GerryShedd
Super Moderator
Good that our latest import has taken some wickets. I thought that his first innings performance was very mixed - not a good start, then a spell of good control and then lost it again.
(Describing him as our latest import is easier than having to check how to spell his name).
Highveld wrote:
Are you sure we are all allowed to have opinions here? There are times when more freedom of opinion is allowed in North Korea, especially about under performing mediocre opening batsmen!
I could always delete your post just to prove your point.
Seriously, as a moderator, I think the only posts I have deleted are where someone has accidentally double posted. Otherwise, everything has stayed on the site. And as far as I know, no posters have been eliminated by having falls from windows or anything similar.
There's a difference between not being allowed to express an opinion and other posters making it clear that they disagree with that opinion.
Yes, I've been meaning to do a summary of what was said but haven't had the time. will try to do it later.
Highveld wrote:
I feel some of the comments above are mean and classless. Moeen has made a great contribution to English cricket, not just on the field, but as a hero to a large part of the local population.
While his return was not the success we'd all have liked, we should be respectful to him as a person and for his contribution to our sport.
There are several players who have done less, and made less effort for the club over the last 3 seasons.
I agree with this. Whilst this forum should endorse freedom of speech, being mean and unkind and expressing opinions as if they were facts don't show us at our best.
And he missed a stumping yesterday.
One measure of a good keeper is that you don't notice him for 99% of the time. On that basis, Smith did well.
Dan Moseley not in the team.
Sad to hear of the passing of ‘Syd’ Lawrence from motor neurone disease. Another gone before his time.
Well said!
I agree that coaches (who are often more like instructors than genuine coaches) are taking over in lots of sports. I see that in tennis, coaches are now allowed to coach during matches, which stops players from reading for themselves what is happening and responding.
The best book on sports coaching (for me) is The Inner Game of Tennis by Tim Gallwey, written half a century ago but still worth a read. I went to a workshop that he ran in California and, when he came to the UK, I set up a meeting for him with the ECB. The plan was for him, as an American who knew nothing about cricket, to apply his coaching ideas to cricket. In the end, the ECB couldn't afford him, which was a great shame.
Averages for the Blast so far:
https://www.espncricinfo.com/records/tournament/averages-batting-bowling-by-team/vitality-blast-men-2025-16846?team=1479
Kai Smith stands out as the man who hasn't contributed. Surely bringing Rob Yates in would strengthen the batting and add a bowling option.
Regarding the crowd size, I thought that Bears v Pears T20 matches were usually near sell-outs, so a crowd of just over 10,000 is quite disappointing.
Never in any doubt(!)
Andy wrote:
That email from Stuart Cain we've had today, sounds as though our lot have accepted the reduction in the amount of games no matter what.
True but that can be overturned/reversed at a Special General Meeting.
The suggested preferred format for the County Championship, apparently, is:
" Option C: Two-Tier Conference + Finals Series (13 Games)
Top 12 teams split into two 'top tier' groups of 6, while bottom 6 in a 'lower tier'. Each team plays 10 group games and then the groups split: top 3 in each of the top tiers merge and play 3 games in a September 'finals series' to decide on the County Championship winner. Bottom 3 and those in lower tier involved in relegation/promotion play-offs."
whitelightning wrote:
Think it is getting close to a must win today. How do you fancy a Friday evening, at Edgbaston, against local rivals, with old boys Brookes, Hose and Issac around to embarrass us.
Or maybe old boys Moeen and Ed Barnard might embarrass the Pears - but let's not stray into the realms of optimism on here.
i don't think signatures are being collected at the moment. Maybe after members have heard the Chief executive speak at rthe Momday lunchtime meeting, it will focus minds.
Middlesex members have forced an SGM but I haven't seen anything from other counties.
Preview from the Pears' perspective:
https://wccc.co.uk/news/bears-preview-rapids-reinvigorated-ahead-of-big-trip-into-the-bearpit/
I think Hasan Ali is available in all formats.
it would be too glib for me to say that in any argument, I would want to be on the opposite side to Giles Clarke. And there are some good points made here. But it's also true to say that the old system didn't work well. I remember helping our late and much missed friend Kim Jones with his bid to join the committee and, as Norman says, he got nowhere. But it may be that the answer should have been to make it work better.
Anyway, clunky though it is, I would suggest that the SGM route needs to be pursued now or we all will have to live with the consequences.