Still doubt Sussex will set us a decent target, if they do set us something, it will probably be in a situation where they could win but not us. Not sure about our tactics once Smith was out. It's as if the tail were playing defensively until the 100 overs were done and then they started playing shots. Disappointed that they didn't at least make an effort to secure the 450 and another point with enough time to do it. That was Smith's job but he failed to keep it on the deck and gave his wicket away. I think the best we could hope for is 350 in 55 overs but I doubt we would go for it.

Jack Carson could be the key bowler tomorrow and he says:
“It's quite a flat wicket but there is a little bit of rough offering some spin and bite. "

70 odd runs 15 minutes before lunch is a strangle type of tactic if you go into the last day with a 200 lead. It would appear some sort of token declaration or getting bowled out is what the aim is here. Glad I didn't go as I thought this might happen.

Combination of a poor pitch, poor captaincy by both sides and two poor sides have made this a game not to watch.

Making the case for bringing back three day cricket if it’s this robotic.

I hope we will get better games to watch at home this season!

Don't want 3-day back, the whole idea of 4-day cricket was to give middle order players the time to play an innings. When we had 3-day CC the middle-order would have to come in at the end of an innings and move the tempo along before a declaration and wouldn't allow them to play themselves in, it produced too many draws and most side would look to first, bat about 130 overs if they could to guard against being beaten and that was worse than anything we see now. Not all games are like this.

The beauty of three day cricket was it made captains get on with the game rather than mindlessly churning out runs as has happened in this match

Neither captain here has the wit, inclination or players to progress the game

It’s awful cricket on an awful pitch!

BosworthBear wrote:

The beauty of three day cricket was it made captains get on with the game rather than mindlessly churning out runs as has happened in this match

Neither captain here has the wit, inclination or players to progress the game

It’s awful cricket on an awful pitch!

Bit harsh on the captains, it's a long season. I'm sure they are happy with a draw and to get some time in the middle for their batsman.

Agree though, we do need better pitches throughout the season although I really don't like 130 v 130 games which are over in 2 days. This pitch just needed to spin in the last 4 sessions

The only positive about this match has been the glorious sunshine!

By contrast, fantastic match at Lord’s.

Solid start. A draw pitch. Some good contributions.

Similar to last season we need to find ways to consistently be able to take 20 wickets. Booth hasn't impressed at all. Miles isn't good enough. Rushworth is always injured. Hopefully when OHD is fit and Woakes and Webster are available we will have a much stronger attack.

No idea why Booth keeps getting chances, I'd give Simmons a go.

I would be surprised if we see much of Woakes at all as he is probably going to be picked for the upcoming Tests I would assume but at lot depends on if the selectors have him pencilled in for Australia. If they haven't then there is no point in him playing unless England want the strongest side to beat India but they might want to have a look at players for Australia and that means pace and with Wood, Archer and perhaps Stone not looking to have much cricket, it might be a case of looking at Tongue or any other young pace bowlers. If the selectors don't want Woakes then they should tell him, he can end his international career and concentrate on Warwickshire and I am sure we would love to see him back. Too many times form 2012 onwards, he was picked in England squads and then not played which saw him miss massive amounts of cricket like the 2012 CC season.

I think probably better than 50/50 for a first game with two FC debuts and one more still a teenager.

The bowling will be frustrating this year even if they have at least tried to address it though as we can see not totally successfully. I think Simmons and Booth will share a bit of time as they did get through equal amounts of work pre-season. Booth has had just a bit more experience in top level cricket though so guess that's why he got the nod for this game. Maybe even double up but that would be asking a lot of them. Rushworth is 39 this year, it's inevitable he will be injured and will need a successor. I'm not expecting much from Woakes. Even in a perfect world he can't play that often with his long-term knee issue. He either plays a bit this summer for England or not at all, if not at all I still only see him with Warks for a minority of the time.

Some definite good points. Bamber looks like he'll improve the squad and at 26 he'll get better in the next 3- 4 years. A younger and more homegrown (8?) side than we've put out for a long time. Seems like the approach is, where there's a debate between two players, go for the younger one, which I think makes sense. Some criticism of Booth, I didn't think much to him last year but I thought he bowled pretty well against Sussex and could have easily had 3- 4 wickets. Downsides of course. Hopefully Fernando will improve but I do wonder about short term signings. The pitch started off green but quickly died. The pitches are hampering the county side (Robinson said he thought they undermined him) and the pitch prepared for the last ashes series was widely criticised. I presume the only answer is to relay the square?

7 home grown, I think, with Davies, Barnard, Bamber and Fernando having played elsewhere. Still a lot better than we are used to, and good to see.

Booth not from the academy I don't think? But yes still more than we ever used to.

Quite right - 7 not 8 as I had it.