Good test tonight against a team that has a history of starting strongly before falling away...

Well you need more than 3 batsmen to score when chasing a score like that.

Lack of depth in the batting highlighted. Yates could come in but other than that we have no other options to change it up.

Mikkyk wrote:

Well you need more than 3 batsmen to score when chasing a score like that.

Lack of depth in the batting highlighted. Yates could come in but other than that we have no other options to change it up.

Yates for Smith the obvious change going forward.

I’d bring in Yates for Smith. I’m not sure why Smith is in the team if he’s going to come in at 8.

I wonder why Briggs only bowled 2 overs. Bizarre.

We played pretty well, Smith at 8 seems bit of a waste

Still feel like we rely too much on Hain to finish games off for us.

The lack of depth in the batting totally exposed tonight. Credit to Northants who bowled well and closed it out. Back to the drawing board.

Not just lack of depth but scoring too slowly. If Latham is opening, he has to get on with it or it puts too much pressure on everyone else coming in. 34 off 23 is too slow and Moeen scored even slower if you consider that 20 of his runs came of 4 balls, that is 11 runs off the other 20. Once Mousley went, it looked like it was still on but numbers 6,7 ,8 and 9 made just 3 off 10 balls, pity in hindsight that Briggs didn't come in earlier.

I don't think any need to get too down on that. Lost to a more settled side playing away from home. I get the point we have some more established test players but cohesiveness is important and we're still building. I don't agree with bringing Yates in, unless it's for Latham, just costs us firepower if he's in for Smith. Smith bats at 7 or 8 with the gloves it's a balanced side and I'm sure that's the plan. Just don't know when we see it.

I thought tonight was actually a pretty decent performance, given the players available. Latham is doing what he's there to do, and unless there is someone better waiting in the wings, he should stay where he is.

Mo is a concern though, and I'm not sure if his heart is really still in it. I also wonder whether Smith is wasted at 7/8, as we don't need to ruin someone else in the Chris Benjamin role.

My main gripe is with the Sky commentators, who did everything they could to big up the Northants players, and mentally try and will them over the line to victory. Conversely, everything the Bears did was assessed critically and with a negative spin. Just really, really poor.

Ianbaz wrote:

I thought tonight was actually a pretty decent performance, given the players available. Latham is doing what he's there to do, and unless there is someone better waiting in the wings, he should stay where he is.

Mo is a concern though, and I'm not sure if his heart is really still in it. I also wonder whether Smith is wasted at 7/8, as we don't need to ruin someone else in the Chris Benjamin role.

My main gripe is with the Sky commentators, who did everything they could to big up the Northants players, and mentally try and will them over the line to victory. Conversely, everything the Bears did was assessed critically and with a negative spin. Just really, really poor.

Totally agree on the latter especially Dominic Cork. It was all about how Northants could win and nothing about how we could.

I don’t think the performance was any different to the Derbyshire win. The opposition was better.
And as many of us said then, good but room for improvement in certain areas. Which against teams in form can cost you.

Biggest concern for me was leadership, and I mean that in a sense wider than just captaincy.
Davies captaincy was poor, Briggs only bowling 2 for example. He seems to not adapt in game very well, and the comparison between him and David Willey as a captain was stark.
Moeen Ali had the chance to show his experience and manage the chase as a senior player should, just as it became clear Mousley was getting frustrated and he needed to take control of the chase from that point. Instead he seemed to shirk all responsibility.
And once again there seemed to be a lack of a plan, when we couldn’t smash a couple of boundaries every over or they were scoring freely.
These are things that against a lesser opponent that you can overcome, but against better teams and in close matches they make the difference. Once again, they’re not insurmountable these are issues that can be fixed if they’re acknowledged.

Very good points BristolBear. I've said several times but having Davies doing captaincy keeping and opening is such a bad strategy. Current and previous management seem in awe of him. I do like him as a batsman by the way.

I was at the game last night and agreed with Bristol Bears comments I'm not wholly sure what Moeens influence on the team is on the field, I think it's fair comment to say he wasn't 100% up for it last night, the dropped catch was appalling.
Smith isn't a big enough hitter to play down the order.
Northants had a definite plan for each batsman, I'm not sure we did. Far too much digging the ball in short of a length on middle and leg.
But after a loss I just remind myself it's just T20, not real cricket 😁

I agree that Davies is overburdened. Looking at England, we saw how much Buttler struggled.
I wonder if the lack of replacements for both keeping and captaining is the issue. The only legitimate captaincy option, in my opinion, would be Barnard. Is his place secure enough?
Kai is the obvious replacement for the gloves but he’s definitely not secure enough.

1 thing I would say, is looking back 5-10 years, T20 bowlers set their own fields, they had their plans, only younger players relied on the captain for that. And that’s about plans set off the field, bowlers knowing where they’re bowling, fielders knowing where they’re supposed to be. You can adapt in the game of course, like we saw Willey do with the bowling changes. But players weaknesses don’t change mid game, you know where you’re supposed to bowl at them.
Now everything goes through the captain.

Mo is a concern though, and I'm not sure if his heart is really still in it.

that has been a concern for me ever since his return.

ITE7376 wrote:

Mo is a concern though, and I'm not sure if his heart is really still in it.

that has been a concern for me ever since his return.

Ever since his return he has looked to me as someone playing out the few years before retirement. I might be wrong but it's how his body language appears to me.
'
s how i

I might have missed it. But was Moeen not supposed to be our captain in T20?
When did that change happen, did they give any reasoning behind it?

LeicesterExile wrote:

ITE7376 wrote:

Mo is a concern though, and I'm not sure if his heart is really still in it.

that has been a concern for me ever since his return.

Ever since his return he has looked to me as someone playing out the few years before retirement. I might be wrong but it's how his body language appears to me.
'
s how i

On his first home game back for us I was just having a cig at the gap between south stand and Hollies, Alex Hales was just walking off and signing some autographs on his way off, smiling and chatting to the kids who approached him, and Moeen was walking just behind him. Without imposing on him at all I just quickly got his attention and said hi Moeen, and said how great it was to see him at Edgbaston, good luck. And nothing. No reply, not even an acknowledgement, not even a thumbs-up or any sign in his eyes he could give a **. He looked totally dead behind the eyes, to be honest, just walked past. The contrast between his demeanour and engagement, and that of Hales, was night and day. Like someone said, just didn't look like he wanted to be there.

I felt regretful I didn't use the time making some kind of 'black dog' dig at Hales instead.

LeicesterExile wrote:

ITE7376 wrote:

Mo is a concern though, and I'm not sure if his heart is really still in it.

that has been a concern for me ever since his return.

Ever since his return he has looked to me as someone playing out the few years before retirement. I might be wrong but it's how his body language appears to me.
'
s how i

On his first home game back for us I was just having a cig at the gap between south stand and Hollies, Alex Hales was just walking off and signing some autographs on his way off, smiling and chatting to the kids who approached him, and Moeen was walking just behind him. Without imposing on him at all I just quickly got his attention and said hi Moeen, and said how great it was to see him at Edgbaston, good luck. And nothing. No reply, not even an acknowledgement, not even a thumbs-up or any sign in his eyes he could give a **. He looked totally dead behind the eyes, to be honest, just walked past. The contrast between his demeanour and engagement, and that of Hales, was night and day. Like someone said, just didn't look like he wanted to be there.

I felt regretful I didn't use the time making some kind of 'black dog' dig at Hales instead.