I thought we would go with Malik & Rushworth over Mousley & Simmons today - disappointed for Che though as he has been under-used so far this season. Surely Malik will bat ahead of Smith & Bamber? He has batted at 5 & 7 in his previous games.

Bethell is in the England squad for next week, so it's either Malik or Mousley for his place. It could end up being Malik, as from 4 July we have 6 VB games in 14 days so Mousley will probably be kept back for them.

If Rushworth is fit then i reckon he will replace Simmons. I would like to see Taz Ali selected but we rarely go with 2 front line spinners in the CC these days.

Latham gone, hopefully young Bethell can hang around for a while.

Somerset's tactics are strange, Vaughan & Overton are just pushing singles. I would of thought they'd be looking for boundaries by now.

Is Simmons injured or has Davies overlooked him yet again in this second innings?

paulbear wrote:

Looks like another strip for batsmen but the bowling didn't look inspiring when one of the openers is a tailender who they are persevering with who averages 20. Our bowling looked samey apart form Simmons' pace and the idea of Bethell bowling first change is laughable. Is this a directive form the ECB, if it is, then it is none of their *** business as they cannot dictate who we bowl and when, it's bad enough that they can take players out of selection but I cannot think of any other reason for such a strange bowling change unless Davies is a fan of 'Funky Stokes' captaincy plans which sometimes leave me cold and confused.

Didn't Davies recently use Yates as our first change bowler? Seriously, it's getting past a joke that he is still our captain in county cricket when we have a test match skipper out there on the pitch.

I wonder if there is a power struggle going on with Westwood & Davies? Certain players have been under bowled in both formats so far this season - Simmons & Taz Ali in the CC and Garton & Lintott in the VB. Is this Davies' way of saying he doesn't want them in the team? Surely Westwood would question him as to why these players haven't bowled much in certain games?

As for Kai Smith, is he the first player in cricket history to be chosen primarily as a fielder?

Davies inspires no confidence whatsoever in his captaincy, he's not inspirational in any shape or form. I hope Westwood seriously considers taking the captaincy off him because we need better leadership out there than what we are getting now. It has to be Latham for me, look at his batting - how many wild swings of the bat do you see Latham doing compared to Davies? He is always composed and leads by example. Davies is hit and miss - like his captaincy.

Time for a change Mr Westwood.

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?