Cannot see the point in keeping Woakes away from a game of cricket as he could be rusty when he does finally bowl. I sometimes wonder if the ECB ever think of saying to a player, "Do you think it might be beneficial for you to play a bit before '*@&^%%' or do you need to rest". Players know what suits them and some may think a game or 2 might actually be the best thing before an international ODI or T20.

18 runs from 19 balls for the Worcestershire lower order, just like Hampshire, having players who can get late boundaries is a godsend in these games. A lot of tailenders try to smash the hell out of it and end up missing the ball. Just getting something on it and running is best as you know that at some stage with a few wickets in hand, you will get a boundary. So we have one of our 'Bogey' teams and The Pears will be kicking themselves. Time we laid to waste the bad form against this lot and hope we can brush them aside.

Looking at both sides, they look weak. if you consider that the later Hampshire batsmen from 6-11 have managed 44 runs from 64 balls. Worcestershire have Leach at 7 so no one would be too fearful of sides like that. There is a trophy here at stake, we must play the best side we can. I hate it when the ECB say that players who have hardly played, should be rested, they are cricketers, they should play cricket. At this stage, not playing players for whatever reason in stupid and has no baring on future games unless they get injured and you cannot 'Rest' players because they might get injured.

At some stage, we will have to beat Hampshire at some stage. As a side, they do appear to have more than their fair share of luck and are not that good. Player for player we can more than match them.

BosworthBear, I totally agree as it is the keepers choice to do this but Lancashire did it last year in the T20 final and were told the ball was dead as soon as the keeper removed the bails despite the fact that after the first run, the batsman had made his ground at the keepers end. It is a daft rule and Lancashire were still trying to argue their point to the umpire whilst Hampshire were celebrating. I think the umpires got it wrong seeing as you can still take a run after an attempted stumping has been ruled not out and the stumps are broken. I think we should have been able to do it also in the 2012 final v Hampshire (Why is it always them involved in controversial cup wins) when Hampshire's keeper chose to break the stumps with Carter still in his ground. Either way, I still wonder why Durham didn't play with the same sort of intensity in their other games, they might be in a better position. I think they were lucky on the 4th ball of the last over, that looked too high both from my view at the side of the pitch and looking at it again on You Tube.

Home semi really looks odds on now, not that home fixtures appear to give us any sort of advantage as we have seen in T20 and other knockout formats over the years. Surprised at Northants slow start and Vasconcelos and Gay took up almost half the balls (28) in making 16 but some of the bowling was really accurate so well done to them for not getting panicky and spraying it everywhere.

If we had Woakes, Moeen, Hasan, Hain and Mousely, you would be putting our name on the trophy already.

'Poor', you are being kind, it was atrocious. It's not as if the bowler was leaping about like a salmon wildly appealing. I would be ashamed as a bowler, to even ask for that.

Glad I didn't decide to go which seems strange after a thrashing like that but take into account, petrol, ticket and parking plus a very one-sided game and it seems like an anti-climax although I am very chuffed. When our neighbours are bad, they are very bad.

Great start to this tournament. We need to go to another final. You do start to get withdrawal symptoms after a while.

Whatever reason for the defeat, it was a bit of a shock as Middlesex have so far had a dreadful season but I suppose by that measure, they were due a good game somewhere along the line but just a pity it was us. Not impressed after watching the first 2 days and after 20-6 when I arrived, it would take a real turnaround to comeback from that. Surrey are a bit like we were in 1994, Lara apart, no one could see why we did so well as we appeared to have journeymen as opposed to stars. On paper, Surrey do not look as strong as other sides but their bowling doesn't seem to require players taking 5 wicket hauls as everyone seems to chip in. Hampshire's first 3 are better but their whole team lacks batting. I now hope that we don't go into a spell where everyone looks tired and fed up and just wants the season to disappear.

Tomorrow might be a bit iffy on the weather front but enough time left in the game to get a finish but feel that with conditions looking better, that 139 deficit might be the undoing of us.

Unfortunately, if you have a huge stadium which costs a lot to run, the question comes down to it being a bit more viable to have as many games as possible to watch in that stadium even if it does look like a strange argument if only 500-1000 people are dotted about at any one time. The better choice of food, beer and the selling of merchandise as well as parking charges, will be something that any accountant will tell any of the people at the club who make all the decisions. I for one wouldn't mind a trip out to an outground but again, it depends on venue, long-range weather forecast, the parking available and how long it will take to get there and back as well as my familiarity with the area. When I go to Edgbaston, I know where I can park, the alternatives if one area has no spaces and how long I need to get home if the schools are still open and if it is worth me leaving at a certain time if I know I will pick up rush-hour traffic. All the latter thing are unknown to me if I go to an outground.

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Lots of playing and missing which would indicate there is still plenty in the pitch. It all depends on what we can set them. 139 to knock off first so to make them chase 150 in the 4th innings, we need to get 288, have we got the right team to do that. Again, we had a side in trouble, this time 6 down and still they more than double the score.

Think the weather DID help us, doubt we would have won this one so 8 points will do and we haven't played well at all from the moment they rallied from 150-7.

Amazing to have a 7.20 finish and yet the public are short changed again in the Test where some people pay £100 for a ticket. When will the authorities who supposedly run this game, going to do something. Tickets years ago used to be the same price as an vinyl album. I paid £4 to watch England v Pakistan in 1982 and that is the equivalent now of £14.16.

Same old story. 6-7 down and then we turn into Warwickshire 1982 style. Our new signing got carted a bit and makes me wonder how he has taken all those wickets. Any chance we had of catching Surrey up a little has gone because the weather for Saturday looks like a wash-out and if we could have cleaned Lancs up for 180 we could be making inroads now and moving it on tomorrow and even looking to finish on Friday. Too much time will be eaten up by this tail-wagging and tomorrow will see us having to get up somewhere near their score and that will take even more time out of the game. A poor day.

Are you with the Met Office or do you have all this detail to hand, very impressive, hope you are right, I am there for all 4 days.

Weather looks poor for Old Trafford so the Australians might play safe and just look to bat as long as they can. If we need to win the last 2 Tests, then it does not look good and Stokes might regret certain decisions made in the first 2 Tests but of course he will not admit it.