v Worcestershire (A) Mon 30th Aug to Thu 2 Sep 2021 CC

Crocombe and Sarro bowled well this morning to polish off the tail but Leach was a handful at the start of our innings. The locals think that a target of anything over 200 will be a tough ask. An important afternoon session lies ahead. If Orr and Carter can see off Leach’s second spell after lunch, we could set a decent target. Fingers crossed.

At 3 for 3 in our second innings, it looked as though we were going to lose our 51-run first innings' advantage. To be fair, Joe Leach bowled very well; he has been outstanding in this match, although he tired after his first spell. Ali Orr and Oli Carter knuckled down brilliantly to pull us out of the mire. I've seen far more experienced players buckle under the pressure. Ali Orr seems to be an exceptional talent. He is tough and gritty and seems to get through any bad or difficult patches well. He is a proper opener. The young Worcestershire left-arm slow bowler, Baker, was the only one to impress as Sussex picked up runs sensibly. Hudson-Prentice and Ibrahim took us out of another sticky patch at 98 for 5 with a good mixture of common sense and decent shots.

The locals think 250 is already too many on this wicket. I would like to see us reach 300 and gain the win we richly deserve. Let's hope that bad light stays away.

Hope they don't leave the declaration too late. Does youthful inexperience make you cautious or brave? 

It's the most disappointed I've been at losing for ages even though you could say that it is a meaningless game. The team played so well for three days against some experienced players. Jake Libby took the game away from them on the fourth day after Sussex had the better of each of the first three days. A defeat seems very harsh with so many good performances. I also felt that Worcestershire got the rub of the green with some questionable umpiring decisions. This young team has really impressed me, although, to be fair, one or two are not ready for this level of cricket yet. Orr, Ibrahim, Crocombe and Carter all put in good performances and Sarro had two particular good spells. Hudson-Prentice had little luck with the ball and got a nasty one from Leach in the first innings. If we had fielded two or three of the other players who are contracted to play, we would have won.

Like you Philh I travelled up for the Match, although was only there for the first two days.  As you say a totally demoralising and disappointing result, although on the positive being my first chance to see these players in the flesh as opposed to a live stream, it is really impressive to see how good some of them are and how well they performed.  The Team Spirit is also commendable, a few dropped heads at the end, but before that they never gave up even at 97-6 in the first innings and 3-3 in the second and even when Worcestershire were going well at 147-3 in their first.  Borne out further by the impromptu indoor cricket match within the changing room during one of the bad light delays late on the second day accompanied by loud cheering and plenty of laughter.

Ibrahim was outstanding, Orr is becoming an accomplished opener, Crocombe looks a great prospect, Carter put in an excellent highly competent display behind the stumps (although like the Team faded on the last afternoon with the dropped catch and missed stumping) and Carson showed another aspect of his game and will I suspect develop in the longer term into a genuine all-rounder.  As I am sure you will agree, his first innings included some text book shots and was certainly no fluke or result of lucky hitting out.  Hudson-Prentice looks a very good acquisition.

Lenham performed admirably, although will need time to adapt fully to the red ball game and Coles just needs a score.  As others have said, Ward whilst being probably the best fielder of the whole set (what an outstanding catch at short leg) doesn't look quite there yet, although did seem to be on the back of a harsh LBW second time around.

That just leaves the enigma that is Sarro.  His second spell on the second day rightly lasted one over, including two short and wide ones that let Haynes get away after he had struggled to score off his previous 24 deliveries and three no balls where he was so far over the line I could have called them twelve rows back in the Diglis Stand.  Yet, when he came back in the evening spell it was as if he was a different player and could easily have picked up more than the two wickets.  His propensity to overstep is however, concerning, ten no balls in their first innings in a low scoring match is unacceptable.  The appearance of him, one of the coaching staff and a tape measure during the breaks for bad light on the second day spoke volumes.  I am sure there is plenty for the coaching staff to work with and plenty of potential, but time to give Hunt a go please.

That leaves our fledgling skipper, whose lack of runs in this match I hope are not linked to the additional responsibilities of being Captain (interesting the appointment is only to the end of the season).  Others may disagree, but up until the last afternoon with the exception of under bowling Ibrahim I thought he did really well.  Unfortunately, the last afternoon was the real test of his leadership skills and sadly we looked devoid of any real plan or tactic and he was left wanting and exposed.  In his defence, hardly surprising given there was no real experience within the Team to give him any real help.

It was unfortunate Brown was injured and Head has returned to Australia.  Like others, I believe Salt and Garton if fit and available should have played.  Not so convinced Jordan would have made that much difference to the bowling attack.  Claydon is another option, but Liquid is probably blowing a fuse even at the mere mention of his name.  Interesting comment regarding Thomason by Adrian Harms on the live stream who stated 'he hasn't been seen around the Club for last three or four weeks', anyone know anything?

With Leicester and Derby still to come, hopefully we can recover from today and post a couple of victories before the end of the season.  A lot to be positive about, although talk of development and future potential needs to be balanced with some good results in the short term.