Can we keep up our recent form?

Same team, we’re batting.

Ffs what a grab

Interesting innings. Pace off seems to be really effective and we’ve found it tough to keep momentum going when it’s built. Suspect Thompson will have a big role to play in defending this.

Im very confident that we won't field as badly as they did so there's that. Agree, Thompson in the middle overs is huge here.

Do we not learn?

Glamorgan opened up with spin and then bowled around 13/14 overs of it and we are just feeding them with pace which they are using to clatter the stands with. No slower balls or cutters just on a length at pace or short at pace.

We had to work hard for that total and Glamorgan have barely moved from their crease.

Mousley is getting whacked all over the place as well.

Doesnt matter as we are going out anyway but this is a hammering.

Why have we waited until the game is behind us to bring Tariq on?

I know, lets have our best over with spin and then feed them some half tracker pace balls again.......that will work!

Why on earth we have signed Thompson is a mystery to me.

God how unlucky was that then

TV commentary is dreadful

They think it’s all over……it is now

On the whistle thoughts,

I ain't gonna slag Gleeson, he's been great for us, just wasn't his night tonight.

Kiran Carlson in the PP the difference between the 2 sides? If the umpire gives that stonewall LBW shout on him in the first over who knows...fine lines.

Tariq brilliant, I don't know what he does but he does something.

Kai Smith, his keeping continues to be an issue. Real problem here re him/Davies etc

Fought so hard, really thought we'd dragged our way back in at one point.

Given the use of spin by Glamorgan why was Yates not given an over.

That score was never going to be good enough. To lose only 4 wickets and not get it above 10 per over was poor and only Mousley and Barnard had any urgency at the end. We used to win games by strangling the opposition with spin but no Lintott or Briggs means we just rely on Tariq who has been very reliable and to not even get Yates on was poor. We are probably now not going to qualify unless something weird happens to other sides and we win every game. If spin has won us games before, we must at least try Taz in the next few games as it hardly matters now and we might as well see what happens.

Agreed, our batting seems to lack a bit of balance with the career strike rates of Webster, Hain and Mousley being 125,134 and 132 so all around 8 runs an over (why are batting run rates per 100 balls and bowling run rates per 6 balls?). Maybe it's OK having them 3,4 and 5 if the bowling is very strong and you think 160 - 190 will generally be enough runs, but we aren't quite as strong with the ball as we've been in recent seasons. It might help if Hain and Mousley were dropped down the order when Webster bats for a long time.

Reabank wrote:

Agreed, our batting seems to lack a bit of balance with the career strike rates of Webster, Hain and Mousley being 125,134 and 132 so all around 8 runs an over (why are batting run rates per 100 balls and bowling run rates per 6 balls?). Maybe it's OK having them 3,4 and 5 if the bowling is very strong and you think 160 - 190 will generally be enough runs, but we aren't quite as strong with the ball as we've been in recent seasons. It might help if Hain and Mousley were dropped down the order when Webster bats for a long time.

I was very concerned about Websters SR, but he has significantly bettered his career rate for us and even got off to pretty good starts in 2 of his longer innings. Mousley increased his SR quite significantly last year and I believe carried on in similar vein this year. My concern with Hain and Webster particularly is them going a run a ball for a few overs against effective spin bowling.

I think youre right about their chemistry when paired up together (thinking Hain/Webster in particular), and especially against
sustained overs of spin either of them could maybe benefit from batting with a busy player like Kai Smith, so again, I agree maybe shifting the order may be a good idea in some instances

Given his weight of runs so far it feels like Webster should be the main cog everything else revolves around, and he'd definitely benefit from someone taking the weight off him in the middle overs

Yates still doing a sterling job of getting the early strike rate up. He's benefitted from some poorish bowling, but fair play for capitalising

Andy wrote:

On the whistle thoughts,

Tariq brilliant, I don't know what he does but he does something.

I'm not remotely sure in terms of how he does it but the combination of the pause,, different release points, the flight he gets when he tosses it up, and the ability to turn it either way, all 4 of them together really combine to make batsmen hesitate to play their shots.

From what I have seen the flight and dip alone would make it difficult to play if he gets it right so the 4 together make him nearly unplayable when he does.

I think he's far better when he uses the lower arm less often, he gets much more dip (though he seems to get a surprising amount even with a low arm) the higher his arm is

Last night only scoring 24-2 in the first four overs would have a significant effect on the innings, and puts pressure on the middle order,

There is a lot for the cricket management to analyse before deciding which out of contract players are offered new contracts. The data for the performances exists, hopefully the new head of analysis will make good use of the data to ensure any players offered a new contract will be able to consistantly make a posiitive contribution to the side going forwards.