So next year. Of an expected first choice XI for either championship or T20, is it only Yates left who’s a homegrown player??
I don’t count Hain as realistically he was developed elsewhere.

Having spoken to a few players on the circuit at the time, having seen what has been written by respected cricket journalists and the usual rumour mill from players and coaches involved at the club; I think like most moves, there wasn’t just one single reason why Barker moved on.
I’ve always understood that he wanted to stay, however, he wasn’t happy with both the offer and how it was handled. So once he made his decision that he was willing to leave, that it was a case of he’d only leave if he could go down south. When it became apparent that not only was he able to move south but the offer was better and Hampshire clearly wanted him, it was an easy decision.

The problem is, players move for a number of reasons, but in a career that is hardly secure, being wanted and being treated well is a massive thing. And we just don’t seem to be able to convince players to stay, based on how much we want them. That’s made worse often but how much the club chased shiny new targets, and players can see the difference in treatment.

People talk a lot about loyalty in professional sport expecting it of players, but more and more clubs don’t return it either. And I’m concerned we’re becoming a club of mercenaries, rather than a club of players passionate about the badge, not just the name on the back.

Will the club be putting out a released list I wonder?
Lots of other clubs have already announced which players will be leaving/have left.
I think it’s only fair Warwickshire do the same, as much as anything so that those players can get the goodbye messages from supporters that they deserve, and that fans know what to expect next season.

On the Pop Welch thing, having spoken to a couple of people around the county circuit, it’s common knowledge that it was a personality clash, and Welch decided he would rather move on than work with him.

Regarding Lamb, no one has painted him as the second coming of Bradman. Just that you play to win, and you pick the players who give you the best chance of that. And a player averaging 48, contributes to wins a lot more than players with “talent in abundance” who average single figures. It’s about performances, not potential.
And beyond numbers, these guys are people too not just athletes, and I can’t imagine how Matt Lamb must feel (someone said he seemed very upset in the lounge after the final match). Having come through the ranks, been in the club for 17 years, since he was 9 according to cric info, you’ve just won the championship, you’re having a great season, averaging almost 50, and…. Dropped. Not offered a new deal, banished from the match day squads, the message was clearly it doesn’t matter how well you do, we don’t want you anymore. From his home club. Professional sports are brutal, but at least usually decisions are made on merit and performance. And I think that’s what really gets me about the Lamb situation, he did everything they could have asked of him, more than many others, and he just hasn’t been treated even close to fairly.

And you don’t become a bad coach overnight, but this was never about technical coaching or even tactics, it’s his man management and selection decision making that have been the issue. He’s got to get that changing room back together because all the noise in the press, around the leagues and the usual sources is that it’s not a happy place currently, it’s pretty split, there’s some big name established players who are unhappy with the treatment they and some other players have received, and that sort of fractured, dissatisfied environment is never going to be a recipe for success. And the problem is, it’s hard to fix a people problem like that if you’re the cause of it, because as George Dobell put it in his article, “players remember these things”.

I think the biggest change has been the selection policy and player management. Last year it was clear that there were no favourites, selection was on merit, the 11 players with the best chance of winning were put out.
The changing room seemed more harmonious, it seemed like 1 squad, whereas now it seems very fractious and a big split between red ball and T20.
And the loss of pop Welch due to Robinson is massive too.

How, even in the brutal environment of professional sport, can any club can offer more loyalty and support to someone like Davies who’s been there for 5 seconds, looked like he couldn’t care less half the time, and played poorly, than to someone like Matt Lamb? A player who’s been at the club since he was 10 or 11, plays with passion for the club every match, and performed well. It’s just bewildering.
It’s the sort of decision making you see in failed businesses all the time. People too arrogant, stubborn or deluded to admit a mistake, so they double down on their error by backing it further. And by the time it’s so obvious even they can’t deny they’ve made a mistake, it’s too late.
I’m just hoping it’s not too late, but I look at the loss of Stone, Hose, Sibley, Lamb, Sidebottom, potentially Burgess. And I see the players who are lined up to take their places and be big parts of the side; likes of Davies, Yates, Bethell, Mousley, Benjamin, Johal, Ethan Brookes, and at this moment I can’t see an improvement. The likes of Yates and Davies need a complete turn around in form. And the younger players need to come of age and start delivering more than just potential.

Not sure I’ll ever see figures like that from a Bears bowler again.
I’m ecstatic and terrified in equal measure. So relieved we escaped.
But I’m hoping they don’t just gloss over this season, put it down to injuries and move on. They’re celebrating right now. But I hope they realise this isn’t an achievement.
There’s been some awful decisions and performances this year, and if they just carry on the same next year, it’ll go the same way again, except I think you only get one miracle like that in a lifetime.

I’m going to say that from what I’ve seen of Bethell and Mousley, the reason they do well at second XI is because at the moment that’s their level. They haven’t succeeded despite opportunities in the firsts. So they’d do no better.
Benjamin similar but at least has shown some promise. Lamb plenty good enough and everyone knows he’s been treated poorly. No idea why Hose wasn’t given a chance.
But Robinson refused to drop certain players who were horrifically out of form. And Rhodes didn’t have the decency to handover the captaincy.

