Atherton should have a little think back to that 2021 title race, Lancashire opted for a big payday by having a concert at Old Trafford so had their last game at Liverpool on a club pitch that as usual, had no runs in it, both teams not getting a single batting point and the highest score being Lancs 198 to win the match. Had they have played it at Old Trafford, they might have won but with 4 batting points (350 runs in 110 overs then) and would have won the title, serves them right in not opting for a more run-friendly pitch. Also, he might have been embarrassed by the sight of the Lancs players in the dressing room after their 3-day win, bouncing about, singing a song as though they had already won the title because I think they felt our wicket was slow and dead and wouldn't produce a result. I remember seeing it on YouTube and thinking how funny it was to think the title was yours when our game was still to be finished.

Don't like the bit on that same article that appears to suggest that the 2021 win should have an asterisk by it. Yes, maybe the asterisk should have next to it, 'The same rules applied to every side and we all knew the rules before the competition started'. It wasn't our fault that Nottinghamshire blew winning positions in both games against us and would have been champions had they have taken those opportunities - Tough shit.

16 games is miles better, with the sort of crappy weather we often have, it give players more time to get out in the middle and play. I know we now have a situation where the sunny days are going to be more prevalent, but batsmen especially, need to play a lot of innings to get into a groove, no one should complain because not many get to 1000+ runs. Bowlers have become weaker for lack of strength building by just bowling plenty of overs. No one is asking for them to flog themselves but 300-400 overs in the CC is nothing.

I was only including only what I regard as 'Top' medals which won't include 2nd division wins or runners-up.

Same here Andy, as long as we can be competitive (Who am I kidding, winning) in the CC I am more than happy. I almost forgot about Dougie, of course 1994, 1995 and 2004. I was thinking that Woakes has more CC medals but they're level. Not sure who has then most actual winners medals, I know Neil Smith held the record with 8 and I am pretty confident he still holds that record. I was wondering, if anyone knows, how many game do you have to play in the CC to get a medal, I know in the old division 1 at football you had top have played 14 games (a third of the 42 they used to play) to qualify and I was also miffed that a few other squad members names' were not called out after the team went over to the 2026 Champions board to line up for photo's.

I had plenty of confidence in us winning. I obviously thought that at some stage, we would need our 2 rivals to lose one or have 2 poor draws but looking at the last 4 games, I was happy that Essex had a few omissions, that Glamorgan had gotten worse since we played them early season and that Leicestershire at home would be a nailed-on win if we had good weather. As for Hampshire, they are awful and even being put in, I knew we could win very easily, they were very lucky to survive last year and have constantly been lucky in T20's (Having 3 batsmen running in the last ball of a final, Lancs not being allowed to run a bye to the keeper in the last ball a few years ago) and were lucky to stay up a few years ago when Durham's financial irregularities were discovered. It was all set up nicely but I think about that game v Sussex when we scraped it and hard to think it was a month ago. Also the game at Yorkshire where they were so desperate to beat us after we gave them a massive beating, that Bairstow announced in the press that they were desperate to get revenge but we batted for a draw. Pivotal moments like that are almost as important as some wins but it was great to win it at home in front of a good, noisy crowd at a weekend. It was only just over 24 hours ago but as I look out of the window at the gloom of today, it seems like ages ago. I watched the YouTube highlights again this morning, I can make out a figure in the distance puncing the air every time a wicket falls, you cannot put a price on moments like this.

Not seen many newspapers today but I think the Express might have given us about 3 square inches and The Times despite taking a whole week to get through managed to find (probably reluctantly) a whole half page with a picture of Woakes and Bamber holding the trophy. I think we had a whole page in 2021 so we could be lucky to get mentioned next time we win it. The sooner this country can stop over-obsessing about football, the better.

Credit too for the recruitment of players, In 2012 when we won the title, that side faded away gradually till about 2017-2020 and then we won the title again with great new recruits and had to do it again if you consider only Hain, Yates and Woakes finished that deciding game v Somerset in 2021. The overseas choices have been superb and have made things a lot smoother than having players who really never do much. From the 22nd August, everything has gone well for us especially the penultimate round of games where Sussex and Yorkshire helped us out but we lost the toss more times than not but got stuck in and 3 away fixtures out of the last 4 could have gone terribly wrong but it shows the strength of hanging in and taking each game as a separate occasion and not thinking too far ahead. I bet the accountant was happy with more beer being sold because of the time to take the last wicket. It felt like a real celebration and unlike 5 years ago, I am glad so many hung around to help celebrate.

