Put Your Hand Up, So To Speak, If You've Ever Seen That Before...

Ian Shepherd: Hello there, you're watching and listening to Always Look on the Bright Side of Life. This is the Somerset Cricket Podcast. My name is Ian Sheppard. Joining me this evening to dissect a second Somerset loss in a row, we have the man who's seen more Super Overs than you, Dan Kingdom. Dan, I gather you spent the weekend in Cardiff watching it all. How was it? It was mostly enjoyable, just apart from that second evening. I while I was there, I think we played plenty of good cricket. You know, we've sort of recovered reasonably nicely through day three. It's just that second evening we're in that already. Yeah, we should be dissecting that in a minute. Also with me, head of digital marketing and anything else you need doing at Somerset is Ben Warren. Ben, how are going? I'm good. Thanks, Shep. How are you? I'm very good, mate. Very good. And completing our quartet this evening, we have the voice of cricket on BBC Radio Somerset, who had to spend his birthday commentating on young Tom Gorton taking a hat trick just before he went out on the tiles. in the diff on Saturday night. How are you, Gibbo? Another year older. Let's hope we're another year closer to winning the county championship. Although on the last couple of weeks performances, it don't look like it. Well, no, no, no, no. Don't give up ⁓ yet. We're only 16 points behind the leaders. know, it was very early days. But yeah, I'm a bit weary and it was, you know, it was a very, very long day on Monday. A very long day. It was a slow death. And there there was, if you're going to get beaten, then get beaten quickly. Let me not go home. You'd have to stay on until the last session and then lose. It was wearing. It's not very optimistic if you give up. Let's just have a look at the thing. shall we start where the big news, we had to put another row on the T-shirt. James Roo, finally, after three years of us teasing it and asking for it. Open the batting, but literally after Somerset had been stuck in and lasted ⁓ seven balls with Tim Van der Horten knocked out his off stump. ⁓ And then in the second dig, he got a bit of a ropey one that came off thigh pad or shoulder or something before it went to second slip. So ⁓ very small sample size to ⁓ sort of assess James Rue's opening credentials. I mean, Gibber, what were your thoughts when James sort of came out on Friday morning now? Well, I was a bit surprised, but I assume that, and this is what Jason Kerr confirmed to me afterwards, was sort of a mixture of the ECB and Somerset, and probably James himself decided that, you know, he ought to give opening a go if he wants to get into the England side. I don't think it was solely down to the ECB. don't think some are particularly likely to cave into the ECB, their own people. But it was a very tough gig. And I think part of the reasoning was ⁓ to put someone experienced or relatively experienced in with Josh Thomas and to give Archie Vaughan a bit of a break and put him further down. down the orders, see if he could get some runs down the order. So yeah, you know, it didn't work out, but in the second inning, as you said, he got a shocking decision, caught off his hip. And it was the second bad decision of the day. And it sort of undermined the players on both sides, confidence in the quality of the umpiring, which had its repercussions in the Grimorgan's second innings and the way some sit. Well, yeah, I mean, let's just quickly jump in. We're talking about umpiring. Well, then we quickly sort of pivot back to James Rue. The only time I've ever seen umpires do that is when you're umpiring in a, you know, you've got a touring team down at your local club. You're having 11 pints brought out for drinks and you want to wind up your mate by giving it that one. I mean, I've never ever seen that. Put your hand up, so to speak, if you've seen that before in a professional game or even in a league game. It's just mad. I mean, if there's a way of making an old big Craig pop that volcano top of his, that's the way to do it. That's exactly what happened. But it started before that. It started when Mason Crane was given out, caught down the left side when he was absolutely nowhere near it. Yeah, I thought that was right. Morgan was deeply pissed off about that. We were deeply pissed off about the James Roo decision and it just went from bad to worse. mean, what, Dan, do they do now with the James Roo situation? Because you assume now that he's going to carry on opening for a little while. See, I wouldn't. I would assume Norman comes in and opens with Thomas. I mean, if we're talking about the the needs of the team. If with Herman coming in, who is a top quality opener with a really good record in first class cricket, surely he goes in with Josh Thomas, who has just had two really good games opening the bang. So it does seem strange to just change the opening partnership again immediately. But if we're about the needs of the team and having, you know, maybe some experience with Josh Thomas, then I think Herman opens. Jason said to me that he's going to bat in the top three. and he hasn't decided yet, he hadn't decided yet yesterday evening whether he'd open or come in at three. Is it, sorry, are we talking about Herman now or Ru? Herman. Herman, okay. Well that would essentially mean that we're either going to drop Tom Lamenby or James Ru is going to go back to four and Herman's going to open. I'd be surprised if they dropped Tom Lamenby, I think it'll be either Vaughan or a Smead who gets dropped. Yeah, I agree. Yeah. Lammerby, I would keep... After Lammerby's runs in the first innings, ⁓ he's done enough to stay in, think. Yeah, I'm just not sure about his elbow. I think that elbow's causing... The right elbow. Yeah, I think it's causing him lot of trouble. Yes, his form hasn't been great, but think you can put down lot of Lamenby's struggles this year to that injury. I think he's really fighting. When did he pick it up then? To be honest, I