ralphindevon

48 for 6 this morning. Horrendous start to the day, could barely have gone any worse

I reckon it was the constant short stuff and Broad getting hit that made Robinson go for Head then. This new tactic from Australia has changed the series and maybe Bazball

What a dreadful first hour, really behind in the game now.

Exactly, I didn’t have a problem with Pope yesterday, except if he’d played more T20 for his county he might have executed it better but some players aren’t looking at the chances of getting 4 or 6 runs compared to the chances of getting out.

Keep not trying to be negative but if Brook had played that shot for my team in a T20 I wouldn’t have been too happy, it’s just a nothing shot with percentages all against you.

Yes they did look at it and I must admit I had no problem with it at the time, that image makes it look a bit more suspect. We've got to decide once and for all if these are out or not. We see so many where the player clearly has the ball in hand under control but the ball has touched grass through the fingers. Personally I’d vote out but as long as we know what the rule is I don’t care.

I wonder if the batters that are out are asking Stokes what he thinks he’s doing playing sensibly or Stokes asking them what the hell they were doing with some of their shots. All in all a very good days cricket that England can claim they just about got the better of.

I love Bazball and as someone else pointed out it’s still early ish days. But they’ve got to be a bit more clever than they are. I mean if I played that shot Brook just played in a pub match I’d be batting at 11 the next game and for him to play a school playground shot like that in an Ashes test is ridiculous when he’s talented enough to make quick runs without doing stupid things like that.

I think something similar might be said in the team meeting. ATM they can’t get out of the see it hit it mode

It’s a pretty good tactic and maybe the first real test of Bazball, it’ll certainly take some discussing at the next team meeting.

And nobody had a bigger one than his co-commentator Kevin Pieterson, one of greatest ever batsman. An ego is no bad thing at this level of sport

They were bonus runs from Ducket, he looked like he could get out most balls in the last 40 minutes I’ve been watching. But that’s Bazball, 98 important runs that he may not have got playing normal test cricket.

I’ve always had my supporters club membership on that app, can’t remember why it’s on that app but it works well.

Crikey, I popped out for half an hour come back and it's all over. What a remarkable turnaround and a huge win that will probably guarantee our top division staus fir yet another record breaking year.

Taunton is looking very gloomy from my viewing spot, here in a very hot and sunny South of France. Are we worried about being thwarted by the weather or should we be fine with the floodlights?

31st July i believe

Neil Burns was an interesting character and a good keeper, i think he came to Somerset when the big 3 had all departed. He married Glen Hoddle's ex wife i seem to remember

Yes Derek, middle name Somerset, Taylor was the main wickie in that time but Trevor Gard also kept quite a bit to those 2. Jim Parks wouldn't have ever kept to Garner

He seems very tidy, one of those you rarely notice behind the stumps. I’ve certainly never seen him have any really bad days. I’m no keeping expert but I think it’s a bit like goalkeepers in that you can do a lot of improving the more games you get under your belt and his batting may be ahead of his keeping. I remember watching him for England U19s before he’d played for Somerset and was so impressed by his batting but wondered if he could impress at first class level, it soon became clear he could.

Yes there’s every chance they’ll go down but even if they turn into a L1 - championship yo-yo club an extra 3k seats would make financial sense with the amount of sell outs they’ve already had. i think there are plans but at the moment they’re concentrating updating their training facilities which is fair enough

Plymouth sold out loads of game's in the 3rd tier, crazy they haven't increased the capacity

Having watched half the Elton concert last night and the other half just now, my own conclusion is... McCartney won the best guest list by a mile but Elton won the the best show by a mile. In general i like the pair of them about the same but didn't enjoy McCartney last year that much. Loved Elton's show though

Good question, is it one of those Taunton pitches that offers zero to the bowlers from day 3 onwards? I’d be happier if we had Jack Leach, no offence to Bashir who I really like but is many games away from being an experienced spinner. With loads of time left in the game I’d like to see us get a 350 lead. But with the way Henry bowled this morning maybe 250 would do!

Well beside the Abell rush of blood to the head, today had gone a great deal better than could have been expected.

True, I'd like to disagree as we're doing so well in it but I'd rather be at the top of the championship. I'm sure Gloucestershire will come good soon, they looked like they were back on track a couple years ago, time to go again