And they did not appear to suffer that much in the way they performed and the standards that they set themselves. Even if the ECB suddenly decided to play loads more first-class games, it would mean that if anybody felt they were fatigued, someone else would get a chance. Any batsman with 10 CC games to play would almost certainly get a maximum of 20 innings but that is nowhere near enough. Take into account a big innings of 500+, that would leave almost no chance of getting a 2nd knock and a few weather interruptions also could lead to an opener getting just 15 innings. If that particular opener only played CC games, that would seem like a very short season with little to show for it. Perhaps the answer might be fewer CC games but getting back to playing tourist games which are virtually non-existent now. Either way, less first-class cricket would be a backward step and don't get me started on KP's idea of first-class franchise cricket.

It makes you wonder how the people who make decisions, actually think about the players of the first CC games up to the early 1960's, managed. Before one-day games came along, there were often 30 first class games and that meant 90 days cricket and most players played most games as this was the only format. I bet there were more Test quality players about then and I doubt they thought they would improve with less cricket. Also what is forgotten by the decision makers at the ECB is that less playing time gives you less chance to put things right if you are in bad form. 10 games will never be the answer as weather could reduce the amount you play so it will never be that you get 40 days CC cricket without any interruptions at all. What is needed at the ECB is someone who is a fan and look at the game from their point of view. I wonder how many of them love the game enough to turn up on a cold day in April with 4-5 layers on just to hopefully watch a days play. We need someone like George Dobell to fight the fans corner.

Well if you look on TV now, just about every programme has 'Diverse' presenters, whether or not you think they are any good or not (I think most are not) is up to you but it is happening a lot to TV presenters and announcers everywhere, are they there on merit or for some other reason. Oh! Yes, IMHO.

That is a matter of opinion.

1) Good knock from Benj who looks to be ideal for this form.
2) Great credit to Hose for just taking the sting out of the situation by pushing it about and not trying to rush the total and give Durham even more momentum.
3) It worries me that we make hard work of games like this that should be won fairly comfortably.
4) The announcer was terrible to the point where you had no idea who caught the ball, who bowled it and who the batsman was. Are we becoming like the BBC by making sure there isn't a white bloke doing any job anymore because boxes must be ticked.

It did dawn on me whilst watching last night that Burgess is in such great form, you would have to wonder why he was ever not included in the team.

Cannot believe we nearly blew that but a good finish from Miles in the end. It just goes to show you that even numbers 8-11 know how to hit big and it's never over if you need 10-16 an over with the tail in. Good job we sored all those runs in the final 5 overs.

There cannot have been many days where a side batted for so long having 3 wickets down and saw out 76 overs without any further loss. A lesson in concentration for others to follow.

197-3(91) and Hain/Rhodes are doing an amazing job batting for about 78 overs. Makes you realise that it must be a decent batting surface and we just underperformed in the first innings.

When Davies plays exactly the same way over and over again and keeps failing then you have to question his place in the team. Surely the idea is to learn from your mistakes but he is not.

I agree wholeheartedly about the 'loose balls' aspect of our bowling. Watching the games v Surrey, Essex and Northants, I was unimpressed with the amount of 'Half-trackers' we bowled and if you are not getting wickets, the fact that runs are coming so quickly, means a game can get away from you in just a session. It looks highly unlikely that we will retain our title and you can imagine all the 'They didn't deserve it last season and this proves it' comments which will be lined up in September.

Why has Norwell got a sore back? Rhodes won the toss again, would it have made a difference if Yorkshire had batted first, we will never know but coin tosses are seemingly not our skipper's thing this season.

At that rate, they will want him a lot more injury or no injury, well done to him.

Watched every ball today and was very impressed with the attitude of not being worried if runs don't come quickly. It pays off in the end if you back your technique and it was good to see us keep Northants in the field looking frustrated like we were for 5 sessions. Thought they overbowled Kerrigan who just looked frustrated and pretty knackered by the end of it. Hain was superb and it took me back to the title winning afternoon, holding the trophy with him, a really great bloke and so happy for him to dig in and bat all day.

No one would want to rush Bethell but at some point he will feel he is good enough to play in the first team if his record is good and he is not being picked, at what point does he feel frustrated enough to look elsewhere.

That is the problem with having a few talented but very young players. When do you give then their chance and even though you don't want them to go to another county, if you loan them out and they do well, that county might want to keep them. If that ends up being the case, you cannot blame a youngster if he sees a chance to play first team cricket and wants to move. I have heard a lot of good things about him from all sorts of people who have seen him and you get the feeling that if he was from India/Pakistan, he would get more of a chance.

I think/hope there will be and Norwell must surely play and a lot of talk before/during this game as to why he wasn't in this game as he was in the squad. Miles look uninspiring again and I am not sure what the batting line up should be as so many are not really in form, we can't possibly drop 3 so perhaps 1 might miss out.

coolerking wrote:

I'm talking about the determination to stay in, to put away the flashes outside off stump, the aimless waft at a leg side delivery, to say to the bowlers 'you're going to have to get me out here, I'm not giving it away'. I've not see a lot of that from some of our batters this season. If they get a jaffa then fair enough but if any of them get out to a brainless shot I'll be fuming.

I agree, from this point on, there is nothing to gain by throwing the bat and hoping that because it looks a good strip to bat on, that this will be enough. I hope the batsmen are saying to themselves, "This is a good pitch to bat on and I will not have a better chance to score a ton with nothing for us to gain in terms of chasing runs or trying to get bonus points". Pity that no one told Davies who seems to play one way and yet took ages to get off the mark v Essex when we needed just over a hundred.

I don't recall anyone saying that we will make it look like a minefield. They have no Sanderson who is by far their best bowler and looking at the rest, we should be able to make runs on this pitch. It's all about patience and with it still being hot and dry, it would be nice if we make Northants chase the ball around the outfield.

Glad I decided not to go as 600 looks a good bet now and then we see what our batsmen are made of, having to probably bat for 140-150 overs just to avoid the follow-on.