don't know. don't know. He's had the strapping on all season, hasn't he? Yeah, he definitely had it on in the pre-season game at L'Morgan. ⁓ I'm trying to think now, did I see any pictures with him on in Australia? I didn't really look that much, to be honest. ⁓ It's certainly the amount of strapping is reduced. whether that's it's getting better and he's had a, although he's had now and had a little bit of a, of a setback. don't know. Maybe he needs just to rest it and that'll be an ideal opportunity just to sit Sussex out and, and do that. Plenty of options there. Now we've got, well, yes, because it was announced during the match that we have signed Jordan Herman, as you say, Dan, South African opener. Very good record. What's the teammate of Lewis Gregory's in the whatever the orange ones are called in the essay? Sunrises Eastern Cape. Sunrises Eastern Cape. yes. Rolls off the tongue. ⁓ I mean, we know that signings aren't made overnight. this is, you know, presumably this was kind of kicked into action as soon as we realized that we were going to have both TKC and Lewis Goldsworthy out of action for a reasonable period of time. And it looks a good acquisition. I don't know too much about him, but looking at his numbers, he looks pretty decent. Yeah, I don't know much about him either, but yeah, his numbers are good. And yeah, it'd be good to have a bit of experience up top. I do wonder though, is it gonna mean that TKC and Golders are out for a while? You know, gonna miss the start of the blast? The fact that Herman is signed for those two games in middle of the blast, you know, it's a bit of a worry for the blast campaign. Well, yeah, I mean, but with Riley Meredith out, might be there might sign him for the blasters as well. But we can't let, we can't, we've carriers. Yeah, that's right. can't because we have South Great. We got Miguel as well for the blasters. forget. So he's no mug in T20 cricket. Caught up with Tom Colacabre. What day is it today? I caught up with him back end of last week. ⁓ and his hand is still in a protective splint. I think he was saying that back, the sort of second block is going to be where he's hoping to get to, but, but it, you know, obviously these things can change and, you know, it was a pretty significant injury. ⁓ so that, that's all I know about Tom Cohn LeCabmar is that he's not going to be out forever, but it isn't kind of something where he's going to, he's not picking up a bat and having a net yet. Golds are early, I don't know. Early Golders was running around a little bit at Exmouth last night so maybe his rehab's just sort of starting around now. It's quite a nasty tale, isn't it? So there's a lot of injuries going around, it? know, it's, is it, they've got, there's a, there's the form element and then there's, you know, picking new, and I think that's part of the reason why they've gone for, for Herman is that, you know, I think that they said it pressed a, I remember Andy Herriot, the press, and they're only going to go after, you know, world-class, if it comes available, you know, and not, this isn't to say that Jordan Herman isn't world-class, but this feels like a different type of signing, it's assigning to help patch up a batting lineup that's been depleted through injury and they're still searching for an order which is when the games come thick and fast like they do, it's a real difficult one to find solutions and they've been forced to go into the market. Yeah, mean, when see him he comes in, we obviously we will come in on Friday is no point. No point signing him if not. So what do we make a Somerset stuff at first time around then before after being stuck in on a pretty lively looking Cardiff surface, Josh Thomas impressed it again with 71. I mean, can't praise the young lad highly enough about how much he's taken his chances with both hands. That's what we say you got to do when you get your chance because you know, sometimes you might be waiting a long time for it. He's he's certainly taken taking that Tom Lamenby did you say coming back into form of 45 and then Tom Abel again. They had a lot of luck to be fair Josh Thomas and Tom Lamenby on that first morning it was a minor miracle that we got through to lunch having lost only one wicket and actually it put us in the box seat you know because conditions eased after that as the ball got softer Tom Abel batted beautifully as he has been doing all season. And good support as well from Craig Overton and Lewis Gregory down the order and 350 should have been a winning score. Yeah. got the third bang for the first time. First time ⁓ we've crossed that room. Even Jake Ball batted pretty well. I was impressed with Jake Ball's batting. The ball. Jake Ball, the wall. He managed to avoid the first trigger movement back towards the square leg umpire which was quite noticeable earlier on. Yeah good to see Jake again in line. Lovely to see. Yeah so 354 I think was you massively above par. Yep. As you say Gibbo associated with a little luck again. Pulled them out really well as a unit 229 all out. out for that and then what the flippin' heck happened after T? Well you've got to give credit to young Tom Horton, I mean he did bow well, he was lucky with the wicket and the room. Amonby got a really good one, couldn't do much with it. Archie Vaughan absolutely stone dead, it appeared although I gather that Archie Vaughan himself was deeply pissed off about it. Whether he thought he hit it. I don't know apparently was effing and blinding it as he went back up the stairs back up steps to addressing them, but No, said you very rare you'll find a batter who's out who's had in any sort of mood a happy mood when they've just been Sent for a golden duck and been a part of a hat trick for a kid who's It didn't seem anything wrong with the decision as far as far as I could It was just good bowling. It was just one of those things. Yeah and and ⁓ smeed and leech got themselves out as well you know it was a bit of a sort of domino effect i'm afraid but thank goodness