I agree that a rest for Yates might be a good thing. His talent, however, is without question. Even if his contract was due to expire at the end of the season, the Club would be crazy not to offer him a new deal. I am old enough to remember that Dennis Amiss had a bad spell and was dropped at one point early in his career so there is nothing that unusual in his form lapse.

Norwell in the squad - Stone not.
https://edgbaston.com/news/preview-warwickshire-v-lancashire-county-championship/
Lancashire have Matt Parkinson, released from England and have also signed Will Williams, a seamer from New Zealand.

He will miss the Lancs game because of his selection for Australia A:
https://edgbaston.com/news/mcandrew-called-up-for-australia-a-in-sri-lanka/
I guess the fact that he has played a fair bit of cricket lately works in his favour.

A mix of familiar and less familiar names in the Yorkshire Vikings squad:
https://yorkshireccc.com/news/view/10008/match-preview-birmingham-bears-v-yorkshire-vikings-t20

More of the same as far as team news is concerned:
https://edgbaston.com/fixtures/first-xi/birmingham-bears-vs-yorkshire-10-june-2022/#match-match-previews
I note that, apart from the box with information about tickets, the word "Birmingham" seems to be expunged from the preview.

Wisden is describing him as the Jamie Vardy of cricket.
https://wisden.com/stories/county-cricket/t20-blast-2022-county-cricket/jake-lintott-the-jamie-vardy-of-cricket-whos-turning-heads-around-the-globe

....and Durham have an unchanged squad too:
https://www.durhamcricket.co.uk/news-and-media/unchanged-14-for-birmingham-bears-visit/

Looks like more of the same:
https://edgbaston.com/fixtures/first-xi/durham-vs-birmingham-bears-8-june-2022/#match-match-previews

Try this link:
https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/vitality-t20-blast-2022-why-carlos-brathwaite-and-samit-patel-retired-out-tactically-in-the-same-game-1318611

I think Mark Cosgrove was one who liked batting but wasn't too keen on fielding.
And going back to 2005, Ricky Ponting had something to say about being run out by Gary Pratt.

I guess the problem with banning tactical retirements is that it would open the door to fake injuries - Samit could have said that he had tweaked a muscle and who would know differently? It does, though, create a difference between batters and fielders because the Laws say:
24.1 Substitute fielders
24.1.1 The umpires shall allow a substitute fielder
24.1.1.1 if they are satisfied that a fielder has been injured or become ill and that this occurred during the match, or
24.1.1.2 for any other wholly acceptable reason.
In all other circumstances, a substitute is not allowed.
I've no idea what another "wholly acceptable reason" would be for allowing a fielding substitution but presumably it wouldn't be "I'm a bit overweight and can't run too fast so I want a better fielder to take over from me."

It will be interesting to see if tactical retirements (a la Braithwaite and Patel) either become more common as a tactic or get banned by a change in the laws.

Never in doubt!

Olly Stone back in the squad:
https://edgbaston.com/fixtures/first-xi/birmingham-bears-vs-nottinghamshire-5-june-2022/#match-match-previews
Having all week predicted terrible weather for today, the Met Office are not so sure now.

This was my report on the game:
https://deepextracover.com/2022/06/foxes-end-bears-unbeaten-record/

I agree with pretty well everything said so far - but were there any positives?
Let's admit it, Alex Davies had a pretty good game - two stumpings and three catches plus he top-scored. OK, the shot he got out to was poor but you could say the same about Bethell, Yates, Stirling and so on down the order.
Until he got out, I thought that Rob Yates looked much more like his old self.
The spinners (Briggs, Lintott and Bethell) bowled well.
OK, not much else, though where other than the Hollies Stand can you go if you fancy watching a brawl on a Thursday afternoon?

Preview here:
https://edgbaston.com/fixtures/first-xi/birmingham-bears-vs-leicestershire-2-june-2022/#match-match-previews
Good to note in the "On the brink" section that Alex Davies needs just 57 more for 2,000 T20 runs.
Maybe by the end of next season?

In 1959, M. J. K. (Mike) Smith played 36 matches and scored 3245 runs. Fred Trueman played 30 matches, bowled 6466 deliveries and took 140 wickets.

Yes, and I realised that it hadn't been posted on here (not sure how many exclamation marks to use - I'm not a connoisseur of them).

Another injury update on the injury prone trio - Stone, Woakes and Norwell:
https://edgbaston.com/news/norwell-stone-woakes-update/