"No longer available:
Webster
Booth"
Does that mean that Anne Ziegler is unavailable too?
(PS - a less than topical joke!)

Despite that disastrous first over from Miles, a good win for the Bears.

The article on the Club website says:
"The 36-year-old is building back to match fitness and is expected to be included in the Bears squad that travels to New Road on Friday."
Of course, that doesn't mean that he will definitely play.

Looks as though he might just play at Worcester, which would be better than nothing.

A football related episode but with Jim Troughton tapping into his acting heritage to try out some regional voices:
https://www.reportsfromarbroath.com/blog/the-poignant-tale-of-a-broken-star

Craig Miles' first over: 1-25.

Pips? Luxury!

paulbear wrote:

In that case how about bringing him on when the ball is about 12-15 overs old and then again when it is less than 35 overs old. He will only get strength to bowl by bowling. As Fred Trueman said, in all the years he bowled, he barely had a single injury, bowled more than 1000 overs a season and only kept bowling because he knew he could because his body was up to it.

I agree, though I think the whole world has changed since Fred's day. (Sir) Alec Bedser used to reckon that kids built up their strength because they often had to walk miles to school. And don't ask me about drinks on the field! The great Tom Dollery once refused to have drinks brought out and said: "Drinks? Why do we need drinks? In the desert in North Africa during the war, we were allowed two pints of water a day. And one of those was for the tank." By contrast, yesterday when Hampshire got a wicket off the fifth ball of the first over, drinks were immediately rushed out to the parched players.

Rant over!

I understand that the Worcestershire match will be Clive Eakin's farewell as a commentator.

I'd be interested to know how Dermot came across on comms. He has obviously had a rough time with a few drugs relapses.

Mousley 2-46 in both innings.
I suppose they can call it an "unofficial Test Match" if they want to; but it was really just a practice match for the tourists.

Based on his first couple of shots, it looks like Davies is trying to get them before lunch.

Based on his first couple of shots, it looks like Davies is trying to get them before lunch.

Apparently, Keith Cook has been made an Honorary Life Vice President of the ECB - one of only six people to receive this honour.
A knighthood can only be a step away!

Yes I'm not sure if it's first class because, according to Cricinfo, both teams have 13 players, 11 batting and 11 fielding.

Having read so much about it, on here and elsewhere, I had to take a look at the Davies dismissal. And I agree that, in the circumstances of the game, it was truly dreadful.
Maybe the triple burden of captaincy, keeping wicket and opening the batting is just a step too far for the multi-talented Mr. Davies.

ajones1328 wrote:

After Stokes, Barnard is probably the best Batting all-rounder now in the country

...and, dare I say it, he's fit.

Dan was the seventh bowler used (out of nine).
There's a whiff of nepotism about the team selection - sons of Mike Atherton, Dale Benkenstein and Neil Killeen and James Rew's brother plus there is another of the Curran clan in the Zimbabwe side.

Michael Booth out for three months, according to the Club.

ajones1328 wrote:

GerryShedd wrote:

Whilst I don't disagree too much, I wonder if "cleaning up a tail" is less common than it used to be. Gone are the days when an Eric Hollies (or, for that matter, a Mark Robinson) was a walking wicket. Most tail-enders these days have at least some pretensions to batting skill; and if the ball is old and the pitch favourable to batting, wickets are not easy to come by.

We can only hope that applies to us today !

Yes!