We do seem to like trialling left arm seamers ever since we let a mighty fine one go 😢
This Josh Croom sounds interesting though.
Top scored in the Southern version of the B'ham league last season for South Wiltshire. Berkswell have picked him up this season although as we all know theres been hardly any club cricket played yet and he's spent winters in Glenelg in Adelaide

The upgrades to the squad have been substantial over the last two seasons. Sure Davies didn't come off really last season but he was brought in at a time where it was possible Sibley would have already moved back to Surrey which was the rumour towards the end of the title win so he needed replacing. Not saying Davies is better than Sibley but a different style of player that would help us accrue a greater haul of batting bonus points in the long run. They dispensed with overseas batting after Vihari and Malan found it tricky in April in England Hassan instead comes in and instantly effects games. Chance then arises to give extended runs in the team to Mousley and eventually perhaps Bethell and Benjamin alongside the experience of Rhodes and Hain. Rhodes is now getting towards what Bresnan was in 2021 in terms of experience. Sure he needs a score even a scratchy 70 or 80 would be brilliant from him but his game nous will have grown over the past four seasons now. Keeping Burgess happy is crucial and having Woakes available even if it ends up being for just this phase of the season is an added bonus.

Barnard is the upgrade on Lamb/Milo where we get two players in one and also the replacement for Bresnan we never had last season to an extent.

Rushworth rather than a dozen or so who've been tried since COVID is a massive upgrade. On top.of all his own attributes it ought to mean we can utilize Danny Briggs more effectively this season. He's not just gonna be thrown the ball in desperation like Jeetan Patel often was towards the end of his stint because the seam attack was so pop-gun. Briggs will chip in with the bat like always and be used in an attacking role more and help make up for the lack of true pace in the side to blow away tails unless we get Norwell back or Henry Brookes gets on one of his Broad-like spells

GerryShedd wrote:

Still top of the table now that the other matches are finished:
https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/county-championship-division-one-2023-1347099/points-table-standings
Rob Yates may have been a bit in and out with his batting so far but he seems able to catch anything at first slip.

ESPN tables are always a bit unreliable.
We're joint top with Surrey both on 60 points. Ten ahead of third placed Essex.

One ghost we're slowly laying to rest is this assumption we're quite a cautious, even negative dour side David Hopps for instance has banged on about it for three seasons and the Somerset commentators were for whatever reason incredulous that we didn't try to smack it about on day three and pull out early on that last day and set up some kind of contest and bring Somerset into the game.

Today we're the only side that has pushed the boat out and won. All 7 other fixtures this weekend have been draws

So to add to our ability to keep games alive like we did so often in the title winning season 2021 we now have in our locker an attack that can bust games wide open and beat teams by innings

Back top of the league (for a couple of hours at least)

If Surrey was a reality check (Suggestion after that thumping was that Warks were unlikely to finish 1st, 2nd or 3rd) has this thrown cat amongst the pigeons again???

paulbear wrote:

You can only think that Hampshire have managed to win games because of their bowling because as a lot of Hampshire fans will tell you, their batting looks poor.

Over the hill? Missed their best shot at the title in yonks either side of COVID. The other county who might be described in this fashion we host next week. Yet they might beat odds on favourite Surrey today

Rushworth cracking bowler. Absent Jimmy and Broad being around all this time you'd have to think he'd have had some form of England recognition during the 2010's. Another is the chap we saw walk across the screen just before lunch Keith Barker

BristolBear wrote:

In a situation like this let’s be honest, if the bears have to bat again by bowling them out, Hampshire haven’t scored 300+. If they’re 3 or 4 down early, they’ll remove all risk, try take time out the game. So the awkward chase at the end is more likely to be a case of, do you have the overs left to score 60-70.
Whereas declaring overnight, means even if you bowl them out cheaply, you give Hampshire something to defend. So less brave, more stupid.

Yep you'd declare overnight if you wanted to dangle a tempter "Hampshire can still win" carrot. That wasn't a necessary strategy this morning.

Had it been very overcast and a low scoring game with 2 session left they might have pulled out at 130 ahead

Indeed get the runs beforehand so you don't need so many of them them later on. In this situation now there still could be a tricky little spell here for Hants before lunch and potentially a bit of a target for Bears to knock off after 5pm if their lower order can club their way to a score of 220 odd

Yes Rushy 0-1

Time is obviously not the issue in this situation there's 80+ overs left. If we need 90 overs to bowl these out they'll be well ahead by then anyway. The issue is because of the loss of a days play we only have a 2.3 runs per over lead to attack with. Not seen a lot of the game but hopefully a 180 lead on this pitch in these conditions is as daunting for the Hants batters as a 250 lead elsewhere

Pull out earlier and Hants might have been able to establish a 100+ lead before we skittle them

All ifs buts and maybes

There's no prospect of a second new ball as if that comes about they'll be well ahead. As a result of that you probably have to weigh up the options. Bat for 15/20 overs and get well ahead hopefully 250+ then pull out with 75 overs remaining would be my guess. Will want a mini session before lunch maybe 45 mins-1 hour but ideal to have weight of runs firstly.

