Hampshire at the Oval 13th-16th April

Wow. We are bowling brilliantly.

Hampshire fought back well. Unless they declare and
set us a target which we go for it will be another game
drifting to an inevitable draw.

Heading for a draw?

All three results eminently possible, but Hampshire have the initiative. We need to get the last 5 before lunch and leave ourselves no more than 250 to chase in the remaining 65 or so overs against this attack to have a chance.

Dissappointing that we are seeing the same issue with the balls as we saw last year. They do loads for 25 overs and then do absolutely nothing.

It's not a good spectacle and not good for county cricket. Its become a case of every innings looking the same. If you're bowling see how many wickets you can get in the first 25 overs then just keep it tight until the 2nd new ball. If you're batting just try and get through the first 25 overs with as many wickets in hand as possible and then try and up the run rate against tired bowlers and the old ball.

It's predictable and boring.

They said after last season they had rectified the issues with the ball. Clearly not.

First session tomorrow absolutely crucial. All results still possible but Hampshire must not be batting at lunch!

RightArmSlow wrote:Dissappointing that we are seeing the same issue with the balls as we saw last year. They do loads for 25 overs and then do absolutely nothing.

It's not a good spectacle and not good for county cricket. Its become a case of every innings looking the same. If you're bowling see how many wickets you can get in the first 25 overs then just keep it tight until the 2nd new ball. If you're batting just try and get through the first 25 overs with as many wickets in hand as possible and then try and up the run rate against tired bowlers and the old ball.

It's predictable and boring.

They said after last season they had rectified the issues with the ball. Clearly not.

Not sure what game you were watching. It's not the ball, it's the pitches that are more often than not flattening out as the game goes on. Batting was easier when the sun came out. Great bowling by Surrey (the ball wasn't changed once) and an intriguing day. All 3 results possible.

We have no chance of winning anything this year on pitches like this one.One of the main reasons we won the C C. Last year .Fortis produced a series of splendid cricket wickets ideally suited to our all pace attack. Why then having seemingly found the perfect formula for producing excellent pitches,has he prepared this horror.Totally bemused!!!

Don't see anything other than a draw here. Don't think its the pitch or ball either - just losing so much time on Day 2 the kick in the teeth

Chinaman wrote:

RightArmSlow wrote:Dissappointing that we are seeing the same issue with the balls as we saw last year. They do loads for 25 overs and then do absolutely nothing.

It's not a good spectacle and not good for county cricket. Its become a case of every innings looking the same. If you're bowling see how many wickets you can get in the first 25 overs then just keep it tight until the 2nd new ball. If you're batting just try and get through the first 25 overs with as many wickets in hand as possible and then try and up the run rate against tired bowlers and the old ball.

It's predictable and boring.

They said after last season they had rectified the issues with the ball. Clearly not.

Not sure what game you were watching. It's not the ball, it's the pitches that are more often than not flattening out as the game goes on. Batting was easier when the sun came out. Great bowling by Surrey (the ball wasn't changed once) and an intriguing day. All 3 results possible.

I do agree with you but just to correct you on a technical point, the ball was changed at the 18th over.

Burns wanted it changed when it rattled around Block 16 but to no avail.

Wtf are these 2 kin idiots commentating? Who is our most tattooed player? What songs are the players singing in their head? Now on about the football.

Neither of their voices sound like they have broken and they are not discussing the cricket before them at all.

Never gonna win games if you can't bowl the tail out

Churchy was saying on the BBC commentary that the
commentators in the other box kept telling the story
about Guardiola. Pep couldn’t have the room he wanted
at the Ageas Bowl hotel as Abbas had that room.
MC said the other lot kept going on about it all day
and he found it not interesting and so what!!!!!!!

Decent enough start from the openers, although they probably do need to start getting a bit of a move on

Easier said than done to get a move on against a quality bowling attack though.

They are a good attack, yes, but inevitably you get too bogged down and make it even harder for the rest of the top order; plenty of time in the game but if we draw this it'll feel like a massive missed opportunity to get the the early win on the board

At tea and my feeling is we’ve played well with good judgement. Near to brilliantly that Abbas has bowled, he and Abbot (who has bowled similarly) will not be able to bowl all day. As long as we don’t lose the match to them, we should have enough in the locker to win it when facing Fuller, Holland and Dawson.

Pope feels like a cheat code at this point

The anti-Bazball brigade have gone very quiet. This is brilliant to watch.

For heaven’s sake this commentary is painful. A special mention to Felix who is like a child. I don’t care one hoot about his cricket music Xl.

Suffice to say that Pope and the bowlers the difference makers. Fair play to Sibley for picking the pace up when he did

Outstanding performance today with so many overs to spare. What a class act Pope is!! Sibley played the supporting role well too.

Jackers wrote:All three results eminently possible, but Hampshire have the initiative. We need to get the last 5 before lunch and leave ourselves no more than 250 to chase in the remaining 65 or so overs against this attack to have a chance.

Oh ye of little faith! I couldn't understand why so many were suggesting this game was ever more likely than not to end in a draw. Early season conditions, an unremarkable pitch but most significantly two very potent seam attacks. A result one way or another was always likely from start to finish.

Pope must still be maintaining his career average of around 100 at home. I thought Sibley played the perfect innings for the situation. We can put our feet up next week with a decent start to the season behind us. With Warwick and Essex to come next, we will probably have played the four hardest opponents to begin with and while we have our strongest available team, before the Ashes rob us of Pope and Foakes (who I assume will be fit after an extra week's rest).

Winston man mute the live stream commentary and
listen to Churchy on the bbc coverage. Sounds like
he thinks the live stream commentary is Brad Pitt too.

Superb today, five wickets in 90 minutes this morning, a solid opening partnership to take the sting out of the new ball, then The Ollie Pope Show.

It doesn’t get much better than that.