Interesting that, although signed to play for the Bears next year, he is going out on loan to Middlesex.

Agreement has now been reached to reduce the Blast qualifying matches from 14 to 12, with three regional groups of six and with Finals Day restored to July so the whole tournament finished before The Hundred.
No decision yet on the County Championship.

As the late queen allegedly said (not about the Rugby toilets), recollections may vary.

Crazy that one of best best batters in the country, Sam Hain, has hardly played at the heart of the season with paternity leave followed by not getting a game in The Hundred.

Looks like he missed another walk over - New Zealand win by an innings and 359 runs. Zimbabwe are an embarrassment to Test cricket.

Plenty of cricket left in this match.

Test match statistics show that, on review, about 30% of umpires’ decisions are overturned so they are far from infallible.

Another 100 for Will Rhodes plus three wickets in a losing cause for Durham v Somerset.

He has some interesting things to say about his stint with the Bears:
https://edgbaston.com/news/corey-rocchiccioli-has-loved-his-stint-with-warwickshire-in-the-rothesay-county-championship-and-believes-that-there-is-no-better-comp/
Maybe those considering the future of the County Championship might want to consider his words.

Thanks. I, too, looked at the Leslie Duckworth book and got the same impression but he didn't specifically mention an opening/completion date. The 1961 Ashes Test as a deadline makes sense because it was the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston after Test status was restored in 1957.
I don't believe that the Club couldn't pin the date down if they really tried - there must be minutes of committee meetings and copies of annual reports that could be checked. I suspect that Phil Britt would have a good idea; and if not, a call to Keith Cook might help. If the CEO said he had more important/urgent matters to attend to, I suppose that might be true!

I agree that this is great news.

So the Hundred was going to be the way into other forms of cricket for new lovers of the game - hasn't happened.
It would be confined to a short window in August - but there are rumours of more teams and matches to be added.
And the 100 ball format was going to be so much easier for new fans to understand and would be shorter so would appeal more to broadcasters - but the new "owners" are likely to change it to a T20 tournament:
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/aug/06/the-hundred-set-for-twenty20-transformation-as-early-as-next-year

Tom still injured, misses second Zimbabwe Test.

Mattmike66 wrote:

Great news ,better late than never

We know that it's a "he" which narrows the field down.

In his latest newsletter, the Chief Executive mentions that the demolition of the Raglan and Priory stands will begin after T20 Finals Day in September. He also says that no-one in the Club knows when they were built, which surprised me.
Looking at old Wisdens, I can see that the 1963 edition (describing the 1962 season) shows a map of the ground with the old Hill Bank and double deck stand. The 1964 version instead shows the Raglan and Priory stands. Of course, the 1963 version may have been out of date; but if not, it would suggest that the stands were built between the 1962 and 1963 seasons.
Does anyone know differently?

Chief Executive says:

" Short term, respected journalist Brian Halford will step in to cover remaining County Championship and One Day Cup games, starting with the Essex review.
Long term, we’ve recruited an experienced sports Head of Media. He’s from Warwickshire, has good sporting instinct, journalistic knowledge, and a passion for red and white ball cricket with great ideas about how we produce timely, informative news for Members on cricket at every level of the Club. I’m excited about the fresh focus he will bring when he joins in October."

Brian is a safe pair of hands; and we await the announcement of the identity of the permanent replacement.

I don't want to take sides in the debate on here about outgrounds - I love Edgbaston but I mourn the passing of outgrounds I have visited in the past such as Abergavenny, Bath and Dean Park in Bournemouth. i just thought I would mention that:

• this month's Cricketer magazine has a whole feature on outgrounds that is well worth a read

• I've just edited my colleague Jamie Ramage's report of today's match at Welbeck and was struck by his words:
  _"Nottinghamshire now play regularly at a ground on the outskirts of Mansfield that
  wouldn’t feel out of place in Field of Dreams. It has the feel of a mini Arundel, though
  its companions are electricity pylons, not a grand castle. It’s a ground that quietly
  delivers a proper day of county cricket, close to the action, grounded in its
  community, and increasingly a favourite on the Notts calendar."
  His full report is here:
  https://deepextracover.com/2025/08/metro-bank-one-day-cup-notts-win-at-welbeck/

A big plus - he looks to have time to play his shots, the sign of a class player.

Devon_Bear wrote:

And well played OHD, doing his best Jack Leach impersonation!

It’s Jack Leach that impersonates OH-D.

I think that Chris Woakes batting left handed with his arm in a sling could do better than some of the Bears batters today.