Andy wrote:

Desperately short on death bowling.

Id love to see Wylie play. If Garton cant bowl I think Wylie has to, and bat 7, otherwise it's a ludicrously long tail?

Gilchrist injured?

If Simmons is fit but can't get a look in here with all the bowlers we have missing then it doesn't look good for him...

It's really frustrating that the club do not provide any updates on the injury situations, leaving it to guesswork on our behalf. Garton could be a key player in this comp if he can bowl. Hopefully he is motivated to win us some silverware before he exits.

Brilliant win. Strange approach to the chase from the Pears. They seemed to give up quite early on.

Surely Hamza has put his hand up for selection on Friday with another big score. 64 off 29 balls. Smith did well too. They could come in for Jani and Davies.
Weird that Garton didn't bowl and then faced ten balls for his six runs. Not a bad days work for big money. Impressive figures for Tariq.

It's a real shame Webster is going at the end of July. He is a quality cricketer.

Westwood has indicated Suthar may return....

Strong looking Bears line up including Woakesy, Tariq, OHD and Dicky Gleeson. The lesser spotted Garton also makes a rare appearance.

No sign of Davies wanting to play for the seconds to find form. It's obviously beneath him and his ego.

David Willey is playing for Northants alongside our old friend Slim Sylvester who must be trying to earn a contract there.

I'm very surprised he has been given three years. Two is enough and review it then. We have an ageing attack as it is. Rumours abound that Woakesy is packing up red ball cricket altogether.

Sad to see how Henry Brookes' career has panned out. He looked quite promising when he first came in.
Brookes was loaned to Gloucestershire recently but failed to make an impression there. I suspect he will be released by Middlesex at the end of his contract.

Hamza got a big score at last so hopefully he is hitting form and will get a chance in the firsts.

https://edgbaston.com/news/bears-sign-indian-international-manav-suthar-on-short-term-deal/

I like this signing. Shows ambition.

Pipes has passed away, aged 56, due to ill health. Very sad news.

Amazing run chase. What a player Big Beau is when he gets going. Mousley terrific, especially the take down of their young seamer in the crucial penultimate over.
A very mixed bowling effort. We had them under control but some inexplicable choices by the captain handed them that huge total. We signed Thompson as a death bowler but instead he gave Mousley another over which went for 20+, the Yates over wasn't necessary. Having said that, a lot of aerial shots fell just short of our fielders, and Barnard had Herman pinned right in front when he was on about 30. Poor umpiring.
Now to go and win all of our remaining games!

From June 1st players out of contract this year can speak to other counties. Someone on twitter has put together a list of all the counties and the players who would be available. It may be an opportunity to add to our ranks.
There are some talented players who we should be looking at recruiting: Ben McKinney, Charlie Allison, Jordan Cox, Tom Banton are some of the batting names. Josh Bohannon would bolster any middle order. We should be interested in spinners such as Tom Hartley, Liam Patterson-White or Zafar Gohar, and replacing some of our ageing attack with young potential like Josh Hull, Mitch Stanley, Henry Crocombe or James Minto, who would surely benefit from working with Pop Welch.

In terms of the Bears staff, Rob Yates is the key player coming towards the end of his contract, and decisions will need to be made on Zen Malik, Hamza Sheikh, Che Simmons and Theo Wylie. Barker only signed for this season. Garton will be off the books too, I expect he will return to Sussex.

Lots for the management to consider.

Its interesting to see players who have been playing in the Blast using the seconds to have extra time in the middle. Northants had a few doing that, Worcester had a couple in there, OHD and Kai for the Bears... others (Davies for one) are conspicuous by their absence.

Look at Saif Zaib at Northants. Dropped for a poor run of scores, plays seconds and scores 76 not out plus 2/20 with the ball. No sign of Davies. Maybe playing second XI cricket is beneath him?

At last Davies has been dropped. Hallelujah.

Malik is in the squad. Man in form. Surprised that Gilchrist is preferred to Bamber as the extra bowler.

Malik 73 off 40. He has made a case for selection in the first XI.

Second XI match at Cheltenham College.

80 for Zen Malik in the Bears 236. Surprisingly, none of the out of form players have made themselves available to get some extra match practice.

https://live.nvplay.com/ecb/?tab=m_scorecard#m21bb2a3d-6bf7-45df-a847-043605fadd8e

Finger injury. Requires assessment.

Apparently Garton picked up a "stress related back injury" during the pre-season back in March (not communicated by the club again) and is "rehabilitating". I doubt we will see him again. I expect he will continue to collect his bumper salary for the last year of his juicy contract and then go back fully fit to Sussex next year.