John B

Clearly not Hampshire's

I do not like the Kookaburra but I expect Tilak Varma does

I was thinking the same but we have enough players many of whom got us promoted recently and others recruited for the PL Unless we move players out I cannot see many new players coming in

How are you going to get rid of them?

These are players who are contracted to the club I doubt it is easy for them to be shipped out as you suggest I do not disagree with your sentiments but Airbo and Fraser have contracts which end next year and they may wish to see them out Likewise with Dibling he may wish to stay another year and see what happens

Yes I thought that too he came as part of the Martin Chivers deal

Yes he is better than Tony Godfrey goalkeeper in the early 60s

Clearly there were good teams twenty years ago but in general the standard of the PL has improved in that time do you not agree

Stephens is a better all round footballer than Benali Dodd was pretty slow from what I remember The teams that Dodd and Benali played against were far inferior than those Stephens played against

Perhaps we will not go up in May 2026 but go up in 2027 or 2028 with a young team led by Jack which could stay up in the PL. That could be the plan as at present the standard in the PL is probably the highest ever

So what do you think the fitness coaches were doing sports science is pretty advanced these days perhaps they were told rushing about was not helping so conserve some energy

A small ground easy pitch batsman in the form of his life nothing to do with bpwling resource management in my opinion Wood came on to get a wicket which he did shame it was not Cox Cox is an excellent batter I saw him at the Bowl last season when he got a ton if Essex get relegated it would be great if we got him in and sent Orr to them

So did we not have any coaches monitoring the players fitness levels last season

But you do not fix things that have been caused by neoliberal economics by doing the same thing as the Tories did We were promised change but as yet nothing has materialised saying you are not going to raise certain taxes is economically illeterate

I agree we should keep Ramsdale Fernandes THB and Dibling get in some good loans and give it a go cannot see any other way to eeturn to the PL and stay there. But the agents will not help us

That may have been the case a few years ago but nowadays the teams finishing in the top 17 in the PL are much better than similar teams in previous years. For instance Man U and Spurs finished nowhere with squads we can hardly compete with Perhaps it will change but teams like Nottm Forest Crystal Palace Brentford Fulham Brighton and Brentford are contantly producing £50m players which we and other ex Premier Leauge clubs have failed to do over the last few years. It will be interesting how much we get for Fernandes and Dibling if they leave Ramsdale and THB may go for what we paid for them like most of the players we have off loaded

Just shows if we had invested in two KWP standard players we may have had more success on the playing field but are the owners interested in results or just how money they make

Clearly if we had signed PL quality players we would have gained more points last season in fact A more interesting question is who were the at last 7 premier league quality seasoned professionals we have signed in the last fuve years who have played 40 PL games for us

But still earns thousands every week I can’t defend for shit and do fuck all with the ball and I am on a measly pension

Why the hell did we sign Baker ? Sonny is an exciting talent with the ability to bowl with genuine pace," said Hampshire director of cricket Giles White.

I am not sure you are really suited to following cricket with a comment like that especially after Sonny getting four wickets last night. Having followed and watched first class cricket for over seventy years and played the game for over thirty I have seen the same players make stupid mistakes do outstanding things get a terrific delivery and bowl against a batsman who is in unbeatable form. That is cricket it is the players who make the fewer mistakes and ride their luck suceeed and I think Vince would have been a great player if he was a bit luckier and cut out some of his more rash strokes. He has been a great player for Hampshire but not as good as fellow Hampshire batsmen Robin Smith Gordon Greenidge David Gower and the best of all Barry Richards who is 80 this month and has a first class and test average of over 50. It was good to see him at the bowl late last month

Surely Pahars should be in the 11

Terry Paine did more for Southampton over the last sixty years getting us to Div 1 with Martin Chivers and getting a World Cup winners Medal. Martin was a fine player too better I think than Shearer and Lambert Most of the others performed well at other Clubs with Shilton Bale VVD and Keegan being outstanding Peter Osgood was a fantastic player until he broke his leg did not achieve much with the Saints except of course an FA Cupp winners medal

Very true Dawson and Prest put on 50 in 35 mins and then the runs dried up even Westley bowled four overs without a boundary to the relief of the Essex fans

Just returned from watching the game yesterday and today Middleton Brown Dawson and Milak played well