tom abel survived it yeah i mean that 71 was worth 171 in other other conditions thanks to our first innings lead of around 120 we did manage to set them to 70 odd to win Again, but we've just two games in a row now, thrown away winning positions or dominant positions. I wouldn't say we threw it away. Well, we 32 for six, Kimo. Well, yeah, all right. The 32 for six, yes, you could say that that was throwing away, but on the, you know, the last day. Tom Abel, when I interviewed him on, who closed with a third day, I said, you know, what are the chances? He said 50-50. And I think that was... I know, but we should have batted them out of the game. Well, we should, yeah. But one, we hadn't. And then we, but we got ourselves right in back into the game by sending them 280 odd to win on a, you know, not a, it was a difficult pitch. It sort of, sometimes it did a bit and sometimes it didn't. And sometimes it shot through and sometimes it bounced, you know, it was, pitch that the batsman would say they would never felt really in on. But I couldn't really fault either the bowlers on the last day or Lewis Gregory's captaincy. been a lot of stuff on social media about why didn't they bowl Jack Leach. Well, you he bowled one over and yeah, he got one to Crete, which almost bowled Hadley. But it wasn't the sort of wicket we'd seen from Mason Crane that You know, he'd hardly been bowled by the Elk and Morgan. It was a wicket where you would be expecting the seamers to take the wickets and they came so blooming close to taking the wickets. That was what's so agonizing about it. You know, the number of plays and misses. It wasn't if they bowled badly, they bowled without any blooming luck. that's... I believe it was. Is that a record, Dan? Have you got that to your fingertips? The amount of plays and misses in a day of championship cricket? We went back to 1890. I mean, I was watching it, Ben, you as well, sort of keeping an eye on things. And I tweeted, I didn't really tweet much during this match. was sort of, didn't want to tempt fate or anything, just literally could not fault the effort of the bowlers in the first hour and then pretty much throughout the day. think, you can obviously look at it too, should they have been 30 for six? No, they've got to find a way of You know, even if an opposition team are on a roll, they've got to find a way of just getting themselves 60 for four. And then you've got, you know, they've got to find a way to stop, to stop that. And, know, it's concerning. She warned dismissal, you know, might not like it, but, know, I'd be concerned. He got, he got nowhere near it. And yes, it was a hat trick. bit around his front pad as well, wouldn't it? was a bit, yeah. You know, I don't think a top, order bat, you know, he looked, he looked a mile away from a little beaten for pace. So I think that's a slight concern for Archie to be. And I think that... You just don't want to be in that. No, no batter wants to be in that situation, do they come on the hat-trick ball? But you probably assume it's going to be full and straight. think. So to be so, so sort of not in on the same line of it was, was it, I think a bit of a concern. However, what I will say is that I think from 32 for six, I think some of us that I've played a pretty perfect game and that would have won the game. 98, 99 times out of 100 from that situation. Tom Abel played brilliantly, Lewis Gregory played brilliantly. I thought Lewis' innings was fantastic on that third morning and take the pressure off Tom, score runs quickly without taking too many risks. And I think that they bowled, they couldn't have done any more. Sometimes, you know, we say that, they bowl well, but in patches, they let it go. They were on, and I'd sort of like to just make a point about Jake Ball actually, because I think that he's often a bowler that goes a little bit underrated with quite quick to jump on him sometimes when he doesn't bowl more brilliantly. I thought he was... I think he's been fantastic this year. I really do. I think he's been up there. He's probably been our second best bowler. know, is, know, Miguel was great and Craig was probably, you know, tremendously unlucky. You know, everyone was unlucky, but Craig was sort of beyond unlucky with some of the things that went on his bowling. But these are good signs, you know, it's short term pain and we're all gutted and especially after the Yorkshire game, it's the last thing we wanted. But I think that When we go well into the season, we had question marks over our pace bowling. People needed to step up and Jake Ball and Alfie Oggman have both done that. So that's a big tick in the box. And on the batting, yes, they've still got some problems to solve, some injury problems, but Josh Thomas has come through as a real shining light. So there are still concerns about a few things, but I don't think we should be too downbeat for the sort of medium term. Because I do think there's been some good signs, and particularly the pace bowling. They look a good unit, and they've got options, and they've got options to rest and rotate. mean, Alfield come back in on Friday. Maybe even Josh Shaw comes in with them out of work, but it's been put in by some of those pace bowlers. So think all in all, it's bitterly disappointing. but I wouldn't bet against them turning it around. No, me neither. I agree with that. And don't forget it was Jake Ball who had the catch dropped, you know, when Hadley was put down by Lewis Gregory, which is, you know, I was very, very unlike Lewis. And I agree with you, Ben. I mean, it's interesting. lot of the Glamorgan people I spoke to were saying, well, Somerset's pace burning attack is so much better than ours. You know, we just can't compare with the way they bowl as a unit. And I think that's right. We thought that was going to be a weakness at the start of the season, but actually, it's turned out to be something of a strength. And the real problems, the many injuries that we've had. If we had Lewis Goldsworthy and Tom Coder-Catwell