Andy wrote:

On the whistle thoughts,

Tariq brilliant, I don't know what he does but he does something.

I'm not remotely sure in terms of how he does it but the combination of the pause,, different release points, the flight he gets when he tosses it up, and the ability to turn it either way, all 4 of them together really combine to make batsmen hesitate to play their shots.

From what I have seen the flight and dip alone would make it difficult to play if he gets it right so the 4 together make him nearly unplayable when he does.

I think he's far better when he uses the lower arm less often, he gets much more dip (though he seems to get a surprising amount even with a low arm) the higher his arm is

Reabank wrote:

Agreed, our batting seems to lack a bit of balance with the career strike rates of Webster, Hain and Mousley being 125,134 and 132 so all around 8 runs an over (why are batting run rates per 100 balls and bowling run rates per 6 balls?). Maybe it's OK having them 3,4 and 5 if the bowling is very strong and you think 160 - 190 will generally be enough runs, but we aren't quite as strong with the ball as we've been in recent seasons. It might help if Hain and Mousley were dropped down the order when Webster bats for a long time.

I was very concerned about Websters SR, but he has significantly bettered his career rate for us and even got off to pretty good starts in 2 of his longer innings. Mousley increased his SR quite significantly last year and I believe carried on in similar vein this year. My concern with Hain and Webster particularly is them going a run a ball for a few overs against effective spin bowling.

I think youre right about their chemistry when paired up together (thinking Hain/Webster in particular), and especially against
sustained overs of spin either of them could maybe benefit from batting with a busy player like Kai Smith, so again, I agree maybe shifting the order may be a good idea in some instances

Given his weight of runs so far it feels like Webster should be the main cog everything else revolves around, and he'd definitely benefit from someone taking the weight off him in the middle overs

Yates still doing a sterling job of getting the early strike rate up. He's benefitted from some poorish bowling, but fair play for capitalising

GerryShedd wrote:

ITE7376 wrote:

GerryShedd wrote:

paulbear wrote:

Never rated Mills, there are plenty of bowlers who are in the 8.50 per over bracket, he's just a name that got thrown about like Chris Jordan but they have not really won trophies with all the different franchise side they played for, Jordan was the reason England lost that T20 semi-final in about 2021 v New Zealand with a terrible last over and he definitely cost Sussex the T20 final when Worcestershire won it by spraying it everywhere in the 'Death' overs. Hard Hitters, Clive Lloyd was a real blaster, his 2 innings in the 1972 Gillette Cup Final (Damn Him) and the 1975 World Cup Final were full of shots where the ball hit the ropes before the bowler had finished following-through.

Agree about Clive Lloyd and those two innings - especially how he hit David Brown back to the pavilion fence in the 1972 innings. When he hit the ball into the crowd at mid-wicket in the 1975 match, John Arlott said it was effortless, "the stroke of a man knocking a thistle top off with a walking stick."

---

apparently Arlott pinched that phrase from a cricket book of the 1920s or something

I often wondered whether Arlott's 'bon mots' were spontaneous or rehearsed; but I've never read or heard that they may have been "borrowed" - though it could well be so.

I heard it on a TMS lunchtime chat, albeit, do please bear in mind I'm pretty sure it was the loathsome Norcross who said it and I'd normally rather swallow my own leg than listen to or take note of a word he says, anyway whoever did say it, cited the book itself, publication date and all.

GerryShedd wrote:

paulbear wrote:

Never rated Mills, there are plenty of bowlers who are in the 8.50 per over bracket, he's just a name that got thrown about like Chris Jordan but they have not really won trophies with all the different franchise side they played for, Jordan was the reason England lost that T20 semi-final in about 2021 v New Zealand with a terrible last over and he definitely cost Sussex the T20 final when Worcestershire won it by spraying it everywhere in the 'Death' overs. Hard Hitters, Clive Lloyd was a real blaster, his 2 innings in the 1972 Gillette Cup Final (Damn Him) and the 1975 World Cup Final were full of shots where the ball hit the ropes before the bowler had finished following-through.

Agree about Clive Lloyd and those two innings - especially how he hit David Brown back to the pavilion fence in the 1972 innings. When he hit the ball into the crowd at mid-wicket in the 1975 match, John Arlott said it was effortless, "the stroke of a man knocking a thistle top off with a walking stick."

apparently Arlott pinched that phrase from a cricket book of the 1920s or something

paulbear wrote:

Never rated Mills, there are plenty of bowlers who are in the 8.50 per over bracket,

there aren't many with a T20 strike rate of 15.3 (English domestic), to be fair. thats 2 better than Danny Briggs, for example.

Mikkyk wrote:
Mills is still a good death operator though.
.

great call that was an outstanding last couple of overs from him

Mikkyk wrote:

I used to think Hose hit it hard but Webster is another level. Anything from square to cover on the offside is like a tracer bullet when he connects.

it made me start thinking of the hardest strikers of the ball I have seen

i couldn't really think of too many offhand that hit it as hard as Beau does- for some reason good old Mark Cosgrove came to mind but he was more a McCullum type with savage bat speed as I recall it. definitely one of the hardest strikers i have seen though.

With Beau it 'just' seems to be long levers + timing and yeah Hose i guess is similar in that sense. Beau just seems effortless with it and the ball looks like its travelling with the weight of a friggin football.

