Rayb
Member
Perhaps they had a team meeting and said, we fancy a couple of days in the field skip? It looked an awful decision at 10.40 when my wife said “they won the toss and decided to bowl” I said “please tell me that your joking”
I will say it now, hope I’m wrong, I have many eggs on my face, but cannot understand the decision to bowl!
Look at the scorecard, it’s all you need to know!
“Raging turner” are you joking? Dom Bess bowled close to 30 overs on day one, one maiden and never turned a ball. If it was a raging turner why didn’t Mousley bowl a single over?
Andy wrote:
People are overreacting.
I can't of think anyone who has been on such a sustained run of bad form that they actually should be dropped. Indeed we don't need wholesale changes to the squad at all. To say this season is similar to last season is way wide of the mark. Last season we struggled to bowl sides out and barely won a game. When we batted we batted so slowly that even when we batted 100 overs we might have only made 240. This season we've bowled sides out, put up bigger totals and actually won some games. Won away at Hampshire, we don't do that often. Beat a strong Essex side at home. Beat Kent on a flat pitch with the useless Kookaburra ball, a huge win, wouldn't have won that last season. We were capable of none of this last season.
In terms of the squad after losing Sibley and letting Lamb leave we are probably a back up batter light but prior to this game. Bethell has done quite well particularly when you factor in what he's been exposed to i.e Essex away on a raging turner and S. Harmer. Players like Bethell need to be given opportunity, they won't always do well, he's had 1 bad game in a game where many batters didn't get a score. Barnard is getting criticism but remember he wasn't exactly a heavy wicket taker at Worcestershire though yes he has had a poor 3 games with the bat and he could do with a score. He balances the side, a 4th seamer who can run through some tight overs and maybe nick us a wicket, he has done this for us. He's never gonna run through sides, he's never done that.
One area that does need addressing at the moment is game management. That's 2 weeks running now where we've had a significant collapse right at the start of the day. Today's was totally avoidable, Hain getting out like he did to de Caires exposed the lower middle order to the new ball against fresh bowlers. Mousley getting out yesterday afternoon was huge in the context of this game, Middlesex were starting to look a little bit demoralised and were dying to get off for the forecasted rain. So for Mousley to get out the way he did, after playing so well, with the field set the way it was (no slips in, Middlesex were in total defensive mode), was incredibly frustrating/naive. Had we have started today with Hain and Mousley, 2 well set batters at the crease against the new ball, today could have gone a different way. Maybe.
Game management.
We don’t have many squad options and I’m not sure that many of our first team regulars are that bad. I do think however that we need a far more robust attitude to our four day cricket, our bowlers and more importantly our captain and coach, need to realise that having the opposition 7 down does not mean they are all out! In addition our batters need to spend more time with a batting coach who impresses on them that 20/30 is not enough.
We Left when Burgess was out after a couple of balls, forfeited a night in the Premier Inn and headed for home so missed the only real resistance shown by Warwickshire players in three days. It is obvious that the toss was crucial but we have to be a bit more creative than shown this week. Bess bowled nearly 30 overs on day one, one maiden and went for four and a half an over never beating the bat. Mousley had taken four wickets 36 hours before the start of this game (admittedly with a white ball) and never got to turn his arm over, Yates bowled 2 overs for 4 runs? The start of day two was also strange in that we were presented with the only serious cloud cover of the three days and yet we started with Bess bowling from the river end whilst Hassan Ali stood scratching his head on the boundary with the ball twice going over his head for six as the Essex tail chased their final batting point. The endless conferences between Rhodes and Davies, with the apparent decision reached being “leave it as it is” was depressing. Batting on the same wicket an hour or so later we managed to make things look very different indeed, Davies still plays some very strange shots at times, deciding to lift his bat to avoid it getting in the way of the ball hitting the stumps is a decision that I hope he reflects on going forward.
Body language alone, in the last two games, seems to tell a story. The intensity that seemed so evident appears to have disappeared, it’s not difficult to come up with reasons for this, even if they are not entirely accurate. But I imagine that they might be.
Very nice win. Didn’t waste too much prime time, thankfully! Well done Bears.
Wasting prime time.
If we had shown the intent spoken of by the management, we would of won the game. Opportunity missed!
If we had shown the intent spoken of by the management, we would of won the game. Opportunity missed!
From 5.00pm/ish yesterday, I have no idea what our intentions have been? I thought that should be at least a semblance of an attempt to win the game. Perhaps I’m wrong.
Agree, I hope management are not patting themselves on the back because Norwell has dug them out of a huge hole today!
Cannot believe it! I’ve hated so much of our cricket this season but what an amazing end. Still in a daze.
Liam Norwell ……..what on earth can you say about that performance?
The table doesn’t lie, we are going to get what our performances deserve. This situation should never have happened, individually we are better than this, possibly not great, but better than this. Injuries, players not being available, extraordinary selection decisions, woeful captaincy, I would love a sit down with one of the squad who chose to explain this season to me.
Spineless
I appreciate what you say, and that was exactly what was happening, but given that one ball was always going to bring the curtain down, I personally bought it was the wrong call to expect all the runs to come at one end. It was disappointing to get so close!
The pitch has done plenty and it was obvious if you was out in the middle you needed to be scoring because eventually you are going to get one with your name on it! Sibley 5 in 35 balls set the tone, even at the end (and I know I will be criticised) but even OHD 2 from 28 balls stopped us getting what even now might be a critical point.