And 38 taken off an over from Shaoib Bashir. Looks like England's Test attack is in great shape!

Ffs, Woakes has bowled 6 competitive overs in the last four months - and now he needs a rest???

There's the Eoin Morgan school of thought that says that the number of balls in a T20 is so few that you just swing at everything and keep swinging even if wickets fall. (Even more so in the Hundread.) He may have a point. The game is so short that it becomes hard to encapsulate performances in statistics that are separated from context.

Are you (hypothetically) talking about Tim Groenewald?

Once you get below, say, number 4 averages become irrelevant. You'll be coming in with 20 balls to go and just need to slog everything. Strike rate will be more important than average and Benjamin used to be decent in that regard. He's having a grim season in all respects, though.

Interesting how little coverage this is getting in the media. Soccer, yes: golf, yes: tennis, yes. Is there any cricket on?

And OHD's bowling not required. I'd find it hard to predict the winner of a game between that side and the so-called first XI.

It's 4 overs and we have spare bowling resources within the team anyway if he breaks down. What's the problem?

Pretty strong Somerset 2nd XI with two Test Match bowlers and several other 1st Team players. I wonder if Bashir will get the hump in the same way that Dominic Bess did and look for another County. He's not getting much 1st Team action in any format.

With a full day, bat for an hour then declare. But we won't be getting a full day looking at the weather forecast.
I'd still bat for an hour but then expect it to fizzle out in the rain. The draw points have been doing us quite a favour so far this year.

UrsaMinor wrote:

GerryShedd wrote:

Great effort from Alex Davies. Who was the last man to carry his bat for the Bears?

Go on, then. I'll bite. I seem to remember somebody doing it in the last few years when they were the first person to do it since Billy Ibadulla or someone of that ilk. If it was recently then, maybe, Sibley?

Could well be Sibley. 92* out of 188 against Hampshire in 2017.

GerryShedd wrote:

Great effort from Alex Davies. Who was the last man to carry his bat for the Bears?

Go on, then. I'll bite. I seem to remember somebody doing it in the last few years when they were the first person to do it since Billy Ibadulla or someone of that ilk. If it was recently then, maybe, Sibley?

Genuine question here: how is Alex Davies working out as captain? I haven't got to see the Bears in action this year so all I can do is deduce things from the scorecards which suggest that he's not afraid to use all his bowling resources (overs given to Yates & Bethell; Rhodes as a new ball bowler) and that he knows a decent time to declare. I'd be interested to hear from those who have seen the action live:

Is he obviously in charge?
Does it look like he's got a plan or does he faff about?
Do the team look happy?

How's he doing?

This remains a really difficult season to read. For the first couple of days, we competed well and I was feeling quite upbeat. Then it all fell apart and we ended up crushed. At least we don't have to play Surrey again this year.
We've had some surprisingly strong batting performances but are yet to register a win. With Essex up next, that's not likely to change soon. I think we could find ourselves struggling to stay up this year.

Fair play, let's see how he goes. His overall first class bowling figures aren't stellar but maybe he's a man in form.

Interesting. How does he fit in? He won't be batting higher than 8, so is he really an upgrade on Miles?

You could have got very long odds against Rob Yates being our leading wicket taker after 3 rounds of the CC. Almost as long as those against Alex Davies being the leading run scorer in the country!
With the weather and the balls, it's almost impossible to tell which teams are doing well and which are struggling. It promises to be a topsy-turvy season.

Terrific stuff! Now keep it going. This is four day cricket, make sure the boots are well and truly filled.

Rather a disappointing start. There aren't many weaker teams than the Pears in Division One but it looks like we might be one of them. I mean no offence to the squad we fielded in this game but they are good players rather than strong ones. We seem to lack the star quality that would come with a Hain, Woakes or Hasan Ali. We could do with those players back or for Yates or Mousley to have a breakthrough year.

I received an insight into the future of the 18 counties in my email this week. At one time, I was a member of Somerset and they still send me promotional material. This week's was an invitation to book for a number of "exciting" events that they are planning this year. These appeared to consist of a DJ session featuring Craig Charles and a succession of shows by tribute acts. A bit naff, I thought, but then I realised that they have to find something to do with their cricket ground. They are not a venue for The Undead so the ground will be virtually unused throughout the summer. Better look for something other than cricket.
Once the administrators get the smell of money in their nostrils, those of us who care about quality or (God help me!) tradition might as well pack up and find something else to do. I've seen the future and it's coming sooner than we might like.

Oh, and by the way, I see England are now bottom of the World Test Championship league table. Really working this slogball, innit?