Fair play, let's see how he goes. His overall first class bowling figures aren't stellar but maybe he's a man in form.

Interesting. How does he fit in? He won't be batting higher than 8, so is he really an upgrade on Miles?

You could have got very long odds against Rob Yates being our leading wicket taker after 3 rounds of the CC. Almost as long as those against Alex Davies being the leading run scorer in the country!
With the weather and the balls, it's almost impossible to tell which teams are doing well and which are struggling. It promises to be a topsy-turvy season.

Terrific stuff! Now keep it going. This is four day cricket, make sure the boots are well and truly filled.

Rather a disappointing start. There aren't many weaker teams than the Pears in Division One but it looks like we might be one of them. I mean no offence to the squad we fielded in this game but they are good players rather than strong ones. We seem to lack the star quality that would come with a Hain, Woakes or Hasan Ali. We could do with those players back or for Yates or Mousley to have a breakthrough year.

I received an insight into the future of the 18 counties in my email this week. At one time, I was a member of Somerset and they still send me promotional material. This week's was an invitation to book for a number of "exciting" events that they are planning this year. These appeared to consist of a DJ session featuring Craig Charles and a succession of shows by tribute acts. A bit naff, I thought, but then I realised that they have to find something to do with their cricket ground. They are not a venue for The Undead so the ground will be virtually unused throughout the summer. Better look for something other than cricket.
Once the administrators get the smell of money in their nostrils, those of us who care about quality or (God help me!) tradition might as well pack up and find something else to do. I've seen the future and it's coming sooner than we might like.

Oh, and by the way, I see England are now bottom of the World Test Championship league table. Really working this slogball, innit?

If there is a silver lining coming out of England's dismal showing it is the performances of Hartley & Bashir. These are two young, virtually unheard of spinners who have taken the bulk of England's wickets at a cost that is by no means shameful. I wonder how much their performances owe to England's spin bowling coach: one Jeetan Patel.

Looking forward to the summer, it seems that both Somerset and Lancashire may have one too many spin bowlers in their squads. Might it strengthen our squad if we offered to take one of these guys on loan?

It might be tactful for Davies to have a word with Burgess along the lines of "I know you're a better keeper than me and you're worth your place as a batsman anyway. You have the gloves and I'll focus on batting and captaincy."
I hope that's how it plays out.

Interesting bit of work. Thanks.
My stats isn't what it was, but I am sure that analysis could be done to try to isolate what factors contribute to the variation between counties. Size of population must be important and, in that case, we aren't doing very well. With the country's second biggest city - and probably adding in South Staffordshire as well - we should produce more. Having a Test ground might be a factor but it doesn't seem to do much for the minor Test sites like Cardiff and Southampton. Proximity to Lord's has often been suggested as a factor but that may just be doubling up on population size. I wonder also if it varies between bowlers and batsmen, with the quality of pitches coming into account.
One other point of interest is that the leading counties in this table (Yorks, Middlesex, Surrey, Lancs, Kent & Essex) are the ones that have historically made most use of outgrounds. Maybe there's something there to do with community engagement?

Run out for 68 in the end. He's in some pretty illustrious company in that side: Jennings, Lees, Bohannon: and he's holding his own. Must be great experience.

Sorry to see Rhodes give up the captaincy: I think he's done well. He might not have the on-field persona of Jeetan Patel but he hasn't done a lot wrong and carries himself with calm authority. Good man - I wish him well in his continuing playing days.

Streetly_Bear wrote:

I wonder if in the aftermath of this campaign a certain Mr Hain will get a call up for a run in the 50 over side?

When names are bandied around his does still often seem to get missed out. The central contracts situation probably hasn’t helped with that.

It would appear not. Squads for the West Indies mini-tour announced now and, despite looking rather light on batting, there is no room for one of the world's leading List A players.

Wouldn't disagree with any of that Mr Shedd. Just one question: as the photo of Ed Barnard at Taunton must have been taken during the first match of the season, had you already made your mind up or did you take everybody's photo?

Yates is joint 4th in the fielding category.

If we'd been offered 4th at the start of the season, I think most of us would have taken it. Great performances from Rushworth and OH-D. If Hasan Ali had been available all season, we would have had a ferocious seam offering. Overall, this season was at the upper end of my expectations.

After his first couple of overs, I just couldn't watch anymore and went and hid. Next time I checked he was past 50 and everything was right with the world. Really pleased.

It's a nice idea to include the National Counties but the logistics would make it complicated. Most National Counties players are not full time professionals. I can't see them wanting to schlep from Cornwall to, say, Norfolk for one game of hit-and-giggle and then go to Northumberland the next week. You could regionalise it or else have some sort of week-long festival where they gather at Wormsley for a round robin. Quite how that would fit in with a pyramid, I'm not sure.
Is it just me or does anyone else think that if the ECB believe that the answer is to invent another competition then they are probably asking the wrong question?

This takes us back to the "outgrounds" discussion. The stadium venues may be jumping when a big game is on but they are pretty soulless for County Championship games. Moving the pitch so that it's almost in the next parish is more or less standard and contributes to the difficulties with sightscreen coverage. Venue managements treat the CC with barely concealed contempt.
Taking the odd game to an outground would help as the match becomes the "big thing" for the hosting club and they would care about putting on the best show that they could. Where would you rather watch Championship cricket? Arundel or the Rose (Ageas) Bowl? Chesterfield or Headingley? It's a no brainer for the spectator. Just doesn't suit the accountants.

OH-D: In the first ten years of his career he took 109 first class wickets at an average of 38 and was very lucky to still have a contract. In the next five and a bit, he's taken 205 wickets at 23 and is an automatic first choice. Was this Pop Welch's doing?

I suppose I'm being hopelessly naive but is it in order to ask why we were playing a Cup semi-final on a used wicket that even the opposition knew would be difficult to bat on? Is this another example of just where Warwickshire cricket sits in the "Edgbaston" priorities?