I think it’s all been said already, but what a game and what an advert for the county championship. I watched the conclusion in my office here in the US and was jumping around at the end. Weirdly similar to the end of the last game last season but for very different reasons.

As has been said, the hard work starts now. We need to strengthen both the bowling and batting, and probably look at the coaching as well. Let’s hope we can start the search for a leading overseas pro a bit earlier this time as well. The arrival of Barnard and Moeen (if he plays in the championship) should help.

Liam Norwell, I love you!

GerryShedd wrote:

I think we can conclude that Yorkshire are not taking it well:
https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/cricket/yorkshire-ccc-a-club-relegated-and-a-club-destroyed-chris-waters-3861999

Couldn’t happen to a nicer club!

It’s actually looking like most of the rain will have passed by the early hours of the morning (~3am) but then there might be some light stuff that lingers for a while. Let’s hope the groundstaff have their alarms set!

Highveld wrote:

Yates fails again!

Finishes the season with an average of 18.62, which is totally unacceptable for a specialist batsman. Two good innings from 17 is never acceptable.

It says a lot that Henry Brookes was sent out ahead of Davies with the side needing quick runs.

Don’t sound so gleeful

Watch us now be denied by the weather tomorrow.

Well, we’ve just about kept ourselves in this one. About 25 overs left today (potentially, although it’ll probably be cut short again). 100 runs tonight at 5 an over, then another hundred tomorrow to set Hampshire about 180? It really is amazing how similar the setup is to the last game against Somerset last season…

Still 41 over left today (light permitting). More of the problem will be that Yorkshire only need 90 more with 4 wickets left.

And Middlesex.

Felix Organ dropped fourth ball by Hain(?). It was a pretty regulation slip catch

I hope that drop in the first over doesn’t prove costly.

We’ve declared!

Given that the weather forecast for tomorrow and Thursday are a bit better, I don’t think we need to do anything too crazy just yet. I still think the best chance of us winning is only batting once. Also, tomorrow looks dry and given the overs lost today there’ll be 100+ overs scheduled, and we’ll be eager to get in as many as possible so might be able to get a few more in if the light holds.

As Yorkshire only got 3 bonus points, I’m pretty sure we now just need to win, as long as Yorkshire lose.

Completely agree that one of them should have been dropped. I also think that Yates should never have been moved from opening to accommodate Davies. Of course the danger with moving someone from the middle order to higher up e.g. Hain or Burgess is that it could then affect their form. Both of them have been great this season so it would have been a risk.

Problem is, do we have any other options for opener? We’re not exactly awash with them. I’m not trying to defend Robinson or saying that Yates deserved to keep his place but if he was dropped he’d need to be replaced by someone.

Just like one bad season shouldn’t erase the great season before it.

Pleased to see Yates make some runs. Let’s not forget that he’s only played 3 games as an opener this season after scoring so many runs there last season.

How can the PCA support these proposals? Fewer matches = less income for counties = either lower wages or fewer players overall. Counties are hardly going to want to pay the same amount for less work…

We definitely need to keep Briggs. I’m not sure what’s happened to his red ball form this season, but he’s still an important white ball player for us at the very least, and while it’s not the priority for a lot of fans, the Blast is financially important.

I would caution against making too many rash changes. I actually don’t think we’re a million miles from a decent team, we’ve just lacked the killer instinct in a few games which we could have won and the experience in key moments of other games. We’re already going to need at least one new opening batsman next season and some bowlers, so I don’t think we want to have an entirely new squad. With a couple of decent overseas players for next season (of the same ilk as Siraj and Jadav) I think we’d be ok.

Just looking at the table now and I find it bizarre that we have one of the highest bowling bonus points totals, only 3 behind the top, and our batting bonus points are comparable to the teams around us as well. I guess that reflects the fact that we just haven’t been able to perform at a good level for four days in a row.