Seems to me he's there essentially to cover for Jimmy. Think he's a real chance for Headingley especially if the Lord's test goes all 5 days and if they're still unsure over Wood's fitness. Trouble is Woakes also recovering from long term niggles so I think that explains ECB reluctance to release him to his county very much. Tongue makes sense from a balance of the attack perspective as opposed to having Jimmy Robinson and Woakes

ODI World Cup on free to air would be quite a nice achievable quick fix and show intent - that's if any terrestrial channel will have it

Have we as members been complicit in Warwickshire getting away with not really bringing through local talent?

Relegations in 2008 and again in 2017. Each occasion followed by a quick recruitment process because we as members/supporters demanded instant return to Division 1 so we could compete for the title again and again - so in comes, Barker, Wright, Rankin, Chopra etc... and then Sibley, Rhodes, Norwell, Miles - instead of Warwickshire using the resources at it's disposal to do the hard yakka and bring players through - and really develop their skill set and maybe spend a few more seasons in Division 2 while they get the hang of things. Think of the talent in the local area that's gone to waste or not reached its full potential. Instead we mine the Surrey and Hampshire public school system and cherry pick some talent from other counties and hand them to Graham Welch etc... to fashion into quality seam bowlers

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0fxl5b2

Stuart Cain is on towards the end of this BBC podcast and again sounds well meaning.
Thank god ex-umpire John Holder was on just beforehand as he corrected the BBC reporter Dan Roan who tried to suggest that the county members who opposed the Strauss Review last year would be a similar hurdle for the ECB in implementing the findings of this report. Absolutely inapproprate conflation of the two things. Tackling these issues of embedded racism and elitism is on a totally different level to opposing the dreadful half baked Strauss Review that had little to no support going for it by the end of last year

David Hopps said it better than I. Just read his tweet.

I've spent 40 years vaguely at odds with English cricket because of its lack of diversity. Now things are finally changing I'm no longer trusted because I'm a bald 64-year-old white middle-class bloke. From Yorkshire. No hope really.

Putting right the wrongs of cricket that span 50-60+ years is important and long overdue. However we ought not let club and ECB hierarchy off the hook for some of the short term decisions over specifically the last 25 years that have led to the game's invisibility within inner urban areas, schools workplaces and the culture of these islands. Sure belatedly they come up with ideas and lead on funding for diversity as Warwickshire is almost certainly ahead of most in this respect.

Let's not forget the hiding of the game behind a paywall in 2006. There are people still at the ECB and in positions at county clubs who remain culpable for this and plenty of other decisions besides
It's rather convenient for them to point the finger at an ageing, declining, out of touch membership and the volunteers - suits their agenda down to a tee that does. Playing increasingly greater proportions of the county championship in rugby season hardly helps either - you're not going to see much more than the die hards continue to hand over hard earned cash to follow that up close let alone tootle along to Portland Rd with it's wholly inadequate facilities for spectators to watch the women's teams in the freezing cold.

How about they put lots and lots of county mens and women's cricket matches on in mid-season and give diversity a bit of a chance. Just a thought like...

The fact it was on in August immediately following the pandemic partly explains the success in bringing in new attendees to the ground. The novelty factor is also surely an aspect to note. They don't seem so set on August going forwards mind, possibly because some of those factors don't exist any longer. Plus it now has to pay it's way so all the freebies will disappear and the brightly coloured shirts will look plain and boring again. The T20 Blast soon learnt that the ideal sweet spot for a chunk of season given over to slogball changed from year to year depending on weather and if there was a major football tournament that particular year.

Call me a cynic but this is all a smokescreen for a cabal of big time charlie county chief execs ransacking the rich history of the domestic game and remoulding it so it can exist going forwards without Worcestershire and Sussex and Derbyshire (or at least with the role of such entities severely diminished) thus paving the way for 8 or maybe 10 teams to share the spoils between

Strauss review by stealth. Designed by Edgbaston. It remains something which needs to be firmly resisted

He learns from this and wins us the QF against Hampshire with a brilliant spell

Both left at the end of 2018 in time for the 2019 seasons. Chris Wright signed for Leics in July 2018 Keith Barker's move to Hants wasn't confirmed until September 2018.

I get that but do feel that angle is overstated a tad. There are a couple of sides now in Div 1 with very little prospect of finishing 1st or getting relegated and a good number in Div 2 with nothing to play for already. It happens however many teams are in a league. You could ensure the intensity levels hold up by perhaps scheduling the local derby matches towards the end of the season. Warks 7th v Worcester 14th would still be a hard fought game. I think seeing the same counties year in year out gets pretty boring as does having to visit the same away venues. Used to be far better when in a 2 year cycle you got see all the counties play at your ground and only had to wait a year or two for trips to some of county crickets joys. It would massively help several counties increase their membership, profile etc... if they know they've got 2024's version of Brian Lara coming to play at their ground and 2025's version of Allan Donald. I'm frankly irritated we don't get to play at New Road once every two years, ditto Derby/Chesterfield, Northants, Colwyn Bay, Hove, Cheltenham and loads more

If test cricket is just a jolly up then county cricket should be allowed to be fun too - not reduced to the pressure of must win games to stay up and coaches unwilling to risk giving youngsters especially spinners a good run in the side. Think of how liberating T20 has been for young/unknown spinners. If T20 had relegation there's a realistic possibility we'd never have seen Jake Lintott

LeicesterExile wrote:
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I agree about the merits of the 4 day game but would prefer a 2 division of 9 teams playing home and away. However, the one day game is here to stay and will always draw the bigger crowd. The T20 has proved its popularity and should be the white ball game of choice. The trouble is the ECB have tried to cram in too many formats and keep trying to reinvent it (the Hundread being the latest with city teams). If the 18 counties played just CC and T20 both in a 2 division league structure with a T20 Finals day to end the one day season a simple fixture list would tell people when to expect games.
That makes a lot of sense. 16 CC games 16 T20 and a knockout in the 50 overs. T20 Fridays with some local variance (Thurs in London) and maybe a fortnight mid-season dedicated to it.

