Solbear
Member
The fans on the Durham forum seem to be universally gutted by his departure, he id clearly extremely popular and the sense I get is that he is a strong and positive influence both on and off the pitch. He may be in the twilight of his career but I think his recruitment could prove to be far more positive than might appear at first blush.
Agreed UM - very fair and balanced, although I though a score of 4 out of 10 was erring on the generous side!
Just about recovered after nearly crashing the car yesterday listening to the last few overs...amazing stuff and what a thrilling end to an otherwise forgettable season, almost trumped the feeling of winning the Championship last year! Take a bow Liam Norwell, who will forever be a Bears hero from now on, let's hope he manages to stay injury-free next year and beyond.
I think GS made some excellent points about giving credit to others; I'd add Dom Sibley to the list, despite his impending departure he showed commitment right to the end, he'll be missed and hard to replace. Although I can think of at least one poster on here who would doubtless disagree, I'd also add Yates and Davis to the list too. Both had otherwise pretty miserable seasons but they each contributed to this win, Yates with a fabulous century and Davis who, given that fact that only two extras were conceded in Hants second innings, must have done a half decent job keeping wicket.
How much worse can this get! I hate to say it, but I think we not only deserve to be relegated but it might actually be a good thing to do so in order to rebuild a team that looks to be currently totally devoid of confidence and inspiration. How can things have got so bad so quickly - this time last year we were County Champs, now we're County Chumps...
Very disappointing end to the competition. Although we can rightly argue that we've been ravaged by injuries and call ups to the 100 ball nonsense, the same is true of other teams, including Somerset. In the end, we probably didn't deserve to progress and had we done so, we would doubtless have been left wanting in the quarter finals. At least a number of the youngsters have been blooded and hopefully some will progress into the first team proper in the not to distant future.
Read a rather concerning story elsewhere that OHD is destined for New Road next season. I do hope that is no more than a vicious rumour, I can't see why he would want to do that but if there's disquiet in the camp, perhaps he wants out and no doubt Worcs would be only too happy to snap him up. Worrying times.
To be fair to the bowlers, they're trying hard and keeping us in the game, and Mc Andrew was more than bit unlucky when the ball hit the stumps but failed to dislodge the bails. To add insult to injury the ball then went to the boundary for four byes!
A quick comparison of boudaries tells its own story though, both in terms of intent and confidence - in 104.4 overs we mustered 31 boundaries, so far Surrey have hit 39 plus 2 sixes in 53 overs.
Lost the toss and batting. Davies opening and Benjemin at three - I hope they both prove me wrong but like others on here, I don't feel overly confident about our team selection!
Wholeheartedly agree with all the points and frustrations aired today. I have had to switch the live stream off, far too depressing! With the notable exception of OHD, the bowling is awful - far too many loose balls, no control, no menace. With the fragility of our batting line up I fear only the weather can help us tomorrow. Relegation certainly can't be ruled out and frankly, many would argue that we don't deserve to survive! To think that we were County Champions less than a year ago....
Totally agree White-lightning; the bowling unit generally looks a pale immitation of last year, even allowing for the long injury list. I noticed what a good raport Welch had with the Hants bowlers at the T20 quarter final and thought then what a loss he was. A great shame; Hants are lucky to have him and if they win the T20 final he will have played no small part in making that happen.
Absolutely agree with those points about Norwell, Stone, Woakes and Barnard; who I really hope can flourish when he gets here. Was surprised to see that, in terms of bowling bonus points, we're third highest in the division. Some have played a game (or 2) less but we're on 21 points behind Hants on 24 and Lancs on 22. Kent are struggling with 11 from 8 games, let's hope they don't improve on that when we meet next week!
Some astute comments and observations. This year has been very disappointing on many levels - the mindset seems to be so negative in the four day game, with draws seen as successes, perhaps a reflection of a collective lack of confidence. The coach, as others have said, is conspicuously absent and quiet, unlike last year, and again as others have said, our bowling is shocking. Craig Miles averages nearly 75, Danny Briggs looks a shadow of what he did last year and Henry Brookes seems to be going backwards at alarming speed. Why and how has this happened, so soon after winning the Championship? All very sad and disappointing to see. You can only hope that things turn around quickly, that we stave off relegation and that if we can attract a top drawer OSP (for a change!) and with the arrival of a couple of new faces from our rivals down the M5, things will look a lot better next year.
Wonder to what extent Graeme Welch’s influence resulted in the debacle. Hants certainly bowled far better and more intelligently than we did, and his knowledge of our batsmens’ strengths and weaknesses would doubtless have been shared with their bowlers. If only he’d stayed put the result might have been very different!
What a shambles, and a great shame for the largely young, vociferous crowd. Hants got off to a flyer and Briggs in particular was carted to all corners. To be fair to Carlos, he got us back into the match, with the ball at least, although like others he threw his wicket away when batting. By that stage the writing was on the wall and the frankly brainless dismissals of Stirling and Davies in particular, set the tone. Much as I like Carlos, I really hope we don’t see either him or Stirling in a Bears shirt next year.
Great news - he’s coming home! White ball only plus pay as you play red ball, not sure how that fits with his ‘unretirement’ from Test cricket though…
Interesting article in the Cricketer suggesting that Warks are making approaches for Moeen, as well as Ed Barnard and Saqib Mahmood of Lancs. All three would be good signings, although Moeen has now 'unretired' from Test cricket so may not be around much, and doesn't appear to turn out very often for Worcs. Mahmood, when fit, will also be on England's radar I suspect so he too many be far from a regular in the team.
Interestingly, the article suggests Dom Sibley is attracting the attention of at least one other county (not Surrey) and Olly Stone may be looking at a white ball only contract next year, depending on fitness. Interesting times ahead, potentially!
Tricky question - were they both left arm quicks?
Difficult to see this ending as anything other than a draw but if nothing else, I hope it gives Dom Sibley an opportunity to regain some form and most of all, confidence which he looks bereft of at the moment.
Completely unrelated to this game, but interesting to see that Kelley is playing for Leic seconds against Worc - wonder if that means he's been told his future may lie elsewhere?
Although it's great to see that Chris Woakes is in the team, Worcestershire's team looks a tad more experienced than ours, as evidenced by the Bears being captained by seventeen year old Jacob Bethell! Should be an interesting few days.
But no mention of Chris Woakes, England and seemingly Warwickshire's forgotten man. What's going on??
As I understand it, Chris is still on a rookie contract until the end of the summer. His performances are bound to start attracting interest from other counties - I hope we swiftly move to sign him up to a full time contract before he's lured elsewhere!