I think the departure of Bresnan has had a bigger impact than we thought. As a character and leader he really was hugely valuable, but he also chimed in with wickets and runs at key times.

The other thing to me seems to be a huge change in priority this year.
T20 seems to have been given the most importance, clear to see by the way players are managed, the signings, the selections, and that really does seem to have alienated some players as I’ve said in the contracts thread, and caused a bit of a split.

But I do think the bowling currently is a bigger issue than the batting. OHD averages 20 with the ball, the next best is McAndrew at over 40! And it just gets worse from there. So whilst we aren’t scoring as many runs as other sides, I suspect often it’s more to do with us allowing them more runs, than it is us not scoring as many as we should.

Pop Welch is definitely a major factor. I don’t think it’s any surprise that his going has coincided with the bowlers breaking down more and not performing as well. If the rumours are true that he didn’t want to work with Robinson, that’s very damning.

I’m also wondering why the player and coach interviews have stopped this season or are a lot less frequent. Most clubs hear from at least one player after each day, and from the coach and captain after every match. We’re lucky if we get 1 interview the whole match.

I really can’t understand the strategy here. Just letting Hampshire dictate everything. I get batting time and not taking unnecessary risks is part of that. But they can’t have 5 people round the bat if they’re worried about chasing a decent total, and having to keep the runs down.
Instead we’ve barely played a shot in anger, and letting them dominate and do as they wish.

I think the club allowing Hain to play for the ECB shows their priorities this year.
When they chose the XI to play New Zealand they said no to Hain going but yes to Sibley and Burgess as it clashed with the T20’s. (No-one knew at the time that Burgess wasn’t being considered for T20, but it makes sense now).
Clearly showing what they prioritised this year.

Also makes sense with how earlier they rested Hain and Briggs for a Championship match but they played all T20’s. It’s a really poor approach to take in defending a championship.

It’s a squad with some flashy names and big contracts being carried by 4 players: Hain, Burgess, OHD and Hose. Players who probably aren’t on the biggest contracts and have been at the club a while. All 4 are in the final or penultimate year of their contracts.

Looks like it could be one of those days.
Bowling hasn’t been expensive but still allowed too many easy runs. Limited threat from the seamers, Briggs has offered no threat.
Wonder why Mousley hasn’t been given a bowl.

paulbear wrote:

Davies is going to have to watch how he gets out and what shots to play. After that absolute shocker of a dismissal in the T20 QF, the management might eventually run out of patience with him. A great start and unless we get a lot of early wickets, we could be chasing the game and yes Lilly, you are right, this has been a season that I will file under 'Urrrgh!'.

If only it were so. But I have the awful feeling that Davies could crap in Robinsons hat and he’d still be the first name on the team sheet.
Last year we had a real team comes first atmosphere, seemingly led by Bresnan. This year it really is a collection of individuals, those in favour and those who are expendable.

You can accept wickets like Rhodes, Burgess and Mousley. Early in their innings, a good bowler, and sometimes you just get a good ball before you’re in.
But Davies, Lamb and Benjamin were just poor shot selection. Davies had no need to try play that shot. Then huge misjudgements from Lamb and Benjamin. If we give away half our wickets, we shouldn’t be surprised if we end up like this. Previously Hain and Burgess have dug us out but one isn’t playing and one got a great ball early on.

Who’s that batting in the Dom Sibley mask this morning? Never seen him bat like this before. Minimal risk, but putting anything full or wide away.

The prevailing rumour appears to be that Northants are the front runners for both Stone and Hose unless Warwickshire offer full contracts, or vastly financially improved white ball contracts. Or someone else comes in with a better offer. Lamb has spoken to a number of clubs but would prefer to stay at Warwickshire but hasn’t been offered a deal to stay as of last week. But it gets worse……

Whilst watching a Birmingham league match this Saturday I got chatting to a coach who does some free lance work, sometimes within the bears set up. According to him, the treatment of players like Hose, Lamb and Stone is apparently rubbing other players up the wrong way, with it seeming new signings in the last year or so, who’ve achieved little for the club, being prioritised over championship winning or long serving players (see Lintott on a full contract but the club not offering this to Stone and Hose). Certain players being seen as undroppable, and non-performing overseas being paid huge sums and keeping others out of the sides, is made worse by the fact the new signings still only achieved a QF exit once again in T20, mostly carried by long serving players, and currently performing worse in the Championship.

