Surrey would have won in our situation. Had such a big opportunity. We just don't score quickly enough - and that's a long running thing.
I'm totally fine with a draw. A vast improvement on recent visits here! Back-to-back home games now. Important to take advantage. Albert has done well to take the pressure off him, but Stoneman and Hampton still need to step up.
It's definitely good to see us not fold when up against it. Great to turn a game we were set for defeat into one where we were in a position to try and win it - and against the best team in the country.
Unlike Essex, Hampshire and Somerset, are Surely lacking a top.class spinner, oñe that is capable of taking wickets on any pitch?.
Condolences this evening to Alec Stewart and his family as they have lost a wife and mother after her long battle fighting cáncer.
I am very happy with a hard-fought draw there against Surrey. One could say that the bad light deprived us of an outside chance of pushing for a win there at the end, but we were also dealt a big favour by the stoppages towards the end of day 3 I think. That forced Surrey's hand and we could easily have been chasing closer to 450 with no chance at all of winning. Albert's still struggling to adapt his tempo from opening to batting in the middle order. There is an argument for pushing everyone up one place and getting him to bat at 7 where he's more likely to bat with the lower order and tail and hence become a bit more positive naturally, as a result.
Looking out the window , it seems odd thst the cricket season has started. Looking forward to going to watch cricket again.
So, it turns out Barker was suspended for 12 months by the National Anti-Doping Panel. That explains the silence surrounding his absence. Club Statement: Keith Barker | Utilita Bowl
I know nobody will believe me, but I was starting to think that it may possibly have been something along the lines of the Chris Wright incident, hence the radio silence. I hadn't read this story before thinking that, honest! Speaking of Hampton, I'm beginning to think that we might as well have been playing Fuller in that number 8 role so far, but I hope he steps up a bit in the Somerset game to prove me wrong.
Yeah, two games in and I'm yet to see what Hampton offers ahead of Fuller. I still can't shift the feeling that we should have used our second overseas slot on a no.4 batter. At least with Neser - and then Edwards - we would have got a no.8 who can open the bowling, but we don't even get that with Hampton. However, it's only two games and I'm not sure he's ever played professionally outside of NZ before. So I don't want to be too judgmental. Yet.