Andy wrote:
. Webster's ability to play powerfully through the covers off the back foot is amazing to see. Hits 4's through there even with a man on the boundary.

indeed, i don't think I've ever seen anyone hit those shots harder, the ball just has this freakish weight behind it

Pleased Thompson is being used properly now, he hit his yorkers almost at will. Making a mockery of these claims that he's not a good t20 bowler.

yup, don't bowl him in the PP and he will shine as he can just keep it simple and look to nail his most comfortable length

cjav1874 wrote:

It’s a shame we took just too long to click because now that we have we look capable of beating anyone. Thompson and Gleeson’s yorker bowling has been exemplary.

when we no longer use him in the power play Thompson has and will come into his own. like you say the yorker plan works really well for him, I think because it keeps it simple and is basically exactly what he's always done when he bowls at the death

Coop wrote:

Yes agree with your assessment of Ben Stokes and his career ....... but the fact that he opened, (it's not all about him , even today) and what has happened subsequently, in my opinion shows a total disregard for English Test cricket .... yes, I am a bit of a traditionalist, but I think this just shows what 'we' currently think of Test cricket in this country. (I'll take it all back, if we win)

Agree 100%. The manner of his exit smacked of attention seeking and self indulgence.

ITE7376 wrote:

Andy wrote:

Yes, got us out of utter strife too, barely raised a mention on here.

That was coming in at 4. Best position for him in Ltd overs IMO. He and Kai Smith batted well together that day and made/make a natural partnership. Busy at the crease and running well between the wickets, kept it ticking over and got their boundaries as bonuses, never let a world class leggie settle never mind pin them down, their styles and attributes complemented perfectly. I don't think we think or teams think enough about that sort of thing FWIW, how partnerships do (or don't) gell together. I remember Yousuf and Bell putting on 100 in a 40 over game once. Looked like they were born to bat together.

Andy wrote:

Yes, got us out of utter strife too, barely raised a mention on here.

That was coming in at 4. Best position for him in Ltd overs IMO. He and Kai Smith batted well together that day and made/make a natural partnership. Busy at the crease and running well between the wickets, kept it ticking over and got their boundaries as bonuses, never let a world class leggie settle never mind pin them down, their styles and attributes complemented perfectly. I don't think we think or teams think enough about that sort of thing FWIW, how partnerships do (or don't) gell together.

Andy wrote:

ITE7376 wrote:

True to form, a young man gets what must have been a very emotional breakthrough near-century aged like 28, after a long journey into professional cricket where he's been told he isn't good enough over and over again, and more Worcestershire players went out of their way to congratulate him on his knock than posters on this forum could stir themselves to comment on it.

I mean, I know it doesn't have the same allure of saying Davies is rubbish for the 19th time, but still.

Its rarely very active on here when we've won. When we're struggling though...

I well remember the rapt acclaim that greeted Davies's century against Northants in the 50 overs last year #cricketschirping

GerryShedd wrote:

No danger of confusing the average Bears fan with a ray of sunshine.

I think confusing online fans with the average bears fan would be the mistake. Online fans in general are whingers.

Webster's offside driving game along the ground is absolutely brutal. I don't think I've ever seen anyone get such speed on the ball with such little backlift after he's driven it into the ground. It barely needs to be 3 yards past a man stood 30 yards away to get through. God, getting a hand on Webster's drives must be the definition of a poison chalice.

Tariq- last night was the first time i've seen him from nearer ground level to get an idea of his flight. My word but he is a cunning bugger with it. I have no clue exactly what he is doing with the flight but he's definitely doing something, on several occasions it looked like he beat his man all ends up before the ball had even pitched. They could barely hit him off the square and that wasn't just because of what the ball was doing after it pitched. The 'leggie'/carom ball to get Raza was a beauty. Great stuff to watch

I really like the fact that we got after Singh early and never let him settle- we could barely get a bat on him last time IIRC but last night we bullied him out of the attack early, they didn't bring him back on for like 10 overs, and when he came back on he got the same treatment.

True to form, a young man gets what must have been a very emotional breakthrough near-century aged like 28, after a long journey into professional cricket where he's been told he isn't good enough over and over again, and more Worcestershire players went out of their way to congratulate him on his knock than posters on this forum could stir themselves to comment on it.

I mean, I know it doesn't have the same allure of saying Davies is rubbish for the 19th time, but still.

Andy wrote:

No Ethan Brookes for Worcestershire, broken thumb.

ahh bugger thats a shame for Ethan, he got picked up for the 100 this year and I was hoping it would be his break-out year as an entry into franchise cricket, not sure if he'll be fit in time for the 100 with that

good for us, mind.

GerryShedd wrote:

I'm currently reading "Pack Your Bags, Brother", a biography of Mark Alleyne, which is a great read for anyone with an interest in cricket beyond just the Bears.
The book has insights into the early life of Keith Piper because, like Mark Alleyne, he was involved with the Haringey Cricket Academy. He was a troubled teenager, brought up by his grandparents. He would hang out with Mark Alleyne and his brother.
Keith and Mark would go on bus journeys: "We sat at the back talking cricket. He'd be constantly looking for discarded cigarette butts, dust them down and smoke them. Even at fifteen he was disgustingly addicted."
Until he found cricket, Pipes was on a downward spiral. Within five years, he was keeping wicket for the Bears.

thanks for the recommendation, Alleyne always struck me as a good guy, estimable character. That ltd overs outfit for Gloucester really had a successful formula under him for years.

meashambear wrote:

ExiledBrummie wrote:

meashambear wrote:

Overton is a right w*****. Embarrassing behaviour.

As a matter of fact Somerset fans & players seem to be tossers.

Oh what happened?

Overton stepping right up to Malik, mouthing and then still chuntering way after the over was finished.

I wonder if he will do it to Beau Webster. That is to say, I wonder if he will do it to _ the 6 foot 8 inch_ Beau Webster

Solbear wrote:

I’m surprised at Somerset’s conservative approach this morning, thought they’d look to get runs on the board quickly, stick us in well before lunch and aim to bowl us out. As it is, it looks as if we’ll need to negotiate two sessions, which surely we can achieve … can’t we??!

agree 100% they seem to have been very conservative bordering on negative