Warwickshire v Yorkshire

[coolerking]

Ideally the time to bed in young players is when the team is doing well. Unfortunately, if we wait that long before we try it those young players will long since have retired.

[paulbear]

Despite being a county that has to juggle a sports mad culture of so many sports, Rugby (Both codes), Football and Cricket, Yorkshire manage to do it. I know they are a massive county covering miles but they seem to be able to produce cricketers of all kinds and in the Warwickshire/West Midlands area we have no really great teams in other sports to compete against and yet we cannot come up with a few young cricketers of any sort who have stood out and are ready to take over from this aging team we now have before us. Is it the youth set-up ? Is there something wrong that stops players who have been in the second team for years, coming into the first team and looking the part. It is embarrassing but for how long more must this underachievement go on for.

[Harborne Bear]

I've never felt so embarrassed and depressed to be a Bears fan. This is utterly awful...hard to see how we can bounce back from this debacle. Are the team resigned to division 2 cricket next year already? Time to blood some youngsters who surely can't do any worse. Loathed as I am to even think about it, perhaps we even need to look at potential Kolpak players to patch the batting together for a while.

Come back Dougie, all is forgiven!

[paulbear]

Sacking Dougie was not something I was not happy about and anyone who thought 'The Prodigal Son' would just march in and put things right was living in another world. Getting Giles in was like saying that the glory days would be back but now it is plain to see getting rid of Dougie makes no difference. I hope Giles makes them go out there after the game and have a bat on the pitch and see that it is not a minefield even though the odd ball 'Does a bit'.

[philly]

Well, at least we haven't lost a wicket for about 20 minutes #teatime

[Exiled Bear]

I liked Dougie, but a lot of the blame for this has to go to him. Don't forget that it was his falling out with Chopra that led to Chopra leaving (apparently), and we miss him already. The lack of youth players coming through also has a lot to do with Dougie I think.

[greenday28]

I'm sure Dougie would have wanted to recruit players and no player is ever bigger than a club, you can't blame 1 person for a club going badly wrong. You have to look at the whole structure and i'd certainly look at the guys earning the big bucks I. the chief exec

Isn't it obvious that the brand Edgbaston has been prioritised over Warwickshire CCC!? simple as.

[Leicester Exile]

(16-04-2017, 04:01 PM)coolerking Wrote: Ideally the time to bed in young players is when the team is doing well.  Unfortunately, if we wait that long before we try it those young players will long since have retired.

I have to disagree, Hilts, -

1. You don't change winning sides.

2. If the seniors are not performing then there is less pressure on the incoming guy as he is not going to do any worse than the star he replaces.

[DaveC]

(16-04-2017, 05:08 PM)greenday28 Wrote: I'm sure Dougie would have wanted to recruit players and no player is ever bigger than a club, you can't blame 1 person for a club going badly wrong. You have to look at the whole structure and  i'd certainly look at the guys earning the big bucks I.  the chief exec

Isn't it obvious that the brand Edgbaston has been prioritised over Warwickshire CCC!? simple as.

I've been making this point today.  Although most o us could see this coming, I do begin to wonder whether this rapid decline is all in the master plan.

The idea of an organic, competitive, functioning cricket set-up seems to have become subservient to the "brand".

And for the likes of WB the argument is probably why not? If you can convince punters to turn up and watch any old rubbish on T20 nights, supplement it with the income from a new city-based competition and continue to rake in income from the international games then why bother investing in your first-class structure and the organisation that underpins it.

The remaining 3 or 4000 members will all but die off in the next 25 years. Far better to have a money-making brand and push the boring old-fashioned stuff to the margins where it can be euthanased though lack of interest.

Hard to see where the CC season goes from here. A decent forecast for next weekend and Surrey visiting - I expect to see us completely adrift at the bottom by a week on Monday.

[coolerking]

You misunderstand LE. I'm arguing, admittedly in a facetious manner, that changing the team is *exactly* what is required, and immediately, whether in the interests of giving new players a fair crack, or taking the under-performers out of the firing line for a while. So I agree with you: it's hard to argue that anyone we might bring in would contribute less than the man he replaces.

Having said that, not changing a winning team is a mistaken belief, IMHO, that is partly responsible for the state we're in now.

[Exiled Bear]

(16-04-2017, 05:08 PM)greenday28 Wrote: I'm sure Dougie would have wanted to recruit players and no player is ever bigger than a club, you can't blame 1 person for a club going badly wrong. You have to look at the whole structure and  i'd certainly look at the guys earning the big bucks I.  the chief exec

Isn't it obvious that the brand Edgbaston has been prioritised over Warwickshire CCC!? simple as.

We are hugely in debt. If we want to have a cricket club to support in future I think we have to prioritise earning money a fair bit! Obviously the cricket is the most important thing but we certainly need someone to get our finances in order, and we seem to be starting to move towards that goal.

[greenday28]

I think you have misunderstood my point...

but having a respectable and competitive club should be a priority

[exiledinkent]

I understand all the points about the Club's finances and priorities.
But this is a group of talented group of players massively underperforming. They all seem to have pitched up for the new season with absolutely no hunger.
The baffling decision to bowl first in the first game has put the captain on the back foot. Whether he has the temperament or leadership qualities to drag this side back from the brink is debatable.

[Leicester Exile]

We've got to 50 and only lost 7 wickets !

[coolerking]

Very disappointing. Two games in, two games which squeak into the last day and (almost certainly) two games ending with an innings defeat. I keep hearing that the players are talented but we're just not seeing it in practice. Maybe the problem is that they *were* talented but are further over the hill than we thought.

[greenday28]

exactly! they were good players but they've been on the slippery slope for a few years and it's been obvious for all to see.

They were banking on Bell Trott and Hain....everyone else would chip in with a few runs.

[stingray]

(16-04-2017, 04:58 PM)Exiled Bear Wrote: I liked Dougie, but a lot of the blame for this has to go to him. Don't forget that it was his falling out with Chopra that led to Chopra leaving (apparently), and we miss him already. The lack of youth players coming through also has a lot to do with Dougie I think.

Chopra is so well thought of by Essex, he's not in the first team currently playing. Maybe says something about him?

[stingray]

[quote='greenday28' pid='96256' dateline='1492358929']
I'm sure Dougie would have wanted to recruit players and no player is ever bigger than a club, you can't blame 1 person for a club going badly wrong. You have to look at the whole structure and i'd certainly look at the guys earning the big bucks I. the chief exec

Isn't it obvious that the brand Edgbaston has been prioritised over Warwickshire CCC!? simple as.
[/quote

I'm not sure I'd be gunning for the Chief Executive just yet - he's been in post for a year!!! George D and I were talking at lunch and we're going to have to go through what pretty much every other club has had to do, rebuild and if it's in the 2nd division so be it. Surrey have been in the doldrums for a few years with far greater resources than us and look at them now.

[coolerking]

Maybe he's unfit. Could be any number of reasons to be fair.

[GrizzlyBear]

Chopra's been carrying the drinks for Essex so he's not unfit. Of course, having Alastair Cook available doesn't help his chances of a first team game.