I do see the racism and sexism issues as a reflection on wider society. I think that affects all sports. You see it in all sports.
I remember, I think it was last year, Michael Chopra questioning why so few from Indian and Pakistani backgrounds played organised football and there were zero English born professionals from those backgrounds in English leagues.

The class issue I lay purely at the feet of the ECB. They’ve left a huge gulf develop in terms of coaching and funding around the age of 13. State schools don’t have the funding, and coaches will always follow the money like any other profession. And the money is in private schools because the ECB hasn’t helped keep the game alive in state schools. So players from those backgrounds develop faster, they play more, they have more access, and quite frankly kids are competitive, they want to win. And if one team of kids is training all winter, got dedicated cricket coaches, getting the best talent in scholarships because that’s the only way kids can make it professionally it seems, why would state school kids want to keep playing and getting beaten. Easier to write it off as a sport for posho’s and play football. Because they have coaches in their schools who are very good at coaching that and doing training for that.

I saw a wonderful point from someone on another site, how many dedicated cricket coaches salaries could be paid for from the wages of the players alone in the hundred. Even without the marketing and other crazy costs involved with setting it up, just the players wages could pay for hundreds of dedicated coaches to be kept in state schools and keep the game alive and a wider player pool.
But the coaches are in private schools, those same coaches are often the “pathway” coaches, and it’s easy to see how we get to where we are.
You could agree with local clubs for schools to use their nets and pitches.
Because as good as clubs are when players get to 16 upwards and adult cricket. You need to get to the players when they’re younger, and not have to make parents drive them to training at a club or to matches. Get them whilst they’re at school, they have to be there, get them into the game there. Because some parents won’t consider cricket, won’t take them to a cricket club, so you’ve got to get them into the sport at school age.

Batting on days 3&4 on that pitch was always going to be tough.
And the toss was huge. The pitch was at its best to bat on day 1, and we had to field for a day and bit, on the hottest day of the year.

I suspect it would have been different the other way round, but not sure how much so because Harmer showed the huge gulf in class between himself and our spinners.

That’s twice now Rhodes has been set, has looked comfortable, and manages to edge one behind.
At least it seemed a decent ball this time, unlike the first innings. But really needed more than 40 from him. It’s gonna be hard enough to get in on this pitch against Harmer, so got to stay there when set.

We still won’t be allowed to play him though. That would be absurd, a player playing for their county, instead of being 15th man with no chance of selection.

I think we all can appreciate that spinners tend to take a bit longer to really work out their game and how to find their role. 25 is pretty young for a spinner, and he clearly has talent.
But you put him up against Harmer like in this match, and he’s currently falling short.

Harmer showing Bess and Lintott how it’s done.
It’s a pitch made for him, and he’s using it.

Am still curious as to how the ECB think it’s fair to hold Woakes out completely knowing he won’t play at all. But let Lawrence play Essex’s first innings score a huge hundred and then substitute him, even though again they know he won’t be playing.

Wasn’t the point of the hundred that these new fans would start watching other forms of the game? It was a way into the entire game, not the only format they’d ever interact with.
Instead it seems to be stealing funding, dominating the height of the season, have fans who are only interested in this single format, and dictating how clubs are running themselves.

Missing Hain is obviously a huge blow. But watching their bowling compared to ours, they’ve definitely posed more threat.

Harmer is miles ahead of Bess and Lintott. He’s really getting the ball to grip and bounce now. Porter and Cook have looked much more dangerous for longer by being more consistent. And we’ve chucked away a couple of really cheap wickets to their seamers. Rhodes was careless, Davies was sloppy.

That one from Harmer to bowl Burgess turned a mile. The Bess one went a bit and bounced too. That’s not a good sign.

Interesting listening to Essex’s bowling coach on the commentary talking about how bounce on a pitch like this, with this ball, becomes much more important with less swing and grip.

Bess didn’t get that bounce particularly. Lintott does as a “leggy” but was a bit inconsistent. Then Ali is quite short so he didn’t. Rushworth is tall, but doesn’t have the pace anymore. Then both Barnard and Rhodes are quite skiddy.

Whereas Harmer, Cook, and Bracewell do get good lift off the pitch. Did we miss a trick not playing OHD, as he does get a lot of bounce due to his height?

I haven’t heard anything regarding OHD’s fitness. I assumed with a flat pitch and kookaburra ball that they knew they were going with 2 spinners.
Ali is perfect for this as a seamer, Rushworth is the form man. Extra seam overs from Barnard and Rhodes.

My fear from what I saw of the track and what Robinson said pre-match, is the fourth innings.
Apparently it’s very dry, it’s also been used for an international ODI this year, so used and dry tends to suggest it’ll break up by day 4. And could be tough against Harmer on that.
So when batting in our first innings, got to try and take that out of the equation. Don’t let them have a lead of any kind. Ideally we polish them off early tomorrow. Turn the tables on them by batting long, getting a lead of 150. And seeing if our spinners can do some damage on day 4.

It’s definitely the case for Henry. Though he does still have some good variations when used properly.

Unfortunately he’s not the only one to have suffered like that. It’s becoming more and more common. Chris Jordan, Reece Topley, Matt Dunn, Ryan Harris. All were 90mph at the start of their careers and injuries robbed them of that ability.
Even the likes of Roland-Jones has lost a yard from injuries. But he was never that fast to begin with.

The Worcestershire situation strikes me as poor squad management. To have that many up for contracts at 1 time.

Is Maxwell available for finals day should we get there.
I know it’s not exactly uncommon in the past for overseas to play the groups then be unavailable for quarters and finals day.
Though might be different due to the new schedule and how close everything is together now.

He strikes me as a player who’d be playing regularly now had he come through somewhere like Sussex or Leicestershire. Smaller counties whose best players are often snapped up, and rely on producing a lot of their own talent.
But opportunities have been limited the last couple of years, but even when he has played he’s not really taken the chance and run with it.
Best of luck to him though.

Is that 4 or 5 chances Bairstow has blown now? Not sure who’s selection has been a bigger bust him or Moeen.

How much longer has he got on his contract. As good as he is when healthy. It’s irrelevant when it’s one match a season.
He’s had 1 fully fit season, and I suspect much of that was to do with Pop Welch.

I can never keep track of these now. Hain was supposedly fit enough to be in the squad now he’s out for approximately 4 weeks.
Norwell was supposedly targeting July, and now he’s many weeks away, and from the sounds of it, it’ll be September for county championship.
I understand Mikes and Brookes. These things happen.
But from a physical point of view I can’t quite understand how Bethell can bat, but not bowl spin.
He gives the ball a mighty whack, twists his back etc when batting. Surely no less stressful on the back than spin bowling?

Predictions?

I’ve got Australia winning 3-2. No close tests.
England to lose the first test.