Great shame, has always struck me as a wholehearted and committed captain, and an overall thoroughly decent chap. He didn't always get it right - who does - and he lead us to an unlikely Championship title which to me will be his legacy.

I hope he refinds his form which looked to be coming back towards the end of the season, and I hope he stays with us when his contract is up.

A very fair assessment, although my overall score was not as generous as yours! As you said, we really do need to get a quality OSP who can ideally stick around for most, if not all, of the summer. It's been hard to keep on top of the merry go round of players coming and going over recent years, with few sticking in the memory for the right reasons. Hasan Ali was an obvious exception to that rule but as Pakistan are touring next year I suspect we will not get him, or at least if we do it will only be for part of the summer.

24-4, looks like a good toss to lose!

Andy wrote:

He's made a ton against the friendliest of friendly bowling remember.

... that's putting it mildly - I had a look at some of the video highlights and there were a huge number of pies being chucked, presumably to set up a run chase. I recon even I could have scored a few runs against that attack!

I agree, Barnard is lucky to be in the team and has been a disappointment this season. Davies is hit and miss, probably more miss than hit, but can't see any realistic alternative.

What a shambles again today, 43 runs and six wickets lost this morning against a team fighting against relegation. Embarrassing.

Glad you enjoyed it BR, and hopefully your son will now be converted! The point around Henry Brookes is reflective of a wider issue in my opinion, too many of our young bowlers simply don't progress, in fact quite the opposite. I'm thinking not just about HB but also about the likes of Garrett and Johal who once promised a lot but seem to have gone backwards. Even Lintott doesn't seem to be the force that he once was in T20, perhaps the opposition batters have worked him out?
I really hope HB can turn it around, he's still young enough but perhaps he's just not getting the right nurturing and a change of club might, sadly, be best all round. For now, his confidence must be shot to pieces and he needs resting for his own sake.

GG appears to have joined the ranks of players out on loan by playing for Glamorgan seconds today.

Hoping he'll return 'at some stage' doesn't sound good at all; very worrying news for him and us. Let's hope it's not as bad as it sounds, and hope too that management move quickly to find a quality overseas bowler to replace Hassan Ali, otherwise our bowling resources are going to be very stretched.

Let's hope he stays put - I wouldn't have thought that Lancs or Yorks really needed another wicket keeper, and in any event, surely Yorkshire would be a lot less attractive an option than the Bears at the moment? Interesting that he's gone on loan to Sussex, where Paul Farbrace is now in situ, having presumably played a part in his non-selection here last year!

The fans on the Durham forum seem to be universally gutted by his departure, he id clearly extremely popular and the sense I get is that he is a strong and positive influence both on and off the pitch. He may be in the twilight of his career but I think his recruitment could prove to be far more positive than might appear at first blush.

Agreed UM - very fair and balanced, although I though a score of 4 out of 10 was erring on the generous side!

Just about recovered after nearly crashing the car yesterday listening to the last few overs...amazing stuff and what a thrilling end to an otherwise forgettable season, almost trumped the feeling of winning the Championship last year! Take a bow Liam Norwell, who will forever be a Bears hero from now on, let's hope he manages to stay injury-free next year and beyond.

I think GS made some excellent points about giving credit to others; I'd add Dom Sibley to the list, despite his impending departure he showed commitment right to the end, he'll be missed and hard to replace. Although I can think of at least one poster on here who would doubtless disagree, I'd also add Yates and Davis to the list too. Both had otherwise pretty miserable seasons but they each contributed to this win, Yates with a fabulous century and Davis who, given that fact that only two extras were conceded in Hants second innings, must have done a half decent job keeping wicket.

How much worse can this get! I hate to say it, but I think we not only deserve to be relegated but it might actually be a good thing to do so in order to rebuild a team that looks to be currently totally devoid of confidence and inspiration. How can things have got so bad so quickly - this time last year we were County Champs, now we're County Chumps...

Very disappointing end to the competition. Although we can rightly argue that we've been ravaged by injuries and call ups to the 100 ball nonsense, the same is true of other teams, including Somerset. In the end, we probably didn't deserve to progress and had we done so, we would doubtless have been left wanting in the quarter finals. At least a number of the youngsters have been blooded and hopefully some will progress into the first team proper in the not to distant future.

Read a rather concerning story elsewhere that OHD is destined for New Road next season. I do hope that is no more than a vicious rumour, I can't see why he would want to do that but if there's disquiet in the camp, perhaps he wants out and no doubt Worcs would be only too happy to snap him up. Worrying times.

To be fair to the bowlers, they're trying hard and keeping us in the game, and Mc Andrew was more than bit unlucky when the ball hit the stumps but failed to dislodge the bails. To add insult to injury the ball then went to the boundary for four byes!

A quick comparison of boudaries tells its own story though, both in terms of intent and confidence - in 104.4 overs we mustered 31 boundaries, so far Surrey have hit 39 plus 2 sixes in 53 overs.

Lost the toss and batting. Davies opening and Benjemin at three - I hope they both prove me wrong but like others on here, I don't feel overly confident about our team selection!

Wholeheartedly agree with all the points and frustrations aired today. I have had to switch the live stream off, far too depressing! With the notable exception of OHD, the bowling is awful - far too many loose balls, no control, no menace. With the fragility of our batting line up I fear only the weather can help us tomorrow. Relegation certainly can't be ruled out and frankly, many would argue that we don't deserve to survive! To think that we were County Champions less than a year ago....

Totally agree White-lightning; the bowling unit generally looks a pale immitation of last year, even allowing for the long injury list. I noticed what a good raport Welch had with the Hants bowlers at the T20 quarter final and thought then what a loss he was. A great shame; Hants are lucky to have him and if they win the T20 final he will have played no small part in making that happen.

Absolutely agree with those points about Norwell, Stone, Woakes and Barnard; who I really hope can flourish when he gets here. Was surprised to see that, in terms of bowling bonus points, we're third highest in the division. Some have played a game (or 2) less but we're on 21 points behind Hants on 24 and Lancs on 22. Kent are struggling with 11 from 8 games, let's hope they don't improve on that when we meet next week!

Some astute comments and observations. This year has been very disappointing on many levels - the mindset seems to be so negative in the four day game, with draws seen as successes, perhaps a reflection of a collective lack of confidence. The coach, as others have said, is conspicuously absent and quiet, unlike last year, and again as others have said, our bowling is shocking. Craig Miles averages nearly 75, Danny Briggs looks a shadow of what he did last year and Henry Brookes seems to be going backwards at alarming speed. Why and how has this happened, so soon after winning the Championship? All very sad and disappointing to see. You can only hope that things turn around quickly, that we stave off relegation and that if we can attract a top drawer OSP (for a change!) and with the arrival of a couple of new faces from our rivals down the M5, things will look a lot better next year.