53-3 and losing Root doesn’t seem like an ideal spot to be in. Hopefully the conditions suit us tomorrow
The next round of fixtures are perfect for us. Us playing the league leaders, who are only 13.5 points ahead of us - if we beat them, we'll almost certainly overtake them. The two sides who we can no longer influence are playing each other. If they can draw, whilst we win, it'll be out both of their hands for catching us. (Which is pretty amazing, given that we've been outplayed in our three matches against them both!) The two sides who we finish against play each other. If we win, it doesn't really matter what happens there, because it'll still be in our hands to catch whichever one (or both) is still ahead of us. Just fingers crossed over Abbott. Wheal isn't a disaster, because someone needs to make way for Abbas. But Kyle is, obviously, huge for us.
For all Yorkshire's dominance in the game they only collected one extra point. How irritating for them. I can only sympathise after Gloucestershire did the same to us.
Keep him away from bowling to the top order and he'd be in my red ball team every week, other than when bad weather is around. As he showed again in Yorkshire's first innings, he is brilliant at just mopping up the tail. They can't pick him and don't have the patience to wait for the (inevitable) bad ball. It might not sound like much, but not many bowlers will have run through the tail as often as he has done in the past two years. It's so helpful.
England have missed Woakes badly. His batting is so valuable in these scenarios. Plus his bowling isn't bad either.
I've never hidden my love for Woakes. At home, he's the second name on my teamsheet after Root. Ahead of Jimmy, Broad and Stokes. Which is saying something. Sensational player at home.
