Solbear
Member
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!
Looks a good player but like everyone else, I'm mystified what prompted this signing given that Burgess has signed a new contract and Benjamin has made such a good initial impression. Can only assume that two of them will focus on batting and give up the gloves? Feel for young Kelley, clearly he is not featuring in any long-term plans.
From having one wicket keeper on the books a few weeks ago we now seem to have an embarrassment of riches!!
Judging by last night's debacle you may well get the call yet GS so keep checking your phone, you couldn't do any worse! I know it's been said before, but we rely so much on Hain that when he fails, invariably so does the team. There has to be an argument for trying out Benjamin and perhaps mixing up the batting order too. Let's hope for better things against Northants, we're not out of it - yet!
Couldn't agree more GS - I sincerely hope we can very quickly add 'RIP' to your acronym!
Bears batting first and doing OK at the moment - 81 -3 at the half way stage. Some interesting team selections - Dom Sibley in, a chap called Matthew Montgomery opening the batting and going well so far (I think he scored 100+ against us for Notts recently). Also Andy Umeed is playing although he didn't last long at the crease. Must take issue with BB's comment that there will be no bowlers of note playing - OHD is in the team too!!
Another very convincing win with particularly good contributions from Bethell and Benjamin. Very nice to see Woakes bowling again too.
I'm feeling surprisingly positive about the T20 this year. We've done very well in the practice games and look to have a nicely balanced team. I'd like to see Mousley in the team, partly as he offers another bowling option - perhaps instead of Hose, who seems to be struggling a bit, or in preference to Lamb if the ECB in their wisdom, decide that having briefly batted in one second eleven T20 match is quite enough, and Woakes now needs to be rested again!
Should have made them follow on, the ball is clearly doing a lot today!
Unchanged 11 and we have lost the toss and are batting. Interesting that our 12th man is listed as J Couhglin, once of Durham I believe. I don't think he's played any second team games for us so not sure what the story is there.
After losing both T20s to Glamorgan last week, let’s hope for better things today.
Wonder what happened to the South African who played a few weeks ago and along with Henry B won a game we should have lost. I expected to see his name appear regularly after that but apparently not.
Seconds seem pretty poor this year overall, maybe the sunny weather will change their fortunes!