13 man squad announced
Rhodes
Ali
Barnard
Benjamin
Bethell
Brookes
Burgess
Davies
Hain
OHD
Mousley
Rushworth
Yates
Norwell has a back issue apparently. Briggs still has a dodgy knee. No centrally contracted England seamers for any team round 1, so no Woakes.
I reckon Benjamin and Brookes to miss out from that 13.
It's just my luck that I named Norwell as my player to watch for my Deep Extra Cover preview! A bit of re-writing needed, not for the first time!
Decent bowling line up, talented but unproven batting line up.
Fingers crossed !
There's a really negative interview on the Somerset website suggesting that the outfield may be unplayable tomorrow.
Why do we always get Taunton in the winter!!!??
BristolBear wrote:
13 man squad announced
Rhodes
Ali
Barnard
Benjamin
Bethell
Brookes
Burgess
Davies
Hain
OHD
Mousley
Rushworth
YatesNorwell has a back issue apparently. Briggs still has a dodgy knee. No centrally contracted England seamers for any team round 1, so no Woakes.
I reckon Benjamin and Brookes to miss out from that 13.
I agree with you BB. And that would be a decent lineup - considering injuries / availability / the fact that Management don't feel the need to strengthen our batting squad !
"You can take the boy out of Atherstone, but you can never take Atherstone out of the boy !"
"The Bears and the (footballing) Foxes for ever !"
I think the following potential line up has a lot of bowling options (8 at a push) and bat down to 8 so fairly optimistic:
Yates
Davies
Rhodes
Hain
Mousley
Bethell
Burgess
Barnard
Rushworth
Ali
OHD
UrsaMinor I’ve just seen the interview you’re talking about. Deeply disappointing. Has the feel of a club trying to make their case of why they shouldn’t get fined for an unfit outfield. And despite their forced optimism, I can’t help but come away thinking that the morning session will be a write off no matter what tomorrow.
I know that the ground was partially under water last week and it's poured with rain today so Somerset are not going to get fined because the ground is wet.
If it's a ploughed field square of the wicket they might
https://youtu.be/Y0hXelwkG7c
No play today. Wet outfield.
Absolutely disgraceful. What have they been doing down there? Look at that picture on twitter.
Live scores link
https://live.nvplay.com/ecb/#mcb8ef362-0fea-4eab-85f0-ff2ae3ad21e4_~summary
Might be useful if there is any play in the rest of the match!
From what I’ve read from Somerset fans, it appears that the club knew they had a drainage issue. But instead of dealing with it immediately after last season, they waited until this year. The heavy rain and lack of sunlight stopped the grass growing on the dug up part of the outfield. It also meant the ground staff weren’t able to pay due attention to other areas of the outfield.
It’s been wet everywhere, if they can get a game on at Cardiff, there’s no reason they shouldn’t be able to at Taunton. And if they’re able to be playing at Worcester this month, considering it is literally feet under water for much of the winter, Taunton has no excuse.
But if some of the rumours I’ve seen from Somerset fans are true, that the whole match is going to be called off, despite bright sunshine all 4 days, that’s a serious failure by Somerset and definitely fine worthy.
They should have a points deduction, it's a disgrace.
Norwell injured already? I'm sure I read he was raring to go only a couple of days ago. That doesn't sound good if it's a back problem....
Liam Norwell - yes, disappointing. A friend of mine refers to him as "Sick Note", which is a bit unkind.
As for the ground at Taunton, I'm as frustrated as anyone because this as close to a home game as I will get. But as for some kind of points deduction, I have to listen to Rob Bailey, umpiring his 200th match, who says:
"The amount of rain that's come down, I can't actually believe that the ground's in such a good condition."
Taunton must have had the most rain in the country then...
Anyway, toss at 11.30am!
Apparently the boundary is being roped in to avoid the worst/dampest areas, meaning the boundary straight towards the Trescothick Stand is about 40 yards...
Good lord, why has OHD shaved his head? He looks... alarming.
I think maybe another factor in the rain delay issue is that (I think) the Test Match grounds got ECB funding several years ago to improve drainage but other grounds such as Taunton didn't. It was noticeable yesterday that the Test match grounds - Lord's, Old Trafford etc. - got matches off to a prompter start than the other grounds. That could mean that, with reduced points for a draw this season, the counties playing at Test grounds will have an advantage in getting more results.