*Official* English Domestic Season 2006

[DanielFullard]

To get 3 points batting you need 300.

To get 3 points bowling, you need 10 - if it's bowler friendly then bowling first will more than likely earn more points.

Actually, sorry to be a pest, but to get three bowling points you only need 9. Further supports your argument though

 

[Pothas]

the Hampshire openers have managed to get to 50!! but rain has intervened and it looks like a draw which for the first game of the season isnt too bad for either side.

 

[DanielFullard]

I thought Lancs would win this match before the first ball was bowled and after the first innings it seemed to confirm my view. But I guess a draw is on the cards now

 

[Pothas]

I thought Lancs would win this match before the first ball was bowled and after the first innings it seemed to confirm my view. But I guess a draw is on the cards now

well at this stage of the game if time or rain wasnt an issue could you really say that Lancs have the upper hand?

 

[DanielFullard]

Not sure. As I said my confidence in a Lancs. victory went as soon as they failed to follow their good bowling with a good score.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Rikki unbeaten on 50* overnight. On for the big double.

 

[DanielFullard]

Durham began the day well and ended a great innings on 575, better than I could have hoped for. Muchall was the star and a great innings from Mustard too but with only one player scoring a single figure total everyone made a contribution.

Only taking two wickets soured the day a little. Taking Key early was a good sign but at 169/2 Kent are building a nice innings. Draw is the favourite result I would say and given the 5 points we have already got Id be happy with that. I said before I would be happy with the draw. I honestly don’t think we can loose it now so I think I’ going to be happy anyway.

Can we win it? If we get two full days play then maybe just maybe. 18 wickets in two days with a depleted bowling attack is a huge ask but 3-4 wickets before lunch tomorrow would set us up nicely but if Im honest the draw is on the cards

 

[superkingdave]

Rikki unbeaten on 50* overnight. On for the big double.

aye, surrey may need him to make that double as well

 

[DanielFullard]

Rikki unbeaten on 50* overnight. On for the big double.

Yep Surrey are putting on a good innings. As I said Surrey have a very solid first five so they are always likely to score runs, even if Butcher and Batty didn't get going as well as you would have liked. After Clarkes poor bowling figures he owes the team a good innings.

Heading for a draw you reckon?

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

He's 15. Revise part b). Take your Wisden and learn some of the scorecards, George.

Would have been good advice, don't know how I didn't pack any reading material. I spent most of the time memorising the ingrediants on the back of my Kit Kat wrapper. Old Trafford really is a cesspit of rain and crumbling stands. Without the crowd for a Test or a day/nighter you really see just how bad it's become.

The cricket...
Well, I only saw 1 and 3/4 hours, so there wasn't an awful lot. Got there towards the end of the lunch break, in time for a signature Manchester downpour. Play delayed for an hour. Lancashire have one wicket standing, and that soon dissappears - Smith caught behind by Pothas, who finished with a Hampshire record of seven catches in the innings. 10 minute delay before Hampshire come out to bat, thirty behind. Adams and Brown look fairly solid, despite some decent bowling from Chapple, and Hampshire end up 50-something for none at the close. Of the Lancashire young quickies, Tom Smith was really impressive, good fluid action and beat the bat several times. Oliver Newby was less of a hit - he was far too short and got smashed by Brown.

 

[superkingdave]

he, i could see t'clouds closing in as i got on the train and i said to myself, they ain't coming back on after tea, then the heavens opened as i got off the train and i got soaked walking home.

Still, its going to be a draw and we got at least one batting bonus point,

 

[luckyeddie]

You would think that the NHS, given that they tailor their entire resources to fathers of seven who have ***-changes and then want their tattoos removing (yes, I DID read yesterday's Daily Express to my eternal cost, a fascist rag that claims to be The World's Greatest Newspaper) would be keen to assist me in my post-surgical recovery by putting ball-by-ball commentary of the HRH Surrey v Derbyshire clash on hospital radio.

But no. The Excess even added insult to injury by featuring Rikki Clarke in a 'special', suggesting that giving the vice-captaincy to GOBNAGAAA* would be the making of him, and see him storming back into the England side before long.

I was stuck - thinking about cricket, bed-ridden and no way of finding out how my proud lads (and Rikki) were going on. Still, before I went into hospital yesterday, it was pouring. I consoled myself with the likelihood that it would be a damp squib - at least given the forecast. I put it from my mind.

Imagine my surprise when I got home and checked the scores, Derbyshire were doing well - and so was Rikki. I am like a dog with two tails - just as well, given the nature of my surgery.

*Great One, But Not As Great As Ajit Agarkar

 

[DanielFullard]

Of the Lancashire young quickies, Tom Smith was really impressive, good fluid action and beat the bat several times

I was impressed by his figures and have been waiting for someone who has been down to the match to mention him. Ill hopefully get a look at him next week when the Lancs boys come to Durham

 

[Neil Pickup]

I'm starting to get excited about Smith. Destroyed Sri Lanka U19 by all accounts last summer, and the Second XI figures I've dug up seem handy too - good to hear he's made a great fist of his first senior game of the summer.

Just a production line at OT!

 

[marc71178]

Pothas, who finished with a Hampshire record of seven catches in the innings.

Am I right in thinking he's now England-qualified?

 

[Barney Rubble]

Am I right in thinking he's now England-qualified?

Has been for a while, hasn't he?

 

[marc71178]

I thought it was only just (I seem to remember them saying during the Lords final last September (the bits I saw in between the football) that he was available from 2006)

 

[Barney Rubble]

I thought it was only just (I seem to remember them saying during the Lords final last September (the bits I saw in between the football) that he was available from 2006)

Sure they weren't talking about Jonathan Trott? I seem to remember Pothas having been available for a while. Certainly been with Hampshire a long time, and hasn't been in the South Africa set-up for ages.

 

[steds]

vooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Gloucefan]

White has given them a Glimmer or hope of avoiding the embarrasment of loosing by an innings but its still the likely outcome in my eyes. Especially given the form Lewis is on.

He has played a blinder for them, 154 not out at the end of the day. A 26 run deficit with 2 wickets remaining they may manage it.

Hardinges finished the day with better figures than I thought he would.