I'm gutted we lost that!

Guess this also means Hassan Ali won't play Sunday

Good luck to him, decent record. Good strike rate for a spinner. Feels harsh on Taz Ali though, maybe we'll play both.

Good luck to him, decent record.

I sorted it on the app, cheers Paul.

Is making his pro debut tonight for Worcestershire in the t20 Blast v Durham...

He doesn't seem to have bowled much lately, has he been injured?

Yeah surely he plays v Somerset now?

Even as a member have I gotta claim a ticket for Friday's game?

I think it's a decent signing, he's a touch quicker than a fair few of our seamers and he'll be a good no.8. He'll be part of the Blast side too.

I don't know how to post links, sorry

live.nvplay

Both sides look fairly strong

He'll be missed in the Blast side, where he does a lot of the heavy lifting, always bowls the tough overs, etc, it's correct that he's not part of our 4day side though.

Decent player, terrific lad, lovely family, he's 34 though and he'll be on the slide. It's a move that suits all parties I'd say.

GerryShedd wrote:

There's an article in The Telegraph today that is both informative and very moving. It's here if you can get behind the paywall:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2025/06/14/cricket-leaving-working-class-white-kids-behind/?WT.mc_id=e_DM607650&WT.tsrc=email&etype=Edi_PrS_New&utmsource=email&utm_medium=Edi_PrS_New20250614&utm_campaign=DM607650
It homes in on the story of James Minto, Durham's youngest player who, aged just 17, is his family's breadwinner after his mother's death.
On a broader perspective, it points out that:
"Last year’s announcement by Rishi Sunak of £35 million to fund state school and grass-roots cricket has not materialised under the Labour Government. It would have paid for inner-city cricket hubs but has disappeared into a spending review black hole."

It's a great read, it really is. Durham are doing great things up there with the pathway and academy and reading about the links with state schools, clubs and how that ties in with the pathway is impressive. And they've been doing it for a long time now. They back their own. Why can't we do this?

Think he's a better bowler than Barnard but Barnard a better batter.

Is rejoining Sussex

We've made him a 'sizeable' offer apparently...

Lovely weather for it...

BristolBear wrote:

GerryShedd wrote:

I fully agree with the criticism that the Club should not have allowed him to get away from us but that's a different issue.

This has become a bit of a trend. Overly willing to sign players on trial or from elsewhere, than to persist with our own youth.
We seem to still have an attitude from 20 years ago. That players have to spend at least a couple of years playing 2’s on their first contract.
But young players these days are happy to leave to get game time. Also you look how the likes of Surrey, Sussex (slightly different reasoning), Essex, Durham and some others have gone about it, they identify high potential players, then back them young and get them in the side even if they’re not quite as good as an external player they could sign. They give them time in the team to reach that level. Then only sign “marquee” players who really improve a side or who cover a specific gap.
The talent is there, but there’s a clear gap between academy and first team at the moment.

This is true I'm afraid. We've never really backed our own academy talent as much as the club likes to think. I mean we signed Vaansh Jani (im not knocking him at all) to a rookie contract off the back of a good 4-6 weeks at the start of the season but Isaac Mohammed was going to have to wait til the end of the season despite having an excellent 2024, a strong start to 2025 and an ability to bowl serviceable seam.

The bowling side of things, we contracted Adam Sylvester and put him straight into the side when we had an academy product in Ben Blakemore (who actually has a rookie contract) playing in the 2's.

Somethings not quite right.