Andy wrote:

What's getting said?

They kept saying the game was dead after the 9th wicket and they should shake hands but however improbable we could still have got a bonus point.

Bracegirdle was pretty biased I thought !

Our last 4 games are against sides in the bottom 5. However I feel the weather will decide this championship.

ExiledBrummie wrote:

Our last 4 games are against sides in the bottom 5. However I feel the weather will decide this championship.

And the tosses. Huge advantage for several reasons to bowl first in September!

Andy wrote:

I know, its just been an unbelievable drop off, 3rd highest run scorer in the division in 2024 and named in the PCA team of the year, our highest run scorer in the Blast in 2025...to this. Its remarkable.

And, sadly, some supporters have revelled in his demise.

Very fair points Andy. I can’t help feeling for Davies at the moment, nobody goes out to bat wanting or intending to fail but that is what is happening every time he takes guard. He should certainly be dropped for his sake as much as anyone else’s, his confidence and mental health must be taking an absolute battering. The club owe him a duty of care and for this reason as much as his terrible run of form, he should now be ‘rested’ for the remainder of the season to give
Kai a chance and to safeguard Davies’s wellbeing.
I also think that it’s in everyone’s interests for him to move on at the end of the season - if another club want him I should imagine he’d jump at the prospect of a fresh start somewhere else.

Total tosh, Notts did so against us in 2012 at Edgbaston, as soon as they avoided the follow-on, they declared, as far as I know, there are no reasons for you not to declare when you want to after avoiding a follow on, Hampshire did it as far back as 1965 and it handed Worcestershire the game and the championship. I would like an explanation if anyone has one but it is bloody stupid if we have missed a trick to deny Notts a bonus point

Just looked on the BBC site and so many posters are saying the same thing about the lack of a declaration. Brainless.

Law 15 – Declaration and forfeiture
15.1 Extraordinary Declarations
An Extraordinary Declaration for the purposes of this rule is usually a declaration aimed primarily at
denying the bowling side the opportunity to acquire further bonus points in that innings, but without
enhancing the batting side’s prospects of winning or saving the match.
Such a declaration may, depending on the particular circumstances, be deemed as bringing the game
into disrepute, penalties for which may include the deduction of points from the offending team.
A captain who is contemplating a declaration which has potential to be deemed an Extraordinary
Declaration may, if he wishes, first approach the Officiating Umpires, providing due notice of his
intention, in order to request an indicative ruling as to whether or not such a declaration is likely to be
deemed an Extraordinary Declaration with the potential for bringing the game into disrepute.
The Officiating Umpires shall then request advice from ECB Domestic Cricket Operations who will (in
liaison with the Cricket Discipline Commission and time permitting) provide an indicative ruling to the
captain.
ECB Domestic Cricket Operations may ask the Match Referee, or appoint an official to such matches
where no Match Referee is available, to facilitate good communication between all relevant parties.

Averages after the game https://countycrickethub.net/team-averages.html?teamid=16&comp=1&year=2026

It would have been a breech of Law 15 to have declared, due to the situation in the game, the time lost and time remaining.

We are title contenders in name only.

A phony title challenge that would have been buried during this game had it lasted another days play.

Attack is not good enough, batting is not good enough but people seem happy that we are 'up there'.

I cannot think of another county that would guarantee Davies playing time.

Out of the T20 after 5/6 games. Out of the One day cup after 5 games.......never a real contender for the County Championship.

Hotel is coming along nicely though and that is all the club cares about, another cash cow opportunity.

It would have been a breech of Law 15 to have declared, due to the situation in the game, the time lost and time remaining.

I wonder if anybody drew Notts attention to this law when they declared 8 down in the morning? They were unlikely to win (although we almost helped them) so the main purpose of the declaration was to deny us a bowling point.

UrsaMinor wrote:

It would have been a breech of Law 15 to have declared, due to the situation in the game, the time lost and time remaining.

I wonder if anybody drew Notts attention to this law when they declared 8 down in the morning? They were unlikely to win (although we almost helped them) so the main purpose of the declaration was to deny us a bowling point.

I took the Notts declaration,at the time, as now down to just tailenders the chance of getting a batting point had deminished and gave them more time to get maximum bowling points given the possibility rain was always going to reduce the overs available to them.

It does sound all a bit dodgy if the umpires decide what is a cynical declaration, do you have to be 8 down? What if we'd got to 176-5, would that be bad sportsmanship, it's all a matter of opinion.

It’s basically about being a wily captain. So Notts presumably rolled the pitch as it were in advance before play started in the morning. And must have been given the green light.

We were in no position to do the same and risked a points deduction if we declared.

meashambear wrote:

We are title contenders in name only.

A phony title challenge that would have been buried during this game had it lasted another days play.

Attack is not good enough, batting is not good enough but people seem happy that we are 'up there'.

I cannot think of another county that would guarantee Davies playing time.

Out of the T20 after 5/6 games. Out of the One day cup after 5 games.......never a real contender for the County Championship.

Hotel is coming along nicely though and that is all the club cares about, another cash cow opportunity.

The recent appointments of Jim Troughton as batting coach and Jeetan Patel, Darren Maddy and Michael Powell to the Cricket Committee suggest that there is some degree of cricketing ambition. And winning the Championship is still a possibility. I accept it is unlikely but you never know.

I don't agree about the 'In Name Only' bit of a title challenge, strange things happen towards the end of a season and it takes 2 rain-affected draws whilst a side can pick up a win and a high points draw and it all changes. Had the Notts game gone into another day, the scenario would be different from both sides and it doesn't mean we would have been bowled out for 185, exactly the same thing cannot happen in different circumstances and if we had been given the weather we had 2 weeks ago and 4 good days, we might have batted having won the toss and made a good score, thus changing the whole game. 'Up there' is better than the opposite way round and as long as we keep pace with the other 2 sides, there is always a chance.

Definitely could still win it. The feeling I got from the Notts game just passed is that they did it when it mattered. Notts eaked out the most points on that round of matches in Div 1, which, combined with a number of quarter finals over the last few years, sticks in the mind a bit. There are other teams out there with a far better mindset for winning titles. Could win but don't believe it. Just yet.

Having said all that, I'm still rather bullish about it all. We're better than last season and better than the season before that with Robinson. Unlike Surrey, we're heading the right direction. If we can get a few of our own players into the first team and get the ones we have produced, producing plus we've found a better set of os players, there are reasons to be cheerful.