PHILINFRANCE

Leave the ball? The ball is there to be hit! It's the way I play.... Our 'TestTeam' has a number of excellent 'one day players', but is sadly lacking in the 'boring' necessities of Test Match cricket.

Although I was pleased he was at Lords rather than Scarborough.

I, for one, wish he had played a lot of international cricket, thus keeping him away from the county circuit. He seemed to always stay in for hours and/or score a mountain of runs against Somerset

To be fair, the post was, in fact, 'City fan here in piece'

So, a brave, foolhardy or simply all-knowing declaration from Hampshire? 161 required from 31 overs. Tres opening with Steve Davies - and now out for 4. Hose out w/o scoring. 4 for 2 .

Decisions, Decisions. Notwithstanding the fact they are currently off for rain, do Somerset try and bowl Hampshire out and go for the win, or try and leave them in and hold on for a draw?

Mmmm....143 behind, Hants 79 for 5 and 57 overs left.

Could be interesting. 150ish from 30 overs?

Difficult to do so before Hampshire have got their full (3) bowling points - which they now have. I suspect they are waiting to see if play resumes tonight, in which case a declaration, or a quick thrash tomorrow - unfortunately, I think even a single batting point is now unlikely.

Somerset 33 for 7! From 102 for 1 to 135 for 8 .

Still a great slip fielder, but not too many slips in 20/20.

His batting style, certainly, but perhaps a weakness in the field? A possible solution would be to bat first and then have him leave the field due to 'injury', resulting in a young and sprightly twelfth man taking his place - but surely no team, even England, would contemplate such an unscrupulous tactic .

Perhaps not one too many, but this surely has to be his last. I just hope he doesn't suffer relegation in his last season....

I see that young Edward Byrom is positively 'Bothamesque' on his debut - 4 NO from 35 balls. As I type, I note that he has put on a spurt and is now up to 8 NO. Still, at least he is still there.

Panic over for this evening - Stumps at 18 for 0.

9 wickets down now, with another 8 to play - less the 2 overs for the change of innings, so potentially another 6 overs if they get this last wicket tonight. I think I would prefer to bat in tomorrow's sunshine than tonight's gloom, so a few gentle overs might be a good idea. Since starting my post I see that COVE has taken me a bit too literally - 12 off the over, although Hampshire have now declared on 211 for 9 so there will, indeed, be 6 overs to face. I thought new rules said you weren't allowed to declare in such circumstances, although perhaps that only applies to prevent opponents getting bonus points and Somerset have their 3 bowling points already.

Pity you couldn't have let Eoin Morgan know yesterday.

Somerset are off for tea at the moment, but I have no idea what the next break will be called.

Unless young Mr Byrom impresses on his debut. It is, of course, about time the not so young Tres and the new team captain come to the party.

He is only going to miss 2 matches, hence the reason Somerset have not sought to replace him.

I had heard that mentioned previously, presumably on the night of his guest appearance at one of Rovers' supporters' events. Is there any truth in the story that he was involved in a fracas?

I really cannot understand why they didn't play COVE at Taunton instead of Livingstone; it is his home ground, after all.

Not exactly 'Test Cricket', but rather 'International Cricket'. If you can find the time, I recommend that you try and find a few minutes to read this heartwarming story. http://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/1092878/an-austrian-odyssey

Hose, Bartlett and numerous other promising batsmen are not being given their chance. If our current WKs, SD and RD and, recently, the unfortunate Alex Barrow, cannot score runs, then why not sign one of the best WKs and promote a young batsman?

CK is now showing himself as being a promising golfer. Extremely unfortunate that we lost both CK and JB at the same time, although I suspect as chance would have it - with England contracts and the like - we would not have seen either play regularly for us. Somerset should have tried to sign (and retain) one of the best wicket keepers available at that time - Michael Bates! Sod his batting average - more than 7, I suspect, although I have not looked it up.