I hope there is somebody looking after Jacob because there's a lot for a 21 year old to process. Just a few weeks ago he was a county player of promise but with a rather threadbare record of actual achievement. Now, after a handful of (admittedly eye-catching) short knocks in slogball, he's a Test player with an IPL contract. He'll be constantly travelling and changing environments. I hope he does well but I also hope there's someone there to guide him through the inevitable ups and downs.

Ouch! That is desperately bad news for the Club. He has been an absolute rock for the County Championship side and there is nobody on the horizon that could replace him.
There's no denying that he has earned the right to make his own decisions and it is always impressive when somebody chooses to go out at the top. Best wishes Michael.

The romantic in me (yes, there is one hidden deep inside) had hoped that Wisden would make him one of their cricketers of the year after his 9 wicket haul. It would, IMHO, have been justified but the editors didn't share my opinion. Great shame that it should have been his swan song but what a way to go.

Interesting thought that people are not as naturally fit now as they used to be. Perhaps that plays a part in our seam bowlers breaking. The Andersons, Woakes and OHDs of this world are from another time.

I have to agree with Bristol Bear: great for Jacob but (if this is true) what are the England selectors smoking? Picking someone with potential in order to give them experience is the sort of thing you might do at club level but Test match cricket is supposed to be for people who have already sorted out their game, know what they need to do and know how to do it. As it is we have Smith learning to be a wicketkeeper, Bashir being so far down the pecking order at Somerset that he wasn't even guaranteed a place in their One Day Cup side and now (perhaps) a specialist batsman who is yet to score a century in any form of professional cricket. No wonder we are in the lower half of the Test Championship table.

Donald, Munton, Small, Benjamin. Makes you weep.

GerryShedd wrote:

Here's my review of the season:
https://deepextracover.com/2024/10/warwickshire-season-review-2024/
As usual, kind and constructive comments welcomed and the other sort tolerated because I believe in free speech!

It's a first rate review but I think our coach is MARK Robinson rather than that guy from Neighbours! Maybe Paul could do a better job.

If I were being facetious (moi?), I'd ask how long it would take Danny Briggs but I know it's a different game now.
The length of Quaiffe's career is legendary and, back then, it would have been six days a week. I wonder what his strike rate was?

W G Quaife
Eric Hollies

I fear we could have problems in all areas next year. The batting should have been ok but we're losing Rhodes and, if England maintain their interest, could see less of Bethell & Mousley. That leaves rather more holes for Sheikh and Wylie to fill than we might have expected. We also have to hope that whatever was troubling Sam Hain doesn't recur.
Our luck with seam bowlers needs to change. Will Hasan Ali come back? Will he be fit and available? Has Rushworth got another season in him? It's hard to see Ethan Bamber as the Messiah but a pool of OHD, Bamber, Rushworth and Ali could be decent.
What worries me most is the absence of a wicket taking spinner. It is no credit to our bowling stocks that Rob Yates was our third highest wicket taker in the CC. Perhaps the short term answer is to put some coaching effort into upskilling him. The chances of finding a Lyon or a Harmer on the Overseas market aren't great.
I can't see us challenging for the top half of the CC next year.

Highveld wrote:

Looks like Notts are aiming for a total of about 500 and then try to bowl Warwickshire out twice in four sessions.

I'd say they were making absolutely sure of at least the draw points.

More comment today from Lalit Modi (perhaps not an impartial observer) who believes the financial projections to be "disconnected from reality" and "more like wishful thinking".
If I were a serious investor, I'm not sure whether I would view the ECB as a bunch of chumps who could easily be taken for a ride or as so incompetent that I wouldn't want to touch any business that they had started.

Don't give Highveld ideas. He'll have him opening instead of Davies.

Not to mention Birmingham boy Andrew Symonds.
I'm loving the fact that we have a thread started about our next game that has filled three pages before the squad is even announced! The randomness could be a metaphor for our whole season.

paulbear wrote:

That would be ludicrous, we would be better off if Robinson himself decided to play. Maybe they could ask Dennis if he still has his gear despite not using it since 1987.

Is he the left arm seamer we've been looking for? He did once bowl his full allocation of overs in a Lord's final.

Well at least he didn't throw the players under the bus.
We have competent batsmen who have failed to perform in this game. Management issue.
We have no bowling other than OHD. Management issue.
Didn't see him acknowledge either of those problems.

I assume Highveld is being provocative. I can't see what Benjamin or Mousley have ever done to deserve a place in our red ball team, whilst Hamza Shaikh is surely worth sticking with.
Meanwhile, I'm praying for a lot of rain next week.

If Bethell and Mousley are going to be missing we will be very short of anyone who can turn the ball. An emergency call to Lintott might be in order.
(Tongue in cheek) or we could ask Somerset if we could borrow Shoaib Bashir since he seems to be their third choice spinner now!

I'm reminded of Jim Troughton. Aggressive LHB with a bit of SLA thrown in. In the era of Troughton, Trott & Bell, Jimmy T was the first to get an England call up, for ODIs against Pakistan. He wasn't really ready for it and his international career quickly fizzled out.
From what I've seen of Bethell, he will be a good player one day but he isn't there yet. I hope England aren't about to spoil him.

It leaves a bad smell, doesn't it? The competition-that-shall-not-be-named is the tail wagging the dog, disrupting domestic scheduling and attracting all the management attention with the shiny sixpences being dangled in front of them. The unseemly rush to sell makes it unlikely that the ECB have really thought through the implications. I mean, getting money in from vulture funds, billionaires and foreign wealth funds, what could possibly go wrong? (Ask Premiership Rugby.) Do the ECB have an end game in mind for how they would like cricket to look after the dust has settled? Do they think a free for all cash-fest is the best way of achieving it? Or is this being driven by middle-men and vested interests trousering fat fees?