phiggins

Think it was more the performance with the ball that disappointed me. Looked like they were all about containment and declaration bowling, without really putting any pressure on the batters. Particularly in the last session on day 3.

Pretty dismal showing from Somerset though.

Thought they’d struggle to force a result when the Somerset innings finished, but they’ve done well to get as many runs as they have in the last session. Somerset would have to bat well to see out the 70 or so overs they’re likely to be given. Absolutely bonkers finish at Lancashire. Their heads went with the run out and the number 10 stealing the strike at the end.

Can Leigh get a draw to match the heady days of 2005?

Wakefield were dreadful. But today and the Salford game were probably the only two times we’ve been able to field a full pack, with three middles on the bench. Had we been able to do that throughout the season we’d probably have a few more wins, given the standard of SL at the moment.

Butler owes his team mates a pint after getting himself in the bin like that. Idiotic

Maybe not.

Sounds like there was only one case which caused today's training session to be called off. Hopefully India will still be able to pick 11 to play in between thunderstorms.

Every chance he comes in for Pope while Bairstow and Ali continue to offer nothing in the middle order

It was a test that summed England up really. Seam bowling - Very good initially, but loses effectiveness as the game goes on Captaincy - Complete lack of patience that's needed sometimes. Bowls the new ball bowlers into the ground and rarely uses the spinner Fielding - Awful. 6 dropped catches and missed a sitter of a run out chance Top order batting - Need some luck to get in, or at least poor bowling. OK once they're in Middle order batting - No good. Bairstow and Ali should be told to burn their whites. Ali's shot in the first innings was just mindless, sort of shot you play when you have a 250 lead, not 25

I’d bring in Mahmood for Curran. There must be doubts over Woakes’ fitness over a five day test. Given Anderson now seems to be capable of bowling a very good first spell but struggle a bit after (similar to Flintoff’s last series), need the other three seamers to be able to come back for 2nd or 3rd spells if needed.

“Real” fans?! This is probably the worst take on the subject I’ve seen yet.

I think Parkinson getting Covid, and Jennings / Wood being injured finished any chance of Lancs making it 2-1.

I do think the quality in the Blast is a bit lacking to be honest. Lancashire started the season looking like they were lacking power with the bat, and quality bowling at the death, with those roles taken by Maxwell and Faulkner in recent seasons. That was then amplified by the call ups to Parkinson, Mahmood and Livingstone. Yet, they still managed to get to a quarter final. It might be that the North group is weaker than the South group, and the two should be mixed. I think there is benefit to a franchise competition, something to help bridge the gap between county and international level, but the scheduling was a mess this year. I honestly don't know what the answer is, but 18 counties each playing 3 formats leads to dilution of quality from what I can see.

Lancashire ended up having to play the quarter final without Allen, Jennings, wood, Mahmood and Parkinson (and Butler, but he rarely plays for Lancs anyway). Was always going to be tough for them.

Yep. Surely some of his own words undermine his opposition to the concept somewhat. “The irony here was that the cricket largely sold itself. Even with many of the planned overseas stars absent due to Covid concerns, the eight city-based franchises produced a concentrated and consistently high standard of competition. “ That’s the whole point of a franchise competition

Playing off professional vs amateur clubs points to a broken system for academies. And you don't solve the problem of lack of players by reducing the number of pathways into the professional game. That's just embracing the shrinkage of the game. Biggest problem though, is why would anybody want to be a pro RL player in this country any more?

If subsequent postponements can be linked back to breaking protocols, then they should be forfeited as well

They were 0.3 when the crowd turned up. Sheffield United are winless in the second tier and got a bigger crowd than any Super League team has had for years, maybe ever, for any regular League game. Maybe we should have a zero team Super League.

They were winless in 3 out of 46 games. Slight difference to winless in 16 out of what would appear to be an unspecified number of games, with relegation more or less confirmed.

True, and not sure there'll be much room for many multi format players at all, particularly with a t20 world cup and an ashes coming up. Maybe one for consideration next summer. God only knows who can play in the test team now though, maybe Thorpe and Trescothick can get the pads back on. Amazed they're not having some kind of warm up game before the next test though.

Saw the after match reaction to the Birmingham game, and was surprised to hear that Livingstone has a FC average of 39. That'll be higher than most of the batters in the England squad (bar Root of course).

May as well start swinging. They're not going to block out the session, so may as well try and get a score.

Hameed should've raised his bat when he got off the mark.

1 more than Sibley got.