Thoroughly enjoying it so far although keeping the sound muted when the ghastly Melinda Ferrell is on commentary.

I turned it off because of the bloke who's name I don't know. He has 'Commentary by numbers' as everything he says is contrived and obvious.

I never bother with the commentary - but I do like your descriptions on here - ghastly and commentary by numbers - classic

strange bowling selections. No sign of Sylvester and Yates on ahead of Taz.

I think being held back for when the ball gets softer still and presumably harder to score with. Seems Kent making a better go of their chase than Northampton did. It seems to be the case our scoring slowed after around the 25th over so maybe the same here...

LeicesterExile wrote:

strange bowling selections. No sign of Sylvester and Yates on ahead of Taz.

What was Simmons' injury? Because he's on the pitch fielding

Stress fracture I think, which would stop him bowling but not fielding

I think the team changes were justified and worked well. Taz was excelent and a good list A debut for Adam Sylvester.

Another 5-fer for Ali. I have one criticism of him- could he at least look a bit excited when he takes all these wickets!!

Yes, but I never got excited either when I took wickets - I was mainly in shock that anyone could actually get out to me.

Joking apart, really good win, get the net run/rate up a bit and Taz is having fun. Also a mention to Sylvester, pity he was taken off, he was really enjoying himself and was really tidy, barely a bad ball from his 5 overs.

paulbear wrote:

Joking apart, really good win, get the net run/rate up a bit and Taz is having fun. Also a mention to Sylvester, pity he was taken off, he was really enjoying himself and was really tidy, barely a bad ball from his 5 overs.

Sylvester has come on SO much since that (very premature) 1st team debut. As I pointed out above, he was the stand out bowler in the 2nds T20 series and has continued in that vein in the 2nds Championship.
A great example of someone who has worked (hard) on his weaknesses and with the help of Stuart Barnes has really progressed in the time he's been with us. He's even lost a bit of beef!
I think, with a close season with our Fitness guys and some more technical coaching, he could develop into a decent seam bowler, he certainly has the potential.

So many positives today - Yates back in the runs, Sylvester sublime 5 overs and Taz getting those wickets and good knocks from Kai and Jani. Let's get the Rugby hatrick on Friday.

Good display by Taz Ali again and yes, Sylvester was very tidy & unlucky with one LBW shout that looked pretty plum.

A couple of those googly's were very nice.

I am still concerned that we seem to have to lose a bunch of wickets quickly but a good win none the less.

Taz Ali again, what a performance! Also, well done to Jani with another impressive knock. These youngsters are the future.

"I believe that children are our future..."

Updated averages after todays game

https://countycrickethub.net/team-averages.html?teamid=16&comp=2&year=2025

Another good win. We won 1day games like this around 2014 when we reached the final, made decent, but not overwhelming, totals when batting first but putting the squeeze on the opposition when we defend. Good again from Taz Ali, the ball to get Leaning was magnificent and he did what all good leggys do by blowing away the tail. Definitely a ploy to hold him back for when the ball got a bit softer. Kent definitely a couple of bowlers short but they had some decent batters playing so it's a good win. Without trying to get ahead, way ahead, of things I'd expect Taz to be in our Blast side next season, in fact could he even gatecrash his way into the side for Somerset on Sept 6th?!

Sylvester bowled accurately, he's definitely an aggressive character, thought he may have been a case of him being a bit nervous when we witnessed him doing all that sledging when he played in the Blast but it seems its just the way he is. Be interesting to see how it goes for him because when he chirped Haynes and Clarke v Notts they laughed at him and promptly took him to the cleaners. Today it went for him, got a big wicket (Finch).

Much smaller crowd today, on Sunday there was quite a few Northants in as it being a local game for them, but today's smaller crowd made for a nice, relaxed atmosphere in more brilliant weather. What a summer we're having. Another good day.

BosworthBear, are these opinions acceptable?

A bit snide TBH. It was more of a local game for us which is probably why there was another good crowd. I preferred Kai Smith’s opinion!

Wasn’t there today but crowd looked good today. As somebody just texted me championship crowds at Edgbaston are now lower than anybody but Derbyshire!

Looking forward to Friday!

. Good again from Taz Ali, the ball to get Leaning was magnificent

yeah I watched his first spell on the stream when I got home from work, I thought from Sunday that he definitely had a googly in his armory but the ball to get Leaning was a bloody great ripping, big-turning one. That's such a great indicator for his future as it totally changes the spectrum of threat for batsmen, especially against left handers.

I get a nasty feeling after a year or so we won't be seeing him again once England get a sniff. Albeit, with Rehan Ahmed's rapid development especially with the bat, I'm hoping his all-round ability will mean they pick him and there's no place in the England lineup for another leggie who doesn't bat nearly as well. Either that or they can stick with their arrogant, probably misguided, vibes-based pick of Bashir, fine with me if we get to keep Taz but in the long term I suspect it would be their loss. Taz strikes me as a bit more of a test-style leggie than Rehan does, FWIW, seems to flight it more.