I don't personally mind either way who wins it between Lancs or Warks. But if Notts mess up their run chase, then I'll be back to cheering on Somerset because defeats for Notts and Warks would put us in the BWT final. A tiny, tiny bit of consolation.
Country Championship at its finest!! Well done to both sides on such a compelling game. Overall Hampshire have had a very good season. And some success came our way with the Hundred.
Bloody Vilas, he always scores runs against us. Be nice for Warwickshire to win now after all I think, there's something that always aggravates me when seeing the opposition players all celebrating (as, of course, one would expect them to do). I guess it's being a bit of a sore loser and hoping that they feel the same pain that we just have!
So many ifs, buts and maybes. What if Abbott hadn't picked up an injury? If only Vince and Dawson had made it through to stumps last night. What if Dawson hadn't been run out off a Vince straight drive that got tipped onto the stumps? 7 or 8 times out of 10 we bloody win this game.
I didn't see how bad Wheal's dropping of Davies was today. But Vince's drop of Croft in the first innings was awful. Cost more than 60 runs combined, those two drops - massive in the context of the match.
I don't think we'll get a better chance to win the title than this for quite a few years now unfortunately, possibly even the next generation of county teams, i.e. when Vince, Dawson etc. are gone and whoever the new brigade is are in. I hope I'm proved wrong, but we'd need Abbas back, the bowlers to put the same shift in and at least 2 new good County batsmen to fill out the top 6 with more consistent runs. I have to be honest, there are better, or at least more consistent, County teams out there (Essex for one and Somerset, if they have Gregory back bowling and when they're firing on all cylinders). It wouldn't have stopped me celebrating the title wildly this year, though, but, alas, it wasn't to be.
True but Lancs dropped their share as well so swings and roundabouts there. Wheal really should have caught Davies as well.
I know we should have Donald back next year and he will score some decent runs, but he takes a lot of risks and I'm not sure he'd be the answer in red ball cricket to one of our (at least) 2 missing top batsmen. Obviously Weatherley needs to be a red ball squad player only and Alsop hasn't really been scoring enough. However, he could get in the side batting at 7 and keeping if McManus doesn't show signs of more consistent run scoring himself.