Bears & Pears Cricket Thread 2011

[spangley1812]

331 for 6 (91.4 overs)

Doctor Who...........75 no

[cdbearsfan]

That's a good Omen.

[Gareth]

I fear for the pears this season, the batting line up is just not good enough at this level, and without a recognised spinner, i doubt we can bowl a team out twice in the same match. From the position we were in against the Bears after the 1st innings we should have at least held on for a draw. Shows how much we miss Shakib al Hasan and how instrumental he was in getting us promoted last year.

Agree, the batting has too many 30 and 40 merchants at the moment, need someone to be stepping onto 100+

Shakib and Ajmal are in later in the summer to take spin duties

[ADVILLAFAN]

If we can score 55 runs off the next 84 balls, then we'd get maximum batting points....

Might be best just to concentrate on plodding along though.

[Simon Ward]

Woakes still at the crease and Rankin has his highest ever first class score.

[cdbearsfan]

4/5 batting points gained, as we didn't pass 400 till after 110 overs had elapsed. 424 for 9 though, 75 made for the 10th wicket partnership with lunch approaching. Decent enough, Durham are a good side.

[Dave Cooper please]

The Bears need to think about moving Woakes up the batting order, maybe to six, he's definitely an all-rounder now.

[taylorsworkrate]

Great effort this morning.  Woakesy really is a star.  Not just the obvious talent with bat and ball, but also the great temperament he has for such a young player.  May be a big comparison to make, but he has a touch of the Shaun Pollocks about him.

426 / 9 and we should at least draw this game from here, which would make it an excellent start to the season.

[cdbearsfan]

Durham giving our bowlers a bit of a twatting at the moment. 61/0 off 14.3.

[Chris Smith]

The Bears need to think about moving Woakes up the batting order, maybe to six, he's definitely an all-rounder now.

Not yet, no point piling the pressure on him. He's made a great star to the season but at his age there's likely to be a dip at some pont. Let him be a bowler who bats a bit for now.

[ADVILLAFAN]

We made a pretty good score, but I'm starting to get a little worried.

Durham are 154/0 with the hundred year old Di Venuto and the actor Will Smith batting.

[spangley1812]

Durham 230 - 5 @ close

Not a bad comeback as the opening pair put on 164, they have gone from 192 - 2 to 230 - 5 

[Dave Cooper please]

The Bears need to think about moving Woakes up the batting order, maybe to six, he's definitely an all-rounder now.

Not yet, no point piling the pressure on him. He's made a great star to the season but at his age there's likely to be a dip at some pont. Let him be a bowler who bats a bit for now.

I don't see there being a huge amount of pressure on him in LV games, if it was England then yes, keep him down the order, but for Warwickshire let him free his hands ahead of the likes of Ambrose and Clarke. (Saying that, I've just checked the scorecard and saw that Rikki Clarke scored 49 off 52 balls!)
Any road up, it's looking good so far this season.

[Villan For Life]

The Bears need to think about moving Woakes up the batting order, maybe to six, he's definitely an all-rounder now.

Not yet, no point piling the pressure on him. He's made a great star to the season but at his age there's likely to be a dip at some pont. Let him be a bowler who bats a bit for now.

I don't see there being a huge amount of pressure on him in LV games, if it was England then yes, keep him down the order, but for Warwickshire let him free his hands ahead of the likes of Ambrose and Clarke. (Saying that, I've just checked the scorecard and saw that Rikki Clarke scored 49 off 52 balls!)
Any road up, it's looking good so far this season.

I agree. How can he develop his batting when for the majority of his time at the crease he's protecting the tail? Move him up at least one place for the time being and see how he develops batting with a recognised batsman from the lower middle order.

[Villan For Life]

The weak link this season could well be the bowling attack. In the two completed championship games to date, Woakes and Clarke have taken 25 of the 40 wickets that have fallen. If we lose one of these two then we could struggle.

We need the likes of Rankin and Barker to share the burden whilst Carter is out of the side.