So Barker was available for league cricket yet as his contracted county we couldn't call upon him for the ODC? His misery left arm varation would have been invaluable, against Leicester for instance. We need some transparency from the club here!

Cain has acknowledged the lack of updates on player availability yet still this problem exists. He is paying lip service to the paying public once again.

The unavailability of Barnard was never addressed. We lacked a genuine all rounder with Garton only batting and two wicketkeepers in the team. It meant we had few bowling options when it mattered.

The club only seem interested in the hotel and franchise cricket. Warwickshire are increasingly an afterthought.

It's a shame we couldn't hold onto Hamza. The signings of Malik and Jani probably felt like a blow. He has taken his chance at Leicester and it is another case of 'what might have been'. Good luck to him. Questions about recruitment and management need to be asked.

Good game of cricket. I felt we were 20-30 runs short which could have been achieved if Booth kept the strike. Davies another awful shot, he is a total liability and has to be dropped. Unfortunately, we kept losing wickets every time it looked like we were building momentum.
Their overseas was the difference in the end. The blow of losing Hain to injury was highlighted today.
Positives were Smith's mature performance, Taylor bowled well for someone so young, a promising all round display from Booth and OHD was unplayable.
I thought we would do well this year but we have fallen short again.

Solbear wrote:

Well if it was a toss up between us and Notts and Simpson is headed to Trent Bridge, presumably that means Cox may well be headed our way. Cox may be a decent player but he’ll be 35 next year and has a FC career average of less than 30, much of it accumulated in division two. I’m afraid I don’t see this being a step forward for the team at all.

Stat brought to you in association with the Data Guru James Thomas.

I can understand any player wanting to maximise their income but playing in the nets for a franchise is harming careers. We saw it with Hain for the past few years. It probably cost him an opportunity to play for England.
Franchise sport will never work in this country.

Tom Lawes has been released by the 16.4 to play for Surrey today.

Having Barnard and Booth back will make such a difference. I'm concerned about Ali's form but he is young and hopefully he will grow the more he plays. Wylie definitely deserves another shot.

I really hoped we would persuade Patterson-White to come to the Bears. A senior spinner/all rounder is a must for next season. Not sure why we need Ben Cox unless Davies is going.

Maybe Westwood deserves more time. What exactly has this data nerd James Thomas delivered in 18 months? A bits and pieces all-rounder from Yorkshire, an injury hit bowler from Kent and a 39 year-old former player who hardly plays. The obvious deficiencies in the batting have not been addressed. Time to get a proper cricket man in as Director of Cricket.

Yet he was "rested" the other day. The club putting out mixed messages or zero injury updates on other players is incredibly poor. The supporters deserve better. Warwickshireis being run like an amateur club these days.

A slow death at Taunton. I love this format but Westwood has killed any enjoyment this year with this non competitive team. I probably won't bother going to any of the matches. We will be lucky to win one.

Lintott has added himself to the squad on Twitter saying "see you there". It is an odd state of affairs.

The preparation and selections for this competition have been shambolic. Westwood needs to explain things here. Lintott wasn't in the squad for the previous game yet he played. Not taking him to Taunton, his old stomping ground, would be like cutting our own throats.
My faith in Westwood is diminishing by the game.

Fair play to Garton. I'm not his biggest fan but he has reinvented himself as an effective batsman. We are not too far off. Gilchrist or Simmons for Garlick would give us a better bowling attack, although who knows whether he and others are available due to the lack of information from the club.

He seems to have done well with the younger players. Malik and Jani are on an upward trajectory. The less said about Davies the better but he probably doesn't take constructive criticism too well.

Playing Garton as a batsman is absolute madness. If he can't bowl, he has little value to the team apart from his obvious fielding skills. If Barker is injured we should have been in the market for an overseas. Surrey, for example, have snapped up an excellent South Africa A prospect for the competition.
I had high hopes for the Metro Bank but relying on a rookie from Staffordshire to replace Barnard doesn't bode well.

Andy wrote:

The top 6 picks itself obviously, really interested to see how they sort through the rest. If Garton can bowl, he's in. We went in with 30 or close to 30 overs of spin a couple of times last year (Middlesex at Rugby, Lancs at Liverpool)...would be nice to know the status of Booth, Barker, Simmons and Gilchrist...looking ahead, we definitely need more than 2 seamers at Taunton.

Northants squad looks strong.

Any news on Barker? He would be ideal for the balance of the team.