Don’t think a draw is awful for us. Draw here and beat Glos and I suspect that might be safety because Kent have got to play Hampshire and Somerset.
A loss could be terminal.

Sounds an odd one to say but I think our run rate has been really self defeating here. And not for the first time this season either.
We get a partnership or 2, but the set batsmen bat so slowly, that even though they’re in for some time, the score doesn’t progress enough to really effect the match.
Hain and Rhodes have been really bad at this, getting stuck in rebuild mode and being unable to speed up later on.

Lamb and Burgess have mitigated this often, but with one dropped and the other getting out early, they can’t.
You end up just keeping the other team in the match, like today, we’ve batted almost 20 overs more than them, but Somerset would always have felt in the match. Either a really poor tactic, or poor skills by the top order.

One thing I will say about umpires, and something Chilton got correct, is that there is no accountability. They have a poor match like Taylor at Surrey, and he’s still doing it next week, no issues.
At least players can get dropped.
The other thing is, a player can’t influence an umpires career. A couple of bad decisions and umpires can have a potentially huge effect on a players career.

Interestingly in this game, there appears to be a test going on with ball tracking in county cricket.

On the link below there’s a video package of balls being tracked for a test.
https://live.nvplay.com/ecb/#md18d8240-61bf-4201-a345-ee070f634b62
Very timely considering Lancashires statement today about the standard of umpiring currently.

What was Davies doing??? Trying a drive outside the off stump?
Not great from Yates but at least it wasn’t a big drive.

They need to bat to lunch. Take the shine off. Let the pitch dry out some more, and batting should get easier.

Big first session this morning. Get those last 2 wickets quickly, and then try not to lose many early.
Need to take advantage. As I think yesterday showed, and Yadav commented on it too, the pitch got better for batting the longer into the day it got.

I do think Sidebottom will be gone in the winter, which is a shame as he’s the sort of player you need for squad depth. But I think his lack of playing this year has been fair.
They sent him to Derbyshire on loan for a few games, but he got quite badly injured after a game or 2 if I remember correctly. He’s been unavailable due to that injury, and rehabbing and getting match fitness recently I believe.

But it does make you question why the club struggle to keep and rotate depth properly. When compared to clubs like Surrey and Lancashire. They just seem to have better depth, especially in the bowling department, so can deal with injuries and unavailability.

I felt they were living a very charmed life to be honest.
A number of leading edges, mistimed shots, plays and misses. All those ones that after lunch led to wickets, they got lucky with after tea. Thought OHD had Gregory plumb too.

I think in the greater sense of things. If you were to say at the start of the day, Somerset would win the toss, choose to bat, lose the morning session to rain, and then be 180/8 at the close; we’d have all taken that.
Hopefully get the last 2 and keep them under 200 in the morning and then it’s about batting once and building a big lead.

What this innings has shown me so far is how if you actually sign test level, proven internationals as your overseas, they will make a difference.

And it does make you wonder whether we’d be in the same position if they’d signed 2 players of this ilk at the start of the season. And not 1 McAndrew.

There’s a few very one eyed commentators on the circuit, but this season this Somerset commentator is the worst I’ve heard.

So they do go with 2 spinners.
Brookes, OHD and Siraj plus Rhodes as the seamers.
I wonder if Somerset chose to bat so as not to have to bat 4th on a used pitch against 2 spinners. Because the overhead conditions suggest bowl first.

How did Norwell and Miles get injured? Norwell was playing second team last week and was fine. Miles played in the hundred with no issues. Seems very odd.

The treatment of Lamb has been shocking. First chance they had to drop him, Robinson couldn’t do it fast enough.

Guessing the surface will heavily dictate selection, and whether we go with 2 spinners.

Good to see Kent throwing themselves back into the relegation scrap.
Considering Kent have to play Hampshire you’d expect minimal points there. And then they’ve got Somerset so either way one or both of them drops points which suits the bears. They’ve really shot themselves in the foot here as a draw in this and they’d probably have been safe.

Interesting certain players aren’t playing.
I would have thought Davies, Briggs and Hain would be in, to get back into red ball. Whereas Burgess, Yates and OHD have been netting and been looking at red ball for a couple of weeks now.

I was wondering with the latest announcements that Woakes and Stone are touring with England, might we see them in any of the last 3 matches this season?

I think he’ll play instead of Briggs, but I’d play them together. This time of year, after a hot dry summer, it’s reasonable to think the pitches are going to be slow, take turn and deteriorate.
I’d drop a batsman, put Burgess at 6, trust Yadav and Briggs at 7 and 8, then have 5 bowlers plus Rhodes.

Would be OHD over Hain for me.
Or, left field option, despite him having a poor year, Briggs is a steady wise head, might be worth it for 3 matches.

I’d worry about Hain getting bogged down by the captaincy. And I’m not a fan of a keeper being captain as it’s a lot to keep, bat and captain. Your mind never gets a rest.

Is there anywhere for Giles to jump to now? He left for the ECB, but isn’t going back there. Not sure there’s another job in cricket that he’s qualified for, that he could get or that would pay as well.

Either way, the club needs someone that’s in it long term.

With the comments in the Dobell article, plus Rhodes’ great ally Farbrace leaving, will we see a new club captain for the rest of the year? Or will a new one be appointed next year?

Not sure the list of potential candidates is that long. But would say a lot about Robinsons thinking.
Think we can safely assume Moeen will be T20 captain next year too.

The article refers to a lot of off field success, some like Portland road is undeniable. Not entirely sure about the state of the academy; however I suspect that’s more a case of long term results.

Desperately disagree with the comment on T20 success this year. We achieved the exact same result as last year quarter final exit, but in a far more embarrassing fashion, and with far more money spent.

I have a feeling he might have stayed a year or two longer if it hadn’t been for the head butting and power struggle with Robinson. We will see who was driving the recruitment and player selection now though.

Am very intrigued as to the suggestion of a change in captaincy. Would that be Rhodes stepping down, or it removed? This season or from next? Would Rhodes stay after that? Who would be the successor?

Almost a case of more questions than answers following this news.