Poor match all round for Barnard - I'm unconvinced by him as a T20 player and fear that's because his nous in this format isn't what it is in red ball.
Poor performance with the bat, dropped a crucial catch and then made a mistake bringing Mouseley on
And then to only bring the field in when they need one rather than when they needed two!!
Mikkyk wrote:
Poor match all round for Barnard - I'm unconvinced by him as a T20 player and fear that's because his nous in this format isn't what it is in red ball.
Poor performance with the bat, dropped a crucial catch and then made a mistake bringing Mouseley on
Yeah he's had a mare.
Gutted, if it wasn't for that Thompson over...
Put up a pretty good fight in the end, felt we were a little unlucky with a couple of their shots at the end which could easily have chopped on.
Getting to the point where we’d have to win every game to qualify now you’d think.
Mikkyk wrote:
Poor match all round for Barnard - I'm unconvinced by him as a T20 player
I think thats a bit unfair, he got 350-odd runs at SR 165 last year which was a fantastic return on both levels. lets not let current form blind us, I mean to watch Davies right now you'd never think he was top scorer for us and one of the 3 or 4 highest scoring openers in the competition last year scoring at a very good rate.
Not to mention Barnard was part of a very successful Pears team that won the competition and got to a second consecutive finals day!
ExiledBrummie wrote:
I reckon we have the least T20 specialists of anyone in the comp. Gleeson and who else? This smacks of really poor recruitment and management.
Tariq is the definition of the T20 specialist
In past years I've seen countless posts moaning about us having too many t20-only mercenaries!
meashambear wrote:
Got to ask serious questions about the people who signed off on Thompson. What have the coaches seen in him?
they have seen a pretty good career record. his career strike rate is something like 15. he has a good track record of death bowling including defending 5 in the final over of a knockout game.
we are bowling him in the power play which historically is his absolute weakest suit. middle overs and death he is normally good/pretty good.
he's on poor form, and partially being used as a round peg for a square hole (PP bowling). some of this comes down to using a proven player in the context he is least proven. That's a management/captaincy issue as well as an unfortunate confluence of poor form
meashambear wrote:
The shot selection in our 5 games so far is shocking. Worst Bears T20 team I can remember and that is saying something.
to hear you talk you'd think we haven't made quarter finals near habitually for the last 8 years or so
the years we are this bad- and it has happened- are few and far between and we've very rarely seen it in the last 10 years. its been a long time since the Heath Streak team were getting thraped by Glamorgan for fun
Andy wrote:
He's a noted a t20 player though, i dont know whats gone on with him here however...
from some of the questions being asked i have to wonder how much people are following the wider game beyond our own team. also i have to question the selective memories that can totally ignore good performances from a mere season ago.
The women’s team have also lost 5 from 5 so as a club it’s played 10 lost 10.
just for context, as an example:
T20 blast 2022.
quarter final Yorks vs Surrey. Jordan Thompson defended 5 for Yorkshire in the final over to get them to finals day going for just 2, nailed 6 yorkers basically
finals day he got the quickest 50 in finals day history with an 18-ball 50.
he is not someone without a proven T20 track record
I think Thompson is settling into the championship side nicely and beginning to show us what he can do with the red ball
For whatever reason his T20 form has gone and we're currently in the Garton position of 1 expensive over and can't be risked again
Given our chances of a QF place are essentially nil why not rest out of form players and play Hamzah, Che, Kai (with the gloves), Taz etc
We need to avoid taking our T20 form into the championship
sdobbs wrote:
I think Thompson is settling into the championship side nicely and beginning to show us what he can do with the red ball
For whatever reason his T20 form has gone and we're currently in the Garton position of 1 expensive over and can't be risked again
Given our chances of a QF place are essentially nil why not rest out of form players and play Hamzah, Che, Kai (with the gloves), Taz etc
We need to avoid taking our T20 form into the championship
ironically GG and JT are the exact opposite bowler- GG's utility is with the new ball (when its swinging and only when its swinging), JT's mostly in overs 17-20, both men generally horrible when tried at the other's speciality
JT has the more established record over a longer period of time and is IMO a better overall cricketer without the mental flakiness. as a bowler he isn't dependent on overheads/swing like GG is
totally agree we should give Kai and Taz every game for the rest of the year irrespective of form
FWIW to have so many players in wretched form at the same time (including Hain before the injury) most of whom were proven commodities before this year- it doesn't speak well of the overall atmosphere/setup in the camp.
Dare I say that side of it was better with davies as captain.... :-0 (relax everyone thats just my little joke.. it was, though).
at some point though you have to wonder if its entirely a coincidence that pretty much an entire batting lineup is having a shocker. form can be infectious but then so can a bad dressing room atmosphere/ lack of trust in management.
I'm not sure how much can be attributed to Barnard's captaincy seemingly lacking in assertiveness/pro-activeness and tactical nous. I suspect it goes deeper/ higher than him.
Averages following game 5
https://countycrickethub.net/team-averages.html?teamid=16&comp=3&year=2026
By the way Kai showed last night how useful or even essential it is to have someone who is a quick busy runner between the wickets against spin in the middle overs. Especially on a slow track where boundaries are difficult to come by. Someone said on ankther thread he should bat higher up the order. IMO, that depends on circumstance and pitch. As one of our better players of spin it's definitely a waste having him come in over 16 or something, he's a great partner because he will force 2s through that other's wouldn't. You can make the case he should bat higher now simply for the experience, the comp is dead to us and he is the future, Webster isn't.
On the subject of slow pitches, Beau showed again last night he bat's horribly on slow tracks. IMO he should not be batting top 5 on a pitch that slow, IMO we need to be much more flexible and recognise his and other players limitations. Watching him on a slow track is like the torture scene from Clockwork Orange.
Well that was fun. Going tomorrow and have corporate tickets as a Bear mate comes up from Devon. I used to get really upset as I so looked forward to the T20. Don't bother now, as prefer the gallows humour. We have zero clue and to be honest I think we just throw money at it and hope. Our T20 signings have been awful. Either injured, away with IPL or get selected by their country. It is a proper mess up every season, 5 & 0 just about sums us up.