Team unchanged:-
Davies
Latham
Mousley
Hain
Bethell
Barnard
Garton
Briggs
Hasan Ali
Miles
Gleeson
Northants won the toss and chose to bat.
"You can take the boy out of Atherstone, but you can never take Atherstone out of the boy !"
"The Bears and the (footballing) Foxes for ever !"
Northants going at 12 an over (74 off 6) for the loss of no wickets. Not our best start?!
"You can take the boy out of Atherstone, but you can never take Atherstone out of the boy !"
"The Bears and the (footballing) Foxes for ever !"
Normally Briggs comes in in the power play. Why have we continued to keep with the quicks despite going at 12+ an over!
The players look beaten, their body language speaks volumes.
Northants are going for it but some of our bowling is very poor.
ETA: Gleason the perfect example there, surprises the batter with a short ball and then bowls another straight after that goes for 6. Where is the thought process?
189 for 1 off 15 overs. We're obviously not going to win this! What is it about performances at home this season - we're rubbish?!
'The only good banker, is the Lickey Banker!'
Losing will be bad enough; but unless they get close,the Bears' net run rate will suffer, which might be crucial in deciding qualification.
That was awful
Amount of full tosses..including from our specialist t20 bowlers
Fingers crossed our batsman can save us somehow
Yes,I've just spoken to a friend who is there. He has watched (and played) a lot of cricket but has never been to a Blast match before; and he couldn't believe the number of full tosses.
There can't have been too many other Blast innings when every bowler conceded more than 10 runs an over.
38 boundaries scored - if my maths is correct
Davies does it again. Latham needs to earn his wages today.
Yet again, a pathetically stupid irresponsible shot from Davies.
when the captain has iresponsible dismissals all the time, how cen he expect the others to play sensibly?
Hain and Barnard must be fed up of having to resucue the innings every game.
I've seen Davies bat four times this season and he's been out to an impulsive shot outside off stump every time. His reaction has always been the same, aghast, so its not considered or pre-planned. How does he go about solving this bearing in mind it's not in his conscious control?
Is anyone going to stay with our "opening" batsman - Hain
Time and time again..the only one who doesn't bottle it is Hain
4th place in the group is looking decidedly 'iffy' now. I think it will be difficult to get into the QF's. Leics & Notts have got games in hand and Worcester, a similar run rate. Mind you they either to play each other, or one of the top 3. A big win for us, is essential.
"You can take the boy out of Atherstone, but you can never take Atherstone out of the boy !"
"The Bears and the (footballing) Foxes for ever !"
Really don't think the batsmen are to blame, not many side chase down scores like that and trust us to lose to a side who were on a downward spiral. It is so close in our group that even Notts could still qualify. The bowling was poor, too wide, too short, too often with a few extras thrown in. They more or less batted consistently throughout their first 3, all scoring at 2 runs per ball. We need lots of results to go our way.
Awful bowling today- virtually one six per over was pretty much guaranteed- leaving the batsmen no chance of pulling off a victory. Our NRR might just see us over the line, if we beat Derbyshire, but frankly I don’t fancy our chances of progressing to Finals Day on today’s showing even if we do proceed.
We have prioritised this competition but been left with players who do not turn up for the whole competition and when they do, they provide average performances
Today's result sums us up - inconsistent. We will be extremely lucky to get 4th place now. Our bowling today was shambolic, far too short during the powerplay then bowling lots of full tosses. Apart from Bethell & Mousley, all our bowlers are very experienced, it's hard to understand why all of them managed to bowl such rubbish. Why did none of them try something different? Bowl a bit wider, change the angle, go around the wicket. And there didn't seem to be many slower deliveries today, when they started to get bashed about for some reason they tried to bowl quicker.
As for our captain, where was he today? When things go against us he is so uninspiring, there is no authority about him at all. For me, the first step on the ladder to build a successful team is to start with a decent captain, under his leadership we will achieve absolutely nothing. It's probably too late to do anything this season, but for next year there has to be a change.
The captaincy, was abysmal yesterday, it is never good with Davies, but yesterday, not only did he do nothing to support the bowlers, who were struggling, but he dis nothing to encourage the team, to change the pace of the game, which would allow us to dictate the pace of the game, not the batting side, and he then plays, yet again, an abysmal & totally inappropriate shot to get out.
A change of captain is needed, ideally now. It is totally wrong to allow someone to continue playing so badly without consequences.
New leadership ideas, and methods, are needed, from someone who plays for the team, and should be one of the first names selected for every game, and ideally is available all season, not going off to play in the "unhealthy snack foods" slog competition. I'd appoint Ed barnard as captain, with Sam Hain & OHD as joint VC's. Going forwards, recruitment should be concentrated on players who are available and con contribute in all forms of the game and Overseas players should, ideally, be full season signings. I'd be happy for Ronchi' Lathem and Webster to return. I would not be happy about any players who have just used the club as a paid holiday returning.