in the side, who knows how different it might have been? So I agree with Ben. I'm not worried about the... ⁓ prospects for the rest of the season. Maybe a bit more in the blast, given the absence of Riley Meredith and TKC, but in the county championship, think we've still got every chance. I don't know you're worried about this as well, but I am worried that we've not nailed these two games that we should have won. We're into habit. Look, hindsight now, did that one-week break come at the wrong time? Now, when we had momentum of two brilliant away wins. Would you have done anything different if you were in Lewis Gregory's shoes on Monday? Well, you should have requested that the Yorkshire game be brought a week forward so we don't have the week, you know. Yeah, no, on Monday, I mean, yeah, the obvious point is maybe we could have bowled each bit more, but I think we just had the faith that if we just kept on persisting, the pace bowlers would do the job for us, which wasn't unreasonable. If you look at the previous day, before lunch we... We're pretty much on it, but maybe not quite there. after, sorry, before tea, wasn't it, on day three, we didn't take a wicket. We weren't quite fully there. But then after tea, we were unbelievable. We bowled so well, we kept it so tight, we kept such a lead on the scoring rate, and the wickets, and we did chip away, the wickets did fall. So I think we just had the faith that if we just did that again the next morning, the wickets would fall. And we did do it again, but somehow Hadley and Dixon were so resolute, and they stayed there. And sometimes you just got to credit the opposition. ⁓ Obviously we weren't far away in the end, only two wickets away. I really think if Gregory had held that catch in the slips a bit earlier, we may have the one. Two balls after as well that neither of got a hand on that go between. Craig, that would have been a worldy, but Lewis's is one that he should have taken. Yeah. And you can also say that if they hadn't sent in Hadley as night watchman, we possibly would have won as well. If it had been Cook then, no sorry, would have been Dixon then, but then Kelley got out, so it would have then been probably Cook. that night as well. know, the game would have been completely different. It's Ryan Hadley who's basically won them that game with the bat. It's just completely ridiculous. So yeah, one way of looking at it is it's kind of a freak result. not excusing the loss, but it's kind of a freak in a way. Yeah, how many times is Ryan Hadley going to do that again in his career? Yeah, exactly. He played 250 of balls in his old first pass career, didn't he? So it was a very, very unique situation. We've played so much good cricket against Yorkshire and against Gmorgan and we've ultimately let those games slip through a session of madness in both games. It was their second morning against Yorkshire and then the second evening against Gmorgan. The rest of those games we played pretty well. So we've got to, I don't want to say focus on the positives because that's, know, cliche coach speak, but we are a good cricket team. We've got to remember that and not sort of be too downbeat going into the Sussex game. Obviously we will be tired and that's what I'm a bit worried about. ⁓ We've got to ⁓ remember that we have not become a bad team overnight. We beat two really good teams earlier in the season away from home. Alright, Hampshire happened great this season, but I still think beating them away from home was a pretty good achievement. So we've got to focus on that and hopefully we can at minimum draw. I'm a bit worried if we lose again, just... I just, my personal personal is up. I don't want to be stewing over a third loss in a row for a few weeks before we resume the championship. So let's get Elise to draw. But if we can win that then yeah, I there'll be a lot of confidence back I think because the title is not gone. You know, we've lost twice teams don't usually lose teams never lose more than twice and win the title in the 14 since the championship went down to 14 games. No team has lost three times or won the title. Until now. Well, who knows, who knows. We nearly did in 2019. But yeah, it's not gone. The title is not gone. So yeah, we've got we've just got to keep keep going at it. Keep persisting. Because it's an open championship this season as well. Like, there's no absolute standout team. I mean, I know if we can get a pitch like we played on New Yorkshire consistently that that is a, you know, again, annoying that we lost on it, but medium term positives that, you know, can we get results at Taunton? Can we? And we've been wondering over the last few years whether we can produce result pitches, particularly under the new, you know, our, you know, the regulations. And if we can get pitches like we played on Yorkshire, the answer is I think, yes, we can produce result pitches at Taunton. that don't allow us any problems with points deductions. We've just got to play there on it. I mean the only thing I'd say about the the the Seamers is and in response to the the questions about Leech, I mean I was in high school, I was kind of agreeing sort of Friday, sort of, sorry Monday night when you're desperate to think oh what could we have done to win that game, we should have bowled Leech, should have bowled Leech more and then I kind of cast my mind back to when I was watching it and at no point did I think the Seamers were bowling or not doing what they were doing enough of a level to think maybe it's time to give Jack a go. In hindsight, again, maybe I think keeping four reasonably identical seamers on to a guy like Hadley who just going to line up, play for his off stump, not do much outside, maybe you needed to ask him a different question every now and again and just see what he'd do with it because he said, only faced 200 odd balls in his entire first class career. it was sort of what we saw, how he was set up. Maybe we need to ask him a different question. Jack's not going to go for 