The Cricket Thread

Fuller and Vince to open surely.

 

I'd go Vince and Prest.

 

It could be Hayden and Gilchrist opening; it won't matter if we don't get back on. And even if we do, 143 off 9 is miles too many to chase.

 

Well the rain has ended any hopes now.

 

Somerset win!

If we can't win it I hope they can for my dear old Grandad, God rest his soul.

 

We did it!!!!!!!

 

Covers are off, can Hants pull off the impossible?

 

Unbelievable by Leach and Vaughan, a truly sensational victory!!!

 

I have to say fair play to the umpires here - they're very keen for these 9 overs to be bowled.

 

C'mon Hants, let's do a Somerset!

 

I wonder if this is the first time Fuller has opened in his professional career?

 

I hope we get a few edges to the boundary.

 

This and the Warwickshire draw killed our title challenge this season, another case of what might've been.

 

Yes, yet more 'what ifs' and the fact that we're still missing an elusive final piece of the jigsaw and just don't quite have enough, it seems, to challenge right at the very top of the division. One could argue that in this match if we'd had another more penetrative bowler than Wheal that might have made the difference during the afternoon session on a flat pitch with a soft ball. Not sure if Barker or Turner would have made much difference, perhaps Turner's extra pace would have helped.

 

We're 27 behind Surrey and 19 behind Somerset. It's a long shot, but not impossible that we could overhaul both teams, especially as we go to Taunton in the last round. Surrey have to play in form Durham and Essex at Chelmsford - far from the fixtures they would choose to have.

 

I just don't see both Surrey and Somerset messing up personally.

 

It's galling to look at the table again now, 16 more points and we'd only be 11 off the lead with 2 rounds to go...

 

Definitely the Warwickshire game. That was a big eight points dropped. But I don't see today as being too detrimental. It was always a huge long shot to win the title, even with Surrey losing.

What has cost us was our start. 4 draws and 1 defeat from our first 5 games. We've been trying to claw our way back ever since. If we'd won that game vs Warks, maybe we might have built up sufficient momentum. But we didn't.

 

One could mention the Hannon-Dalby lbw and Singh being caught off the boot at silly point today as factors in our missing 16 points but one has to accept that we're still not quite strong enough consistently, as noted above. I haven't looked back at the scores again but, from memory, I think some of the early draws were a bit like 'losing draws' in fact, where we had started to fall behind in the game a bit

 

Good luck to Kent though. Needing to overturn a 36 point deficit over just two games, having won just one game all season, averaging less than one batting point per match, and with September being notorious for rain and bad light.

I'm sure these eight draw points will be an enormous help to them...