I find it thoroughly depressing to hear that the ECB are to lift Yorkshire's ban on hosting internationals. It is not long ago that Durham were relegated, fined a stack of points and lost their right to host internationals all for the heinous crime of needing a loan. Have the ECB so quickly forgotten the revulsion that Yorkshire's antics generated last autumn? It wasn't just a case of a few uncouth individuals but the ease with which the Club turned a blind eye and then went on to vilify the whistleblower. If they can carry on without sanction, it will leave a very nasty smell behind.

I think we need details ...

Not to mention lightning reflexes at short leg and a javelin-like throw from the deep. If Jacob ends up as half the player Sobers was, we'll be more than pleased.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, Ashley Giles is leaving as Director of England Cricket. The Ashes shambles is not just his fault by any means but he did take the decision to make Silverwood Lord-High-Everything and that has been a failure. It was Giles' decision so he carries the can.

We know the KoS is basically a good guy so he'll pop up again somewhere soon. The ECB have still got a lot of work to do, though.

Somerset have announced that they will be hosting the Bears for a three day fixture beginning on April 1st and that they will be taking it seriously. Could be some good days out there.

Given that they'll probably want to start the season around the middle of February, they'd better get on with it.

The decline of our ability to play Test Match cricket was predictable - and indeed predicted - from the moment we became obsessed with Donkey Slog. It's taken twenty years to get into this pickle and it isn't going to get fixed in a hurry. Sadly.

Thanks Terry. If it weren't for the fact that the Bears won the CC, I would have to say that 2021 was a pretty dark one for English cricket. Still, in keeping with the spirit of the season, I will put my natural grumpiness aside and join you in wishing everyone well for 2022.

I think they got past a quart a long time ago. Sticking with Imperial measures, it seems they're going for a gallon.

I do wonder whether some of the media and political commentators are channelling Captain Renault from Casablanca when they profess themselves to be shocked (shocked!) to discover that sports clubs can be nests of testosterone fuelled machismo where the senior members think it is their right to abuse and demean the more junior ones. I imagine we've all seen it; possibly been on the receiving end of it; perhaps perpetrated it in our ignorant youth. If Azeem Rafiq's speaking out alerts the more knuckle-headed types to the fact that "banter" can be thoroughly hurtful and makes them think twice in future, we will have taken a big step forward. Let's be nice to each other.

Wow! Magnificent interview and so refreshing to listen to somebody who is simply and obviously telling the truth.

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse for YCCC, Colin Graves is reported to have offered to go back and take charge. Maybe they deserve each other.

I think you'll find the reasoning is called "money".

Presumably the ECB think that if they can get an audience for a dog's breakfast like The Hundred, then they can treat their customers with contempt and still get away with it.

It's a brave move to turn down any representative selection but I agree that going on this Lions tour wouldn't do Sibley much good. I don't know what his options are this winter, with half the world still Covid-bound, but I hope he isn't just going to spend it in the indoor nets. Whilst a sound basis is important, I think "technique" can be over-stressed. Marcus Trescothick never moved his feet but still scored stacks of runs. Jonathan Trott made a whole career out of persuading bowlers that, if they bowled at his pads, he would eventually miss one. (He never did.) I think Sibley's issue is as much mental as technical and it would be good if he could get some time in the middle at a level where he can rebuild his self-belief.

Sibley, Norwell and Yates all in the Lions squad. Well deserved and every chance to push for a Test cap too.

It's difficult to see how you pick a credible XI from that squad. The bowling is short of pace (especially once Wood gets injured as he inevitably will); the batting, Root excepted, isn't much more than County standard; and who on earth gets to bat at seven? Much though we love him, I don't think Woakes is a Test match bowler in Australian conditions so he'd be playing as a batsman. Buttler's batting record isn't great against a red ball and that would leave only four bowlers.

Oh dear. Could be embarrasing.

I'd still back Sibley to play Test cricket again. He seems to be a thinking cricketer who has had bad patches before but found a way round them. I think he'll do it again.

His big strength is his stickability - which is what opening the batting in Test cricket is supposed to be about. He mustn't lose that. His current weakness is that once the new ball has been dealt with, he just gets stuck and sides have worked out how to leave him scoreless. If he can spend the winter and the early part of next year finding one reliable scoring shot on the off-side he'll have enough to come back.

Yesssss!

Congratulations to all involved. Great team performance.

Generous declaration. I reckon it leaves Somerset as favourites but with Woakes, Bresnan and Briggs to control the run rate we might be able to make it exciting.

Come on you Bears!

Andy wrote:

Yeah that was a tough one. We made about 490 batting first and had Hampshire following on the flattest deck of all time, the wickets just wouldn't come in the 2nd dig and Hampshire got so far ahead anyway eventually they actually saved it comfortably. I remember Carberry getting big runs, someone else got a ton too. Chopra made a ton for us.

Neil McKenzie. That one still hurts. I'd made the trip to Southampton that day confidently expecting to see JT raise the trophy. Instead a combination of a flat track and some frankly unambitious captaincy saw it slip away.
I could come to Edgbaston tomorrow to see our success but I'm worried I'll turn out to be a Jonah.