Certainly his record looks extremely good, unfortunately the weather does not. I feel that the weather situation will affect the CC and the Ashes unless we get a sudden change.

Amazing that the Australian team are often heard to criticise English crowds and yet the behaviour of Australian crowds and media in general when England visit, is nothing short of revolting. If you watch the cricket film/doc 'Death of a Gentleman' there are scenes on there that would make anyone feel uneasy and the way English cricketers are constantly made to feel unwelcome is staggering and the attempts to try and 'Have a dig' at every opportunity cannot be easy for a cricketer who feels intimidated as soon as the plane lands.

And Surrey also lost 3 in a row from 1979-1981, a Gillette either side of 2 B & H. Also, I found amazing that we are regarded as losers on one BBC site from a few years ago because of all the finals we have lost but then at the end it does state that we have won 9 finals but that in itself does not make us 'Losers' compared to some sides who have hardly even appeared in many finals. The fact that only Lancashire have won more than us, does not put us in a losers bracket. Idiots.

I am trying to get a list of Lord's finals on ANY site but it seems impossible but since 2000, Somerset have been runners-up in the CC 6times and the T20 4 times. I know they lost 2 Lords finals in 2010 and 2011. They did win a Lord's final in 2001 but since 2000 their losses far outweigh their triumphs.

Yes they did but the amount of runners-up medals that they have mounted up over the years is huge including 3 in 2010. I have lost count of the amount of 2nd's they have 'Achieved'.

Well done Somerset to defend 2 scores below 150 is superb, they have won more game than anyone whilst winning the title and we cannot have any complaints. Glad Samms didn't win it for Essex and at last Somerset fans after paying out enormous amounts of dosh over the years to travel to finals, can actually go home with a smile on their faces and a trophy.

LeicesterExile, that does not make it any better as it is only Essex' 10th win so far and we won 11 in the group. Please someone, change the rules so they are like the 50-over competition and we could be at least in with a chance of finals day instead of watching sides (bar Somerset) who's record to qualify, was not as god as ours, play a semi-final today.

Hope Somerset win, only because I would hate any of the others to do so.

GerryShedd, I seem to recall Dennis Amiss in his first book 'In Search of Runs', saying that the pitch was damp but they could have played on a perfectly dry one next to it that was covered better. The BBC refused to move their cameras so the damp one was used and on a drying pitch, scoring was difficult.

That Maxwell bloke can score pretty quickly can't he.

We will take that as being a good day with power to add tomorrow. Kent are a poor side so we must take advantage.

I suppose they look at him as a spin option but he very rarely bowls a side out although he can certainly bat. Strange that he averages just under 40 and yet has only got 7 hundreds.

SC_Bear, my thoughts exactly, now is not the time for risks, Bairstow has no form, the reverse of last season and Foakes is in form and we know he can bat. We also do not want a flat wicket as all Australia have to do is make a huge score and the Ashes are theirs. Woakes, what man, a controlled innings even though he did score quickly but didn't try and hit everything like he did in the first innings. I can relax now, Pheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

SC_Bear, yes I agree that a good group campaign can be totally undone by one bad performance, Hampshire won the T20 title in 2010 after losing 8 of the 16 games played and scraping through by 0.2 of a net run-rate. Then they beat a certain county from the Midlands (who waltzed through their group finishing top) to eliminate them in the quarter finals. And the point you make about the RL cup is something that I would like to see in the T20, reward the teams who finish top, they are there for a reason, they have bettered everyone else.

No one said there was a plot of any sort but central contracts were to stop players bowling 40 overs in a Test in Manchester and then getting in a car to drive up to The Oval for a cup game the very next day. The fixtures need to change to keep in line with this and CC needs to be played during Tests so that any player who is called up, has some sort of form going into the longest format games, Woakes has only played a few T20 games before this Test but then again, fixtures are for another argument altogether. Central contracts affect batsmen as much, the lack of CC for Test players before a home series in poor, you could hold back a player for the first 2 CC games and say he can play in 2 nearer the first Test and if they are rain ruined, you have a player with no real practice of any sort going into an important series.

The whole thing is so inconsistent and I can understand anyone's disappointment seeing as Lawrence had a big impact on the game itself. The whole business of England players playing for their counties is not something that the ECB actually care about as they appear not to give a shit about anything that concerns the counties. Regardless of whether players are centrally contracted, the ECB are just happy if they get all THEIR players in the squad but have no problem with them getting little cricket and carrying drinks.

Yes, was pissed off with the edges they got compared to ours, a bit like the C & G final v Hampshire in 2005. The RL Cup despite it's detractors has a 'Top of the group goes straight into the semi's' scenario and the 2nd and 3rd in each group has to decide the other semi's. We should have enough talent to get to finals day but we choke on the day one way or another.

Should we really be surprised? Every year. Why bother to finish top when it makes no difference. I always agreed with Neil Carter who thought sides finishing top should go straight to finals day but instead you have to play a side who scrape into 4th place and get to knock you out in a one-off game. but seriously, another poor batting display on a wicket where 180 looked good. Too many batsmen giving outfield catching practice and yet another overseas 'Star' who didn't shine, not one fifty to show all campaign. All the turning up, hoping for a place to park somewhere and watch us play well to get through and what I hoped would be a successful finals day only to see 4 other teams going to OUR ground to have their day in the sun.

Also he bowled at the right time. Cannot believe we only made 141 but then a gain, we did defend it well. Ben Raine at number 9 was a major surprise, he made a ton here for Leicestershire a few years ago so why have him so low but then again, Durham look a poor side in this format. Looks like Essex in the quarter-final then.

It is no surprise what has happened to Stone. If you work out how many days per year he has played (I have not but 158 games in all formats since 2012), it probably amounts to very few. Even when we signed him, he was injured and took ages to make his debut. No one seemed that bothered when he left for Notts because we had not seen much of him anyway. Pity because when he was firing, he was fast and great to watch. I would hope that Woakes will be back for the quarter final or are England going to keep him in the squad let him carry the drinks, AGAIN.