Sadly I don't think Davies is going to be removed as captain this season or next season. I hope I am wrong as we are going backwards under his leadership. And sadly I think we all foresaw this when he was appointed.

I agree Highveld that Barnard would seem like a good choice.

Situation isn't hopeless. A win against Derby gets a QF spot. I can't quite perambulate the situation but maybe even a defeat will do it, all the teams below us have more to do and harder games to play. A QF against Somerset or Surrey might be quite liberating. One thing that's come across after watching the last two games is there is a lack of confidence and assurance - a 'nothing to lose' QF attitude might free them up a bit. If they tense up and play a nervy defeat then it's the same as the worst parts of the Robinson era. And that's an unfortunate reality of the season: Westwood has had no choice but to continue the approach of Robinson this year, he may be able to change a few things over the long close season.

Looking at the table, and seeing how bottom team Yorkshire beat top team Lancashire last week,it's clear that any team can, on their day, beat any other team.

We have seen this side over the last few years, they are inherent bottlers. They have the talent but simply cant be trusted to deliver. They bowled lovely at Worcester and won us the game after the batters were probably 20 runs short. Yet 2 days later they bowl like drains. Lets just hope that they have a go day on Friday. Hope we win the toss and bat first.

Lots of scenario's can occur but teams like Durham and Lancashire could help us out as they appear to be safe, by beating all their opponents in the remaining games. Anyone look at the crowd and think, "Where have they all gone", it would really piss me off if crowds for The Hundread were bigger. Is it the team inconsistency or have crowds just got bored with T20. I did hear that crowds in general are down overall for T20.

Too many games in too short a space of time I'd say. Hundred will be played during the school holidays and get much better marketing too.

Yesterday was a chastening experience. They seemed to give up after 5 overs. The so called captain was doing nothing to galvanise them in the field.
After two great wins last week it demonstrates how fragile the confidence of this team is under Davies. His habit of getting a start then getting himself out is putting pressure on the batting order.
Still, if we can make it to the knock outs then anything can happen in one off games and we do have some very good players.

Andy wrote:

Too many games in too short a space of time I'd say. Hundred will be played during the school holidays and get much better marketing too.

I'd say it's a mixture of choosing where to spend money (Hundred winning due to six week holidays)

Then awful marketing and promotion of T20 compared to the Hundred

It will all be used to justify a much longer Hundred and potential scrapping of T20 blast

With the likely diminishing of CC games, 50-over games being moved elsewhere, me hating The Hundread and if the T20 gets scrapped, I could be another person who decides I can't be bothered with buying a membership. 36 consecutive years but people who 'RUN' this game do not care about people like me. They want to make money from The Hundread and pour it into 'Grass Routes' as they say, for hardly any children who have no intention of playing, who come from schools where they will not get a chance to play.

I have said under the Future thread - too many games in a short period makes T20 expensive. Playing the CC mainly in spring and autumn makes it too cold for most and especially casual supporters. If both formats were spread throughout the season I feel attendances at both would rise.

Incidentally I am noticing on Facebook adverts promoting The Hundread. I have never seen such an advert for CC or T20.

Bald_Reynard wrote:

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.

Leics play Durham at Chester-le-Street tomorrow - (heavy) rain expected all afternoon and showers all evening, so it's odds on that it will be a NR. 2 points for Leics, will still keep them below us, with 1 game for both left.

Will need to keep an eye on the Worcester/Notts game on Thursday. Both teams are on 24 points, so whoever wins will join us on 28. We don't want Worcester to win easily (their NRR is close'ish to ours and a lot would then depend on final games). I think a Notts win would be better (their NRR is quite a bit worse).

Bald_Reynard wrote:

Bald_Reynard wrote:

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.

Leics play Durham at Chester-le-Street tomorrow - (heavy) rain expected all afternoon and showers all evening, so it's odds on that it will be a NR. 2 points for Leics, will still keep them below us, with 1 game for both left.

Will need to keep an eye on the Worcester/Notts game on Thursday. Both teams are on 24 points, so whoever wins will join us on 28. We don't want Worcester to win easily (their NRR is close'ish to ours and a lot would then depend on final games). I think a Notts win would be better (their NRR is quite a bit worse).

It's Worcestershire's last game though so even if they win we'd just need to beat Derbyshire to finish ahead of them anyway.

I think we’ll almost certainly qualify with a win, and maybe even if we lose. Having a home quarter final hasn’t done us any good in these last few years so maybe it’ll be for the best if we finish 3rd or 4th!

Regardless of qualifying for the quarter finals, or not, there are a number of serious underlying problems with the squad construction, game management, Captaincy and overseas player recruitment that need to be addressed over the winter.

Sadly, Ian Westwood was promoted too late in the off season to make major changes to all of those areas, so this is effectively another year of the "Robinson" plan. He should be given at least one more year to put his ideas and changes into place. Ideally he is given a multi year contract so he can concentrate on the medium to longer term development of the squad, not just going for short term results.

Any, English, players we sign should be on contracts where they are available for the full season and all forms of crifcket, with Warwickshire being their number one priority, except for England call ups. a player on a white ball only contract who places Warwickshire 3rd behind clashing franchise leagues is not comitted to the club and is disruptive to the squad and changing room.

Ideally, overseas players should be full seaso and all forms if possible, what is not acceptable is players showing up concealing an injury so they are unable to play and treat the club as a highly paid holiday, or players who sign, then avoid honouring the contract for feeble reasons. Genuine injurys and National team selection for gams is understandable, but failing to show up for a glorified net session is not acceptable.

After two seasons of abysmally poor leadership and mediocre results, it it tine for a new captain, who has a totally different style and plays intelligently for the team.

In terms of game management, more use needs to be made of the infoprmation on the opponents available from the analysts and coaches. There is no excuse now all county games are available online from the ECB servers, not to go into a game with a plan for each opponent, team and individual, with the bat and ball. The new captain also has to be open to changing the game plan to suit the circumstances of the game.

Highveld is spot on. We over the last few years have really let ourselves down. The Blast is so there for the taking, but counties seem to continue to not step up and take the competition seriously. There is so much more that can be done to improve chances of success. Following the suggestions above would go along way to address our failings. Its not that hard, we can't continue to flop about year on year.