Lumley598 wrote:

mad wrote:

Yes we might not finish in the top two now

There's still a lot of cricket to be played yet, Warks have a game in hand on Surrey and the immediate teams below us. 32 points behind with 8 games left is going to be difficult to make up but not impossible.

Agreed. I think we’re still in a good position for second at least, and the game at the Oval may end up being important as well. The weather could also have an impact at any stage.

This feels like a potentially huge turning point in the season

No protection for the bowlers run-ups seems “convenient”

Looking at the radar, I think that could be it for the day. A big thunderstorm moving in

BristolBear wrote:

Is it me, or does our top 4 seem to bat very slowly this year compared to last?
Hain seems to have gone very anti-BazBall. Davies and Yates take a long while to get going too.

Rhodes goes at a more brisk pace, but really hasn’t scored that many this year.

Puts all the pressure on Mousley, Barnard and Burgess to up the rate.

Really? I’d say that we’re scoring a lot faster than last season generally. One of the problems we had last season was that we scored so slowly that often by the time the second new ball came around we were only on 200-odd, so even if we hadn’t lost wickets the opponents were always in the game.

Yeah I think 150 would probably have been about par, especially with our spin options. We could have bowled all 20 overs with spin!

Highveld wrote:

meashambear wrote:

And now Davies out with a ridiculous shot

What the hell are these batsmen thinking?
You could write the above about Davies almost every time he bats!

Surprised you haven’t mentioned the fact that Benjamin is now averaging 9.57 from 7 innings. I’m sure you would’ve done if it was Davies.

Highveld wrote:

Looked a good decision, pitched around middle and leg, from a left arm wrist spinner and turned to be hitting middle.

You can't blame the umpire for a bad decision by the batsman.

Hitting middle?! Are you watching the same game?! 😂

The_Lickey_Banker wrote:

Yates and Hasan are back in tonight - for Woakes and Brookes.

It’s Barnard who is in for one of them - Yates played the last match.

Hoping that Hasan gives our pace bowling that much needed edge.

To be fair Moeen and Mousley were our only good bowlers tonight. Everyone else was off it and those must be among Woakes’ worst T20 figures. I think if Moeen hadn’t come in as captain it wouldn’t have been so much of an issue.

Our seam bowling is terrible. I have no confidence in either Miles or Brookes. Miles is definitely not a death bowler.

Really poor defeat

Over 200 again! Incredible by Hain. Nice cameo from Woakes as well

Yates and Woakes in for Barnard and Lintott

It’s a huge gamble for England, but I think it’s the correct call. Experience goes a long way in an Ashes series.

Woakes for Miles/Brookes the only change? Or Yates back in for Benjamin? Think we have to keep backing Moeen for the time being.

Any news on Hassan Ali’s injury? Would be good if he is fit for the next championship game, at least.

Does this mean that he’ll be able to play for us a bit more?

I see your point about not wanting to get too excited too early, but it’s been three whopping wins so far. Our team is also much stronger than it was last season, with three recruits (Maxwell, Moeen and Hassan Ali) who would make it into pretty much any T20 team anywhere in the world, so I think it’s reasonable to be optimistic at this point. I also think that Lancashire were never at the races because we played so well, so I think it’s a bit unfair to say that they were all easy matches. They had won their first three matches, after all.

I would say that this is the best T20 team we have had for many years, particularly in terms of squad depth.

Brookes is so frustrating. Brilliant one game, awful the next.