Not sure why we are being criticised, Somerset have surely got enough, have 2 spinners, one of them has 142 Test wickets and are in control.

They are probably already there is the archive somewhere. I observe things like everyone and give an opinion, that is what this forum is for. I make no apology if my opinions do not fit in with yours, as I said in my last post, "Well, we all see things differently".

Well ,we all see things differently but when he was first here, he made no secret of wanting to play with his cousin Kabir at Worcester and it was reflected when watching him play, body-language speaks volumes. It looked as bad then as it did after the 2019 World Cup triumph when the look on his face looked as though he had seen his team mates being beaten and although he was disappointed at being left out for Plunkett, it was justified as he had been very poor when he did play. So many had pointed out his attitude when he was playing as though he would rather be elsewhere. I do not want to pay my membership to watch this. Years ago we had a player who was on the fringes of the side, got so near, got the odd Sunday game, got left out again and kept saying his time would come and he would do everything to grasp a spot and keep it. He came out to field sub with a smile on his face, came out with drinks with the same attitude, people in the crowd called his name and he waved with a smile. He always looked happy to be around and his attitude was praised by everyone and he became a favourite with supporters before he became a regular first team member and that was because his 100% 'Positive Giving' attitude was apparent for all to see. That player was Roger Twose and between 1992 when he broke into the side until 1995 when he emigrated to New Zealand, he contributed to so much that made us the best team around. That is the sort of player I am happy to see and pay membership for, the example might be extreme and RT might have been a one-off but I like players who appear as though they want to be at the club.

Good, he's gone. I didn't ever want him back and he hasn't done enough to ever justify a good send-off. He wanted a salary to keep himself going until the next franchise opportunity and we were very convenient seeing as he lives so close. He can take his long, moody face away and we don't have to see him again and his absence gives someone else a chance and someone who actually wants to be in our teams.

Not sure it's a nailed on draw, Somerset can easily get 100 very quickly tomorrow and we could be chasing 350-360 in 75 overs. Felt for Hain after grafting for so long and then getting out before tea but thought Rocky played well.

This is the main reason I didn't go today, I thought it would be 450 minimum so Somerset didn't get what I thought but will go tomorrow, I would much rather see us get runs than other sides. It can't be much fun though if we get too many games like this. In 2021 (Seems so far away now) we had every CC game finish in the very last session of day 4, now those appear to have been good pitches for all, can't we go back their.

Looks like another strip for batsmen but the bowling didn't look inspiring when one of the openers is a tailender who they are persevering with who averages 20. Our bowling looked samey apart form Simmons' pace and the idea of Bethell bowling first change is laughable. Is this a directive form the ECB, if it is, then it is none of their *** business as they cannot dictate who we bowl and when, it's bad enough that they can take players out of selection but I cannot think of any other reason for such a strange bowling change unless Davies is a fan of 'Funky Stokes' captaincy plans which sometimes leave me cold and confused.

LE, yes, my thoughts as well and often you hear of poorly paid players walking 5+ miles to and from games because they wanted to save money. Anyone who plays in The hundred cannot complain about 'Burnout', here is a competition which earns them good money and has no real knock-on effect in terms of other similar franchises but obviously does get a few players international recognition as we have seen here with Mousely and Bethell. If a Sunday start to a T20 is 2.30 or 3pm, I think this is adequate for a team to then have a CC game the next day as they have started late and over at more or less the same as most CC or 50 Over games. There is no easy answer but it does sound as though the ECB do not care (Have they ever) about scheduling as long as the money is made for them and then they can trot out "Gras routes" in a sentence but not realising youngsters are not being able to watch games on TV anyway to get engaged in the first place.

I see where you are with this LE, but I do think we need to have a full weekends cricket at least every other week at home. If they played 40-over cricket in between CC games before, no reason why it shouldn't still work seeing as they did it at a time when we had the start of 4-day cc games for every fixture. The powers that be have been talking about players being burned out for the last 15 years and as they were advocating more rest, a few days later we had Warwickshire playing 9 out of 10 days at one point and I am sure less than 20 years ago, we had played 13 out of 15 days. I am not sure there is a solution but I do not want to go back to 2014 when we had no fixtures at home on a Saturday at all. That season I only watched us twice on a Saturday, T20 finals day and the C&G(?) cup final at Lord's.

Even though I don't have his book, by all accounts he had a go at Ashley Giles when both were playing in the first team or actually still both at the club. Perhaps Giles being at Worcester might have made him want to leave and we were the obvious choice and being where Moeen lives. Since he has been here, I do get a 'Just going through the motions' scenario with him and once he has gone in July, is that it. I hope so. He does come across as moody, unenthusiastic and generally lets off a vibe of wanting to be elsewhere. His best years are well behind him so why he keeps getting 'Franchise' offers is beyond me.

Totally agree, the idea is to look at a total and assess what you need to do to get it. anything around 130-140, should be easy enough unless you have an opposition full of great bowlers. Once you establish a good position, you realise that you just build a total and don't try and clear the ropes if you don't need a massive run-rate. So far, every pitch at home has seen a big playing area where you cannot hit 6's that easily especially if you don't hit the ball 100% perfectly. Last night, some of the catches were well inside the boundary which means we are not grasping this big hitting based on having done the same in previous games and more memorably (Unfortunately) in last seasons quarter-final. Don't our training/management staff say to the players to look at how often a lot of team members get out trying to hit 6's.