20, so maybe in that scenario. in terms of looking to take wickets against sort of Dixon and the others, couldn't fault what the Seams did. Yes, the thing that we might not be considering is Jack's neck. We had an injection, I believe. I mean, I'm sure you, you know, he won't be playing if he wasn't fit enough. Yeah. He wouldn't have been on the field if he wasn't a hundred percent. I wouldn't have thought so, but it might've just been part of the conundrums that, you know, he's going to have plenty of bowling to do probably this, this week. It might have come into the equation, might not have done, but it is neck. I know he was obviously struggling for that. And give out death. Taxes and Sean Dixon inevitably playing a match winning off against his former county. Oh, yeah. released him last year. I'm pleased for Sean obviously. I am too. And he said, well, he said it was very sweet or it was sweet. And you can't blame him for that. No. And good luck to the guy. My near neighbor. Don't see anybody else. Is he regular at Eli's as well? No, he's not. Well, he has been there, but not the same time as I've been in there. Oh, I see. But he's good guy. Like all former Somerset players, I always wish them every success wherever they go. And I'm sure there's going to be two more opportunities for his success against Somerset in the blast coming up in a few weeks time. Anything else I've got on Somerset? mean, sorry, the Lidl & Morgan game. Yeah, well, there was a question on Twitter about whether Somerset are doing themselves any favors with the histrionics when they are peeping. And I think that's, you know, that's a point. But there was a lot of criticism of the way Yorkshire behaved in the field on the last day in the last game with this sort rhythmic clapping and all this trying to put off the young batsmen. And I do think that some of this exaggerated appealing is having a the opposite of the desired effect on the umpires. I think it may be, you know, the umpires, but, you know, annoying them and putting them, you know, against the fielding side. So, you know, I just, it's not just Somerset who do it, it's almost every, but it's just getting a bit over the top to appeal the difference for absolutely bloody everything. devalues the currency of the appeal, if you like. I think there's two ways to look at it. When you are absolutely desperate for a wicket on the final day, as Yorkshire were, be fair, I think you go for more and you go up louder for more. I think there is a bit of a line. think you appeal loudly, you wait for the umpire's decision and then you accept the umpire's decision and get on with it. Or you wonder why he's waving his hand around and poking his hat when he's not giving it out. I think sort of earlier on in the match when, you know, emotions aren't quite as high and everything's not on the line like it is on the final day. If you're acting like that, then going out for everything and, you know, doing the over excessive, celeb repealing and, giving it all the theatrics, then yeah, I think that's out of order. think when the emotions are high on a final day, you're absolutely desperate for a win. You haven't taken, you've bowled your ass out for an hour and two hours, beat the edge how many times, not taking a wicket, completely frustrated. I think then it's sometimes difficult to check the emotion in your appeals. I think generally we're okay. think it's teams that go up earlier on in the match, it's all orchestrated. No, I don't like that. That's why we love sport, it's about the emotion. It's about watching the guys out there, leaving it all out there, desperate to... ⁓ desperate to win as we all are as far as probably more desperate. I don't think we go over the top. Early on my very, very minor cricketing experience at Middlesoy Cricket Club, you just know that if an umpire is giving stuff, you always just go up that extra bit more. And particularly with, I can imagine with the Mason Crane dismissal in context, they must know that the umpire is either going to try and correct himself or he's not, always... or he's not quite sure or he's not having his best game, you know, it's a tough job, but you always know if, if one has a given stuff, you always go out there actually look at more. And I think that's just part and parcel of being a bowler that you try and sense opportunities. And yeah, I think that the emotion of a professional sport, I think some are set at times over, you know, they, do, they do. close to the line but it's just something we need to watch I ⁓ yeah. Yeah. Don't want to get a reputation for it. I think as well part of the art of umpiring is maybe not waiting for that line to be crossed and just having a little word with the captain saying just I know you're desperate to win the match but you know just ease up a little bit because there's a few absolutely stupid ones that you're going up for. Just remember yourselves boys and then leave it at that. There was a word wasn't it the last day. The umpires did have a word with Lewis at one point, which maybe it was linked to an over excessive appeal, I think. And then we weren't very, or maybe it was the reaction to it not being given. We just gotta be careful that professional sport is about fine margins. And if we are making umpires a tiny bit less likely to give decisions in our favor, we do need to keep an eye on it. Maybe just tone it back. ever so slightly, but yeah, we don't want to kill the emotion, obviously, of the players either, so it's just that balance. None of us could work out what's going on with the slip catching then. I'm massively disappointed now because we could be 16 points clear at the top of the table now if we won both of those games. Real opportunity missed but as you say a lot of cricket to be played. Just looking back as well you say fine margins. James Rue got a shocker in that second innings chase against Yorkshire. He was nowhere near it. He got a shocker in this inning. You know, ⁓ a 50, two fifties from, from Roo. We could be looking at two