With a number of players including Hain, Rhodes, Burgess, Norwell, OHD and Miles all out of contract at the end of 2023, the club will need to get this sorted ASAP to stop a mass exodus of some of its most talented players. It’s not a case of the club not wanting them, and some have been offered deals, but it’s whether they want to stay within the current environment.

With the Sibley news today, who else’s contract is up, and may be a potential departure?

As far as I’m aware it’s:
Sibley (gone)
Stone
Hose
Lamb
Sidebottom
Garrett
Furrer.

Both Hose and Stones apparently both have only been offered white ball only. With Hose potentially following Pollock down to Worcestershire to play some red ball.
Have also heard Sidebottom may be signing for Derbyshire.

I think we’ve seen by Bethells performances though that without doubt the talent is there. But the step up from England u19’s and second XI to first team county cricket is huge.

Burgess seemed to be batting on a different pitch once again.
He wasn’t out of control. Very few false shots. No slogging. Just picked his gaps, took fielders on, and made it look very simple. Why was no else able to score at a similar rate?

I also think in this match it’s really apparent because of how freely Northants scored.

But we’ve seen this a lot this year with Sibley, Yates, Davies and Rhodes at times taking a lot of time to score not many. But it’s usually been mitigated by Hain and Burgess scoring a lot quite quickly.
I’m not sure what the benefit it, because it just produces problems down the line.
Not only for bonus points. But days like today, it allows the possibility of the new ball exposing the tail.
It’s fine if Benjamin, Rhodes and Davies go on, and accelerate to balance it out. But all have got out before posting a decent score.
Now you’ve got the possibility of 3 wickets with the new ball and you’re into quite a long tail. We saw what OHD did with the second new ball.

I think we need to remember that they batted first for a reason.
Could the bowling have been cheaper and more controlled? Definitely. But at the same time, it’s a very flat pitch, fast outfield and I think everyone is very much aware of the limitations of the bowling attack this season. OHD has been excellent but often unsupported. Miles hasn’t been the same red ball bowler this year and Brookes is inexperienced.
And McAndrew is up there as the worst overseas in many years, which is saying something because the club has had some shockers under Farbrace.

Anyone else starting to feel like Robinson has become rather scared to make big decisions regarding team selection in all formats? He’s seemingly decided some players won’t play in certain formats, which is at best lazy, at worst detrimental and poor man management.
I know T20 isn’t a format you always come off in. But we’ve got a number of players who have put in 1, maybe 2 max, performances in 10 games. Yates, Benjamin, Stirling, Davies, Brookes and Brathwaite have all been pretty average minus 1 performance. You’ve got Mousley, Burgess, OHD, Lamb and Rhodes all sat there, with the first 3 in superb form.

The same can be true of red ball, Rhodes, Yates, Davies, Brookes, McAndrew and Briggs have been poor for all but maybe 1 innings. But Benjamin, Johal, Mousley, Bethell and Hose don’t get a look in.

Seems like he’s decided who plays what format, and he won’t change his mind, and I’m not sure it’s a good thing. It also very much seems that he isn’t strong enough to drop a big name player and make a big call. So he’s essentially removed competition for places, when actually they need it to drive performance.

Been disappointed by Briggs this innings. Really hasn’t offered much in terms of control or threat. Just seems like he’s gone through the motions a bit, which isn’t great on a fourth day pitch with plenty of rough for a left hander.

Take the draw. Move to the T20 for a bit. But it’ll be interesting to see if there’ll be any changes at the top of the order and with the bowling when red ball returns.

It’s so annoying that we can do this in the second innings, but other than Burgess, the first innings where you can set the win up, passed us by.

Bat like this first innings and who knows how this goes. Wasn’t too dissimilar last year, but the bowling often made up for a multitude of first innings batting issues.

My issue with the Davies situation is I don’t think he should be moved to the middle order as some are suggesting.
Now Rhodes has found some form, you’ve got Hain, Rhodes, Lamb and Burgess as our in form consistent players. I wouldn’t want to mess with that. So he could drop to 3, but we know that makes little difference. So for me, he either opens or is dropped. He was recruited and paid a lot to be an opener, so he either opens or loses his place. I don’t like the idea that he’s undroppable, and we should shuffle everyone else round to accommodate him. Especially after his spineless display in the second innings yesterday.

I don’t know what others think, but for me 1 of the biggest differences in the bowling this year away from personnel has been the amount of loose balls. Miles, Rhodes, McAndrew, Briggs and Brookes have seemed to bowl too many balls that can be left or are boundary balls.
So whilst we seem less threatening, we don’t seem to be able to build up pressure either.