Wow, wow, wow.
You know, i got there this morning, beautiful weather, Edgbaston looking amazing and thought "if we can get through the first hour unscathed you never know, why not..." but did I really believe it? Well teams were doing this sort of thing to us last season, Essex away then Somerset away for example, we did it away at Durham in April so it can be done...
Thought Worcestershire were good first up, quick and accurate, but Zen and Mousley stood up to it really well. Mousley didn't score a run for about half hour at one point whilst he nd Zen weathered a bit of a barrage but then he seemed to click into gear, I honestly thought he looked certain for his first Warwickshire ton so to get out so tamely, once again, felt so frustrating. He played the first over from the spinner really well, orthodox sweep for 4 to move the man, then reverse sweep for the single, next over from the spinner reverse sweep straight to the man on the 45, such poor cricket after a lovely innings that set us up.
Malik, played second fiddle to Mousley, then seemed to immediately click into gear once Dan got out and take charge dominating the partnership with Webster before and after lunch through til tea. Very much a front foot player he lacks a touch of power and timing off the back foot but its no biggie. Very solid in defence and a total chanceless knock until he got out. Loved it when he danced down the track to loft Foreman for 6, then next ball he anticipated the spinner darting the ball in faster to avoid a repeat so he hung back and cut him for 4. Great batting.
When we got to about 230 for 3 you saw the Worcestershire shoulders slumping.
Webster looks an excellent batter, extremely dependable, and you get the sense he's never really gonna be out of form for long if he has a bad score or 2. Gets squared up a touch but he ticks over as he milks the spinner and has power against the quicker bowlers, able to pull the short ball flat along the deck. I'd like to see more of him in a Bears shirt. Was delighted to see him get a deserved ton.
Lovely little cameos from Barnard and particularly Smith. Smith has proved he can make tough runs and is strong square of the wicket.
Someone on the Dollery balcony shouted at Taylor "Keep this up and you might get to play for us next season if yer lucky!" incredibly patronising and embarrassing I thought, next ball out, thought it was a fair enough reaction from Taylor, he hardly went over the top. Still 80 odd runs needed at the time, looked like game on.
Big picture we have different batters putting their hands up each game. If one guy fails another will perform. Yates, Latham, Davies, Barney and Hain made runs v Sussex for example, Smith, Zen (hugely), Webster and Mousley made them here. We've chased almost 400 without Hain and Latham for goodness sake. People slate our batting but for me they're bailing the bowlers out quite a bit this season...
I say it again, we were losing games like this under Robbo. Under Westwood we've actually done a few comebacks on teams and won a couple, he's got us fighting at least.
4th in the table, imagine if we got over the line v Worcestershire at New Rd?! Extra 8 points
A great day at Edgbaston and a famous, memorable win that nobody there will ever forget. Felt lucky to be there. What a shame it is that we don't play at Edgbaston again until August 26th. That's just not right :(
Webster, Mousley and Malik made their seasons highest scores today under pressure in a huge run chase, what a shame these scores won't count towards their season averages, or will they?! I can't tell...lol