We still won’t be allowed to play him though. That would be absurd, a player playing for their county, instead of being 15th man with no chance of selection.

I think we all can appreciate that spinners tend to take a bit longer to really work out their game and how to find their role. 25 is pretty young for a spinner, and he clearly has talent.
But you put him up against Harmer like in this match, and he’s currently falling short.

Harmer showing Bess and Lintott how it’s done.
It’s a pitch made for him, and he’s using it.

Am still curious as to how the ECB think it’s fair to hold Woakes out completely knowing he won’t play at all. But let Lawrence play Essex’s first innings score a huge hundred and then substitute him, even though again they know he won’t be playing.

Wasn’t the point of the hundred that these new fans would start watching other forms of the game? It was a way into the entire game, not the only format they’d ever interact with.
Instead it seems to be stealing funding, dominating the height of the season, have fans who are only interested in this single format, and dictating how clubs are running themselves.

Missing Hain is obviously a huge blow. But watching their bowling compared to ours, they’ve definitely posed more threat.

Harmer is miles ahead of Bess and Lintott. He’s really getting the ball to grip and bounce now. Porter and Cook have looked much more dangerous for longer by being more consistent. And we’ve chucked away a couple of really cheap wickets to their seamers. Rhodes was careless, Davies was sloppy.

That one from Harmer to bowl Burgess turned a mile. The Bess one went a bit and bounced too. That’s not a good sign.

Interesting listening to Essex’s bowling coach on the commentary talking about how bounce on a pitch like this, with this ball, becomes much more important with less swing and grip.

Bess didn’t get that bounce particularly. Lintott does as a “leggy” but was a bit inconsistent. Then Ali is quite short so he didn’t. Rushworth is tall, but doesn’t have the pace anymore. Then both Barnard and Rhodes are quite skiddy.

Whereas Harmer, Cook, and Bracewell do get good lift off the pitch. Did we miss a trick not playing OHD, as he does get a lot of bounce due to his height?

I haven’t heard anything regarding OHD’s fitness. I assumed with a flat pitch and kookaburra ball that they knew they were going with 2 spinners.
Ali is perfect for this as a seamer, Rushworth is the form man. Extra seam overs from Barnard and Rhodes.

My fear from what I saw of the track and what Robinson said pre-match, is the fourth innings.
Apparently it’s very dry, it’s also been used for an international ODI this year, so used and dry tends to suggest it’ll break up by day 4. And could be tough against Harmer on that.
So when batting in our first innings, got to try and take that out of the equation. Don’t let them have a lead of any kind. Ideally we polish them off early tomorrow. Turn the tables on them by batting long, getting a lead of 150. And seeing if our spinners can do some damage on day 4.

It’s definitely the case for Henry. Though he does still have some good variations when used properly.

Unfortunately he’s not the only one to have suffered like that. It’s becoming more and more common. Chris Jordan, Reece Topley, Matt Dunn, Ryan Harris. All were 90mph at the start of their careers and injuries robbed them of that ability.
Even the likes of Roland-Jones has lost a yard from injuries. But he was never that fast to begin with.

The Worcestershire situation strikes me as poor squad management. To have that many up for contracts at 1 time.

Is Maxwell available for finals day should we get there.
I know it’s not exactly uncommon in the past for overseas to play the groups then be unavailable for quarters and finals day.
Though might be different due to the new schedule and how close everything is together now.

He strikes me as a player who’d be playing regularly now had he come through somewhere like Sussex or Leicestershire. Smaller counties whose best players are often snapped up, and rely on producing a lot of their own talent.
But opportunities have been limited the last couple of years, but even when he has played he’s not really taken the chance and run with it.
Best of luck to him though.

Is that 4 or 5 chances Bairstow has blown now? Not sure who’s selection has been a bigger bust him or Moeen.

How much longer has he got on his contract. As good as he is when healthy. It’s irrelevant when it’s one match a season.
He’s had 1 fully fit season, and I suspect much of that was to do with Pop Welch.

I can never keep track of these now. Hain was supposedly fit enough to be in the squad now he’s out for approximately 4 weeks.
Norwell was supposedly targeting July, and now he’s many weeks away, and from the sounds of it, it’ll be September for county championship.
I understand Mikes and Brookes. These things happen.
But from a physical point of view I can’t quite understand how Bethell can bat, but not bowl spin.
He gives the ball a mighty whack, twists his back etc when batting. Surely no less stressful on the back than spin bowling?

Predictions?

I’ve got Australia winning 3-2. No close tests.
England to lose the first test.

Heard from a couple of reliable sources that Will Rhodes is considering giving up the captaincy next year. And potentially sooner if his CC form doesn’t improve.
He’s been frustrated by his own form, but is happy whilst the side is performing well. Robinson is aware, and Davies as VC would be appointed.
Apparently Rhodes is also frustrated that he isn’t being considered to go out on loan for T20, as it’s a bad look for the club captain. But he also isn’t getting in the T20 side despite scoring a lot of runs in the seconds.
Robinson has countered this by including him in the most recent squad. But Rhodes knows realistically with a fit Hain and available Moeen, he won’t get into that side as it stands. Yates currently seen as a better option.

I hope this is a case of including him to keep Worcester on their toes. And so they think that he might play.

Because risking him and getting hurt more, really jeopardises the season. A real hamstring tear is 6-8 weeks. So whilst it’s a strain surely you lean towards being overly cautious, and back the rest of the batting line up to score enough in this one match.

Essex and Surrey have just announced that Dan Lawrence will be joining Surrey next season.

Starting to get a bit silly now. Any decent player that comes up just gets snapped up by Surrey.