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GerryShedd

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Last seen 12 hours ago
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Oh ye of little faith!
(Well, me too if I'm honest!)

Yes indeed:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Savage_(cricketer)
Married to Caroline Lucas who is stepping down as the only Green MP.

Here's a quiz question for the weekend:
Who is the former Bear whose wife is currently in the news, not so much for what she has done as for what she is not going to do in the future?

If it feels bad to be a Bears supporter when they have lost three games in a row, consider what it would be like to support Middlesex (difficult, I know) who have lost their last 12 (that's TWELVE) Blast matches, including one tonight off the last ball.
Anyway, for the benefit of Mr Robinson, who no doubt avidly reads Bearsfans, I can sum up who has been identified on this thread as being responsible for the losses:

  • Robinson himself - unable to admit his mistakes
  • Moeen - doesn't know enough about the players and hasn't scored runs
  • Maxwell - how much are we paying him? How much a run does that work out at?
  • Woakes - bowled badly against Derby
  • Benjamin - hasn't scored many runs
  • Brookes - too expensive with the ball
  • Miles - also too expensive
  • Mousley - has got out to bad shots when set
  • Davies - hasn't kept wicket well recently and hasn't scored enough runs
  • Lintott - hadn't bowled too well and so was dropped
  • Gary Barwell and the ground staff - putting the pitches in the wrong place

We might as well add in Norwell and Hasan for getting injured.
Apart from that, everyone is doing just fine (though Briggs didn't bowl as well as usual against Derby).
So all we have to do is drop all those listed above, bring in Rhodes and Barnard plus one or two others from the second team, maybe recall Burgess from Sussex and possibly see if we could get some of our ex-players back on loan - Laurie Evans scored a hundred last night and Adam Hose seems to be doing quite well - and what about Keith Barker?
There we are Mr Robinson - problem solved, though you may have to hand in your notice yourself so we can have a complete fresh start.

Not much evidence of any bowlers who could step up to first team action here:
https://somersetcountycc.co.uk/news/club-news/second-xi-t20-warwickshire-v-somerset/

The averages make slightly gruesome reading unless your name is Sam Hain; and they tell their own story:
https://www.espncricinfo.com/records/tournament/averages-batting-bowling-by-team/vitality-blast-2023-15160?team=1479

Any decision would have been a gamble but I agree that this is probably the least worst option.
As for Moeen being overrated, he does have some pretty good stats to back up his reputation - almost 30,000 runs and over 1,000 wickets in all formats.

The Club say:

"Ali is still expected to captain the Bears in Vitality Blast action tonight (7 June) at home to the Derbyshire Falcons and is also available for Friday night’s home clash with Northants Steelbacks."

"Is also available" suggests that it isn't certain he will captain and maybe won't play on Friday.

However much we may (occasionally) moan about the Bears, at least we're not Yorkshire.

There has been the suggestion that Root could be the designated spinner and so make way for an extra player who could be Chris Woakes.

With Worcestershire losing today, the table is getting interesting - three teams on eight points and four more on six.

That's a blow for England and also, of course, for Jack Leach.
No replacement announced yet.
Danny Briggs? Unlikely; but you never know.

Agreed, though best not talk about his bowling figures.
Did he leave the Club under a bit of a cloud or am I making that up?

Well I do sometimes stay with a friend who designates his spare room The Ian Bell Suite.

A quick return to action today.
I will be interested to see the crowd size today compared with last Saturday when there was a really good crowd. I'm all in favour of encouraging women's cricket and back-to-back women's and men's games seems like a good idea. But whether playing a Bears match on a Saturday evening rather than in the afternoon will work is another matter.
I'm probably biased because I don't want to face an almost two hour journey home late at night so am put off attending.

I agree with most of what has been said.
Although Derbyshire aren't the best team in the Group, I think that Mickey Arthur has done a good job there in creating a team where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts so it's no disgrace to lose to them - but let's not get into the habit!

Useful to the Bears' chances that the multi-talented Lancs side lost again last night.

Averages here:
https://www.espncricinfo.com/records/tournament/averages-batting-bowling-by-team/vitality-blast-2023-15160?team=1479
Sam Hain averages 204. One day, if he works hard at his game, he might just be good enough to play for England.