Rumours...

To win 5 out of 8 and not go through to the knockouts feels a bit unlucky, no? Maybe it's just me.

It's gonna take some getting over isn't it?!

Did all that hard work on the road away from home in Liverpool and then v Durham. Rocked the boat away at Taunton the week before to then throw in that one today.

When Barnard and Davies were going the way they were at about half 4 i was thinking how we were starting to get stronger and stronger with each game and maybe we could go all the way...jeez

I assume it was a used pitch. Have a feeling people thought we'd be put on the edge of the square like we were for 2 games in 2023 but I'd imagine this pitch had been recently used in the other comp. Played alright for used pitch, decent carry, presumably a hybrid pitch. Took some turn. Was definitely holding up a bit in our innings, think the dismissals of Barnard and Davies maybe reflected that. I'm sympathetic towards the team selection, we played Friday, Sunday then today of course with the prospect of playing Thursday and maybe again this Sunday. Something had to give. Don't matter now though and admittedly it doesn't look good. Sylvester bowled poorly, our only bowler to go at more than 6 an over, if yer gonna keep banging it in short the batter will be set for it...

Can't say much more about the collapse than has already been said, can't defend that. Such a shame as we've batted so well lately in run chases. Thought Lenham bowled pretty well to be fair to the lad.

Was surprised by the crowd today, very decent, way more than we've seen in the CC at times. Plenty of families too. Even the West Stand was open! Good for a Tuesday. I've enjoyed the outgrounds, having visited Scarborough, Rugby x3 and Liverpool but its nice to sit in actual stands again with a clearer view.

Ed Barnard is such a thoughtful and responsible cricketer and suddenly looks in sparkling form with the bat again after looking a bit iffy only a week or so ago. I'd be in favour of him becoming our captain in the future he still have some learning to do though. Today the Sussex left handers kept hitting our spinners, when they bowled from the City End, over or through mid off for boundaries and Barnard simply wasn't reacting to this until Lintott (not bowling at the time) instructed him to bring Zen into the ring from deep backward square (I don't think he touched the ball once there) and put Hamza back on the long off boundary and bring himself in closer on the one. 2 balls later, the Sussex batter (Alsop, I think) had to change his hitting area then holed out to Yates at long on. The field change brought about the wicket, needed to happen 20 mins sooner though. We're learning. And I must stress before people get emotional, this isn't a criticism of Barnard or a praise of Davies or whatever, just saying we should give Barnard time to learn the role when the change does come.

Also Lancashire, i watched the end of that, they weren't trying an inch, we'll remember that!

Gutted personally, I really enjoy this format, I'd done 6 out these 8 ODC games and I wanted more.

Very decent crowd in.

It's just rotating the bowlers.

Wicket, virtually centre of the square. Grey skies.

Brilliant result. Excellent from Booth, hard to imagine us picking a side without him in it if he's fit these days. Barnard, this is why you have to back people, he was quietly having a poor comp with the bat, talking about picking yer moments though!

Yeah hard to gauge the conditions when only watching on the live stream.

Alex Lees showing that time at the crease will never fail you. No matter the struggle early on etc just don't give it away, hang on in there. Great innings.

Raine has just taken Taz for 22.

I think Halford was credited with it yes.

This looks the sort of pitch where anybody who has tried to force the scoring rate has got out unless they are really 'in' and well set. Another beauty from Taz Ali for his wicket.

GerryShedd wrote:

It's often interesting to see what the opposition has to say. The Durham preview says:
"Ian Westwood’s first season as head coach at Edgbaston has contained some promising signs – Warwickshire have delivered some eye-catching Rothesay County Championship wins and qualification for the Vitality Blast quarter-finals. To lift the Metro Bank One-Day Cup would assure supporters that their side is settling again after the long period of transition since winning the 2021 County Championship – and also underline Ed Barnard’s credentials to be the next club captain."

This is the exact same preview, word for word, that was in the Somerset pre game notes last Sunday.

Another big game for us. Durham have nothing to play for but it's a fairly strong looking squad.

Same squad for Warwicks.

One more thing, Davies getting dropped twice then nicking off all in the space of one over was amusing even if it did make the game a bit closer for a moment.

