Surrey (H)

[SirChef26]

Super win that, I thought Aaron Beard was excellent. If Pepper keeps going at this rate, we'll be losing him to the 16.4, so I hope Wheater's kept his gloves somewhere safe. When Walter cuts out the funky ramp/scoop rubbish and just focuses on slogging then he can be really good, plus having a left-hander in the middle order is really helping us.

Personally when Critchley's back I'd have Pepper or Lawrence opening and lose Khushi/Buttleman. Felt sorry for Rossington tonight, he was put under pressure to throw the bat by Khushi's terrible second over and subsequently got out, which has happened more than once already when he was with Buttleman. I feel like if he had a quality partner next to him who can get on top of the opponent like Pepper/Lawrence can, he might well have done better than he has for us.

Khushi, like Buttleman is out of his depth at the top. He's clearly a 50 over bat, not a 20 over one. Westley is exactly the same, which is why he is held back. It's not possible for him to come in and hit sixes/fours off the bat like Harmer can.

We'd now need to lose twice, Gloucestershire to win twice and Hampshire to beat Sussex for us not to make it. A home quarter would be absolutely massive as I can't see us beating Lancs or Birmingham with their batting line-ups on big grounds. Need Surrey to do us a favour against Somerset.

[CostaDelEssex]

If Critchely is fit to return, Westley has to open. Kushi is unfortunately out of his depth.

Great to see Beard bowl such a brilliant opening over. I’ve got to know a few players over the years and they always say he is as talented as anyone at the club. Injuries have disrupted him and last year he completely lost his action. Let’s hope he fulfils that potential.

Rossington will come good, class bat. Think we can all see the other area he needs to work on…

[nat]

If Critchely is fit to return, Westley has to open. Kushi is unfortunately out of his depth.

Great to see Beard bowl such a brilliant opening over. I’ve got to know a few players over the years and they always say he is as talented as anyone at the club. Injuries have disrupted him and last year he completely lost his action. Let’s hope he fulfils that potential.

Rossington will come good, class bat. Think we can all see the other area he needs to work on…

Spot on ...on all points.

[SirChef26]

Westley would do no better than the other two, because just like them he’s not got the shot range. Of our current squad, only Pepper and Lawrence are capable of doing the job as both are ‘360’ players. As for Rossington, a few runs in Div 2 and a few sixes against Derbyshire and Leicestershire hardly defines “class”. He’s playing with the big dogs now and hasn’t impressed. If Pepper makes it clear to the club that he wants to be a wicketkeeper long term, then the smart move would back to sack Rossington off and invest his wages elsewhere.

[bwildered]

 Rossington might need to drop down the order if he does not gain some runs in the 16.4 franchise. Expect to sign for Essex has he is a better keeper than both Buttleman and Pepper. Just leave Pepper to develop his batting, which is much improved no end in this format has his scores suggest.

[ytsejam1]

Westley would do no better than the other two, because just like them he’s not got the shot range. Of our current squad, only Pepper and Lawrence are capable of doing the job as both are ‘360’ players. As for Rossington, a few runs in Div 2 and a few sixes against Derbyshire and Leicestershire hardly defines “class”. He’s playing with the big dogs now and hasn’t impressed. If Pepper makes it clear to the club that he wants to be a wicketkeeper long term, then the smart move would back to sack Rossington off and invest his wages elsewhere.

Agree with that about the openers. We've exceeded the expectations of most of us so far in this competition but if we want to get to the finals day again and maybe even to the final itself we have got it change the opening partnership as we are not using the powerplay overs to their best effect.
You need at least one of the openers to be able to have a consistent strike rate around 175+ and none of ours do. Westley would make no difference whatsoever. I would prefer to keep Pepper where he is but try either Dan or maybe even Walter as an opener with Rossington and hope that would also help him find a bit of form and an increased scoring rate too.
Lets hope Critchley is back next week as we really dont need to see Nijjar in the team anymore as he is a liability this season. Great to see Beard performing so well too.

[SirChef26]

Rossington might need to drop down the order if he does not gain some runs in the 16.4 franchise. Expect to sign for Essex has he is a better keeper than both Buttleman and Pepper. Just leave Pepper to develop his batting, which is much improved no end in this format has his scores suggest.

My point though is what if Pepper makes it clear to the hierarchy that he wants to keep and will assess his options if we don't allow him to do that. Still plenty of room for development and will only improve with the gloves, but he's the best young bat we've had come through since Lawrence and at 24 today is now at the age where he needs to be playing all formats regularly. He'll have his pick of counties should he wish to go somewhere where he'll be given the gloves as first-choice.

Rossington will be on a big wage and so far hasn't justified it. To be honest, he hasn't even impressed me that much with the gloves At five years older than Pepper and a 16.4 player, he is not the cost of retaining if it risks losing Pepper.

I would prefer to keep Pepper where he is but try either Dan or maybe even Walter as an opener with Rossington and hope that would also help him find a bit of form and an increased scoring rate too.

Walter has to stay where he is. Having an in-form left-arm bat in the middle order has been a massive factor in our success. It means we're always hitting towards the short boundary in the middle to late overs when he's there.

[ytsejam1]

Rossington might need to drop down the order if he does not gain some runs in the 16.4 franchise. Expect to sign for Essex has he is a better keeper than both Buttleman and Pepper. Just leave Pepper to develop his batting, which is much improved no end in this format has his scores suggest.

My point though is what if Pepper makes it clear to the hierarchy that he wants to keep and will assess his options if we don't allow him to do that. Still plenty of room for development and will only improve with the gloves, but he's the best young bat we've had come through since Lawrence and at 24 today is now at the age where he needs to be playing all formats regularly. He'll have his pick of counties should he wish to go somewhere where he'll be given the gloves as first-choice.

Rossington will be on a big wage and so far hasn't justified it. To be honest, he hasn't even impressed me that much with the gloves At five years older than Pepper and a 16.4 player, he is not the cost of retaining if it risks losing Pepper.

I would prefer to keep Pepper where he is but try either Dan or maybe even Walter as an opener with Rossington and hope that would also help him find a bit of form and an increased scoring rate too.

Walter has to stay where he is. Having an in-form left-arm bat in the middle order has been a massive factor in our success. It means we're always hitting towards the short boundary in the middle to late overs when he's there.

Big argument for that to be the case and makes sense, BUT we have to change the openers and he must be a candidate for that anyway.