I wonder what team we will put out on Sunday at Taunton? I don't think that the batting line up 1-7 will change, although if Yates is fit he may come back into the side. Will Woakes be able to get through another match, he bowled 34 overs against Hampshire. Miles is likely to be replaced, Booth or Norwell to come in? Maybe both if Woakes is rested? Will Hassan Ali be fit to play, if so he might come into the equation.

Possible team: Rhodes/Yates, Davies, Mousley, Hain, Bernard, Bethell, Burgess, Briggs, OHD, Woakes/Booth/Norwell/Ali

Sam Hain is a class act, and well played Michael Burgess too. Well done to OHD as well for seeing out 11 balls at the end. Lucky to get a draw though, we were outplayed by Hants for most of the match.

I thought Miles had edged that one, given not out but now he's been clean bowled. Up to you OHD!

In my opinion, the problem is that we have a team set up to compete in T20 cricket, but is not good enough to compete at the top end of the Championship. Too many of our bowlers are either over 30 or suffer from injuries during the season. It's ok for some of them to bowl 4 overs a match in T20 but how many of them can manage 20 overs+ in a Championship game? Also, i do not feel that the Captain is pro-active enough in Championship cricket, i appreciate that it's his first season in charge but we need more innovation from him during matches.

Barker strikes again! Both openers gone, it's going to be a tough day.

Norwell bowled 24 overs in the match, taking 4 wickets. A likely starter for Sunday i would imagine.

I think we are the only side in Division One who has failed to take 20 wickets in a match so far this season.

They've declared, we need 498 to win. Davies & Rhodes had a partnership of 200+ earlier on in the season against Durham, something akin to that is needed now!

They'll want a bowl at us before end of play tonight - maybe 10/12 overs?

Highveld wrote:

He doesn't bowl much in first class games, his style from T20 is unlikely to work in the longer format.

He doesn't, but seeing as he got a wicket in his only over yesterday i thought Davies might have gambled on bowling him early doors this morning. Hants lead now 302, really need to break this partnership. OHD & Briggs for the next few overs?

Is Mousley injured? He has only bowled one over so far in this innings. We need to get Vince and Dawson out soon or else we'll be chasing a big total.

Wicket for Mousley, getting rid of Middleton. I'm hoping we can bowl them out for around 230, leaving us 275 to chase.

I thought we did well to bowl them out for under 300, the crucial wicket for me was Miles getting Ben Brown out as he & Dawson looked to be taking them to a big total. Fair play to Barnard as well, 3 wickets is a good return for a part-time bowler. Disappointed to lose two wickets at the end, still we have a strong middle order who can take us past their total tomorrow.

KingofSpain wrote:

Its a shame about Rae. I thought he did well as cover and could be an option for the One Day Cup.
Let's see how Norwell holds up. What happened to Jamal? Another overseas recruit that hasn't worked out.
I would think from the squad that Benjamin, Booth and Miles miss out and it is between Mousley and Briggs for the remaining spot.

Ha- I see what you did there, nice Lemonheads reference! I am wondering if Yates is fit then could they possibly have Davies keep wicket and leave Burgess out? Also is it too risky to play both Norwell & Woakes given their lack of game time?

Possible team: Yates, Davies, Rhodes, Hain, Barnard, Mousley, Bethell, Woakes, Briggs, OHD, Miles.

Last time out at Lancs our team was: Yates, Davies, Rhodes, Mousley, Barnard, Bethell, Burgess, Rae, OHD, Hassan & Lintott.

Hain will be back at 4, so if Yates is fit to play who drops out of the first 7? Woakes will come in for Rae, Briggs for Lintott, and one of Booth/Miles/Norwell for Hassan.

Squad:

Ed Barnard
Chris Benjamin
Jacob Bethell
Michael Booth
Danny Briggs
Michael Burgess (wk)
Alex Davies (c)
Sam Hain
Olly Hannon-Dalby
Craig Miles
Dan Mousley
Liam Norwell
Will Rhodes
Chris Woakes
Rob Yates

Wow what an innings from Bethell! He smashed the Northants bowlers all over the park - superb!

So Barnard smashes 48 off 29 balls, something we all knew he was capable of doing. Yet, for some reason, he doesn't get selected until match 7 despite being in every squad since the first match. Also, if Yates was available for this game, would Barnard have been left out again for Benjamin?

Hopefully Liam will be back fairly soon, starting off in the T20's? A pace attack of Woakes, Gleeson & Norwell looks pretty tasty to me.

Nowadays in T20, I believe the strike rate is considered more of a benchmark than the average. I would agree that after 4 or 5, an average doesn't really count for much.

At the moment, Sam Hain is currently 2nd in the averages of the Vitality Blast with an average of 55 from 5 innings (165 runs). However, his strike rate is fairly low at 120.44. Not sure what an acceptable average for a batsman should be in T20, but i think as far as strike rate is concerned 150.00 would be considered the benchmark.