Solbear
Member
What a fabulous day - we were relentless and ruthless, another well deserved 5-fear for Ethan Bamber combined with excellent support from Chris W in particular. The celebrations were joyous and for the young members of the team in particular, it must have been magical and inspiring.
It was nice also to see Alex Davies getting some generous applause and equally a warm embraces from Ed B and others, I may be wrong but the body language really gave me the impression that he will be moving on.
A fabulous day and huge congratulations to all at the club for making this happen.
Today has to be the day - my wife is coming along to Edgbaston for the first time in 20 years after I promised her she'd see history being made.
I am normally pretty cautious, borderline pessimistic, but I'm confident we'll wrap it up today in convincing style.
COYB, let's see the title heading our way for the ninth time today!
I’m taking nothing for granted, but with those key players missing - esp Kelly - Leicestershire look a pretty weak team. COYB, it’s ours to lose!
I stumbled across this interview from 2018 a few days ago, before he was a pro cricketer. Seemed refreshingly grounded even at that young age:
https://www.espn.co.uk/cricket/story/_/id/22181539/the-many-shades-ethan-bamber
Cox is certainly having a good game - the De Caires catch in particular was excellent. Would have thought Leics would be moving mountains to try and keep him, seems very odd that he's not being offered a new contract which is what I gather is likely to be the case.
Guessing that Rehan Ahmed will be missing for this match, given that he's in the England ODI squad. Along with Hamza Shaikh and Nathan Gilchrist, that will enforce at least three changes on the Leic side that recently beat Hants.
KingofSpain wrote:
BosworthBear wrote:
Even by the standards of county cricket commentators this Essex old boy is eccentric!
The Essex old bloke was a very strange character. It was almost as if he didn't realise he was commentating on the match. When I tuned in he failed to mention numerous boundaries and missed some of the dismissals. Oddball. Thankfully the excellent Mike Taylor bailed him out.
I think his name is Dick Davies and that yesterday was his last day before retirement. Definitely an oddball but better than the irritating and pompous chap from Somerset who doesn’t even pretend to be unbiased, several times today he referred to Somerset as ‘us’ or ‘we’.
Interesting to see that the main instigator of Notts second innings collapse was someone with a tenuous connection to Warwickshire. Ari Karvelas, who took the first four wickets, is apparently the new Head of Cricket at Solihull School. If, as seems likely, Notts go onto lose tomorrow, and IF we manage to top the table next weekend, I think he’ll be within his rights to brag to his pupils that he played a part in helping the Bears across the line. That’s still a big if though, and the cidermen might still prevail, though they’ve got a lot of work to do tomorrow first. All of a sudden I find myself urging on Sussex and Yorkshire for some reason….
Interesting to see that Joseph Eckland is playing for us and keeping wicket. I don't know what his wicket keeping ability is like but he's scored heavily for Gloucs in the One Day cup and Second Team matches this year:
Andy wrote:
I know, its just been an unbelievable drop off, 3rd highest run scorer in the division in 2024 and named in the PCA team of the year, our highest run scorer in the Blast in 2025...to this. Its remarkable.
And, sadly, some supporters have revelled in his demise.
Very fair points Andy. I can’t help feeling for Davies at the moment, nobody goes out to bat wanting or intending to fail but that is what is happening every time he takes guard. He should certainly be dropped for his sake as much as anyone else’s, his confidence and mental health must be taking an absolute battering. The club owe him a duty of care and for this reason as much as his terrible run of form, he should now be ‘rested’ for the remainder of the season to give
Kai a chance and to safeguard Davies’s wellbeing.
I also think that it’s in everyone’s interests for him to move on at the end of the season - if another club want him I should imagine he’d jump at the prospect of a fresh start somewhere else.
Looks like a very impressive effort, and great to see Taz doing so well after what feels like quite a lean season for him.
Does anyone know what has happened to Theo Wylie? I saw he played club cricket at the weekend, so I don’t think he’s injured, but he doesn’t appear to be anywhere near either the first or second team at the moment. Hope there’s some explanation and that he’s still in the mix as I think he’s quite a bright prospect.
Thank you, Exiled Bear, for the work you do to maintain and keep this forum going; I'm sure I'm not alone in being massively appreciative of what you do!
Some candid comments from Alex Davies following Sunday's victory. He's full of praise for Vansh Jani too:
Ludicrous to persist with Davies and to leave Ali and Wylie out of the team. I just don't get the logic.
A disappointing result, albeit with a few positives, notably the performance of Kai and GG. Always felt we were a bowler light and so it proved at the end. I guess the main difference was their overseas pro, again, disappointing that the powers that be failed to address this when it was likely we would lose a fair few to the hundread.
I was really hoping that Taz Ali would kick on this year after doing so well in last season’s competition, but sadly that hasn’t yet happened. Hopefully, he (& the likes of Theo) will get a chance in the remaining games now there is nothing to lose.
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.
Shame about Patterson-White but no great surprise. I do find the interest in Cox strange, unless as KoS suggests, perhaps Davies is on his way out. If we really want a seasoned pro, though, why not aim for John Simpson of Sussex, who I would suggest is a more accomplished overall player. With the issues at Sussex he may well be in the market for a new club but perhaps already has something lined up.
According to the post on Facebook, he definitely is in the squad.
How much longer can Key hang on for??
I read on a Leics CCC forum that Ben Cox is heading in our direction next season. This could of course be spurious and frankly, I hope it is because signing another keeper in his mid 30s doesn’t make a lot of sense, unless he’s going to add significantly to our batting line up. I’m not sure Cox ticks that box.