Hotels look a bit pricey but would love to get up for this one.

Is there a possibility of anyone driving up from Birmingham on the Friday with space spare in a lift?

Title credentials. A team trending in the right direction and resilient against whatever match situation or availability issue presents itself. Ethan Bamber goes from strength to strength in a Warwickshire shirt, OHD back at his rhythmical and consistent best, Sam Hain being Sam Hain and Yates gobbling it all up in the cordon.

Back it up against Glamorgan and we’ll be sitting very smartly going into the T20 block.

Still looks to be something out there too despite it flattening out somewhat. Tough to know what’s a good score as we’ll be fearful of Brook and Bairstow chasing if the pitch continues to flatten but a remarkable fightback championed by OHD coming back and bowling what has felt a really fired up spell to me. More verve in his celebrations, more on the ball. That in-dipper to get Bairstow was pretty special.

Shame to see Dan throw it away in what is becoming signature style for him. Another 100 waiting for him there. Really impressive knock and catching from Yates.

Important first hour tomorrow against a new ball, but will be good to see just what the pitch is still offering with a hard ball.

Will need to see the rulebook on that one, but we've just ran three before the ball went for four overthrows and we've only been given six?

Andy wrote:

Are we really having a shocker this season up to today? I don't think we are?

Not having any indication that we are. Winning draws against the top two from last season, a win against Essex and a close loss to Sussex. We're playing a lot of good cricket and, as usual, agenda is crowding people's views of the season. OHD was miles off it last season and we're now reaping the reward of good management this season, allowing him to play cricket and remain in rhythm on loan.

We're in a very good spot, playing in a difficult match on a result wicket against a decent quality seam attack bowling well. We've just bowled them out for the same as what we made. Context is so important when discussing players.

The stuff on Malik's average being less than that of Smith's is a one-sided argument. He's played on two result wickets against Essex and in this match. I'd argue he's in the side as he has more stickability than Smith who tends to be a freer, more languidly styled late innings scorer. Smith has played on flatter pitches. The decision making is sound, the fact its not bearing result isn't hugely surprising when taking into account the context.

Absolute seed from OHD.

Of course yeah. Imagine that'll be the spot that Ali misses out on. Extremely long batting lineup this year by the looks of things. Gleeson and Woakes handy new ball partners and should hopefully avoid having to rely on Barnard to bowl at the death.

Really happy with this one, suspect he’ll do very well and hoping it isn’t at the cost of Taz.

Yates Davies Webster Hain Mousley Barnard Thompson Garton Ali Gleeson Tariq?

On the topic of strange social media usage, the club clearly teased a new signing to be announced on April 30th, but nothing has been posted on any channel or the club site.

Frankly bizarre considering the post is still up.

https://x.com/WarwickshireCCC/status/2049194435200663890?s=20

Played last week too. Still contracted I believe, think he’s been doing some 12th man in the CC and has a headshot on the club site.

https://live.nvplay.com/ecb/?tab=m_scorecard#m43ddcbee-9b5c-42e2-a907-5c82882de12e

A comprehensive win by 105 runs over Worcestershire in the U18 County T20 Cup after our boys racked up the ridiculous 279/8 from their 20 overs.

Omaris Khan made 117 off 39 opening the batting with 15(!) sixes while there were three wickets for James Pidgeon and two each for Joseph Walley and Eddie Miller.

Get in Mikey! Now then...

There's that bit of luck! Got to be right on it now.

Agreed, we'll bowl a lot worse and get more reward than this at times. Not had that bit of luck you need on a batting surface. So many close calls.

Incredible. Thompson on Hameed another close one we've not gotten.

If there's no bat that on that Woakes shout against Hameed that's plumb...

Enforcing the follow on comes as a bit of a surprise but with two (hopefully) fresh new ball bowlers, a good opportunity to get stuck into Notts again. Plenty of time left in the game to get this one done.

Just reflecting on yesterday again, it's so exciting that Michael Booth is really starting to show his abundant promise with bat and ball. Crucial and powerful runs to get us to the max batting points, fiery and aggressive with ball. Still room to improve, but he's really looking like someone with international attributes to me. Excited to see what he can offer with a run in the T20 side this season too after some impressive ODC performances last year. A stereotypical "X-factor" player.

Barnard’s had a pretty exceptional game so far. Enjoyed his rotation of the seamers and also led by example with his miserly spell. Really impressive.

Incredible! What a last half an hour that is. We’ve got such a balanced and multi-faceted seam attack to really hurt teams when we’re at it.