very, very different outcomes. I think when umpires, I think there's a difference between not giving stuff that you feel could be given and giving stuff that wasn't out. You know, I feel like in county cricket, there's no DRS. Yeah, there's always going to be times where you hit the pads or, in, in you feel like it was out and umpires have got different, and that's a matter of opinion. But I think that in this game, there were. There were two, weren't there, least Crane and Rue that were given out and they shouldn't have been given out. Yeah, that's disappointing. Well, it undermines the confidence of the players and the umpires. That's the trouble. And then that leads to all sorts of other stuff. But I'd be very interested to read the match referees report. Not that we ever will. But was sitting in the next door box to us. ⁓ I was giving him a really cool look. Did you not see what was his mood like? Was he sort of furiously scribbling or was he kind of sat with his feet on the desk? He was furiously scribbling. ⁓ dear. Well, we've answered two of Forza Hutch's questions now about Jack Leach and the standard of umpiring. Well, I just wanted to say something about the standard of umpiring as well. I think we're a little bit spoiled now with DRS in test cricket and international cricket and pretty much all televised cricket now Where the bad decisions have no consequence and we don't talk about them anymore like we used to But with the quality of streams improving We're seeing the bad decisions in county cricket more and more you know, I'm looking back at You know back to the 90s watching watching a lot of cricket on TV you'd see now the Atherton thing at Trent Bridge, 98 against Alan Donald. That was a shocking decision. Not giving out led to one of the most memorable pieces of cricket ever seen. So there were still bad decisions in international cricket by what you say are better umpires than the ones in the county game. I just think they're really, really more exposed now and players don't have the recourse even to, you know, lying decisions for runouts or anything like that. Yeah, I've got every sympathy with umpires, but... But, I mean, they've, some of the stuff that went on was not great. Notably the doffing the hat. Yeah. ⁓ that was Paul Pollard, wasn't it? Yeah. Who did he used to play for again? Remind me. Knots. Knots. think he'd be in some type of Worcestershire as well, I thought he used to play for Essex. Who am I thinking of that played for Essex? Richard. He's Hampshire women head coach so he's around as well. my joke gone, that was my one joke of the week and it's gone. it's Fortes' third question was has El Presidente, obviously Peter Wanless, renamed the Sean Dixon party barn? Well I texted Peter at the end of the game and I just put the redacted party barn. Peter replied to me, Sean who? Very sorry for the bowlers. You tried so hard today, but we lost it on Saturday evening. And then I got a presidential grr to signify his anger. Just one last thing on Cardiff. Is Tom Abel doing anything different than anyone's noticed? Well, I asked him that and he said no, but I think he's I'm not a cricket coach, it seems to I asked Mark Davis about this and Mark what Mark said, who is a very good coach. is that he's picking up his bat a little less towards gully and a little bit more towards slips than he has been in the past because something that Pete Trigo said to me ages ago about Tom Abel was that he was picking the bat up towards gully so he comes down slightly across the line of the ball and I think he may have corrected that but you don't take my word for it. And he himself If he is doing anything different, he's not letting on. It's definitely working, whatever it is he's doing, whether it's something mental, I don't know. That's fantastic. 76 runs now. I know. It's more than halfway to a thousand, we're not even in the middle of May. A lot of tough runs as well. Oh yeah, mean he's better. Some real hard graft has gone into those. You look at Hampshire, look at the two knocks just last week. mean, yeah, guys in some form. Long may it continue. Looking ahead then to Sussex who are, whisper it quietly, but after having a 12 point deduction at the start of the season, are sliding quite nicely into the title race. ⁓ Fourth on 69 points. They won more games than anyone else in the division. ⁓ Beat Lester who seem to be the whipping boys of the division, haven't won yet ⁓ by seven wickets in the week. ⁓ Briefly about the 11 that we're to put out on Friday to face them. I'll quickly go in mine and then you can chastise me if you like. Well, I've kind of picked a 13, but my batters are in this order. Josh Thomas, Herman, Lamonby, James Rue at 4, Abel at 5, Smead at 6. If we think it's a two spinner pitch for at 7, if not, Gregory Overton, Pretorius, Ball and Leach. or possibly Ogborn coming in if we believe any of them are due arrests. I think we'll see both off-borne and shore coming. I get that feeling as well after this Championship games that they might both play. It's hard to say who it will be for because it just depends on who needs a rest. mean, Ball is sort of the one, the most sort of, you know, he's often the one who was missed out for Ogborn this season. But he didn't play against Yorkshire, did he Ball? So he might actually be a bit fresher. So might be that perhaps Nick drops out, you he's put in an almighty effort against Morgan and Bob really well. But he's obviously coming off a I got no problem resting Craig if he needs a rest. I think he wasn't a fan of this kind of preemptive resting, like they rested him at Surrey. When did we last play a game without him in the team, Dan? September 2019 against Yorkshire. We've played 22 games since then without Craig Overton and 1-0. I think Miguel is imminently more resting, not necessarily just because of the bowling but... I they'll always be loathe to rest Overton and Gregory just because of what they give you with the bat. And particularly Overton, you know, well, even Gregory, they've