There was a period from the mid 1980's until the mid 1990's when it was almost impossible for Warwickshire to lose to Hampshire in the CC but I doubt that every time we played them, we thought it would be a nailed-on win, at some point it had to stop. From 1981 up until the Natwest semi-final in 1989, we had not beaten Worcestershire in ANY competition. I doubt before that semi-final being played at a packed Edgbaston (Wouldn't have been full if it was so obvious that Worcestershire would win) that it was looked on as an obvious win for our neighbours. At some point, a run of good results has to stop, it won't continue indefinitely so all the 'They Always Do' isn't really a good reason for saying we would lose to them had we have played them yesterday.

paulbear wrote:

There was a period from the mid 1980's until the mid 1990's when it was almost impossible for Warwickshire to lose to Hampshire in the CC but I doubt that every time we played them, we thought it would be a nailed-on win, at some point it had to stop. From 1981 up until the Natwest semi-final in 1989, we had not beaten Worcestershire in ANY competition. I doubt before that semi-final being played at a packed Edgbaston (Wouldn't have been full if it was so obvious that Worcestershire would win) that it was looked on as an obvious win for our neighbours. At some point, a run of good results has to stop, it won't continue indefinitely so all the 'They Always Do' isn't really a good reason for saying we would lose to them had we have played them yesterday.

ha i was being slightly facetious, I'm scarred by 2010 and the CB40 final

Ross Whiteley.

2010, we won the CB40, 2012 we lost, absolutely gut wrenching defeat.

2010 was annoying on the basis that as Neil Carter always said, "If you finish top of your group, you should go to T20 finals day", just like Yorkshire and Worcestershire have done in this year's Metro Bank but we yet again finished top of our group, won 11, lost 4 and Hampshire scraped through buy 0.2 of a run after losing half their games and by the time they won the final, their record was won 11, lost 8 and we had won 11, lost 5, hardly seems fair that you should saunter through but have your hard work ruined by one game. Yes, the 2012 final also haunts me. Bell who had been superb, hit a full-toss straight to a fielder on the boundary. Carter should never have gone out to bat before Patel on the basis that Jeetan had plenty of innings recently unlike Carter who was rusty and hadn't batted that much recently, Blackwell (For a big hitter) farted about too much and I sat there thinking, "Carter, Just get something on it and run or crack it through the infield". He did neither. Despite winning the title that season, the season was ruined as it was the very last game of the season which was unusual.

Wasn't he in Auf Wiedersehen Pet, "I'll have to ask Brenda"

paulbear wrote:

2010 was annoying on the basis that as Neil Carter always said, "If you finish top of your group, you should go to T20 finals day", just like Yorkshire and Worcestershire have done in this year's Metro Bank but we yet again finished top of our group, won 11, lost 4 and Hampshire scraped through buy 0.2 of a run after losing half their games and by the time they won the final, their record was won 11, lost 8 and we had won 11, lost 5, hardly seems fair that you should saunter through but have your hard work ruined by one game. Yes, the 2012 final also haunts me. Bell who had been superb, hit a full-toss straight to a fielder on the boundary. Carter should never have gone out to bat before Patel on the basis that Jeetan had plenty of innings recently unlike Carter who was rusty and hadn't batted that much recently, Blackwell (For a big hitter) farted about too much and I sat there thinking, "Carter, Just get something on it and run or crack it through the infield". He did neither. Despite winning the title that season, the season was ruined as it was the very last game of the season which was unusual.

2010 is still the best T20 team we have ever put out due to the brilliantly balanced bowling attack of Carter, Woakes, Barker, Tahir, Botha and Piolet. that attack was superb, we were the best team in the country that year and would have beat anyone on virtually any other day because of it

on the CB40 final Yeah, i thought Bell would have been kicking himself that he didn't go on to win that game, and then for two players as experienced as Carter and Blackwell to mess up a relatively straightforward finish was galling

ITE7376 wrote:

Andy wrote:

Ross Whiteley.

2010, we won the CB40, 2012 we lost, absolutely gut wrenching defeat.

yeah I was thinking of the Hants connection beating us t20 QF in 2010 and CB40 final a couple of years later

I've mangled Ross Whiteley and Alex Wakely before. which is strange as I quite liked Wakely for some reason, he was like my pet non-WCCC player. and he was the polar opposite as a cricketer too, clever manipulator and good stroke player, ran well between the wickets, Northants captain when he was still pretty young, not some lumbering backwards caveman dot ball eating slogger like Whiteley

ITE7376 wrote:

Andy wrote:

Can't say much more about the collapse than has already been said, can't defend that. Such a shame as we've batted so well lately in run chases. Thought Lenham bowled pretty well to be fair to the lad.

agreed, he varied his flight nicely, i though at least one of the wickets was as much due to that as it sticking in the pitch

Just looking back on this - announced today that Lenham's contract will not be renewed so we were dumped out of the One Day Cup by a discard.

His figures, if he was signed to be a CC player, are very poor so maybe he was considered part of a CC attack but 7 wickets in 7 games at 75 each is not really very good.

Yes they've released 5 today. Sussex supporters seem particularly disappointed about the release of Lenham. Farbrace is ruthless, but he doesn't always get this sort of right. I suppose the emergence of James Coles as a genuine spin option who bats in the top 5 has harmed the prospects of both Lenham and Foreman (also released).

Lenham didn't look the biggest turner of the ball to me so I guess I'm not surprised he wasn't a major threat with the red ball. Its funny how the white ball game has developed to where a wrist spinner could be a very tidy bowler in those formats with accuracy, flight and variety even if they aren't a big ripper.

I suppose the emergence of James Coles as a genuine spin option who bats in the top 5 has harmed the prospects of both Lenham and Foreman (also released).

If they've got rid of both Foreman and Lenham I wonder if it's an indication of Farbrace's (and maybe generic) particular demands nowadays, the '100' seemed to suggest that more and more often teams are wanting their spinners to be able to bat top 7 (white ball at least) and not being able to do so will really impact their chances.

On similar lines the 'specialist off spinner' seems even less common (at least, teams definitely seem to want to tick the 'slow left arm' and 'wrist spin' boxes just like they do the 'left arm seamer' box, approaching it from a very formulaic tick-box perspective as England did with their 2015-19 white ball team, but absolutely nobody seems to actively seek out offspinners), with teams assuming if they need someone twirling a bit of offspin there will always be a couple of batsmen who can turn their arm over. Other than Simon Harmer I'm struggling to think of another specialist off spinner getting significant wickets in our domestic white ball competitions.