impressed me but today did. Fantastic. We didn't win, in my opinion, because we managed the run chase poorly on the field with the current skipper directly involved and within the dressing room where either senior players coaches chose not to make simple and to my mind obvious changes to the batting line up. Just saying like.........
Up the Bears

Forums are great places to exchange, or very simply air, views and opinions that often vary greatly. Disappointment in our chosen sporting team can often be described as negatively, and perhaps rightly so, who am I to say. My comments yesterday were a reflection on a day spent at Edgbaston watching a Warwickshire team that should have won the cricket game in which they were involved. They were not a reflection on players that weren't there, for whatever reason, or on the basis that we may not of progressed any further in this particular competition or that. We should have won due to a brave and impressive innings by Ethan Brooks, a cricketer who has never really impressed me but today did. Fantastic. We didn't win, in my opinion, because we managed the run chase poorly on the field with the current skipper directly involved and within the dressing room where either senior players coaches chose not to make simple and to my mind obvious changes to the batting line up. Just saying like.........
Up the Bears

Poorly managed run chase on and off the field, Yates, Sibley, Shaikh (forgive the young man for trying to add some impetus) and Lamb all out to catches needlessly gifted. Then when Ethan Brooks has dragged the bears to the doorstep of an unlikely victory (with some support from his skipper who strangely chose to drop anchor for periods) the strangest decision of all. Why on earth do we choose to send in a 16 year old lad when we have got within 30/40 runs of victory, but balls are running out???
We had 3 strong fast bowlers, all capable, and proven with the bat and able clear the boundary and yet we (whoever we are) decide to expose this young lad, who has done a great job behind the stumps, to this pressure. The captain couldn't handle it, why did the decision makers think that young George Maddy could? In the end the game petered out ball by ball and Warwickshire raised little resistance. Somerset couldn't believe their luck.

Poorly managed run chase on and off the field, Yates, Sibley, Shaikh (forgive the young man for trying to add some impetus) and Lamb all out to catches needlessly gifted. Then when Ethan Brooks has dragged the bears to the doorstep of an unlikely victory (with some support from his skipper who strangely chose to drop anchor for periods) the strangest decision of all. Why on earth do we choose to send in a 16 year old lad when we have got within 30/40 runs of victory, but balls are running out???
We had 3 strong fast bowlers, all capable, and proven with the bat and able clear the boundary and yet we (whoever we are) decide to expose this young lad, who has done a great job behind the stumps, to this pressure. The captain couldn't handle it, why did the decision makers think that young George Maddy could? In the end the game petered out ball by ball and Warwickshire raised little resistance. Somerset couldn't believe their luck.

I applaud the optimism. Especially in regard to some of our young "prospects" but I still believe we have witnessed some awful performances in all formats this season and in so many cases self inflicted by decision making. Sometimes on the field, sometimes off and without doubt at times a combination of both. I even believe that some of our seemingly experienced players have been damaged by the experiences of this season. Some may have benefited from being away from Edgbaston already and I sincerely hope that others will benefit from being away in the future. We will see, but good luck to them. I do hope that Moeen will bring with him a greater level of expectation next season, far more ambition on the field and leadership that will be embraced by the club as a whole. If we see enough of him of course!