GerryShedd wrote:

I have just been looking at a report of the Notts home match at Welbeck today, in which Jamie Ramage says: "The ground on the outskirts of Mansfield has the feel of a traditional outground with banks around the boundary for spectators to get the best views of the action. Marquees with home-made cakes and a low-rise pavilion, it is the perfect setting for county cricket."
Pity we haven't got a Welbeck.

Old Hill has this banking but is rather hemmed in by its surrounds and we'd be playing in Staffordshire/Worcestershire technically depending on how far you go back. I like what they've done with Smethwick's ground over last few seasons really needed a lick of paint and some TLC and it's bigger than Old Hill but perhaps too close to Edgbaston to be considered an outground

The grounds with adequate space for parking and setting up large marquees are probably too far out of the way to be viable unless any suggestions can be made. South Warwickshire near Edge Hill and the border with Banburyshire there must be a nice setting but I'm not familiar with the grounds down there. Banbury CC itself is excellent but obvs outside the county

Was it on here someone mentioned OHD was about to sign for them?

Feel for Worcestershire tbf they ought to have a schedule which gives them some red ball cricket this month too. All that tea and cake going to waste

Either way the whinging from the Glamorgan fans is ridiculously funny

Sure if it had been the other way there'd have been a fuss at the time from certain Bears fans over it but FGS it was fine margins it wasn't like it was clear or obvious at all - which we have seen down Edgbaston from time to time - including players claiming the catch with their leg planted well beyond the rope

This is too close to the line for all this whinging from Glamorgan

Watched the catch again as Glamorgan have tweeted 3 angles of it and am more convinced now that this flinch everyone is on about is Ethan hopping or sidestepping over the rope rather than onto it as he releases the ball back into the air very cleverly. An even more skilfull catch than I thought earlier

Good decision

There's also the inbetween. His foot was next to the rope but not on it. The blurry footage makes it look like his white boot is touching the rope when his foot might be lifted above the rope at that point.

Seen far worse than that over the years, players a yard over claiming catches in front of the Hollies stand

Bit snookered then on the outground front - as far as I'm aware there isn't anywhere suitable to host first class or 50 over matches within the county

The better pitches that I am aware of that have had a bit of investment are all tiny grounds or too close to Edgbaston to be considered an outground - Moseley, K&D, Portland Rd

North Warwickshire I'm less familiar with. Rugby School I thought was pretty decent when it was used

Great crowd at Worcester today too. Should be a decent crowd Sunday if the weather plays ball

Very borderline some you get take it when you do some you wouldn't
His foot is inside the rope its a good enough decision for me certainly nothing clear and obvious to overturn it

Such a calm fielder but fielding unflustered at pace on a small ground. Perhaps the benefit of so much experience playing at Portland Road and that postage stamp of a ground at K&D

The fielding won us that. The fielding in the early part of the season (slips especially) in the championship was excellent and again now - these are all good signs for the club going forwards.

Can we win this sure we can. Batted first this time in the trickiest pitch conditions

Terrific win and game.

That was like the heated exchanges in the 1990's towards the end there was a big rivalry between Dermot's sides and them lot

Looked a terrific catch by Ethan and a fabulous all round fielding display - Hamza shone magnificently you can see why they rate him as an all round cricketer

Yep good effort from Glamorgan this.

Club ground near a town centre (okay not exactly a honeypot - but within easy reach of the railway and local pubs and cafes)

Unfortunately the infrastucture at similar venues within our shire don't appear to be up to the same level so would involve some upgrades - should not rule the idea out though should be thoroughly explored. Stratford like I said in the other thread was superb I thought nearly 20 years ago now. 2 of these games there next season and then a Champo game the season after would be an idea

Hamza certainly did his job for the team. Overs running out get on with things. Not an easy surface to just play through the line.

Really should win from here been pleased by how well we take games by the scruff of the neck in this format so far this season.

You'd expect sterner tests to come but you just never know perhaps there aren't many strong sides in this format. Durham, perhaps Kent? Worcestershire?

Shame it's all shoehorned into a 3 week window. I'd be far happier with one of these at home each fortnight spread through the season

For those who like the 50-over format most, having to wait 49 weeks every season just to see 3 weeks of it played must be infuriating. Isn't cricket season supposed to encompass April, May, June, July, August and September?

Should be a decent mix of the 3 formats throughout the season like we had throughout the 1990's and the 2000's.

Something for every taste in each month 2 leagues and 2 cups would sort it

Think this one has to be looked at from the lad's perspective. A need to get out from under his big brothers feet? Also stick around at Edgbaston and with the talent available here he maybe gets a couple of Championship starts next season half a dozen one day cup games and fills in where necessary in the Blast. Bears can't just hoard players - we're not Surrey.

