This is what happens when August is given over to the 16.66ovs nonsense. The county championship will whither because everyone will lose interest in a competition that needs contrived results in the last rounds. It's like the bad old days of three day county matches all over again.
On a similar point the England v SA T20 matches should've been a high summer long evening of entertainment but, of course, the idiots in charge think people will prefer watching the hula hoops v the monster munches, or something.

Andy wrote:

'Weather can be very decent in September. Don't feel like we've had a good September since 2021 though...'

Hottest weather eva, according to Ed Miliband. The ECB are totally onboard with hysterical alarmism and will produce the fixture lists to match.

And back to the cricket….

Very early to say but Gilchrists figures have not been particularly good since it was announced he was joining us. Im not at the ground but he doesn't exactly look a marquee signing.

Gilchrist's figures do stand out a bit this morning, don't they? He did play well against Surrey though, so we probably ought to give him a few games to assess properly.

Given the weather, this round does look like it is going to be a draw, however, interesting to see how much bonus points affect the table, bearing in mind Essex are behind us. Quick guestimate is we need at least a few BPs to keep them one whole game behind us.

Streetly_Bear wrote:

And back to the cricket….

Very early to say but Gilchrists figures have not been particularly good since it was announced he was joining us. Im not at the ground but he doesn't exactly look a marquee signing.

We just dont have enough threat.

Conditions were perfect today to take some wickets early doors but we bowled too many gift balls and not enough balls forcing Essex to play at. Gilchrist & Booth do offer a bit of extra pace but not enough to make the difference against decent batters regularly.

I would like to see where the scorecard would be if we were put in with those conditions (actually I would not like to see it). Bamber does take wickets but also costs runs, that one over got Essex going with him serving up 4's every ball. Barnard should be someone we go to to give the quicks a rest & to see if he can break a partnership.

There is no lack of effort but we are not going to start threatening the top spots until we have more threat to our attack.

Much needed. That was a good partnership, they played well.

meashambear wrote:

'...but we are not going to start threatening the top spots until we have more threat to our attack.'

Fully concur.

I was there and I have to say that a few good lbw shouts were turned down and we beat the bat more times than I have seen all season. Not much you can do if you don't find the edge as it wasn't from a lack of trying, on any other day it could have been 280-8.

Agree, was there too, we were definitely unlucky particularly in the first 50 or 60 overs, beat the edge loads and Barnard had 2 massive lbw shouts turned down that looked extremely close. It's frustrating but it's hard to be too critical. Partnership between Allison and Critchley was excellent. There's a bit in it, think it may turn a bit too.

Washout tomorrow.

How's things looking weather-wise in Birmingham? I just saw on Cricinfo that play was due to start at 1320, then status reverted to delayed because of rain. Will they get on at all today?

Nope - already done for the day. Were never likely to get on tbh

I’d like to see both sides forfeit an innings to set up a last home day of the season worth watching but it won’t happen.

Sadly the least entertaining home first class season of my life!

Forecast looked horrendous eh. I agree it would never happen but there are incentives to manufacture a win for both Essex and us. Though the prize is only really a possibility of third for us and a possibility of fourth for them - which I think isn't enough of an incentive to risk a defeat. Looks like Somerset will win and that pretty much guarantees them at least third. That's kind of it done, isn't it?