Elsewhere, Somerset are on the verge of a first victory. And if Warwickshire win a tight match against Middlesex, then the scrap to avoid relegation will go well into September.
I might actually have Dawson in the test side ahead of Moeen Ali. Moeen doesn't take enough wickets and doesn't keep the run rate down when he bowls so I don't think he's worth his place as a bowler. I'm unsure whether he's good enough to bat top 6 but he clearly isn't trusted to do so by the England set up. That being the case I don't think he should be in the side. Dawson might at least be able to keep things tight and play an Ashley Giles type of role.
Could have fielded better, but I'm not sure we could have batted or bowled any better. Keeps the season ticking over. Fidel can now put his feet up for a month, and possibly Jimmy, Berg, Holland and/or Crane too.
357-5 at stumps, Root has completely turned the game around from this morning. Highest ever score for an England captain on debut, and he could get a lot more yet!
Vince, Carberry, Ervine, Bailey, Smith, Rilee, McManus, Afridi, Berg, Abbott, Wood, Topley, Wheal, Crane, Fidel Slightly surprised that Holland doesn't make it, so that increases Smith's chances of starting (who is actually the most like-for-like replacement for Dawson). But I can easily see Berg or Crane being picked as Dawson's replacement instead. I know he's on awful form, but I am glad to see Carberry being given a chance. If he doesn't get any runs tomorrow or Sunday, then fine follow suit from the one-day cup and remove him. But at least we've given him a chance (assuming he starts). An on form Carberry is one of the best t20 openers in the country.
Alas though, I have just checked the two scores from our t20 warm-up matches yesterday (Afridi, Carberry, Wheal, Wood, Smith, and Topley all played in at least one - as well as the likes of Alsop, Salisbury and Taylor). A fairly weak Somerset side provided the opposition (Trego, Abell, Bess, Waller, van Meekeren and Myburgh the only names of note). Not brilliant reading for Carberry... First up we restricted them to just 122-5. Afridi 0-20 off 4. Topley 2-22 off 4. Wood 0-21 off 4. Smith and Wheal didn't play. We chased it down with 7 wickets and almost 4 overs left. Carberry made 6 off 8. Afridi made 11 off 10. (Most of the work was done by Alsop, despite not being selected for tomorrow - a rather slow 42* off 43 - and our reserve wicket-keeper Dickinson - a much quicker 57 off 28) In the second match we made 144-9. Carberry made 13 off 10. Smith 16 off 16. Wood 14 off 18. Afridi didn't play. (Single figure scores that time from Alsop and Dickinson). We restricted them even more this time, to 119 all out. Wood 0-23 off 3. Topley 2-15 off 3. Wheal 2-21 off 4. Smith didn't bowl. (With bat and ball, Taylor looks like the stand out player from this match) So basically tidy stuff from the seamers, but nothing else to shout about.
It would have been incredible to have witnessed a tie!!! When was the last tied match in county cricket?
Great to see Broad get some runs. 450-odd looks a reasonable score with the odd ball starting to misbehave.
I assume you just mean the county championship, rather than limited overs cricket too? (Otherwise Hampshire and tied finals are not uncommon...) I'm not sure, but a quick google would suggest that Warks v Essex in 2003 was the last tied match. Warks made 446-7d (and forfeited their second innings). Essex made 66-0d and 380 all out. There were also a couple of ties in the early 1990s (with somewhat contrived middles to them).
Thank you for this Brendy!! Yes, the County Championship, cricket at its finest. Pity such a large chunk of the season is played going into the autumn. As we saw last year, from the second week of September, the quality of light can fall dramatically from about 4 o'clock onwards so teams could be losing 2 hours minimum each day. I think this is why it is important to have the points on the board now. Warwickshire are going into September in last place as I think the next round is at the beginning of August, prior to the last 4/5 matches at the end of that month and September. Perhaps there's a case to be made to take the game in September to the Middle East, Gibraltar, Malta, ... where sunshine is still guaranteed.
No Wood in the XI. Berg and Crane both play. Scorecard has Berg at 6, which if correct means that he is the direct replacement for Dawson. As I've highlighted before, we never particularly like shuffling the batting order when we're without someone. Prefer the straight swap, even if it does lead to someone batting higher than you think. So puts pressure on Berg, yes (if he does bat there), but I'm happy to see McManus kept down at no.8. We're batting first.
