Harmer made a mistake at the toss as the ball looked to be skidding on, but even if we bowled first it probably would have been beyond us as we'd have been chasing 185 bare minimum bowling as we did. We were out bowled, out batted and out fielded. Allison again was ruthlessly targeted but he brings it upon himself by bowling absolute filth. Should be nowhere near the team and he cost us again, the players clearly gave up and let their heads drop after he shipped another 15 odd from his second over midway through Lancs' innings.
Sams was Neesham mark two, won one or two games, but out of a possible 15 that's not good enough from an overseas, plus he's cost us games (Somerset at home which ultimately denied us a home draw). It's just unacceptable for an overseas to go for 19 runs in one over of a quarter-final. We need to stop wasting our second OS spot on mediocre all-rounders and either get a world class fast bowler (preferably a left-armer like Boult, Shaheen, Amir), or an opening partner for Rossington who can hit boundaries in their sleep. Someone like Aaron Finch (Aussie white ball players should be free next June/July as that's rumoured to be when the Ashes takes place.
Progress though! I really did expect a 8th/9th place finish so they greatly exceeded my expectations, I believe mainly due to the powerful impact of full crowds returning to Chelmsford which we greatly suffered without in 2020 and 2021. In Pepper we've found one for the long haul as well. They need to learn how to win on big grounds though and find a consistent overseas player who can win more than just a couple of games a season if we are to go any further.