Like getting into a time machine and going back to last seasons quarter-final. How many times have we said it on here (Well, definitely me anyway) that when you have a big playing area, why keep trying to hit over the ropes when you don not need to and others have perished doing just that. We do love to give catching practice don't we. I could have strangled Hasan, doing all the hard work to get it down to just a few singles and then he goes and tries to give even yet another catch. It makes great watching but it is very unprofessional to keep making the same mistakes and we got away tonight but we do need to put these sorts of games away with overs to spare.

You get the feeling that we need to start to 'Get Real' now as with the table being congested, one win or net run-rate could decide who goes through.

It would appear so, I got mine for the 'Midlands Mania' and the 'Bears v Pears' at the box office one Monday, 8th June I think. You can get it on your phone if you have the Edgbaston App. You might get in without it but......

Good, that gives us the incentive and hopefully most of the members who attended, would not vote for a reduction in CC games. It would be interesting to have Wisden (The Cricketer) to have a survey where they put up 4-5 scenarios of what the fixture list could look like and have as many people as possible to e-mail their preferences and at least this way, anyone who doesn't want to buy the magazine, can still do it if their friends/family give them the address. Counties could also put up a few flyers to ask people to participate if they wished.

I hope there is the will. The trouble is, even if most members agree on a certain structure, will the Warwickshire committee or whomever decides on the final outcome, actually implement what the members want. The 'elephant in the room' in all this, is The Hundred which if it was eradicated, would mean a lot more time freed up but what I do not want to hear is players saying they need more time to rest if they then go and play in the Hundred which is nothing to do with their counties. Part of this is the players fault for embracing this new competition and just goes to show that if a player gets enough money offered to them, they do not care about their counties, playing for their country or anything as long as their pockets are filled.

I have never liked the idea of a CC final and if they had one, no doubt it would be squeezed into the late season sometime in mid-November. If that happened, would it mean semi-finals whereby a side that scrapes into 4th could be crowned champions as happened a few times in Rugby Union with Wasps. Or, would it maybe have the top 2 fighting it out but even that would seem unfair it the top side gained 20 points or more than the side in second. Whatever happens, you know full well that it will be the usual April-May and September games, either way, I think the ECB contempt for the 4-day game will prevail. If the ECB really are serious about wanting England to become the number 1 Test team, it must appear a competition that allows more Test player participation, being played at decent times when we mostly have decent weather which will also encourage spinners. Somehow I think it will be a case of, "Well that's it, like it or lump it but nothing is going to interfere with our precious Hundread, no matter how much money it loses which we will lie about".

Unfortunately, this government like so many people in the UK, still think of cricket as 'A game for posh blokes', anyone who watched that Flintoff programme where he got those kids to play cricket for the first time, will know what I mean. One of them said, "What makes him think anyone from around here wants to play cricket", by the end of the series, you couldn't get the bat out of his hands. It wouldn't have such a poor reputation if they played it more in state schools.

Yes, a case of 'Stuck with what we've got' as the saying goes. Latham, even though he did score very quickly on Saturday once he got going, his scoring before the 8th over was very slow. That is fine 'IF' you go on to make a good score but if you suddenly get out for 25 and it's taken 25 balls, that is a waste and looks as though you haven't taken advantage of the powerplay. Gooch used to do the same, great if he batted through 80% of the innings but if he got out 30-40% of the way through, it put pressure on his team mates who couldn't accelerate like him. It might be a case of 'Trying to muddle through' and hoping to get to the quarter-finals and from then on, one-off games, anything can happen. Plenty of sides have done this, us to a certain extent in 2014.

Whitelightning - I think last year in the quarter final, we did have a plan and at the halfway stage, it was working but the batsmen made a huge mess of it. The playing area, like in recent matches, was large and we kept Gloucestershire down to 135 and whether or not our batsmen had been practicing to hit balls far and wide, I seriously doubt it as a lot of them were caught inside the ropes whilst trying to clear it. Instead of just knocking it about which was ideal. It did appear that we had a plan but the blokes with the heavy bats forgot to complete their side of the bargain. Usually when we fail in the QF's, it is usually the batting, Sussex many years ago not being able to chase 150, making the same v Hampshire a few years later and against Essex at home, not making more than 160+, not being able to chase Hampshire's 180+ 2 years ago. Last years debacle appears worse if you consider Gloucestershire have lost all 5 of their games and looked abysmal today in the first 10 overs looking as though they were playing for a draw in a CC game. I got chastised for saying that we shouldn't lose to sides like that but I stand by it, they were another of the 'We scraped through' brigade who went on to win it. We do have plenty of what we call 'T20 specialists', but if you win a lot of games in the group stages (Even accounting for losing in the QF) you are unlikely to drop a lot of them for other players. I think most of us on here could pick better sides and Benjamin was a case in point last year, we all knew Burgess would be a better option and it wouldn't surprise me if Lintott was in for the next game but is a passenger if he just bowls 1-2 overs and gets smashed. Same for Garton, if he's in, let him bowl from overs 7 onwards. Mousely and Briggs are now considered T20 players but whomever we pick, we cannot rely on the few to keep getting us out of trouble. Come on Westy, be bold, make some changes.