both been really solid performers with the bat this year. I think that Miguel might be one option to, if they were looking to rest, I think it's probably going to come down to how their bodies are. Ultimately, we don't know how they've all held up after the game, but I feel like that's always... almost the last thing that they want to do is rest over to North Gregory. I mean, obviously you don't want to rest your captain that often, but you know, just with that batting, does, our tail end performance hasn't been the best. So I feel like they'll want the runs, the protection of the runs of Overton and Gregory because they don't get huge amounts out of ball. They've got nothing at Pretorius yet. You can but. He's not really showing it. I don't know what's happened to Brittorius is batting. He just looked like completely... Well, he got a 70 odd didn't he against not... Yeah, he's got. Yeah, last year. But this year... He hasn't lasted hardly three overs. Never looked like he was going to last three overs. He's got these 350s. Yeah, 50 it must stir it. the out ground. But yeah, mean, but he's not, he doesn't look like he's going to, you know, when he was sent out on day three against the Morbiddy, clearly just going to sent out with a, have a hack at anything because you're going to get out if you don't. Oh yeah, that was when he went ahead of Gregory. The only reason I'm going to think of that is it just kept Gregory away from maybe three or four hours of of knew a ball and made it a bit easier for him when he in. I speculated on commentary that he was a sort of sacrificial lamb which is how it worked out. in none of his, I mean that shot that he played in the second innings against Yorkshire was just unbelievable. brain fade of the season? Well, I don't know. I've got a couple of nominations of brain fade of the season. May one is that there might not be any kit for ⁓ old Jordan Herman to wear on Friday, anyway, supply chain issues in the straight of Hormuz with the kit apparently. ⁓ I'm sure it'll be clobbered out in something. Yeah, best of luck to Lewis Gregg and the boys. mean, as we all said, and we all agree, we haven't become a bad side open. Little things have gone against us. But you know, that's not to say we couldn't have done a little bit better in those games, putting them to bed. And no good news from Somerset women as well, Dan. They played more or less a week ago down ⁓ at Utilita Bowl. they, well, despite a magnificent 133 from Beck soldiers, we talked about Tom Abel's resurgence with the back. Chloe Skelton seems to have ⁓ Found the magic world 250s in two games unbeaten 77 off 67 for Scouts competitive total 281 for six which was really Blown away really my buchy a showed her class 143 and they won in 40 overs Yeah, they had a period in the middle where it's lost in the game. I think going from 102 for one to 1-3-1-4-6 and that was it really. yeah, Auditor's and Skelton's partnership was unbelievable. I didn't see it as I wasn't able to watch the stream that day. But that partnership was the highest ever seventh wicket partnership in this country and women's this day cricket. So it was incredibly impressive. They were not out at the end as well. Skelton used to be, I don't know, statistically, she seemed to be used more of a batter a few years ago. when she first made Western Storm, she was a bit higher up the order, but she seems to have dropped down the order in recent years and become more of a bowler. But you know, her batting has definitely revived this season, which is great to see. And Orgers have made a few starts before that game without pushing on. So yeah, great to see her go on to get her first century of the summer set. But yeah, they were hamstrung by that collapse and the need to rebuild. So they weren't able to score at the pace they probably needed to on that pitch because I mean, Maya Boucher is obviously a top player, but the way the hamster mowed it down kind of implied that it was a below par score, unfortunately. yeah, as we've seen since we've lost the England players, we've not been anywhere near as good. Maybe that's the last bit has to say not anywhere near as good, but we've not been quite as good. We've been reasonably competitive, you we weren't far off against Essex. You know, we had them 153, 153.5, facing 269, but just couldn't get the next breakthrough against Warwickshire. We made a good fist to facing 337. We've not just not been quite there. Without that sort of experience and quality being the first brain because without them it is still a very young and inexperienced team Which in five years time might you know might be one of the best if all goes to plan and they keep you know Getting better because we are seeing improvements being individual players. You saw them last season We're seeing more this season, you need Holland is having a good season. I'll just just scored her first century Katie Jones was really good against Essex with the knock she played Lola Harris is emerged this season as a wicked taking threat her loopy leg spoon, which is really good to watch. But we will, but there's also a few injuries as well. Like the men's side, we've got a few injuries, we've signed two players now, since the start of the season on short term deals. If not, neither of have played yet. Well, Jasmine Wesley was only signed today. So that just shows that we do have a few availability issues which are causing problems. Obviously, Sophie Lough missed the chase against Warishia and the Hampshire game with concussion. She'll be back tomorrow though, but so that's that's good. So yeah, mean, we're still actually in a reasonable position in the table. And there's a long, long way to go. We've only played six games out of 16, so who knows? But yeah, we've seen improvements from individuals, which is something, I think, even if it's gonna be difficult for us to get into the knockouts without the England players for most of the season. think a lot of the noise coming out from Aaron Osborne and Sophie is, this is a