ralphindevon

I’m just going to go with a positive. I got to meet the great Mick Hartford

I was in the Lansdown, about 10 meters from the Garland family, and everyone seemed to be clapping but it is true it didn’t last long. As others have said we’d paid a great tribute to a great player already, not sure of the point of that one.

A new one in the Lansdown too. Also, I went into the club shop, I doubt theres a worse club shop in the National League 5th tier

I think it was 2 years ago but yes similar weather snd match

Opening game of the season i never expect much, nor do i when we play Preston. But that was poor, very poor

Inevitable

New ticket system slow and temperamental, the stewards words not mine. And you do have to open and show the ticket, not like google or Apple pay. Hope it improves

Indeed, every county seemed to have at least one world class player back then. As well as are own players as a kid I’d absolutely love seeing the likes of Malcolm Marshall, Richard Hadlee, Michael Holding, Proctor, Clive Lloyd, Imran Khan. The list goes on and on.

I don’t think I’ll be able to get there Sunday, if I do it’ll be later on. But will be there next Friday. By then we’ll be out of the competition, last year our only win was v Warwickshire who have just comfortably beaten us. This time of year I feel like a Gloucestershire fan.

With the floodlights, that dominate the skyline and don’t retract, being controversial in Taunton, Somerset have to at least use them a couple of times or people will be questioning there point. With the Blast being in June we rarely got to the stage where lights were needed. Its a shame, I’d have gone today if it was a normal start but I’m not sitting about in the evening in this crap weather.

Every year I think I’ll enjoy watching what’s left of the Somerset team in the 50 over competition, new faces, youngsters getting a chance. Then every year it just depresses me when I think what we’re missing. In my youth in the late 70s I was watching goodness how many games during the summer holidays at Taunton and W-S-M. Not only a lot of cricket but the best players in the world playing for and against us. I know those days are long gone never to return but what we’ve got now is a right mess.

We’re back and this time we mean business! Interesting to see their fans predictions, loads going for Mehmeti first goal scorer, I can see him getting a few this season though he may have to do it coming from the bench on Saturday. I’m optimistic for the season but as this is Bristol City I’ve a feeling we’ll be brought down to earth a bit with a slightly disappointing 1-1 draw, Conway.

Yes it’ll be interesting how it works out with the non playing 100 players and how many get to return to their counties. For instance, If I recall correctly Lammonby didn’t play until quite late in the competition last year, so presumably they knew days in advance he wouldn’t be playing so could have released him. He did quite well in the end so I’m not suggesting him but there will be some not in the initial plans.

Crikey, 6 going for 3-2 which it probably would have been had it not rained in Manchester. Good to see Glen McGrath going for 0-5, which is what he predicts every Ashes.

7 clubs dearer than us in the fist round of games is better (for us) than I expected

I’ve got a Bristol City/Man City lanyard he’s welcome to have, it might help tie the two teams together In some way. Oh, and a Robins key ring.

We have to remember it is a rewards scheme, it’s free. My gripe was once they had started it they couldn’t complete what they had offered and from then on their customer service was horrendous. For me they would have been much better off not starting this reward scheme at all, or at least start it when they re ready and could fulfill their orders. If when I’d first emailed them wondering where my stuff was after 3 months they’d emailed back and admitted they’d made a big mistake and they would adjust things this season to make sure it worked well, I’d have happily just written off the whole thing. But to ignore a good long-standing customer hoping they’d go away was such bad customer service if there had been a choice of dropping them for someone else, like I’d do with any other company, I’d have done it in a shot. Of course there’s no chance of that, I’m stuck with them for life.

Yes, in the first 2 years they’ve made, what most describe as a generous to the ECB estimate of a £9m loss. They have to give tickets away at most grounds to fill them. They thought they’d make money by selling the concept to other countries, they should’ve patented the T20 format all those years ago, well as much as you could patent something like that, anyway they didn’t and not surprisingly no other country is interested in buying the 100 rights from them. They can’t just pull the plug as Sky have paid for rights to show it for a few more years, this money goes mainly to the counties which is obviously much needed. Most counties voted for this but many now regret it and say they hadn’t realised what they were voting for. So our only hope is they drop the 100 nonsense format and somehow combine it with the Blast, there’ll still have to be a franchise element to this I think but it won’t just be the big test ground cities involved. There’s pretty much zero chance of going back to what we used to have so we’ll just have to make the most of what changes they hopefully make next year.

Yes they are decent, I think entering the draws is the way to go, small chance of winning but very nice if you do.

En? Exactly the opposite. It’s a travesty because they’re taking all our players. The whole thing is a great big money losing shit show. The sooner they change things, hopefully next year, the better.

Maybe when they tell us how to forward your ticket to a friend you’ll be able to forward it to your new phone @Bryans Left Peg

Ok, it’s raining and there’s nothing on tv and I’m going to admit I’ve watched a tiny bit of the Hundred. You can’t criticise if you don’t try it and I wanted to check in on the 3 Somerset players. I lasted about 5 minutes on BBC as the commentators/ presenters were just dreadful. Apart from Moeen Ali who was singing Lewis Gregory’s praises as a captain. Thought if I am going to watch another 5 minutes it’ll be on Sky. They were also praising Gregory and his captaining skills in short form cricket, he’s bowling pretty well too, though it’s hard to understand (the opposite of the reason for the Hundred) because there’s no overs. Anyway, Gregory for England T20 captain!?

I can tell you if you write and complain you’ll get a lanyard from the Man City game instead! I’m not really sure what your supposed to do with it? Maybe wait until we play them next and use to sneak into hospitality?

I think Cook’s last sentence is correct, he’s got more shots than people realise. I think he’s been managed brilliantly by Somerset so far, just concentrating on red ball and getting the basics right. The fancy stuff can and will follow. I’ve seen plenty of unorthodox shots from him and he’s rarely a slow batter. He’s no Tom Banton but he will certainly have enough shots to get into the Bazball test team because he’s such a classy batsman.

Good question, it’d be nice to know how many enter and who the winners are, maybe this is done I don’t know. Anyway, after last season’s debacle I’m thinking of spending all my points on draws this season. Probably slim chance of winning but at least there’s some good prizes.