I don’t think Lintott is good enough for FC cricket. Because players don’t have to go after him.

But also it’s always so thought judging on 2nd XI cricket because some weeks you get the opposition putting out a very strong side, other weeks you get a bunch of 16 year olds.

What is Bethells average this year for Warwickshire?
I’m not sure I’ve seen him get to double figures in red ball or T20.
He’s young, but he’s been anointed the second coming, and frankly has been pretty poor.
If we’d picked Sibley or Burgess in the T20, we might have been able to keep one of them. Though on the Burgess side, from my understanding part of that was because Davies was promised the gloves and no competition in T20.

I’m hoping Lamb and Burgess will be there, so I can apologise to them for the abhorrent way they’ve been treated. Let them know that we see through the nonsense from Robinson.

It’s supposed to be all right during the day. But to rain heavily all night and not stop until 9-11. So it’s going to be hard to start on time, big job needed by the ground staff.
Then it’s bat fast for a session, put 150-200 as a target, and see how it goes with the ball.

We have a chance. Not one we deserve. But the great escape is on.

Yorkshire have lost a 7th wicket. Still needing 84 to tie!
Problem is, it’s supposed to start raining heavily tonight and well into tomorrow morning. Supposedly until around 11 or 12. So to then get the ground ready, put a score in the board and bowl them out, time looks far too tight.

I’m not holding my breath on the points deduction for Yorkshire, for the simple reason that the ECB screwed it up too. So if they punish Yorkshire with points, they’ll be turning the spotlight on themselves. I also expect Yorkshire would appeal, or the points deduction wouldn’t come into effect until next season.

So lunch on Day 3. Hampshire only 151 behind with 5 in hand. Vince looks very good too. Problem is going to be how long we need to bat for again. Even if they only scored another 50-75 runs. We’d need to go bat for about a session to put on another 100-150 to actually have something defendable.
And that risks the weather on day 4, which is looking dodgy at best.

It may of course all be academic. Yorkshire are 36-1 at lunch, 240 would get them the tie that would keep them safe. So only 204 runs off. It could be very close.

I just fear that the pitch is too good. It doesn’t look easy to get wickets.
It’s been damp, overcast, play constantly interrupted and we only lost 4 wickets. Usually that’s a recipe for wickets and lots of them.
The reality is simple, 2 days, to take 20 wickets, for less than probably 400 runs. There won’t be time in the game to score more than about 120 extra runs in a second innings.

I wonder if Hampshire could be convinced into making a very sporting declaration.

To score more points than Yorkshire it would need to be a win and 3 bonus points. But if we only got 2 bonus points we’d stay up due to having won more games.

However, Yorkshires 3 bowling points means that a draw would be enough for them to stay up. And the weather for Leeds tomorrow is rain all day according to the BBC. Which wouldn’t be helpful, as you know their ground staff won’t be in any hurry to make it playable.

That sounds ominous. Dobell is usually right on these things. He was stating the Sibley news to Surrey at the start of the season well before anyone else had any idea.

Is the article worth a read? It’s behind a paywall, and I’m loathe to bother paying as I’m usually left pretty disappointed by anything I’ve read from there previously.

It all just smacks of awful man management to me. I think there were solutions there, and I suspect we all know what needed to be done. Why Robinson didn’t do it was either that he wasn’t strong enough to manage some of the situations, especially with big players out of form.
Or made a decision regarding selection, and was too stubborn/arrogant/foolish to change his mind upon realising his mistake.

Either way, neither are characteristics you want in a leader and head coach.

I think you can stick with one of Yates or Davies out of form, but not both. One should have been dropped after 3 matches when it was clear both were in awful form.
Then give the other another match or 2. Or you could try Rhodes opening again.
With Hain, Mousley, Lamb, Burgess, Benjamin Bethell, plus Rhodes you’ve got plenty who can bat 3-7. So I don’t think it was a lack of options. It was a definite choice. And it’s damaged the season.

That’s just it isn’t it, that every single one of these players is talented enough to score runs. It’s whether their form is good enough and also whether they turn that talent into results.

Robinson has this bizarre approach that picking on name, potential and reputation is better than actual performances.
You throw enough darts at a board and eventually you’ll hit the bullseye. Unfortunately in professional sport you can’t have that approach because you don’t have time to wait for someone to find form, because you’ll get left behind. That’s exactly what we’ve seen this season and what we saw today with Yates, he got enough chances and eventually came good. But it’s too little too late and why they’re almost certainly going to get relegated.

Nothing about selection has been logical.
You know what will happen though, Davies, Yates, Bethell maybe Rhodes will score some runs this match. We might even win. And Robinson will stand there and point to their runs, and say that’s why he persevered with those players. (assuming he actually comes out and does an interview instead of hiding like usual).
Completely ignoring the point that continuing to select out of form players is the reason that they’re going to be relegated.

I hate the thought of it. But i bet Robinson will keep his job too. Farbrace will get the blame because he’s already going and it’s more convenient.