wadesmith

Yeah I was at this one. We were running away with it until they brought the spinners on. Which shows the madness of only bowling Briggs three overs...and letting Dawson go. This game would have been made for him.

TBH i'm totes chill about the whole thing. Above average player makes sideways move for more money. Barely registered with me.

Playing devils advocate for a second, if we continue playing like we are would it be a disaster if we went down? I can't imagine you take any financial hit by going down. If we stay up we will just try and limp on with the same mish mash of old pros and kolpacts. If we go down it might give evetyone a kick up the arse & re-think our strategy/ recruitment model.

Keeping them to under 7 an over.

My one hope was that the pitcher was bowler friendly...then I see Gatting has got his 50. I can only assume Middlesex will declare tomorrow at Tea 674 for 3.

I'll have a go......we are crap.

Don't panic mate! I'm going to my first game this year on Friday, hoping the return of Sean 'The Slug' Ervine will prove the crucial factor in our dismantling of Cardiff. I haven't seen us lose for 4 years so the omens are promising!

Mate you can't win em all! I thnk he opened thebowling alot last year and we got to finals day! We're still in the top four this year!

Ha ha fair play mate! Maybye The memory of the 93-99 'Lawrence Pritipaul, Derek Kenway Glory years' has given me a sense of perspective! but I concede I have an uneasy feeling about the current squad, we do seem to lack direction.

I agree things look a bit grim this season, but I think you're being a little bit harsh on Bransgrove. In the last 10 years we've won the 40/50 over final 3 times, appeared in the final on another two occasions won the 20/20 final twice and appeared in another 3 final days for 20/20. I don't buy the argument that we are geared up for 20/20 as if that was the case the England team would be full of our 'specialist' 20/20 players. And quite honestly I don't think they're being overlooked...if I was an England Selector I don't think i'd pick any of our players. I think we just don't have any players coming through in respect of the 4 day game. I watched Hants in the Championship between 93 to 99 and it was torture, it just goes like that. Having said all that I do feel that it is now time to focus our funding on our academy,because if we don't I can see it all going pear-shaped in about two years.

I suppose if you are being really generous Hampshire had to bat in far more difficult batting conditions. First the rain, then the sun came out and made it a bit steamy. On the plus side by enforcing the follow on Somerset have handed us our best chance of winning the game, rattle up 400, set them 200 to win in 60 overs on a fourth day wicket. Theres always hope.

Yeah fair play Hants, they hung in there. Not much else to say really, our bowling attack is what it is.

This could get scary. Somerset 45-0....Hildreth to come...i'm gonna guess 380 for 5 by end of play. Hope i'm wrong!

It's strange. I feel we're we're all pretty negative about Hampshire, but we've been in 5 one day finals in the last 10 years. Thats pretty amazing. People say we build a team around 20/20 success only, but if that was the case surely Emgland would be picking loads of Hampshire players for 20/20 cricket..but they don't! Our success in 20/20 is a bit of a mystery. We don't sign any international marquee signings, none of our players are deemed England regulars, but we keep rolling on..it's bizarre.

Yeah bit of a shame that...when is he back?

Yeah, the reports say Edwards was pretty intimidating. Hope he stays fit. I've not seen a Hampshire bowler bowl a fast spell since Marshall.

Well that's a great effort. Get shot of Wright and we are almost there. Fair play to Edwards I thought he looked a nightmare previously.

l 'Literally' reached a glass cieling. Wow! I would like to see this glass cieling. It must exist, as we have 'lierally' hit it!

Yeah, good effort that! Like Wright terrifies me. He always seems to score runs against us.

42-0 in 7 overs. If we can keep them below 450 in the day then a moral victory I feel.

To be fair I watched Chris Gayle dismantle some of the best bowlers in the world, so no digrace in losing tonight.

I notice Robinson took 6-33 for Sussex today, he's also scored a century this year. He got kicked out of Yorkshire last year cos he was a pain in the arse, he then played for our seconds but we decided against signing him. He's only 21 Hope today is a one off!

Ha. I'm a Hants fan but I agree. Sometimes you've just got to look at a result and think, bloody hell that's what makes cricket ****ing amazing at times.

Sadly rain for next 3 days makes this one a draw.