long-term project. These are young players and we are developing them and... judges in two or three years time, maybe not necessarily on the season's results, which I think is fair enough if you look at the profile of that squad, especially as they're going to be missing sort of three of their big guns. Former England captain Heather Knight and current England captain Charlie Dean along with Danielle Gibson. I didn't see much of that. I was pretty much glued to the Somerset stream on Sunday, so I didn't watch much of the women's game at all, but a bit of a nail biter. Yeah, winning by one wicket. It's tough game tomorrow for Somerset. When they got the blaze. ⁓ The blaze. Yeah, well, we are making them go another 45 minutes down to Exmouth, which is always good. like it when we do that just to make it a little bit tougher. Exmouth, course, Somerset sort of development 11, captain by Finn Hill played on the same day against Devon as the men were finishing off. But I put Cardiff, which is it. Have we got any answers as to why that scheduling happened, Ben? I know. It certainly left a few headaches outside because we were trying to go to Cardiff and trying to go to Exmoff. And in the end, sort of did neither. And then we just we thought that the Colmorgan game would finish early enough. So then we decided to go to Exmoff and then it didn't finish early enough. it was yeah, it wasn't the best. Maybe just a word. Another good game. Bertie Michael got 80 odd in the end who ended up winning by two runs. and notably for those of you fretting about who's going to keep in the one day cup, Finn Hill took the gloves as well as the armband down at Exmouth last night. Just quick, then we mentioned that Riley Meredith misses the first six Vitality Blast games. Of course, there are only 12 now, so that's half the group games. I've had a look. They do seem to be the tougher half that he misses, which is a bit of ⁓ a pain. I two Glamorgans, Hampshire, ⁓ two Warwickshires or Bears, whatever they're called now. Is Warwickshire Bears now? The Warwickshire Bears are off. But he is available for that trip to Derbyshire, which we're all dreading. Yes. Two Northampton games. ⁓ I think we've covered all of our questions from listeners maybe not giving you a name check but I think we certainly answered most of your points if not all. ⁓ Any other business before we knock this on here tonight? What do think they'll do with with Merrill this slot? think they'll just go with with Pretorius or do you think that it's such a tight turn around? don't think they potentially do many other options really but I shouldn't think there are any top class quick bowlers available at short notice. No, look at what we do. We did Craig up top. So Craig Bowles in the power play. Meredith Bowles out the power play. Gregory kind of bowls when needed. Dean bowls at the death who has been replaced by pretty much Daniel Sam. So you look at Sam's bowl at the death, goals worthy fitting in whenever. he'll probably play. You're probably looking at an X factor bowler to bowl outside the power play or slightly adjust his tactics to take the ball. I mean, Jake Ball's more in the power play craig over at the start of the day. Maybe Alfie? Oh, oh, JT! Give JT a go. Oh, Well, we might be... What do mean, oh, God? He's probably listening to this. No, He's of bigging me up on Bright Side of Life. I'm going be playing in fucking kingdom. Oh, God. No, no, no, I didn't mean it in a... Ruin his career, Dad. Sorry. I'm backing you, JT, even if that No, no, no. Oh, it came out wrong. It came out wrong. I just meant that... JT, you never know what's going to happen at this point in his young career. ⁓ He will be a very good bowler one day, it won't be him initially, don't think, will mean, if we had Merritt, if it would have been ⁓ between Shaw Ball and Ogbourne for that one remaining pace bowling spot, I think. ⁓ But now it's potentially two of them are going to play and then Mink obviously comes into the equation as well. So we've got options. But yeah, I do wonder if it's going to... if we're about to see goals really. Might it's entered a slight transitional year in T20s with James Roo maybe in that Lions series as well. Plus with Dixon and Green having gone. I don't know. I still back us against the Knockouts definitely, but I don't know if we're going to be quite as strong this year, but it's T20, so who knows. Yeah, I would think if we can get aside with seven bowlers, I play JT language every day of the week. Like a couple of all-rounders in there, like Goldsworthy, obviously Goldsworthy can bat. Obviously Gregory can bat, Sam's can bat. Whether you can get just squeezing another all-rounder to give you seven bowling options, I think JT's definitely worth a go. you know, as Sue Naftall said on Twitter that Sonny Baker was, you we wanted to keep Sonny Baker, but he went because we didn't play the lad. We don't want see JT language steaming in and knocking our heads off for, you know, or whatever. Yeah but he played one game Ghibbo. I know but he was hardly ever... and look what happened when he played for England. Well I know yeah but he played too early didn't he? What we defending 115 or something? Of course they're take on a young kid on debut aren't they? Anyway he's keeping fit now. Anybody tried beef bone broth? Is that what he's on now? Yeah. you seen that? Yeah good luck to Brof made out bones Dan. It's pretty... sounds pretty serious stuff but anyway. Yeah so if you are suffering from stress factors at the back, Sunny Baker recommends brome bath, bone, bone broth. ⁓ look at that, that period of silence followed by gibbo chimes. I think that's our official sign to knock this on the head. Best of luck to Sophie Lough and Subway Set Women tomorrow down at X with Get Down There if you can and of course best of luck to Lewis Gregory and the boys as they look to put their champo season back on track against Sussex at Taunton on Friday. Gents, pleasure as always, catch up with you soon. Cheers chefs, cheers everyone.