Bears/Pears/Domestic Cricket Thread 2016

[tomd2103]

Warwickshire County Cricket Club
13 mins ·

Sadly play has been abandoned for the day in our Specsavers County Championship match with Somerset.

I work in Edgbaston and it hasn't rained here since early this morning.  Outfield must have been soaked.

[junxs]

4 games, 4th draw looks more than likely - all due to weather. I rest my case.

Was planning on going today as I have a day off work, cheer the bears to a victory its so very annoying.

[adrenachrome]

Match drawn.

Points:
Warwickshire 8
Somerset 10

[paul_e]

4 games, 4th draw looks more than likely - all due to weather. I rest my case.

Was planning on going today as I have a day off work, cheer the bears to a victory its so very annoying.

Its particularly annoying to see a game abandoned as a draw after we had 4-5 days of fantastic weather where people would, in my opinion, have happily gone and watched some cricket.  I know you can't just move the start date to suit the weather but it doesn't stop it being immensely frustrating.

[PGW]

Match drawn.

Points:
Warwickshire 8
Somerset 10

It is particularly annoying as both Yorkshire and Lancashire win by an innings

[adrenachrome]

Grauniad

Warwickshire face possible action over pitch deemed dangerous by Somerset

• Batsmen struck six times by bowlers on unpredictable Edgbaston pitch

Warwickshire are facing possible disciplinary action over the pitch prepared for their County Championship fixture with Somerset at Edgbaston, which was described as being “a bit dangerous” by the visiting captain, Chris Rogers, after the washed-out draw.

The surface, on which 30 wickets fell in the first two days before rain prevented any further play, is understood to have been deemed “poor” by the umpires Ian Gould and Neil Mallender, with the England and Wales Cricket Board to consider their report.

Unpredictable bounce became a feature of the cracked surface on the second day, with 18 wickets falling and batsmen struck six times by fast bowlers. The Somerset tailender Lewis Gregory was forced to change helmet after being hit when ducking into a delivery from Boyd Rankin, while Rogers twice took blows to the body.

“There were a few concerns,” Rogers said after the match was abandoned, with Warwickshire unmoved from their position of four for no loss at stumps on the second day, chasing 322 in the fourth innings.

“I think the cracks were making it a little bit dangerous and that is a bit of a worry. Any time you see the ball take off it’s a surprise. I have played on some excellent wickets here and it was different. I don’t think the groundsman quite got it the way he wanted to but he’ll know better next time and fortunately there were no real incidents.”

Tony Pigott, the ECB’s cricket liaison officer, was at the match and is understood to have spoken to members of both clubs as well as Gary Barwell, the Edgbaston head groundsman.

Warwickshire could face a possible points deduction if the matter is passed to the Cricket Discipline Commission, with an ECB spokesperson saying: “We will be considering the umpires’ report overnight before making any further comment.”

Dougie Brown said: “It was not the type of pitch we wanted. There was cracks but was it dangerous? No. We all know here that Gary Barwell is the best groundsman in the country by a mile. He was preparing this pitch 14-16 days ahead, as always, and when he started it was in snow and ice.

The Warwickshire director of cricket added: “Then the weather flipped on its head and suddenly it was very hot, so the drying process was accelerated by the weather. When the cricket liaison officer said the pitch had been reported we were incredibly surprised.

The reporting of the Edgbaston pitch is the first such incident since the ECB changed the procedure for the toss in the County Championship as part of a season-long trial, with away sides given the option of bowling first to encourage better surfaces.

Last season Glamorgan were fined £9,000 and docked two points for an “unfit” pitch that led to their Royal London Cup fixture with Hampshire being abandoned. Warwickshire were docked eight points in 2011 for a “poor” pitch in a 218-run win against Worcestershire in the championship.

[cdbearsfan]

Great.

[adrenachrome]

warwickshireccc.com

Director of cricket Dougie Brown wants Warwickshire to translate the "good signs" of their first four games into a first Specsavers County Championship victory of the season against Nottinghamshire, starting tomorrow.

The Bears will visit Trent Bridge with their campaign still to escape the shackles of bad weather. After four rain-affected draws they sit fourth in Division One,13 points behind leaders Yorkshire and 12 behind second-placed Lancashire who have a game in hand.

The staccato nature of the season so far continued last week when the last two days of the home game against Somerset were washed out. So the Bears can't wait to get in some sustained time on the field, hopefully in Nottingham, as the season prepares to get busy with other formats too with the NatWestT20Blast campaign starting next week.

"There have been some really good signs for us so far," said Brown. "In some areas we need to improve and we have spoken about them, but in general I am happy with the way we have played. Everybody has made a contribution. Some people haven't had the rewards in terms of stats but that will come.

"We have been playing some solid cricket. Rain has been a huge factor in a number of the draws and it is bad fortune when you get as much rain as we have had because against good teams you need four days to get a conclusion. So far, Lancashire have managed to slip the rain but we, and a number of other teams, have not.

"All we can do is stick to what we are doing. We are about to head into silly season where we play 50-overs, Twenty20 and championship cricket so it will be interesting to see how teams manage in terms of squad-depth across all three formats because that's when it really starts to test teams.

"Part and parcel of being a decent team is you have to carry a strong squad, which we certainly do."

Warwickshire will be forced into a change at Trent Bridge if Ian Bell does not recover from a hamstring tweak. He has a chance of being fit but, if he doesn't make it, Laurie Evans will come into the top order and Chris Woakes will take over the captaincy against a Nottinghamshire side which has the look of potential title-challengers

"Nottinghamshire are a very good outfit," said Brown. "They have played some interesting cricket in the first few games of the season and probably been in as many winning positions as anybody. They are a very dangerous team.

"We lost up there last year but our recent record against them is actually very good and at Trent Bridge it is excellent. But I'm not a massive one for worrying about what the opposition do. It's more about focusing on what we are going to be doing over the four days."

Warwickshire squad: I.Bell (Captain), T.Ambrose (Wicket-Keeper), K.Barker, V.Chopra, R.Clarke, L.Evans, S.Hain,  J.Patel, B.Rankin. J.Trott, I.Westwood, C.Woakes, C.Wright.


Brian Halford @brainhaldorf

[spangley1812]

Bears win the toss and decide to bat

No Belly injured and is replaced by Laurie Evans

[adrenachrome]

4.3

Bird to Chopra, OUT

V Chopra not out 3 (15m 10b 0x4 0x6) SR: 30.00

[adrenachrome]

Westwood fails again.

IJ Westwood lbw b Fletcher 1 (35m 26b 0x4 0x6) SR: 3.84
Warwickshire 6/2 (9.4 ov)

[taylorsworkrate]

Westwood out for 1.

What is it with that bloody surname??!!

[adrenachrome]

Evans gone now as well.
LJ Evans c †Read b Fletcher 4 (20m 16b 1x4 0x6) SR: 25.00

There goes Hain.
SR Hain lbw b Fletcher 0 (8m 4b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00

Fuck a duck.

[adrenachrome]

Fletcher has 3 for 3.

[ACVilla]

What has Westwood got to do to be dropped. It's getting criminal now.