Gloucester Saint

Overseas players been hard to land. Domingo has worked with the new signing Codi Yusuf, bowls very good pace, best new ball bowler in SA 4-day, played one day final with Gauteng which they lost final ball and arrives today. Gauteng did win the red ball summer there though. Hashim Amla and Allan Donald were his assistant coaches there. Can bat in lower order as well. Domestic signings are done, Rod feels depth there, Ben Hayes, Toby Albert, need to push Middleton and co. Feels many of them will break through this year and likes of Manny Lumsden coming through. Did play in 4 finals in all genders and lost the lot, but need to bolster 4 day where Jake Lehmann important to reinforce batting. Brown saying younger bowlers quicker, but need rest. Baker, Currie, Jack, tall and quick. CC is demanding on them but need to bowl quick to play ODI and T20 England.

Russell Domingo here a week. A few injuries into Essex game. Good crop of quicks available. He’s a Man U fan (yuck) but he said in county cricket Hampshire are a top 5 county. Applied for Hampshire job 7 years ago but withdrew when found Adi Birrell leading candidate. Rod said face to face interview went well, lots of talented younger players to help go from promising to performing. Ben Brown saying he gave up on the Durham game, was on the A27 in a bad mood. 5 missed calls from Liam Dawson and turned the car back around to Winchester. Time to reflect and need to be a lot better. SA training at Stellenbosch, great facilities, flat wickets and fast bowlers.

Confirmed Rod stepping down as Chair during course of summer. When Warne agreed to be skipper and Paul Terry coach it transformed the fortunes of the club when they struggled early on at the Rose Bowl with the pitches doing loads before they settled. Newclose on IOW they are pleased with but with a lot of investment into Utilitia Bowl.

Started with a tribute to Robin Smith with the event being held in the Robin Smith suite. Rod said that although he wasn’t a better bat than Barry Richards or a better bowler than Shane Warne, he was Hampshire’s most influential and most favourite son. Memorial service in June and black armbands worn for the Essex game. Posting more…

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/scott-mills-sacked-latest-updates-bbc-radio-2-b2948858.html

I’ll tell you what is a serious business between nations - farting on a ✈️

Hampshire Cricket Forum which can be watched on wind back https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/live/c98my374gl5t#player You will need to use your iPlayer login

Codi Yusuf 27 year old SA right armer coming in https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/articles/c4gxrz77378o 2 Tests and one ODI. Good record but you’d have to see who the opposition was. More pertinently, 19 wickets in 5 red ball games for Durham which is impressive. Looks like he can bat a bit in the lower order. On the face of it, appears a good signing.

I genuinely think he’s the worst outfield player I’ve ever seen for us in 40+ years. That includes Ali Dia, Lee Todd, David Lee and Scott Marshall (OG). Makes Keith Cassells look like Didier Drogba. Edit - worst I’ve ever seen in professional football. And I’ve seen some shit players for the likes of Cheltenham Town, Torquay United etc.

The wasps like them in August as well.

I couldn’t see Farage doing any more than 30 seconds without needing a cigarette/pint but tbh, footballing ability in someone’s prime isn’t high up on my list of what I look for in leaders and PMs. If it was, Wayne Rooney or Sir David Beckham would be PM.

If that’s Katie Hopkins bottom right, she hasn’t looked like that for a long time, since the Apprentice. Surprised to read that she’s only 50, looks several years older than that.

Hence I’d assume why 50% of NHS England’s staffing from the Andrew Lansley structure is being cut and being merged with DHSC (civil service T&Cs are also much less generous for those remaining). Re-investment to frontline to get those remaining areas on target. Consultation about it tomorrow, I know this as I have family members involved.

It’s like the question - ‘If Saints ceased to exist, would you support Pompey or Millwall, if that was the only choice?’. I’d go for option 3 - football free life.

Backs up via Beth Rigby what I posted last night https://news.sky.com/story/farage-no-longer-wants-a-deal-with-the-tories-he-wants-to-destroy-them-13525628 Their London launch didn’t go according to plan https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/news/nigel-farage-heckled-reform-uk-london-b2947726.html

In the 1980s it would have been CND badges, AIDS, Free Palestine (still) and Nelson Mandela. The opposition side do the same though - Chelsea and West Ham boys who three years ago sung ‘Tottenham are going to Auschwitz’ and ‘We went to White Hart Lane with our willies hanging out’ with a smirk on their face now won’t hear a word against Netanyahu because it’s a far right government there and Trump, who they support strongly, is pouring resources into Mad Ben’s wars against Muslim majority nations. I very much doubt their views have changed beyond surface level though.

