Not a bad day, not a great day. Somerset were very well placed until that late wicket of Trego's. A couple of early ones tomorrow, and we could still come away with a 30+ lead, which could yet be important. Frustrating though that spin hasn't been as effective against their right handers as it was against our right handers. Durham are in trouble, Notts are slipping further towards D2, and Lancs could yet join Durham in giving up a 100+ lead, so coming away with a draw from this game if we can pick up these last two bowling points would still be respectable.
Look at Surrey. Going like a train and possible outsiders for the title with not such a big spread as last year. Still keeping my fingers crossed for Middlesex, county of my birth though. Next week Middlesex go to Warwickshire who could also get back into the mix. Final game of the season is Middlesex v Yorkshire, very interesting.
This is stinking of that Surrey defeat the other week. Letting a partnership down the order get completely out of control, so that the opposition score 150+ more than you'd have expected. And ultimately faced with having to bat out all/most of the final day for a draw. Which we failed to do against Surrey... (Given that we're not going to win this game, Surrey are basically two wickets away from securing survival. And fair play to them, their form is fantastic at the moment. The upside for us is that it'll be a very bad result for Lancs. If we can hang on for draw, we'll cut their 22 point lead over us down to 16 points. Turning around a 22 point deficit is a tough ask over one round of matches, because of bonus points, but 16 points is turned around basically just you winning and them losing. So the five draw points tomorrow are still absolutely something to fight for. With Somerset not losing this game, and Durham-Warks probably heading for a draw, as well as Durham and Somerset both having games in hand, Lancs could well be the number one target for us now.)
India's Stuart Binny bowling to West Indies' Evin Lewis in a T20 International: 6 6 wide 6 6 6 1. Who needs Chris Gayle?
On the assumption that England again leave Dawson out tomorrow, I wonder if they might agree to release him to play for us against Yorkshire. Yes it would mean him missing the fourth ODI on Thursday, but if he's not being picked for the first three then in all likelihood he'd be left out of the fourth anyway. Being able to bring Dawson and Carter in for Wainwright and Crane would potentially see us play our strongest XI of the season. They'd be some serious batting there, with Berg down at 9. (But still with five genuine - if average - bowling options, plus Smith and Ervine). And whilst playing Yorkshire is never easy, there's no better time than when they're missing Root, Bairstow, Rashid, Plunkett, Willey and Head to international duty. Cricket and football, Wednesday could be interesting.
Hayles scored 171 which is the highest score for England in an ODI. He didn't know and looked around bemused when the crowd stood up and applauded.
