Nottinghamshire beat Warwickshire by seven wickets
When Mark Greatbatch said he was after consistency, it's doubtful that this is what he meant.
For Warwickshire have now won just three of their last 13 games in all competitions and have only two wins from eight in the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy.
The fact that Warwickshire lost this match when a rank full toss was mis-fielded and went for four tells you nearly everything you need to know. Throw in the fact that there were 15 overs left unused and the match was over by 4.25pm and you see the picture in clarity. Warwickshire were awful.
Let's be fair. They used the fact that they were already 'also rans' in this competition to blood some youngsters. Six of the side were aged 23 or under and will, no doubt, have happier days ahead of them.
This is professional cricket, though. This is a spectator sport where members of the public are expected to pay for an entertaining contest. They had every right to feel short-changed by the one-sided fare.
Nor is it strictly accurate to say that all of Warwickshire's first team were rested. Director of coaching Greatbatch's comments after Friday's loss against Lancashire suggested that some of them were to be dropped. This wasn't as far from a first-choice team as it may be comforting to believe.
It's not just Warwickshire to blame for the flat nature of this match. The ECB are t hought to be close to announcing changes to the format of this competition. A semi-final stage will be added in future to reduce the number of 'dead' encounters, though a return to the knock-out formula of old would still be preferable. It is, however, a welcome change.
The only redeeming feature on another disappointing day at Edgbaston was the debut of Navdeep Poonia. The 20-year-old doesn't over-complicate his batting and loves to give the ball a clatter. He had been scoring heavily for the Seconds for a year or so and showed the class and composure to suggest he could have a bright future at the higher level.
It was not just that Poonia top-scored with 59 off 81 balls (seven fours and two sixes). It was the manner of his batting that so impressed. He drove particularly well, lofting Samit Patel for one huge six, but also laid into the short ball, cutting Gareth Clough for six more.
He may have played for England at youth level but Glasgow-born Poonia has realistic hopes of forcing his way into Scotland's World Cup squad. He top-scored for their Under-23 side in a trial game a couple of weeks ago and was very close to selection for their senior side's game against Durham yesterday.
Poonia's chance here came after the Bears director of coaching lost patience with some of his more experienced players. Out went Jim Troughton, Nick Knight, Ian Westwood and Dougie Brown and in came Poonia, Luke Parker and Moeen Ali.
It was somewhat ironic, then, that a Warwickshire 'old boy' led Nottinghamshire's victory charge. Anurag Singh spent six years with Warwickshire, but left after failing to cement a place at the end of 2000.
It's interesting to note that Singh, who hit an unbeaten 78 from 86 balls (11 fours), once formed a formidable schoolboy alliance with Mark Wagh in the King Edward's side. It is rare that so talented a pair comes together at such an age, but neither man can really claim to have utilised their ability to the full.
Singh is expected to concentrate his legal career full time at the end of the season while Wagh, seemingly not even considered for the oneday team, also faces an uncertain future. That's a shame, because the two of them time the ball as pleasingly as anyone and are a joy to watch.
This was Singh's first List A half-century for 23 months and his highest one-day score since he made 97 for Worcestershire against Warwickshire in 2003.
The way he timed the ball yesterday suggested he should have achieved far more. He cut and drove beautifully, though Heath Streak and colleagues will reflect that their line and length was not good enough.
Will Smith, who pulled two sixes in three balls off Neil Carter, and Patel lent support.
David Hussey brought matters to an early end, thumping four fours and a six in an 18-ball cameo for an unbeaten 26. None of Warwickshire's bowlers will remember the day with much satisfaction.
Poonia apart, only Michael Powell impressed with the bat for Warwickshire. Three times Powell found the boundary with impudent reverse sweeps, and more than justified his recall after scoring heavily in club cricket.
His loss, however, guiding a long-hop to point as if giving catching practice, was not atypical of his side's batting. Carter carved to cover, Moeen was caught on the cover boundary, Tony Frost was run out after a mix-up with Powell and Streak nibbled at one outside off stump.
Perhaps Jonathan Trott, who under-edged an attempted cut to one which kept low, can count himself unlucky. He'll find he's unlucky a good deal less often if he moves his feet more, however, while Parker was simply outclassed by a lovely piece of flight and turn.
So, another loss, but mitigated a little by future promise. With Poonia's batting emerging to compliment Lee Daggett's seam bowling and Moeen's batting - he considers himself a batsman who bowls and it's hard to disagree - the germ of a future Warwickshire side is starting to grow.
There are quite a few blank spaces still to fill in, however.