Alternatively if the morning is overcast might be worth getting bowling first thing and then knock off any runs required by a chase after tea. Might be 150 to win though so could get tricky

Derby is traditionally hard and bouncy. Add that to Leicestershire batting order frailties and it did cloud over and went cool just as he came on first change. Even after it warmed up though he kept taking wickets. Shame as I'd liked to have seen a cameo of sorts by Rehan Ahmed.

Of note the scoreboard here is huge and that's terrific. Hopefully when Warks get around to replacing the pavilion end scoreboard it'll be similarly as good

He's been superb. Leics openers were so comfortable. It did cloud over and went cool for a bit just as Henry came on but superb to get the edge, then pin the next guy. Figures of 4-1 a few moments ago. He looked decent in the seconds game I saw couple of weeks ago v Somerset albeit a limited number of overs

Could this be the start of something for the lad? He's got all the attributes and still the right age to go on. Hopefully opens his mind to possibilities beyond the razzamatazz of hit and giggle formats

white-lightning wrote:

Norwell still injured? That's a big worry. Is it a back problem?

Yes it's a back problem. Different area of the back to his well documented back issue last season. Probability is he's only just back bowling again after fully resting. Possibility for Essex?

Bethell also a back problem out for a wee while yet probably won't be fit for start of the Blast

That's not particularly fair. Derbyshire are one of the 18 first class counties, and give Warwickshire a decent contest whenever we play them.

Craig Miles is a county championship winner who more than pulled his weight that season. Derbyshire like all counties will have bowlers of his style coming out of their ears. Brookes offers something different but doesn't yet have the proven pedigree in first class cricket of Milo. It's a bit of punt let's hope he does well

Honesty so important. The reason we've not had any yet maybe a legacy of previous ECB regime but also counties covering themselves hedging their bets.

Play offs ideas need discarding into the bin. They are just not suitable for long form cricket. Why should members at Leicestershire for example have to put up with their season finishing perhaps 2 or 3 weeks before the members of Surrey?

Scratch that he's just joined Derbyshire on loan for the next 2 championship rounds

Agree Woakes bowled well on day 2. Probably ought to have bowled first thing on the Saturday. I can't see Norwell being ready. That being the case if rotation is needed I think (bit risky) but a time for Henry Brookes to step up for either of OHD or Rushworth. Worth seeing what the Rose Bowl surface is like too. I doubt there'll be many surprises although Barker is out injured and if they've had a few days of sunshine down there it could be a harder bouncier wicket than we've played on during April so Brookes added height could be effective

What we now need from the ECB is a bit of honesty. What is the aim? All we seem to get when we question the county CEOs is "the counties all have differing priorities'. At forums last year we saw a few barbed comments (not necessarily from Warks but a few I saw online) about smaller counties and their place in the decision process.

If the priority is to shoehorn the CC between all the other formats then I'm sorry you can't expect folks to believe they seriously think equal home and away games (the integrity of the competition) is all that much of a priority.

If the priority is a thriving CC with integrity maintained then they'd go out of their way to ensure it was 2 divisions of 9+9, 16 fixtures with 2 up 2 down like it was between 2000 and 2016. A period of relative calm to which (despite some gripes re: lack of bank holiday/weekend fixtures/absence of local derbies/too much blocking some seasons) we'd benefit from returning to pretty darn quickly

These are questions the two Richards Gould and Thompson need to square. We are led to believe that the counties are more happy with the direction of travel and yet we keep being fed these stories like the Strauss grim reaper reappearing

Absolutely Paul.

A playoff situation will attract virtually no new fans - long form cricket is still long form cricket - all it does is aggravate the existing fans (current members, lapsed members and casual supporters alike) further who want their 8 county championship games back but have been made to settle for 7

Plus unless they schedule these play offs at the very beginning of September (not sure how they could and if they did what goes in the rest of September?) when there's a decent chance of weather kindly enough to make it a) a good contest and b) a good occasion; these play-offs will be like that Bob Willis Final at Lord's the other year finishing in October - an absolute farce.

How can you decide a county champion in such ridiculous circumstances?