A comprehensive victory chasing down a target which at the halfway stage never looked anywhere near enough on an easy paced pitch with bounce and an incredibly fast outfield. A very bobbly, fast, outfield too. A mediocre, though pacy, looking Lancs attack also. I said to myself when I arrived to the ground this morning theyd be a lot of misfields and fumbles on this from just looking at it. Brilliant bowling from Taz who seemed to bowl a touch quicker, only a touch, today in order to exploit the bounce. Performing well in away game is another feather in his cap. Yates bowled a good spell unchanged too and deserved his 2 wickets.

The reply probably looked a little odd to begin and I admit I had a couple of moments where I thought "whys he done that?!" but I just think this Lancs team was there for the taking all day long and this was a good opportunity to blast the run rate. You'd like to see Yates and Barnard to go on but fair play to them on getting such a fast start that it allowed the middle order to just come in with the rest of the chase feeling a lot more comfortable. Quite unselfish really. Great to see Zen Malik and Hamza looking so confident and positive and getting rewarded with sizeable scores. Hamza looks a particularly clean hitter with beautiful timing.

Was impressed at the amount of Bears fans at New Street Station this morning.

I got into Liverpool Lime Street early and had breakfast before taking the long walk along the Mersey towards Allerton and Aigburth, was a peaceful, long, but enjoyable walk. I always find Liverpool to be a lovely city and its people to be so warm and friendly.

My first visit to Liverpool Cricket Club, it ain't the best. The pavilion is a lovely looking building but is set back so far from the playing area meaning that the huge sitescreen is quite a way in front of it which results in the view from the pavilion being quite badly restricted. However it was nice to be able to access it as a member and use the bar and toilets (the portable lavs were a shambles before the game even started and the queues during it, well...) just wish the viewing was better. Bizarre to me that they don't have a temporary stand on the side because they definitely have the space for one and it's not always nice having to try and peer between people's heads to see the game if you can't get on a folding chair at the boundary edge. It wouldn't ruin the aesthetic of the ground as its not the prettiest outground anyway.

Now on a train from Mossley Hill back to Birmingham New Street, Mossley Hill a straightforward 25min walk from Liverpool Cricket Club. Will be nice to be home a bit earlier than anticipated!

Re. Mousley, I feel like he leaves us for the Hundread with his game in pretty good shape every year then comes back looking totally out of sorts for the September run in. He either doesn't play or bats 7 and hardly gets a hit or just bowls 5 balls. He'd benefit so much more from playing ODC and batting in the top 4 for us and constructing his innings and also bowling a bit more in different game situations, middle overs etc.

I'm heading up tomorrow, my first visit to Aigburth. No temporary stand apparently which is a shame.

Oh yeah, where's that gone?!

He's been available just not getting selected. Apparently he's been sat in the 'dug out' at games with all the gear on.

Also, I don't know if its been mentioned but on social media Warwickshire put a squad up on Saturday night in readiness for Sunday v Somerset and it had Sam Hain in it. This post was removed minutes later I'm told.

A brilliant, brilliant run chase and great one for the learning curve of these young batters.

Chasing over 300 with the highest individual score being only 50 has to be some sort of record right? Can't have happened too many times before.

I thought we needed somebody in the top 5 to ton up but we had such solid contributions all the way down. We were always just about in a decent place regarding our run rate and always had just about enough wickets in hand throughout the innings. Yates showed a bit more fluency today, looks better when he drives straight and pulls off the front foot, Zen was lucky early in his innings 21 of his first 25 runs were via edges but looked better once settled, Hamza showed a bit of demonstrable quality today, you saw it for the first time that bit of class and flair, Lintott clearly in good form with the bat, an excellent display of calculated hitting, Jani 21 off 14 doesn't sound remarkable but he only took up 2 dot balls and the two boundaries he hit were vital at the time in order to get us near run a ball. Kai Smith is quite clearly good under pressure and has the ability to remain calm and work through situations. A problem solver.

Massive win from a league table perspective, had we lost today we'd have really been playing catch up.

A good team win, and not for the first time this season. We seem to have this habit of creeping up on sides. We definitely have more fight and toughness/togetherness under Westwood and are able to hang in games more and take them deep. Under Robbo we'd go behind in a game and get steamrollered. That's not always been the case this season.

Let's take this deep, come on...

Yeah fair, have been the most one eyed commentary team on the circuit for a while but they are nice people.