My proposal is just to strip away the divisions altogether go back to a time when we last used to lose home Ashes series with some regularity in the mid 1990's and where county cricket was very strong indeed. The 2 divisions came in partly to try to arrest this abysmal record in home Ashes. But if what were hearing now is it doesn't even matter whether we win the Ashes as long as we play an exciting brand of cricket then there is little point in having 2 divisions any more. I loved Norwell's heroics last season but I'd trade any prospect of that occuring again for the chance for youngsters in Derby, Canterbury, Hove and Leicester to see top level cricket in mid-summer once again and generate new county cricket aficionados in all the shires not just 7 select cities. The advantages of having one 18 team Championship far outweigh the merits of two divisions if there is no fear of failure at test level why should there be fear of failure at county level? If two divisions are retained I'd have 3 up 3 down again. more churn = more potential winning counties in future spread the joy

Also he'd probably get more opportunities if we were in Div 2 which we were. I sort of see him as the natural in-house successor to OHD but we need him to really come through now perhaps it might be at another county a bit like when OHD left Yorkshire

I'm thinking this past week has been a strong reason we should return to one single 18 team county championship. Firstly the format itself when played with no fear just kicks the crap out of any of the shorter format flotsam and jetsam.

Secondly, if and I say if the result no longer matters and it's entertainment that is THE key thing and if it's okay for England to lose 5-0 this series - so long as we've been entertaining - then I see no reason whatsoever why county cricket cannot return to the glory days of one single division 17 rounds of 4-day fixtures loads of festival grounds being used to host the matches no relegation so all youngsters can be given carte blanche to show what they can do and everyone have a similarly jolly time watching county cricket as 25,000 were able to yesterday

Grasp this opportunity while we can. County CHAMPIONSHIP CRICKET is the next best thing to what unfolded these past 5 days and must be restored to the centrepiece of the domestic season immediately.

GerryShedd wrote:

I thought that, having won the toss on that pitch and in this weather, 450 was the minimum score to settle for. But tomorrow, I may be proved totally wrong.
Think in normal pre Bazball mode you'd be right. This England team just think if they don't get that big score first innings they'll get them second innings instead and this being Edgbaston I doubt the pitch will deteriorate much so still all to play for. A lad next to us was wondering if they'd declare but I had to leave after root got his ton and was shocked when I heard they had declared

Yes we might not finish in the top two now which was always the most realistic possibility after the defeat to Surrey. I think it means we can however try some of the youngsters out a bit more so potentially might be a good thing

Exactly as I suspected on day 1.

Looking at how green the pitch was but it had been cut very short so nothing really for our seamers to work with so Notts obviously just watered it well enough in the lead up so that the pitch didn't break up in all this heat on days 3 + 4. It's what sides do who have no spin advantage. Briggs won us that game 2 years ago spinning Notts out to help us complete a double over them so they've clearly tried to neuter any advantage we have over them in that respect. High scoring draw was always likely in this instance.

It doesn't feel quite so warm here in Brum today maybe the same there but these Notts lads will be wiped out from being out on their feet all day yesterday and half of today. Greenish wicket but one I thought wouldn't provide all that much assistance to our attack I thought wrongly it seems

Did pretty well by all accounts fair play to him. Hadn't had a great April in the stiffs due all the poor weather etc so good to see he's still a useful county level 3rd or 4th seamer

Excellent point by Roland Butcher these pitches tailor made for Hassan he'll have grown up on them

It's what Davies was brought in to do get us off to a more brisk start. It didn't work out last season. Playing to the conditions is important let's not forget. Every season the bulk of our home games are April May and September (that presents problems as well as opportunities) so it can be quite a difference depending what grounds we have to play at away. We struggled last year at grounds like Canterbury and Bristol and had that shocker at Taunton. This year we've gone to Taunton (played far better but denied by the loss of a day and a half's play) won at the Rose Bowl and now Trent Bridge. Fast scoring test match grounds on decent wickets especially Trent Bridge which looks green here as they likely do not want the surface to break up too much so it will continue being fast scoring. Confidence too

I'm not sure there are any better spinners out there. All he needs to do is sow some uncertainty in their left handers minds with a couple that really turn and bounce. It's the first area you look to and say Australia have a massive advantage over England in terms of personnel and that's even when Leach was in the side but we're not going to bridge the gap to Lyon with one of the youngsters or Dawson. The other area they hold the cards is their front line seam attack perhaps trump's England's although you never know with Starc and Hazelwood might not be fit. Top order batting neck and neck I'd say and England might have the edge in the middle to lower middle order but not by much. Points to a very close fought series but Aussies should have enough to at least draw it

I'll be slightly more confident about England getting 20 wickets with Moeen in the side. His skill against the left handers particularly Travis Head could be invaluable to setting up 4th innings run chases that are achievable. Third innings our flagging seam attack and especially if Stokes can't bowl himself into the ground we may well need his experience