ITE7376 wrote:

Andy wrote:

Ross Whiteley.

2010, we won the CB40, 2012 we lost, absolutely gut wrenching defeat.

yeah I was thinking of the Hants connection beating us t20 QF in 2010 and CB40 final a couple of years later

I've mangled Ross Whiteley and Alex Wakely before. which is strange as I quite liked Wakely for some reason, he was like my pet non-WCCC player. and he was the polar opposite as a cricketer too, clever manipulator and good stroke player, ran well between the wickets, Northants captain when he was still pretty young, not some lumbering backwards caveman dot ball eating slogger like Whiteley

paulbear wrote:

2010 was annoying on the basis that as Neil Carter always said, "If you finish top of your group, you should go to T20 finals day", just like Yorkshire and Worcestershire have done in this year's Metro Bank but we yet again finished top of our group, won 11, lost 4 and Hampshire scraped through buy 0.2 of a run after losing half their games and by the time they won the final, their record was won 11, lost 8 and we had won 11, lost 5, hardly seems fair that you should saunter through but have your hard work ruined by one game. Yes, the 2012 final also haunts me. Bell who had been superb, hit a full-toss straight to a fielder on the boundary. Carter should never have gone out to bat before Patel on the basis that Jeetan had plenty of innings recently unlike Carter who was rusty and hadn't batted that much recently, Blackwell (For a big hitter) farted about too much and I sat there thinking, "Carter, Just get something on it and run or crack it through the infield". He did neither. Despite winning the title that season, the season was ruined as it was the very last game of the season which was unusual.

2010 is still the best T20 team we have ever put out due to the brilliantly balanced bowling attack of Carter, Woakes, Barker, Tahir, Botha and Piolet. that attack was superb, we were the best team in the country that year and would have beat anyone on virtually any other day because of it

on the CB40 final Yeah, i thought Bell would have been kicking himself that he didn't go on to win that game, and then for two players as experienced as Carter and Blackwell to mess up a relatively straightforward finish was galling

paulbear wrote:

There was a period from the mid 1980's until the mid 1990's when it was almost impossible for Warwickshire to lose to Hampshire in the CC but I doubt that every time we played them, we thought it would be a nailed-on win, at some point it had to stop. From 1981 up until the Natwest semi-final in 1989, we had not beaten Worcestershire in ANY competition. I doubt before that semi-final being played at a packed Edgbaston (Wouldn't have been full if it was so obvious that Worcestershire would win) that it was looked on as an obvious win for our neighbours. At some point, a run of good results has to stop, it won't continue indefinitely so all the 'They Always Do' isn't really a good reason for saying we would lose to them had we have played them yesterday.

ha i was being slightly facetious, I'm scarred by 2010 and the CB40 final

paulbear wrote:

I always hated being called Birmingham Bears but Bears is better and I think eventually we will be called Warwickshire Bears which isn't too bad. As for the pavilion, it isn't really that popular, massively cold at times (It has been called the 'Icebox' for a while), which is why so many people (Mostly members), sit at the opposite end. It is functional but I would have preferred something a bit more aesthetically pleasing to the eye. When we won the title in 2021, there were not many in there and 80% of people were over the other side.

I much prefer the atmosphere in the Wyatt. I find the fans to be more knowledgeable in there too, myself.

the point still stands, no Big New Stand = likely no test status or finals day and all that come with them

paulbear wrote:

> I don't agree that Hampshire would have beaten us, nothing is so obvious that you can just call out a result in a game that never happened.

But they always do!!! ha. one CB40 final one 50ov quarter final and now 3 T20 qFs I think? I will always hate James Vince. he ruined my 2010 fantasy year.

and I think Payne got picked because he was a part of Gloucestershire's T20 side last year.

a tad unfair to Payne, he's 4th all time in T20 blast wickets, excellent strike rate (under 17), swings it early and bowls very well at the death, and a left armer, and tall to boot. ticks nearly every box

i totally take your other points and examples though and agree sometimes someone gets a rep- Alex fvcking donkey-slogger 'Mr Dot Ball and an occasional six' Whiteley being the best example- for very isolated examples of their 'talents'

BosworthBear wrote:

Enjoying the posts!

Must confess I’m much more concerned about the Surrey match than the T20 quarterfinal.

Possibly because we are still playing under that Bears nonsense!

seriously, what difference does it make? Warwickshire Bears, Birmingham Bears, The Bears, nobody got the wrong idea, nobody was confused that it wasn't the same club all along. Same players, same ground, what's the big deal?