A Somerset whingepants has been on the BBC site talking about how the weather has played a massive par tin the CC this season and I pointed out his sides use of subs and how Gregory is always trying to get the ball changed after a while when wickets are not falling. There might be a lot of people always saying how nice it would be if Somerset won the title, well, not this lot who are full of nasty, mouthy individuals who somehow think the game owes them something after the 2016 title race, 10 bloody years ago.

That is such crap, the England international is being replaced by a bloke who's played one first-class game. It's a good job we are in a good position otherwise it looks like a poor replacement nevertheless.

Could it really have gone any better than that. I would have been happy with a 150 lead but that was a great first hour in dark conditions and then Ed and Sam did exactly the same when they came back on again. Nice little innings from Kai and Manav to bat with Hain who was just incredible, what concentration to bat that many balls and see us to a good score and a great lead. It's all set up for tomorrow and there can be no excuses for more people to turn up and see us get 'The Big One' unlike 2021 when the last day attendance was really poor.

Would have been so much better without Jani playing such a ridiculous shot. Does he not realise how important this game is and when you appear to be in control, you don't go and fox it up and give the opposition a sniff. Only 6 w3ickets left and I would love us to bat for another 45-50 overs and if Sam keeps his usual cool persona, it's possible. With Somerset needing more wickets in 14 overs, they could be short but by the looks of it, us getting a 6 bonus-points draw is out of the question seeing as 14 wickets have fallen here in just the first day. We need a decent lead unless Leicestershire bat like that again and I certainly don't want to see us chasing anything over 160 and start to get jittery. Pitch looks fine, just good bowling and a few giving their wickets away. I can understand them batting and if they only lost 1 in the first hour then it might have been a great decision. We need a wagging tail tomorrow.

I will be there until the end. Just hope Surrey and Yorkshire play well to ease things if we get into a hole. I really don't think we will lose, it's just a case of us doing enough and by the 2nd day we will have a rough idea about which way the game could go.

Hull has taken 56 wickets in 30 first-class games. At some stage he might get a good return and we hope it isn't tomorrow but he's not one to be feared. Kelly, well, he is a big miss for them. I hope we don't freeze on the day(s) and realise we have plenty of time, even if we have a few bad periods where it looks like it's going nowhere, we don't need to strive to get a result as Somerset and Notts need to try to make up points on us, we need to bowl out Leicestershire within 110 overs, get enough batting point depending on what Somerset are doing when they bat and if that's achieved, just calmly play the game with no risk whatsoever.

Leicestershire are doing their best to throw this final away. If they lose, I wonder how this might affect them on Thursday, if they beat us with even 22 points, Essex would only need 4 points to escape relegation. I dread that scenario just thinking about it.

It's because we care that we get into a state. On Wednesday night I will be struggling to sleep. Unlike 2021 v Somerset, I won't have to take a 'Sickie' to watch or 2012 on the last day v Worcestershire for that matter. Not my fault that the season ends when my bosses never wanted me to have time off. I am worried about the toss, what happens in other games, mainly the Taunton one and hope that Surrey can play like they did 2022-2024 and if the occasion will get to our players seeing as they know exactly what they need whereas in 2021, a lot depended on the Lancashire v Hampshire game.

The Essex decision was weird if they thought it was going to turn later seeing as they had no Harmer but Yorkshire must have though Yadav was going to get help later on. He ended up bowling only 10 overs in the game as conditions were make for seam. That's the problem with starts in early April and finishes in late September, it's the same and the really dry months are taken up with The Hundread and the 50 over cup - And people in the game wonder why we have no match winning spin bowlers for England.

Having said that, Essex decided to bat first against us and just as importantly, Yorkshire batted on winning the toss in the game just finished.

If Somerset do come up with a pitch that turns square, they have to decide, do they bat first in the sort of scenarios we have seen when batting first in our games and risk having to maybe not make a big score which means they could get further behind us or do they put Surrey in and risk having to bat last. I doubt they will prepare a result pitch as they need bonus points and if they miss out and get anything below 300, we would only need 2 bonus points and a draw. We just need to prepare a good pitch to bat on make sure we keep pace with them. The main thing is we bowl Leicestershire out and whenever we bat, get to that 350 if we need to depending on what Somerset get. At some stage the weather might intervene.

Yes, we are 11 in front and even a maximum points win from Somerset would get them 24 points so 14 for us would mean 25 ahead. For every bonus point Somerset drop, we can afford to drop 1. So if they win with 23 points, we would need a 13 points draw. It's a strange scenario but of we batted first and got 350+ and bowled them out for a good lead, we would only need to bat and bat and bat out as long as we wanted and bat them out of the game.