NI76

Echo reporting Dimi is fine for tomorrow. Just had a cut behind his ear and came off as a precaution.

Was there for most of the afternoon. Tremlett's lack of effort in the field was an absolute disgrace. Shouldn't say this but I hope he gets injured tomorrow or Friday so Billy plays at Lord's. Spoke briefly to Pothas in atrium afterwards and he said he will definitely be fit for Sat.

Got to be Bell for me, some of the comments on here are unreal. Luke Wright ffs, he's scored ONE first class century in his whole career and that was last week against us. Bell has a test average of 40+ and is one of the in-form batsmen in county cricket. Still, many on here didn't think Flintoff should walk back into the team.

Pretty sure Prior will be released, I think it is part of their central contracts that they get released for the final. All centrally contracted players have certainly been released for every final since central contracts came in.

Anyone there in '88, '91 or '92? Was there in '91 for Ayling's winning blow, great game. Yeah, have been to all 5. The first was the best for me simply because we were no longer the only county never to have made a Lord's final although the end was a bit of an anti-climax, can't remember if it was a wide or a no-ball. '91 was the best game for pure excitement although I really enjoyed '05 as well. The one thing that puts a bit of a downer on it for me nowadays is not being able to pile on the pitch at the end. It used to be great standing on the pitch singing the names of each and every player who took it in turns to come out onto the balcony and wave.

Assuming Flintoff is fit, I'd bring in Onions and Harmison for Broad and Swann. If Flintoff is injured, Broad gets a reprieve. However, what I expect to happen is Onions for Monty.

Find a pub and watch Murray lose to Federer then stay in Manchester for the Monday where according to the forecast it will rain all day again!! Then hope/pray that Hampshire win the bowl-out/toss to see who goes through to the final. That's what I'm planning on doing anyway.

Yeah, 8 of us driving up Saturday lunchtime. Looking forward to it although the weather forecast looks pretty grim, let's hope that they're as inaccurate as usual. Also there is a plane load going up that Hants have organised and I know a few carloads driving up and back on the day so there will be a few of us there at least! Trying to book my T20 1/4 final ticket as well but I think it's fair to say that the Northants ticket office consists of one person - I just got diverted through to David Capel's voicemail and he's their first team coach!

Not only was it a bit of a worry it was possibly the most bizarre decision in 25 years of watching Hampshire that I have ever seen. Cork or Tremlett I could maybe understand (but not agree with) but Tahir, absolutely unreal. Still, fantastic win and a great perfromance by Eddie (Ervine). Northants is the best draw we could have got (and a nice short trip). Looking forward to next Sunday now, hope the long trip is worth it.

He openly admits himself that he is a batsmen who can bowl a bit. He said that batting comes natural to him whereas bowling doesn't. I do agree that it was a bit of a surprise to see him dropped from the championship side but there's good competition for places and I'm sure he'll get back in at some stage this season.

Indeed, I've just looked up his stats for this year and apart from the Essex game at home he has scored less than a run a ball in every game. If everyone did that, we would be looking at less than 120 every game which is nowhere near enough in T20.

Oh well, Carberry lost us that game by scoring at a run a ball for six overs when we needed 9+ an over. By the time he was out the run rate was unachievable. 3 games left, we need to win at least 2 to have a chance of qualifying.

I think 10 places are certs for the first test (assuming everyone is fit) and those are as follows: Strauss Cook Bopara Pietersen Collingwood Prior Flintoff Broad Swann Anderson. For the first test, I'd expect the final place to be between Panesar and Rashid as it's apparently a spinners paradise but for the other tests I'd expect it to be between Sidebottom and Onions. If we perform poorly early on, then I think Collingwood and Prior may come under pressure if they don't score runs. I'm more intrigued as to the Aussies line-up, much harder to predict. Would be interested to hear some Aussie viewpoints but I'd assume the following are certs for the first test (assuming again that all are fit): Hughes Katich Ponting Clarke M Hussey Haddin Johnson Lee Clark I guess the all rounders slot is up for grabs but would think Macdonald is in pole position followed by Watson and then North. The last bowling slot I presume would be Siddle? Should be a good close series, I can't wait.

I'd go for Steve Cotterill. Not glamorous or exciting but knows the lower leagues, has a very good reputation from people in the game as an excellent coach and by all accounts watched us a few times last season so has a bit of knowledge about what we need.

Essex are certainly weaker without those three but they're still pretty formidable at Chelmsford in one dayers. Not unbeatable though. The only way we'll see KP this season is if we make the FP final and some poor sod like Benham will have to make way for him!

Stuffed by 8 wkts. That's 2 poor defeats in the last few days against probably the two weakest teams, or 2 of the 3 weakest along with Middx, in our group. Why are we so poor at T20? On a separate note, anyone on here going to Old Trafford for the semi? I'm going, but not sure whether by plane, train or automobile yet. I see the club have chartered a flight costing £195 including match ticket and transfers.

Carberry bowls spin (off of the shortest run/walk-up I've ever seen!) so very strange that he bowled and Dawson didn't but it worked so can't complain. Middx is about the best draw we could have hoped for as long as ****gy doesn't have his usual blinder against us.

Pothas is out for about four weeks I think with a hamstring injury. Tremlett is out for six weeks - he's probably having to look his injury up as he's run out of most excuses. A waste of space and no loss in my opinion. Danny Briggs is a 19 year old left arm spinner from the IOW. Had never heard of him until earlier this week - he doesn't feature in this year's Playfair or the Hampshire website (not that that's a great surprise). Saw him bowl yesterday and was impressed, he's got a lovely action (far superior to Dawson) and he was trusted with the 49th over so we've obviously got a lot of faith in him. He certainly deserved better than his figures of 0/44.

For the 10:45am starts (the start time for non-floodlit FP games) it is three and a half hours per innings with a 45 minute interval between inns so finishes at 6:30pm. Assuming the same time for interval, it will be scheduled to finish at 10:15pm.

Yes we were absolute gash (great word by the way). In my mind he would have been sacked sooner had it not been for his court case and I believe we would have gone down if we had kept him all season. And for all of his good signings there were plenty of duff ones, I give you Lee Todd, Stig Johansen, Stuart Ripley, David Howells, Scott Marshall, Mark Hughes and I am sure there were others I can't think of off the top of my head. I accept I'm probably in the minority but I thought he was a poor manager for us (although I accept in hindsight he was better than a lot of the jokers we've had since!).

If that's all you can come up with I rest my case. Messi, Henry, Eto and Xavi would be far better.

Yeah and 20 years ago I had hair and didn't have a beer gut. We need to look forward and re-signing Telfer is anything but.

He was at Bournemouth a year ago and wasn't good enough for League 2 so fail to see how he'll be good enough for League 1 next season.