I don't think anyone claimed it was gonna be easy at any stage (i could be wrong), our batters confidence is through the floor, just that it was a very reasonable target in 60 overs.

One decent partnership gets you close at least, when chasing anything under 180ish.

I can't get over how well they're bowling. Not just the wicket taking deliveries, every single ball. Immaculate. I know praising the opposition isn't necessarily the done thing on here but it is what it is.

Not sure the pitch is an absolute minefield either, the odd one is misbehaving though particularly from the City End. Sanderson has swung it round corners and White is always a menace. Interesting to see if Taylor and Proctor can back this up.

176 off 60 overs was clearly a good deal for crying out loud, we were never getting anything more reasonable to chase than that no matter what the circumstances.

Hat trick, terrific bowling to be fair.

We did them sort their over rate out too.

Happy birthday Terry

Mousley bowling seam up

He's not quick through the air but he's quick off the pitch. Nip.

I'd say so. The remodelling of his action seemed to take place around the time of his 2nd stint here as bowling coach. When you watch footage of OHD from 2014-2016 and compare it to 2019 to now his bowling action is totally different.

It's a message for not giving up on players, he was a pretty average, maybe even below average bowler from when he signed up until around 2019, he had his moments but they were few and far between, (he was very close to being released around 2015) then he just took off. It didn't really click for him until he was about 29 and he remodelled his action. Last 3 seasons particularly he's been sensational.

7-46 just outstanding, relentless, pressure bowling. Absolute joy to watch.

Restart at 2pm. Its incredibly muggy here.

Yates is back, still no Davies.

Any changes?

Rayb wrote:

I got to around the 50% mark, I cannot listen to the man. Since when, in the middle of a hot spell, do Oval wickets become 250/300 tracks? That is not honest. Claiming that we were out bowled and out batted is stating the bloody obvious, but where was the out managed observation by deciding to bowl after winning the toss? And I refuse to accept that it was Rhodes decision alone.

I'm not Robinson's biggest fan but to be fair to him there has only been one score over 400 at the Oval all season, made by Australia against India. It surprised me too.

Agreed, your previous post got me thinking, it's a valid point re. Homegrown v recruitment.

Looking at our batters averages for this seasons county championship, Hain, Yates and Mousley are our top 3 guys all 50, 40 and 35 then we have Burgess, Rhodes, Davies and Barnard all averaging mid 20's.

It's worth pointing out that our better performing batters are all homegrown and 2 of those 3 are still young and improving whilst they all offer in all 3 formats. The other 4 are recruits from other counties, all senior players and all falling short with the bat. I do acknowledge the quality of Burgess keeping and Barnards bowling.

Recruitment ain't necessarily the answer people are making it out to be though.

No I definitely agree, you can look at Essex and Yorkshire too. I was just responding to the post about Durham producing quicks and relating it to how we don't.

We normally have several batters in our XI who have come through the academy, we've improved a lot there. 3 out of the top 5, Yates, Hain and Mousley sometimes Bethell (Lamb in previous seasons) have been academy products. We've got 3 keepers in the academy at the moment who all have a decent chance I feel in Maddy, Smith and Dandy (I think he could be the pick) and we have spinners in Wylie and Taz Ali who have shown some encouraging signs.

I feel we're a little light on seamers though and that's been the case for a long, long time now.

I listened to it. He's not wrong is he? Think some people had made their minds up before he even spoke.

He hasn't said that. Are you directly quoting him there?

I have been quite critical of Robinson's interviews in the past, think he's been a bit mean spirited at times but he's been OK here to be fair to him. He's being honest.

We won't be as good as Surrey next year, anyone who thinks otherwise is in absolute dreamland. Its going to take time.

mad wrote:

Not sure it's possible to get two overseas of the requisite standard anymore. We'd probably have to get two for the first half of the season and two different overseas players for the back half

Ethan Brookes should clearly have been selected for the Surrey game

Agreed, getting one quality overseas is hard enough, so two, with the international cricket calender the way it is and franchise comps etc is going to be extremely difficult.

Re. that Robinson interview. I'm not his biggest fan but I think he's spoke ok there, not sure what else he can say under the circumstances.