No blame on Ed, he has performed superbly for us so far this season. But why only one over for Garton? Why only a couple for Moeen? What is the point of picking Kai Smith as a batsman when he hardly gets a bat?

We have become inconsistent after our first 4 games of the season, the balance of the teams selected since then hasn't felt right. Picking Sylvester after Friday's match was bizarre, where are OHD, Bamber, Simmons or Taz Ali? Davies is uninspiring as a captain, i've no problem with him opening or keeping wicket but for goodness sake take the captaincy off him and give it to Latham. We are starting to slip into last season's mode already and Westwood needs to do something about it asap.

Team for Friday v Yorkshire:

Davies
Ali
Latham (CAPTAIN)
Hain
Mousley
Barnard
Malik
Briggs
Bamber
Lintott
Simmons

This pitch is doing all sorts! Webster beaten by a ball that kept low, next ball bouncing up off Hain's gloves. If we can get a lead of around 200 that could be enough, batting last is going to be extremely tough.

Fair play to Rushworth, he has bowled superbly this morning - Woakes too. Shame about the dropped catches before lunch but at the moment we are in a good position - need to keep it going this afternoon.

I take it back - play Woakes & Rushworth together in every match!

They have certainly put us back in game, hopefully we can bowl them out for under 200 and take a lead going into the second innings.

I think Westwood isn't helping matters by chopping and changing the team. We've used 18 players already this season, and only four (Davies, Yates, Barnard & Bamber) have played every game. We've started to become inconsistent, and that's not good.

I don't think it was a good idea to play Woakes and Rushworth in the same match. Selecting one of them maybe, but not both. Where is OHD?

The team has an unbalanced look about it again. I think it's a risk playing both Rushworth & Woakes, are they going to be able to handle a heavy workload if Worcester bat really well?

I think the team selection tomorrow will be:

Yates
Davies
Latham
Hain
Webster
Barnard
Malik
Woakes
Bamber
Rushworth
OHD

After last week's defeat I think Westwood will pick a more experienced team and leave the younger players out. Taz Ali & Simmons were hardly used so it's seems more than likely they will both be replaced tomorrow. I guess there's a possibility Kai Smith could take the gloves, if so then he would come in at 7 for Malik.

Well done to Dan for his hundred and 4 wickets in the match, let's hope he can kick on from here especially in red ball cricket.

paulbear wrote:

Davies appears to do the same with Simmons as Chopra used to do with Rankin, keep him kicking his heels for 40 overs and then decide to give him a 'Few' overs. By that time, the ball is softer, if you have pace, surely a harder ball is better to bowl with. I would love to see Simmons given the new ball just to see what sort of pace, bounce and trouble he can cause. Why have a genuine fast bowler and keep him back. No batsmen like high pace so why hold it back.

Could this be the explanation why Simmons was held back, because Westwood remembered Chopra doing the same with Rankin? Even so, it still seems odd that he was only given 9 overs to bowl in the entire match.

I think the team has an unbalanced look about it with Malik batting at 7, I would like to see Kai Smith back in at 7 and given another chance with the gloves on Friday. I also have a feeling that Rushworth will be in instead of Simmons. Quite why Simmons only bowled 9 overs out of 143.2 in the match only Davies can answer, but if he doesn't have faith in the youngster then why play him in the first place?

I have nothing against Davies, but i honestly believe Latham would be a much better choice as captain.

Oh Sam, what have you done there?

Yes, keep the faith - we can win this!

Hoping Hain can hang around for another couple of hours, he's due a big score today.

Good effort from the bowlers so far, although surprised to see Yates bowling ahead of Simmons - what's that all about? Surely your quickest bowler should either open the bowling or at least be first change bowler?

UrsaMinor wrote:

I believe Jacob Bethell may be coming home early with the IPL suspended. Can't see how he would get in the team at present!

Play him as a spin option and bat him at 8!

Whilst we are in a very strong position so far, we don't want to take up too many of the remaining 66 overs in the day.

I reckon we'll bat for another 10 overs and get as near as 550 as we can.

Great innings from Latham, and from Barnard too.

Confirmed on the YouTube commentary that Booth has a stress fracture of the ankle - not good.

Latham is a class act. Shame both Yates and Hain got out to leg-side swipes but we're still in a god position.

Webster in at 5 maybe?

Another really good opening partnership this morning, so far this season Yates seems to be playing the anchor role allowing Davies and the other batsmen to play their shots. It's working really well so far.

Looking forward to see Latham bat this afternoon, hopefully he'll still be there at tea.

I think the team for tomorrow will look something like this:

Yates
Davies
Latham
Hain
Malik or Mousley
Barnard
Webster
Smith
Bamber
OHD
Simmons or Taz Ali