Is this Test squad meant to be a joke? Shoaib Bashir gets picked off the back of conceding 38 runs in an over when even his county don't think he's the best England qualified spinner available. Jamie Smith is a very promising batsman but I have never seen him keep wicket and I wonder if Brendon McCullum has. Again, his county don't think he's the best option.
We should have enough talent to beat the West Indies over 5 days if we just pick guys of known quality and play sensibly. There's no need for hunches and gimmicks: we tried that against Australia last year and ended up failing to win a series that was there for the taking. Come on: get serious.

The pitch doesn't look dissimilar to the one from a few years back when we collapsed against the off-spin of part-time bowler Tom Cooper. It's very green in the middle but brown and scuffed at the ends. It'll be interesting to see how it plays later in the game. With the weather forecast for the next few days being overcast, an in-form Chris Woakes could have a lot of fun.
A very, very good day for us. There was a lot of nibble off the pitch in the morning but Rhodes & Barnard saw it through and then we ended completely on top. Having put us in, Somerset will be feeling that they missed their chance.

And 38 taken off an over from Shaoib Bashir. Looks like England's Test attack is in great shape!

Ffs, Woakes has bowled 6 competitive overs in the last four months - and now he needs a rest???

There's the Eoin Morgan school of thought that says that the number of balls in a T20 is so few that you just swing at everything and keep swinging even if wickets fall. (Even more so in the Hundread.) He may have a point. The game is so short that it becomes hard to encapsulate performances in statistics that are separated from context.

Are you (hypothetically) talking about Tim Groenewald?

Once you get below, say, number 4 averages become irrelevant. You'll be coming in with 20 balls to go and just need to slog everything. Strike rate will be more important than average and Benjamin used to be decent in that regard. He's having a grim season in all respects, though.

Interesting how little coverage this is getting in the media. Soccer, yes: golf, yes: tennis, yes. Is there any cricket on?

And OHD's bowling not required. I'd find it hard to predict the winner of a game between that side and the so-called first XI.

It's 4 overs and we have spare bowling resources within the team anyway if he breaks down. What's the problem?

Pretty strong Somerset 2nd XI with two Test Match bowlers and several other 1st Team players. I wonder if Bashir will get the hump in the same way that Dominic Bess did and look for another County. He's not getting much 1st Team action in any format.

With a full day, bat for an hour then declare. But we won't be getting a full day looking at the weather forecast.
I'd still bat for an hour but then expect it to fizzle out in the rain. The draw points have been doing us quite a favour so far this year.

UrsaMinor wrote:

GerryShedd wrote:

Great effort from Alex Davies. Who was the last man to carry his bat for the Bears?

Go on, then. I'll bite. I seem to remember somebody doing it in the last few years when they were the first person to do it since Billy Ibadulla or someone of that ilk. If it was recently then, maybe, Sibley?

Could well be Sibley. 92* out of 188 against Hampshire in 2017.

GerryShedd wrote:

Great effort from Alex Davies. Who was the last man to carry his bat for the Bears?

Go on, then. I'll bite. I seem to remember somebody doing it in the last few years when they were the first person to do it since Billy Ibadulla or someone of that ilk. If it was recently then, maybe, Sibley?

Genuine question here: how is Alex Davies working out as captain? I haven't got to see the Bears in action this year so all I can do is deduce things from the scorecards which suggest that he's not afraid to use all his bowling resources (overs given to Yates & Bethell; Rhodes as a new ball bowler) and that he knows a decent time to declare. I'd be interested to hear from those who have seen the action live:

Is he obviously in charge?
Does it look like he's got a plan or does he faff about?
Do the team look happy?

How's he doing?

This remains a really difficult season to read. For the first couple of days, we competed well and I was feeling quite upbeat. Then it all fell apart and we ended up crushed. At least we don't have to play Surrey again this year.
We've had some surprisingly strong batting performances but are yet to register a win. With Essex up next, that's not likely to change soon. I think we could find ourselves struggling to stay up this year.

Fair play, let's see how he goes. His overall first class bowling figures aren't stellar but maybe he's a man in form.

Interesting. How does he fit in? He won't be batting higher than 8, so is he really an upgrade on Miles?

You could have got very long odds against Rob Yates being our leading wicket taker after 3 rounds of the CC. Almost as long as those against Alex Davies being the leading run scorer in the country!
With the weather and the balls, it's almost impossible to tell which teams are doing well and which are struggling. It promises to be a topsy-turvy season.

Terrific stuff! Now keep it going. This is four day cricket, make sure the boots are well and truly filled.