Might be without Hain tomorrow.

Couple of little tweaks, Yates isn't a regular t20 player for us but he has had some decent games for us in this comp as an opener so get him back up there.

Can Latham take the gloves? Just because he's a pretty poor outfielder, not hugely mobile and looks as though he's on the same diet as Sylvester.

Trent Bridge is an incredibly difficult ground to defend on to be fair. You either have to bowl very full or go splice length. The only one who tried to do that was Miles.

Garton, this kid is weak. You see it in his face and you see it in his action. He'll have good games but he'll have more bad ones. Baffles me when people call for him to be in the 4day side. He can bat though and is a worthy fielder.

The selection of Sylvester was a weird one. I still think without recruitment we have better bowlers available than him right now. You telling me OHD couldn't have done a better job? He has death bowling experience too. Have we not anybody in the academy who can bowl serviceable seam? Blakemore? Where's Che?

Even with all the players missing i still don't think we picked our best XI from those available tonight.

Onto tomorrow, put the boundaries out, prepare a turner, pick Briggs, Lintott and Taz and hope the oppo hole out?

Also, we really, really miss Dan Mousley in this format, if anything for his bowling. With him playing we may just about have defended that tonight. He gets wickets.

Latham does drop em you know...

Why is this Sylvester chirping the batters after getting whacked for 6?

This is the thing with him, he doesn't shape it all so on flat pitches like this he's absolute cannon fodder. Clearly struggles under pressure too.

It's incredible to think Benjamin played all those games and Barnard didn't.

Good knock from Davies too which will have annoyed many I'm sure...

KingofSpain wrote:

We need to put a big total on the board given that Trent Bridge is the best batting surface in the country these days. Why Miles over Bamber? He will be smashed all over Nottingham.

Bamber only played 7 t20's for one of the record breakingly bad t20 performing counties so...

Is he fat? He looks a bit heavy.

We've seen Che Simmons, Taz Ali, Michael Booth, Zen Malik and Kai Smith all play red ball and show promise this season, all have played more than once. 5 players who at the start of the season you may not have considered for selection and are now all viable first team options. That's clear progress. If you cant see that...and we're 3rd, we weren't doing anything of the like under Robinson. What do you expect to have happened differently for this "Blast Squad"? Who would you have you have gotten in? We've recruited heavily in this comp in recent seasons and still not progressed so...

Thanks mate, my friend is interested in coming next Friday but doesn't know til the day if he can make it.

Does anybody know if you can buy tickets for Blast games on the day of the game? A friend of mine is asking, I genuinely don't know.

Thanks.

Feel like Westwood (who only took on the job on in February remember) is prioritising the County Championship whilst being committed to the long term evolution of the squad. A lot of the recruitment of overseas players took place when Robbo and/or Larsen were still in the post. The suspension then resumption of the IPL caught everybody off guard, did anybody forecast Dan Mousley being called up to England Lions on the eve of the comp? We've prioritised the Blast for the last 3 seasons bringing in T20 specific types (Moeen, Garton, Gleeson) and a litany of overseas players of varying quality and its got us nowhere. People were crying last year about players like Barnard nor getting a proper go, he'll get a go now. Not sure what people are expecting given the circumstances. Happy to see prioritising red ball cricket and the development of younger players anyway as its much more sustainable long term.

Hi Charlie

5fer

Is in the XI to face Bangladesh right now.

Exiled Bear wrote:

I can understand the frustration with not winning this one, but I don't think the weather forecast was bad enough to warrant a much earlier declaration. If it was going to be a complete washout on the final day then that would be different, but if we'd declared early and given them something chasable, and then the weather turned out to be better than expected and Worcestershire had won, then people would also have been very upset!

We're in a very good spot after 7 games and aren't a million miles away from the top, which I'm not sure many people saw coming before the start of the season, so I'm pretty happy with how things have gone so far overall.

Agree with all of this.

I think that's fair enough, Robinson would have panicked and got any old overseas in, even if just for a couple of games, they'd have likely underperformed and it would have been pointless. The Blast should be an opportunity to blood youngsters, particularly the early stages of the comp.

Would imagine he's being brought in to play alongside Taz, particularly in games away from home, definitely the game at Chelmsford. Was under the impression Webster would be back for some 4day games in late July. Are we gonna have a situation where we have Corey, Webster and Latham on the books?

I don't think this much rain was forecast was it?!

paulbear wrote:

Lots of people on the live YouTube feed were typing that Rushworth and Woakes needed to get back on before lunch. I can never understand why fielders meander to their positions and you can understand how people who watched cricket just after the 2nd WW get frustrated about the lack of movement in teams who appear to not be bothered about trying to just get a few more overs in. Do teams never have discussions in the changing rooms and say things like, "I know we only need to get a certain number of overs in but why not just move it along quicker so as not to get caught out later in the day". I agree with you LE, a bit more of a positive look ahead to try see that the opposition where never likely to chase more than 270.

Yeah I did think we were a little slow in getting round at times today. We got around well Saturday and to be fair Davies behind the stumps was key to us doing that, sprinted from one end to the other ensure we got an extra over from Rushworth before lunch for example. We were passive today though.

Yeah Paul is right here anybody who thinks the approach Saturday evening was wrong hasn't watched enough of this game to understand the nature of the pitch or the ebb and flow of this match. The likes of Hain, Woakes and Barnard don't get to do what they did Sunday afternoon if Yates and Latham don't do what they did Saturday evening. Worcestershire, with a deficit of 46 after the first innings, threw everything at us and barely bowled a bad delivery in murky light with the ball seaming and swinging. Could easily have been 50-4 with the game on the line Sunday morning. Instead we snuffed Worcestershire out and gained control. Anybody who has tried to force the pace on this pitch has nicked off.

Re. Declaration, yeah perhaps, I get why Davies wanted 300 so he could set attacking fields for longer and keep slips in. I was a little surprised we kept going after we got that 300 lead however. Imagine if we pulled out 250 lead and lost though, the same people would have been crying.

Really difficult one.