Yes, maybe a few players have holidays booked and they were thinking about getting on that plane at 10.30 this morning rather than the job they are paid to do.

Most counties appear to have bigger squads so using these bigger squads to give players a rest if indeed they think they are playing too much, must be the way forward. Nottinghamshire have done this during the season with their bowlers and it has obviously paid off, not many huge wicket takers but players getting a game off and being able to recharge their batteries and someone else comes in and they are fresh and eager to produce a performance. They have a few bowlers who have 25-35 wickets and no reason why next season, we shouldn't be able to do the same with the recruits we have made lately. I still don't see how batsmen with fewer inning to bat and bowlers with fewer overs to bowl, can be tired. There is a block of games where bowlers have to bowl 24 balls and therefore only leaving themselves 96 balls to field and batmen only really batting for no more than 50 balls during most innings. And when the One Day Cup is on, although the games are pretty close together, bowling 60 balls is not as taxing as playing longer formats. How are potential Test players going to manage when bowling on a flat surface for 2 days might mean they have to bowl about 30-35 overs. I don't think bowlers are getting their potential strength into their bodies because they are not bowling enough.

Sinking fast and even though we are playing the Champions, there has been no excuse for collapses we have had in this game. I haven't enjoyed this season with us failing to qualify for T20 finals day again, failing to qualify out of our group in the One Day Cup, not taking advantage of getting into good positions in the CC and England not winning a series they really should have v India.

Looks like they are now hammering home their advantage.

Rob Key was a major surprise when he was appointed and it was a typical 'Off-Kilter' thing to do like bringing in McCullum and with Stokes as well, it has been responsible for some crazy selections and remarks about selections. McCullum can be held responsible for the England 'Crash, Bang, Wallop; approach to batting which has seen them draw series they should have won and lost series they should have drawn. Key's remark about Woakes, instead of paying a tribute of sorts, was dismissive and doesn't surprise anyone and if he ever thinks he could have matched Bell and his Test record, he is ridiculous. I hope Woakes will play for us next season, we would have a really good attack to choose from and he wouldn't have to play in every game but be part of an attack that can be switched to rest players after a few games.

As I have mentioned before, I saw only 2 days Saturday cricket in 2014 and only because we got to both finals that year but the numpties at the ECB said that youngsters SHOULD be playing cricket at weekends and not watching it. The Hundread is probably from a players point of view, all about money and I am sure they get paid more for a game in that rotten version of cricket than they do for a 50-over game or a T20.

No, I agree, there is no point now and any talk of an Ashes selection is irrelevant and playing one CC at the end of the season should not have any bearing on a selection for this particular tour. I am not sure how he would be on a tour of Australia seeing as those bastards lay into everyone as soon as they step off the plane, never letting up and getting in your face at every opportunity.

Even though there was no one-day cricket before 1963, the CC then along with other first-class games, could see you play 28 games a season of 3 days, that is 84 days of cricket potentially and if a player was in form or not, the team was picked to be the strongest possible. Bowlers regularly bowled 800-1000 overs a season and with poor transport and no motorways, it must have been a slog. Players today need to be reminded about this plus the very poor pay that most cricketers received and maybe all the talk about 'Burn Out' will be kept to private conversations and not for people like us who have to pay to watch fewer days cricket. Any player who complains and then plays in The Hundred should get a bloody good slap for being a clown and an idiot. I bet the Test players do not suffer when they look at their bank statement to see their fee for just one Hundred game. The overs in the CC have also been reduced since I started watching when it was 110 overs a day and lack of drinks breaks enabled them to get through this amount and moving around quickly between overs helped as well.

It is no doubt going to be a series of interesting games but the weather might have a say, it might just need 1 day of rain to mess/help certain sides.

His figures, if he was signed to be a CC player, are very poor so maybe he was considered part of a CC attack but 7 wickets in 7 games at 75 each is not really very good.

I would be happy to see Hampshire go down, they have been really lucky with 2 of their T20 titles and would have been relegated in 2016 after losing to Durham but Durham were relegated after financial irregularities in their place and at the time, Kent questioned it quite rightly, saying Hampshire should still be relegated as they hadn't done enough to stay in division 1 and that Kent after finishing only slightly below the 2 promoted sides, should get the final division 1 place. Rob Bransgrove was always trying to pump money into the club to buy a Test match every year and moaned like a child when Hampshire were not given Tests every year. Also, I am still pissed off at the way they denied us the 2011 CC title by playing out of their skins on the last day against us yet managing to lose 9 wickets in a session v Lancashire with some insipid schoolboy batting in the penultimate game before they played us.

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.

I had a swollen knee and I wasn't doing it any good as a groundsman at a college, by walking around all day so went to the Dr who said I should keep it elevated. So I did, I sat down for 4 days whilst my leg was raised. I did a bit more jumping up and down on the 4th day and had to avoid the Central TV reporter who interviewed the man standing next to me in the pavilion whilst I moved aside pretty quickly so I wasn't picked up and viewed by someone I worked with. I have the clip somewhere and you can just see my right arm as the man is talking to the camera. Happy days.

When we won the title in 2021 in that last game v Somerset, it was 21st-24th September and for the most part it was very warm and a real scorcher on the last day. I had to take a 'Sickie' all week to watch it. I don't care, I am a rebel and do not want to be at work when my team are winning the title.

Yes, just saw it on BBC cricket site, thought he might have a season in division 1 but alas.... He was a good signing in 2011, it seems like 5 minutes ago he came for the last 3rd of the season and made an impact straight away after Giles didn't appear to rate him but Welch talked him into it. It was so near in 2011 but he and Barker formed one of our very best opening bowling attacks, never letting anyone get off to a good start and that penultimate game at Worcester in 2012 on the first morning was sublime.

Years ago we would be done and dusted by now and if we do get cricket anywhere, it will be with a few layers on and everyone will say, "Do you remember June....". Utterly ridiculous, wonder how many injuries are cause through early season starts and ends with players struggling to keep warm as the cold and wind whistles through them. Get rid of The Hundread and we wouldn't have this.

It would be nice if they could stay up and not go back down seeing as we are losing Worcestershire again which is very selfish of them seeing as we are usually guaranteed CC wins against them.

At least Hampshire didn't win and it wasn't decided with 2 batsmen and a 'Runner' all running at the same time or a side not being allowed to run a bye to the wicketkeeper. Somerset have been consistent in this competition for years and they do appear to get their game in good order, just quite strange how they are letting Dickson go.

Work, bloody work, I gave that up last November and thought, "All that time off, loads of cricket.." but alas, rain, very dull CC games and missing the odd game for family reasons has seen me watching fewer days than when I was working. Agree about the sarcasm, I love it even when I am the victim of it.

LeicesterExile, if you are exiled, doesn't that mean you cannot venture to any games between both sides. Just saying seeing as we have not found out the reason for you being exiled, there must be a salacious reason unless it is to do with high espionage.