paulbear wrote:

Total and utter bloody rubbish. One minute we are in charge and by the end of the day it is them who look forward to 11 am tomorrow. Our failure to wipe out the tail has let Hampshire in with an opportunity to gain the advantage. Do bowlers not bowl 'Yorkers' anymore? I would now sooner be in their position as we appear to have given them the upper hand. How often did we have little meetings that seemed to point to a little bit of "So what do we do now". What could have been a good day has seen us hand over the initiative with some mindless cricket. Don't give tailenders any room to hit as it it's what they like, give them a few round the ears, not 'nice line and length bowling'. A poor day really.

I think this is a bit OTT and kneejerk but yeah I get the frustration, today could have been so different.

BosworthBear wrote:

Went on the square at lunch time and ground staff were telling me how dry the wicket was. Said something like 200k litres of water put on it but the drainage is so good it just takes it away.

Said they tried to prepare this wicket differently to make it more lively and left it until late.
A good effort by our bowlers but I guess spin more and more vital as game goes on.

I've heard Barwell (and other head groundsman tbf) complain that adverse weather has hampered pitch preparation, now the weathers too dry?!

I do think Kai has a long way to go with the gloves at the moment (I said during the winter he'll need to improve fast), you'd like to think he'll get there though. As a pure gloveman I think even Dandy in the academy is better right now. I must stress im a huge fan of Kai Smith. But at the same time I'm not comfortable with Davies captaining/keeping and opening, it just won't do. It's gonna hurt the team in the long run if he alone struggles in all 3 roles.

Surely we're asking to Latham to take the gloves soon and bat 5? If its not gonna be Kai, it can't be Davies.

Goodness me skipper...

Yates one might have been clipping leg, was iffy though. Wheal got a shocker. More questionable umpiring.

Feel like they've got 20 or 30 more than they might have...

Tough little session now.

Terrible decision on Brad Wheal then!

If Smith isn't gonna keep he'll be missing out you'd think.

He was already doing that for us though in the Blast. Just everybody knows about it now because he did it in the Hundred.

To echo what's been previously said, he looks like a bit of a 'bits and pieces' cricketer in red ball at the moment, he can give you some ok overs, he's probably not good enough to bat in the top 5 but he's a nice player to have coming in at 6 or 7 so...

Feel like the Hundred hinders him, feel like he'd benefit hugely from batting in the top 4 for us in the ODC and building an innings. Instead he goes the Hundred, faces a few balls and barely bowls...

Having said this he has huge potential and he he does strike me as the sort of player who once he does get that first ton might get on a bit of a roll.

Seems to get out bowled or LBW a lot which suggests that if you just bowl straight at him he'll miss one.

He's down the pecking order for our 4day side for now though...

Is in some select XI squad to play v Zimbabwe at Grace Road in a 4day match.

I do think he has a bit of a way to go with the gloves...I'm not for one second saying he's looked bad but he has looked a bit untidy at times. Burgess looked the same when he first arrived and he ended being terrific though...

Think they stuck at it really well on an absolutely lifeless, pudding pitch. Webster is such a useful cricketer being able to bowl seam and spin, great option. The day was drifting until Simmons managed breathe some fire, that short ball barrage was pretty hostile and he showed good pace to extract some bounce and life out of the pitch. Days like today do Yates a lot of good in terms of his development as a spin bowler, he's definitely improving and seems to bowl well and get wickets on these type of surfaces and in these type of situations (ie, runs on the board, in/out field etc), gets good overspin.

Encouraging signs just think psychologically we needed them following on tonight.

Do we know why Kai Smith isn't keeping?

Lively from Simmons.

Why has Davies got the gloves?

Has signed til the end of the season.

Thought it at the toss this Surrey XI looks a good deal weaker than anticipated. But yes this pitch looks incredibly docile, no pace in it whatsoever, will probably turn a bit after lunch tomorrow. There does seem to be a couple of particularly flat wickets over that side of the square, remember Northants at home 2022? This looks flatter than even that did.

Hain has had a quiet season but I don't think he'll get dropped...only way I see Bethell get in this line up is if Latham takes the gloves and Kai Smith sits out.

Latham giving everyone a lesson, when you get in on these sort of pitches you go big, you be greedy.

I feel like us and Kent have the most. Kent definitely had the most last season.