Somerset 2021

In the good old days I remember that players who didn’t make the cut for the test match were allowed to leave and play for their counties. Presumably the bubble cannot be breached so there’s a fair chance both will sit around for several weeks twiddling their thumbs.

Neither selected...

Surprised Craig not there, hope they can both play from tomorrow, travesty if not.

Neither playing v Hants, least we have another Conway to pin our hopes on as he has signed for Somerset to play later in the summer.

Great recovery from the middle and lower order.
Lewis Gregory led the way with a masterful century (dropped at least three times).

If you win this Gregory should be promised free cider for life.

Somerset's batting performances are inconsistence to the extreme. Against Hampshire the last 5 wickets in the first innings added to the first 5 in the second have produced 650 runs!
In previous seasons Abbot has taken wickets for fun against Somerset but this season he has been fairly ineffective.

Peter Newman wrote:Somerset's batting performances are inconsistence to the extreme. Against Hampshire the last 5 wickets in the first innings added to the first 5 in the second have produced 650 runs!
In previous seasons Abbot has taken wickets for fun against Somerset but this season he has been fairly ineffective.

The last 5 wkts have regularly contributed more than the first 5 for a few years now. There is an incredible stat that we have had only 2 x 100 run opening partnerships over the last 5 years ! Abell has only once not come to the crease in the first 6 overs this season. Imagine if our batters could bat !

Abbott destroyed us in the penultimate match 2 years ago meaning we went into the final match v Essex behind which proved crucial. Hope the rain stays away long enough today so we can put one foot into the top group.

A total of 96 overs available today.
Som bat on and score another c.50 runs in 8 overs      leaving Hants c.420 target from 88 overs.

Realistically Hants will play for a draw, so exciting cricket as Som surround the bat.

Conspiracy theory that we would prefer Hants to go through with us as we would carry forward more points than if Gloucestershire go through, hence delayed declaration.

Don’t rule out Surrey yet…

Lunch 30/1...should have been 30/2 dolly dropped.  
Conspiracy theory has another yard of credibility.

A pleasant sojourn at a socially distanced around one third full Radlett on Sunday to watch a convincing Middlesex performance with the bat against an out of sorts Covid hit Glamorgan. The latter did make a game of it against poor Middlesex mid innings and death bowling. Indeed the quicker Finn tried to bowl the quicker it flew past him on the way to or over the boundary. Eskinazi continued his current good form and only denied a ton by Mitchell ending it all quickly. Very pleasant in a reduced crowd with no queues for drink or food and home in 20 mins.

And on topic, Tom Banton eh? wow, just wow. Planned to be at Chelmsford this evening but missed out on the ballot for reduced capacity, silver lining with the England game of course.

Good to see that the Middlesex members are standing by the team in these lean times!

Come on Middx!  Rain dance       for Cheltenham.  

Beau Nash wrote:Come on Middx!  Rain dance       for Cheltenham.  

Eskinazi going full Amla as well.

Never assume anything with Middlesex...

Excellent all round performance from England v Pakistan with Lewis Gregory (Som) man of the match.

Impressive performance by John Simpson, especially that catch down the leg side standing up.  

Very pleased for Simmo that he's finally had his chance at this level. He's a fine keeper and a very useful batsman at county level.

Who is England's current best all rounder in 50 over cricket?    
https://www.espncricinfo.com/player/lewis-gregory-362201  

https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/records/averages/batting_bowling_by_team.html?id=13789;team=1;type=series

Another enjoyable Radlett day seeing former Somerset  player Van Meerken and never was Bancroft edge Durham to a DLS win over Middlesex. Durham would have hoped for 300 plus on a small ground but Middlesex pegged them back after a large 3rd wkt stand and would have hoped to contain them more, but a late Durham flourish took them to 288.

Middlesex recovered rom 30 odd for 3 through .Handscomb and White hundred plus stand putting them in front on DLS as the rain clouds gathered, but their wkts drove up the DLS score so that even a 4 over crash after the rain left them 2 runs short.

Watched the live stream (was that you in the striped shirt taking photos near the sight screen?). Could have been a good finish had it not been for the weather interruption. Seemed a ridiculous DLS target but that’s what you face if you lose quick wickets. With Gubbins already gone and Harris joining Glamorgan it looks like a team of kids next season led by our non scoring skipper. Tough times..

Not me, only left my seat for drinks ! We were at third man to a right hand batsmen facing the pavilion. Every time the ball was thrown back from the crowd it had to be kicked back to the umpire for sanitising. Happened a lot in both innings.

And Middlesex have confirmed the appointment of Cornish as CEO, who Somerset sacked for budget mismanagement ! Tough times indeed.

There is something very wrong at the top of that club.

Well, that's as bad a 24 hours for Bath and Somerset that I can recall.