I suppose it heavily depends on whether Bess gets a central contract. The next round of contracts commence on 1 October, and would usually be announced in September. If Bess does get one, that does Somerset an enormous favour.
In the absence of ability to watch cricket at the Ageas Bowl this summer, I have been to watch St. Cross play a couple of times this season. Yesterday I saw ex-Hampshire player Jason Laney put on an impressive opening partnership when they defeated Sparsholt. The standard of cricket of the first and second XI's is really good and it was surprising to see just how good the set up is at St. Cross having driven past the ground so often. Got to say that the setting of the ground is the icing on the cake. Is anyone else watching cricket at a local level?
It wouldn't surprise me if we finish today almost on the cusp of the 4th innings. With good weather, it also wouldn't surprise me if a lot of matches this month are done inside three days.
Just watching a bit of Somerset v Glamorgan, and the thing that immediately strikes me is how much the live stream production has improved since last year. You can actually see where the ball is hit to now!
Came had looked alright until then, but he had business playing at that ball. Not from a left armer. It was practically heading to slip already, even without his intervention.
Looks like Middlesex are going to be the first side to use up their 120 overs. Might see a bit of t20 hitting in these last 10 overs. Although Gubbins is out, as I type.
And Holland joins Came in playing another poor shot trying to drive a ball going across him from Garton. We've properly thrown both of those wickets away. It's even more frustrating in Holland's case, because this was probably going to be Garton's last over.
Hants have made a dog's dinner of this reply, so many got a start but played iffy shots to get out. With plenty of time left in the game this pair need to knuckle down and edge up to parity with Sussex.
Northeast aside though - maybe Alsop at a push - this is more like a second XI batting line-up than a first XI. Throw in the fact that Sussex have Robinson, Claydon and Garton - who are three of the best four seamers on show, alongside Barker - and I wasn't expecting us to get up to 200, let alone beyond. Regardless of whether Sussex scored 76, 176 or 476. Pretty much any of them are at risk of making way next week for Vince and Dawson. (And even Dawson isn't a great red ball batter. Of his six suits across the three formats, red ball batting is easily his weakest.)
One or two of them should've gone on to get a 50 after doing the hard part which would've made a big difference.
Yeah, if they were good enough to. They're not. (Northeast aside, and possibly Alsop.) Second XI players who average, say, low 20s in the first XI, don't get that average because they make four single scores followed by a century. It's because 15s and 20s are their normal currency. They don't convert. Their wicket is always just around the corner.
But that doesn't mean they were good enough. Soames played multiple matches last season, and we all agreed that he wasn't good enough. There is a world of difference between picking what is good enough, and picking what is available. Putting both batting line-ups together from this match, I would only want Northeast, Salt and Brown playing in D1. And, as harsh as it might be, if you're not good enough to play in D1, then you're not really good enough to play regular first XI cricket.