I'm sure you know enough to know there was a very concrete reason the name was changed in the first place, and the lovely Big New Stand and pavilion you probably sit in every game is the result of it- and we wouldn't have that pavilion and big new stand without BCC getting their pound of flesh in return, which was that the name had to include 'Birmingham', I imagine you're aware of this? you didn't like the change to Birmingham Bears? should we have stuck with that ancient, embarassing old stand whilst all the other test grounds modernised and left us behind, and maybe lost our test status, didn't become the default home for Finals Day and all the income that comes to the club from those things? If they had changed to the Birmingham Superchargers I could understand it but for goodness sake, we are the Bears. 'come on you Bears', 'yooooooooooo Be-ears'.

First people were up in arms when we became 'Birmingham Bears', now they take away the 'Birmingham' that annoyed so many people and there's still whining about it. I couldn't GAF about team names I just want to watch cricket.

Do you actually like watching cricket? Do you like the players that you watch every week in the CC? You see club hero Sam Hain, maybe with a chance to finally win a T20 trophy after a decade with us carrying the t20 team on his back, but now if we win his success and that of his teammates, many of whom you watch in the CC, would mean nothing to you, just because they are called 'The Bears'?

Cricket fans must be the only sporting demographic I have ever encountered who actively seek reasons not to watch their own sport.

It's a shame that once Smith does mature he will be off to play franchise cricket and we will have to find another one.

don't be too sure- remember the selection criteria for franchise cricket, certainly the 100, seems to be a little unpredictable. certainly, the best-performing players in terms of gross run output don't always get selected. I've been somewhat 'sensitive' over this for some time due to my girlish fanboying over Sam Hain. EG in the big bash, the likes of Alex fking Whiteley got picked, you'd have say Laurie Evans or Kohler-Cadmore where Hain probably scored 1-200 more runs over a 3 year period but they were ahead of him in the Q.

Look at the 100 now, you've got the likes of Louis Kimber, Max Holden, McKinley, they're nowhere near Hain in runs scored but they do 'hit a long ball' and 'have the ability to score from ball 1' to coin the popular cliches which seem to heavily influence selection criteria (also, batters who bowl part-time spin are a major selection criterion, the likes of Coles Mousley Kellerman Rehan Ahmed)

obviously the sweet spot selfishly is for us to develop players who are very good, but not quite good enough for England and preferably without the cosmetic criteria that define franchise selection (hitting sixes), and on current experience Kai's face doesn't quite fit in that sense, I don't think he'll ever be a guy with a massive % of sixes and as a wkt-batter he would be competing against lots of that type for a franchise place. so there is a hope for me that he can kick on and develop and still not be stolen away from us

He seems to have been around a long time. Its almost as though he's 'evergreen'

GerryShedd wrote:

He's signed a contract extension:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/articles/c5ypj4wjkz7o

from what I have seen he has been hit to all parts in the 100

Andy wrote:

UrsaMinor wrote:

paulbear wrote:

Well, we need a strong side and as we will have our players back from The Hundread so we should be alright to put out a full strength side.

I'd have Sam Hain and Danny Briggs back but Bethell will be with England and I'm not sure that Mousley merits a place ahead of, say, Shaikh. Who's available from the Overseas players?

For the Blast quarter final? Mousley is way ahead of Shaikh.

yeah its a crying shame both he and Hain will return from the 100 in the usual combination of poor form and lack of time at the crease. if Hose hasn't got injured we could probably have had Hain back for a game or two. just our luck to have Sam sat around in the dugout waiting for numerous inferior players to get out before he gets his handful of deliveries, instead.

Highveld wrote:

> I would say that the Metro Bank cup has shown that Taz has moved ahead of Lintott as a spinner, and that Kai should be classed as the best keeper on the staff.

i was really wondering that, albeit Lintott's ability to contribute with the bat at 8 is likely a major factor in selection. although, picking Booth to replace (say) Ali may well mean we could pick an extra non-batter

Smith has been in the T20 team all year?

totally agree on Booth he looks potentially our best seamer/all rounder since Woakes and Clarke

I forgot to mention what a positive I think the competition has been overall.

we have discovered a potential star in the making in Taz Ali- should be in the T20 squad for the QF?
Michael Booth has announced himself as an excellent all round white ball player- should be in the T20 squad for the Qf

the 3 young batsmen have all shown enough flashes to confirm their potential and deserve another sustained opportunity next year, although, they each of them do need to kick on a bit next year and show more than flashes. Hamzah's run of 40,70, 50 in the 3 games up to and including Sunday was encouraging for him. Hamzah and Malik both seem very good fielders too especially with the absolute blinder Hamzah took yesterday.

Kai Smith continued to develop.