Jeremy Bowen with a good analysis here https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y969pnxgvo The two turning points where America ceased being a superpower and hit their limits were re-electing Trump and Trump blindly following Mad Ben without a plan. Mad Ben by contrast has a plan - but his goals and impact are regional. America’s aren’t.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. It’s similar to growing up in the 1980s in that regard, what you saw yesterday are proper lefties inspired by the new left movement from the 1980s led by Benn, Livingstone and briefly captured by Corbyn. You saw them at Greenham Common and the GLA closure. The people at Robinson and Musk’s rally in the autumn are the NF type who were smashing up Kenilworth Road and various European cities with England. Ironic that their leader comes from Luton - maybe Millwall F Troop was Tommy’s inspiration? Bet someone reads this and has a right old Tommy of a different variety… The former probably vote Green these days and the latter for Lowe backed by Musk’s money (judging by the 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 business cards circulating amongst football firms) with a smattering still with Farage. The great majority of us look on with bemusement.

He’s got his dreams, and can’t blame him for that, but those are looking as feasible as Saints getting top 2 this season and if Reform carry on sliding (5% in a 5-way picture within a month is huge) then it’s more like the odds of overhauling Coventry if it’s under their own steam. To show the scale of the task, 25% of Tory members on that party’s own private polling were willing to vote Labour in a seat where it was them v Reform. The ‘Stop Farage’ coalition is both broad, deep and far bigger than Farage’s core vote. That’s why he’s been having a meltdown at YouGov for modelling tactical voting because he knows it’s accurate.

We all have dreams…but unless the current Remain majority in the electorate between three parties Sir John Curtiss describes breaks apart, or the Tories elect a centrist leader who can siphon off some of that group (unlikely as it stands, but May might change their membership’s minds), Reform A and B won’t get sufficient seats in FPTP. They’ll do OK on popular vote but the chances of winning when Reform’s polls are sliding by 5% plus is a pipe dream. I’d love for Saints to win the play-offs, then top 10 PL and win the FA Cup next season. Is that possible, yes? Is it very realistic? No.

Exactly this. Add in the impact of Trump’s moronic tariffs which the ripples on global trade will take several years at best, to reverse, and it’s spot on. So the very last thing the UK needs is a populist government modelled on Trumpian lines. Last time the public - or 52% of them - listened to Reform/UKIP, we needlessly slashed 6% off the economy. Then the same people whine that their public services have dwindled. They more likely won’t get in anyway. As Sir John Curtiss says, barely 1 in 10 Labour switchers are going to Reform/Cons. They are a Conservative issue. The movement away from Labour is to Green for the ex-Momentum brigade and Lib Dem’s for the others. But the key point is that all the movement is within the Remain ‘bloc’. I’m sure the red tops will scream about a coalition of chaos or suchlike, but it’s five-way party politics now, at least in England.

@Weston Super Saint fill yer boots…

The reason for the venom at Starmer is all about this, plus the Coulson and Brooks prosecutions https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yvx5xpze5o https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqxdy01z0r8o https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9dvz6ldevqo https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdjnnyp79rwo

You’d have thought the Republicans had learned from JFK murder and Watergate, both driven by Cuban exiles. But no, like moths to a flame. And to think they used to criticise the British empire.

They frustrate me but 1k new GP hires has made a difference and Streeting is scything through the expensive and wasteful mess of the Lansley system. Whilst Starmer has been disappointing domestically, he’s strong on foreign policy, has handled Trump fairly well and kept us out of the current war when Badenoch and Farage would have us straight in. Migrant hotel usage is well down from the peak under Johnson and Mahmood has done more so far to tackle illegal immigration than Patel and Braverman ever did, and the appeals are clearing faster, albeit plenty to do. The EU trade deals have made some difference which will grow. As a Remainer, it’s still unsatisfactory but a lot better than Badenoch and Farage’s bonkers positions.