Not bad. Not bad at all! Some enjoyment after the bad news about Wheater going (with Vince to potentially follow over the winter). I did say when we took the gloves off him, that we could expect him to leave. He is desperate to be a keeper - it's the only reason he left Essex in the first place. God I'm angry at the club. It's not even as if McManus is Bates-level with the gloves.
If we go down, and Essex go up, the indications are that he would follow Wheater to Chelmsford. Whilst Wheater is desperate to keep, Vince is desperate to stay in D1 to aid his international prospects. Along with Dawson, they're our only players who are in the ideal age gap. So to lose two of the three would be devastating. Even more so given that they play all three formats.
White and Benkenstein are jokes. I know the latter is gone but neither of them can manage a piss up in a brewery.
It'll be compounded by the fact that we'll be trying to replace them (if we even decide to try!) as a D2 team (given that, if Vince goes, it'll be because we're a D2 team). Unless you're a moneybags like Surrey, that is not easy. We've seen it this season, even just as a side who might be in D2 next season, being beaten to all of our targets. We're already in position, whether we stay up or go down, of needing to replace a significant chunk of the squad over the next two years, without needing to replace these guys too. When we were last in this sort of position - losing the likes of Warne, Brown, Benham, Udal, Bruce, Tremlett all within the space of a couple of years - we were fortunate that we had a solid group of kids (the likes of Briggs, Bates, Wood, and Vince and Dawson themselves) come through together in their place, whilst still having a solid core to work around (the likes of Dimi, Adams, Carberry, Ervine, Tahir). This time we're faced with losing our (much smaller) solid core, as well as the veterans, in the near future. People might say that there's no difference between D1 and D2, but there really is - on and off the field. (Fortunately, as I understand it, Vince's ideal scenario is that we stay in D1 and he stays with us. So with him retaking the captaincy tomorrow, maybe that motivation will shine through for him ahead of his poor form. With no Wheater in there now, and Dawson again missing, there's pressure on him in that middle order)
Despite looking promising in the small handful of t20 games that he played for us, Griffiths has joined Leicester on a two year deal. I'm expecting that it's a case of us not wanting him, rather than us being beaten to yet another player. But if it is the latter, given that it's Leicester, then that really would be worrying.
It just gets better - Essex aren't even playing Wheater! We've loaned out our leading scorer, so that we can run the drinks.
Yorkshire did have the option to the bowl though, without the need for the toss. So they clearly wanted to bat.
England have done us a massive favour in leaving Dawson out of next week's one-off t20 match. Means that he'll be available for Surrey away.
Respectable enough first session. Would have been nice to have got a fourth, particularly as these two have settled into a little partnership. But can't complain. Every chance that over the course of the next session, the whole innings will go head first in one direction or the other, eg 200-3 at tea, or 160-8.
Good news is that Durham are collapsing, and might not pick up any batting points. They've lost four wickets for six runs, plus had Collingwood retire injured during that time, getting one where it hurts.
Durham duly miss out on a second batting point. If there is one game which Notts are welcome to win, it is this one. If they beat Durham and Somerset beat Lancs, a draw for us with a decent bonus point haul would still represent a very good week for us. Even more so if Warks don't beat Middlesex. Berg's figures finally represent his bowling so far today.