I'm far more optimistic about all of the above than I was at the start of the comp so I will happily take that

what a stunning catch by Hamzah, by the way. Like having Jim Troughton back

Today the Sussex left handers kept hitting our spinners, when they bowled from the City End, over or through mid off for boundaries and Barnard simply wasn't reacting to this until Lintott (not bowling at the time) instructed him to bring Zen into the ring from deep backward square (I don't think he touched the ball once there) and put Hamza back on the long off boundary and bring himself in closer on the one. 2 balls later, the Sussex batter (Alsop, I think) had to change his hitting area then holed out to Yates at long on. The field change brought about the wicket, needed to happen 20 mins sooner though. We're learning. And I must stress before people get emotional, this isn't a criticism of Barnard or a praise of Davies or whatever, just saying we should give Barnard time to learn the role when the change does come.

its so telling, that you needed to stress this. Imagining gnashing teeth and sour countenances, 'A MAN ON THE INTERNET JUST SAID SOMETHING GOOD ABOUT ALEX DAVIES, NOOOOOOOO'
'but surely, he was talking about Barnard?'
'THAT'S JUST IMPLIED PRAISE OF DAVIES IN ANOTHER FORM GRRRRRRRRRRR'

Andy wrote:

Can't say much more about the collapse than has already been said, can't defend that. Such a shame as we've batted so well lately in run chases. Thought Lenham bowled pretty well to be fair to the lad.

agreed, he varied his flight nicely, i though at least one of the wickets was as much due to that as it sticking in the pitch

I'm going to throw a bit of a hand grenade in here but I can't help noticing the double standards regarding Davies and Barnard

Davies gets a T20 team to the knockout stage for the 2nd consecutive year and gets a dog's abuse for it- and he got us to the knockout stage last year with a basically unbeaten record in his tenure as captain, recovering the team after a terrible start after we looked appalling losing (i think) every game (or virtually every game) under the lacklustre 'guidance' of Moeen.

He visibly injected energy and purpose into that dismally failing T20 team last year, until the usual QF bottle job which has roots deeper and wider and longer than Davies has been at the club to be blamed for. (for a start, and I'll throw another hand grenade in, our best batsman by far Sam Hain is a big-game bottler who has only once made a contribution in I think 8 T20 knockout games it is now. I say this as someone who near-worships Hain, but facts are facts, he has a horrendous record in knockout T20, just the 2017 final knock against Notts to his name amidst a series of limp, anxious failures).

(I also recall distinctly Davies getting 1000 CC runs last year and it scarcely causing a ripple of recognition on here.)

And St Ed of Barnard, forum darling, his team snatches competition failure from the jaws of success, to seemingly near-universal acclaim.

Look, I love Ed and he's had another good year in this comp but not nearly up to previous standards, and until the ton at the weekend was having a pretty mediocre competition with the bat. He also got out especially early in the comp playing shots certain other players (mentioning no names) would be taking abuse for playing.

I think there are a couple of factors specific to T20 in play here, not least that nowadays we go into the QFs with our best two batsmen robbed of time at the crease and form and touch by the 100, not Davies's fault.

I also think that on here and among members particularly, T20 (for various reasons in my opinion, some pretty churlish) is willfully downgraded as the least important comp, so I suppose i can see why not getting to the knockout stage in 50ov can be counted equivalent to doing so twice in T20. In fact, not just equivalent but better, just about everyone praising St Ed's captaincy and looking forward to the next campaign after what was ultimately an unsuccessful debut as captain, nobody doing the same for Davies for getting to 2 QFs.

I'm being both a little facetious and exaggerating just a little for effect. But only a little, 'well done Ed, credit for the this campaign!', I see above; credit for what? having his worst 50ov tournament with the bat in 3 years (pretty sure his wickets were down too), and captaining a team that failed to get to the knockout stage?

Imagine the reaction if he'd got us to 2 consecutive knockout stages.

I'll leave the mini-rant on this thought, Barnard and Davies have exactly the same number of match-winning centuries in the 50ovs this year. The reaction to those centuries was a comical study in contrasts. Its not a complement to say the seemingly constant need for club supporters (of any sport) to find a whipping boy makes the club supporters concerned look just like football fans. If there is a club, and a forum, there will be a whipping boy, and there will be a darling. Its like BBC 5live on Saturday at 6pm on here half the time, which really, really isn't a complement.

will be done inside 40, what was all the fuss and panic about again? ha. love the youngsters coming good, gives me a warm feeling, it does.

fair to say, given we bat (very) solidly to 10, and we were chasing a moderate target, and if NRR may be a factor, that it was worth taking above average risks early on.

paulbear wrote:

> We are seeing the future of our batting for the next few years. I am quite optimistic.

me too! but I mostly am (especially compared to some on here!! ha)
looking forward to watching Zen's innings on the stream if i can

would be great for Hamza and Kai to bring it home