For Ethan's benefit he makes the sideways move to another excellent first class county Worcestershire who may well be in the same division as Bears next season. He'll get more opportunities to play all formats with greater regularity which at this stage in his career he needs

Enjoy the occasional game in this comp but I can't see how they are ever going to increase the number of matches unless the Blast is reduced.

Proper league played right through the season one game per week I'd quite like 2 divisions of 9 - 8 home 8 away - 2 up 2 down - beside the County Championship
A proper 32 county knockout cup would also be nice
Neither is particularly likely unfortunately the players want all this rest and 'prep' between games and not only that they also want big gaps between formats so we end up with a kind of mini pre-season in July playing a random friendly against a minor county - completely nonsensical IMHO

If changes occur they'll fudge it like they normally do but there's no way they'll add more games to this competition I'm afraid they'll more likely reduce it to 4 group matches 2 home 2 away games then quarter finals.

I don't like this mini-comp format personally though as it robs the counties who don't qualify of perhaps two weeks of prime cricket season when they're not having any cricket at all to watch - late August when God willing we might actually have some summer but 12 counties will be sat twiddling their thumbs.

Free entry to Bears members at Leicestershire remember for this comp. They've got a game tomorrow v Notts and the forecast isn't too bad

Think they'd be mad to get rid of or tinker too much with finals day. Likelihood is it'll be September again rather than June from 2025

Has to be the number one day of domestic and/or white ball cricket in the English season

Nothing the new unwanted format has thrown together comes close. I'd be loathe to lose that however I'd love a proper league played once per week next to the county championship like the old days of the Sunday league (doesn't have to be on Sundays) so you could announce a white ball League Champion maybe from combining seven 50 over games and ten T20 games and then use the T20 games to arrange 4 counties to contest finals day and use the 50-over games to determine two sides to contest the Lord's 50-over final

The Hundred is simply not fit for purpose and should be dispensed with immediately

One idea I saw on twitter that could be adapted.

2 division Blast

2 up 2 down each season

Women's franchise team stays with their host county at the test match ground whichever division they are in as there aren't yet enough women of sufficient quality to fill more than 8 or 9 sides (or so we keep being told)

They can then continue to have double headers at the test match venues whether the men's side is in division one or division two it won't matter

E.g. Birmingham Phoenix v Manchester Originals women's hundred or T20 backed by Warwickshire Bears v Northants Sticklebacks Blast Div 2 match

The women's franchise side can if they so wish request a move to a boutique county ground venue such as Taunton or Chelmsford if the players/coaches of that side think it'd benefit that team

Separate finals day for men and women

1 team from Div 2 + 3 teams from Div 1 qualify for men's finals day

Know what you mean but I don't mind that so much as it adds an extra layer of information you'd not get from bland BBC reporting and they are former players in the main or county cricket enthusiasts which is great. Listened to a podcast earlier today by Jarrod Kimber which suggested the ECB is naive to allow BBC a monopoly of test and ODI cricket in particular for radio comms and should do what they do in Australia and permit multiple broadcasters to commentate on each game over the audio frequencies. It'd help break down some of the barriers that still exist in terms of people accessing cricket if they didn't have to navigate the stuffy white ageing demographic the BBC caters for. There's nothing wrong with that demographic by the way but for cricket to be truly inclusive it could do with 2 or 3 alternative broadcasting options.

Very much agree. Warwickshire's has improved over last two seasons but still some way to go to get to this level.

Nothing better than winning a trophy.
Agree one or two positives to take out of the Royal London last couple of years - after it has disgracefully been hidden behind an inferior format - has been seeing some of the youngsters given a go particularly in 2021 and reasonable-ish crowds of 3-4,000 in the ground for the matches although I quite agree with a comment from one of last year's members forums - we don't pay our members subs to see 2nd XI cricket - and failing to qualify from the group stage has to be seen as overall a failure.

A serious county ought to be able to pivot at this stage of the season and actually target the one competition we are still able to win while looking at the remaining county championship matches - where we essentially have nothing to play for already - as opportunities to develop some of the younger guys in the middle order - certainly in the two home games

I'm not keen on what seems to be a strict formulaic approach to the three comp's we enter each season. Despite clearly prioritising T20 the last couple of seasons Warwickshire have failed in that format, did better than expected in the Championship 2021, underachieved in 2022 in all formats and have a middling record in the One Day Cup. This needs to improve this year we should at least target the Semi Finals