Weston Saint

Except I am a moderate conservative and always have been. Cannot stand the UKIP or what it stands for. I was merely making a comment on what I thought would happen but many of you say that is not so. Fair enough!

Let us not forget that if they default and leave the EU then all the Greeks in Europe no longer have the freedom of movement at will be classed as jolly foreigners. Same with us. If we leave after the referendum next year all those living in Spain and Portugal on the same freedom of movement will have to come home to a cold Britain again. No wonder they want a vote!!

Another very poor day apart from Gatting. Our batting has lost all confidence at present! Our bowling is weak. We have made a big mistake with Bird. He is not good enough to fit the overseas position so far and he has had enough time. No balls and at least one 4 per over is just not good enough. Wheal is a rooky playing his first year of 4 day cricket. Tomlinson is either injured or rested. Either way he has not been up to standard this season. Edwards is not back until end of July. By then it might be too late! As for up and coming Tom Alsop 19 - Left Hand Bat who is also a Wicket Keeper - England Under 19 Lewis McManus 20 - Wicket Keeper who is also a decent bat - England Under 19 Brad Taylor 18 - Right Arm Offbreak - England Under 19 Tom Barber 19 - Left Arm Fast Medium - England under 19 All are part of the First Team Squad but not ready yet.

Cannot understand why Dawson is not playing! He was in the squad for Fridays T20 which was strange as he was playing for the seconds in a 50 over against Essex at Ageas owl which we won. Then he was in the squad for today and is on the scorecard produced! I am not at Lords but have sent a text to get a friend of mine to see if he can find out the reason. Dawson did react to his poor LBW decision last week. I wonder if the two are linked!

Many have said it before and I am not going to apologise for saying it again, we are not a big club. Manchester Utd, City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Spurs are the big 6. They are constantly in that group that others like us strive to break but we have not yet! We have a rich owner but she is astute and wants the club to be self financing. I agree and it is so much more satisfying to see we are genuine challengers with that philosophy We do not have the income streams to be able to pay the top players the money they desire. The top 6 do. We have to prove ourselves over a longer period of time to persuade players who want regular European football that we can constantly deliver. This coming season will be the start of that process but the players who are moving on are impatient to have that reassurance. The top 6 sides, through their track record and money, can give that now. We are replenishing with good players (excluding our Academy for the purposes of this discussion) so other team supporters may look at us with anger or envy just as we are doing with the top 6. We have not yet arrived but the top 6 know we are breathing down their necks and our reputation is building. We need to have a similar season in 2015/16 to keep the pressure on the other 6 and do well in the Europa Cup to enhance our reputation further afield. In the meantime we will have to accept we will lose our best and ambitious players each year.

You had to be there to understand what was happening. Yes we were outplayed by an accurate bowling team. No doubt about that but some of the balls our players got out to were near unplayable and Dawson second innings was a definite bat pad not lbw. We all heard two noises and Dawson's reaction said it all. Hope we do not have a further disciplinary issue!! It was not until the afternoon that the wicket settled. We had far the worse conditions when batting. It seamed, spat and kept low. Somerset bowlers knew how to use it best with line and length. Team is together but not firing. Tomo has bowled worse than I have seen him for a while. He did injure his toe on the first day but this is not the first bad match for him. Ervine has broken a finger. Bird does not look worth his overseas status. He must be the only Australian bowler who cannot bat! On a brighter note the club are aware Edwards wants a permanent deal and are in talks. He is very happy here which answers anyone who asks what the dressing room is like.

Before you start your criticism of Mr Bransgrove you should have done some research. He no longer puts money into the club. He has no influence over the playing team or recruitment. He is merely a figurehead Chairman now although of course they listen to his wise counsel when they ask him. The club has Bransgrove as Chairman of the board, MD/Financial Director who is David Mann, Commercial Director who is Stuart Robinson (the man who invented the T20 format when at the ECB) and Tim Tremlett who is Company Secretary Giles White is director of Cricket and the one responsible for recruitment/contracts etc. Dale Benkenstein is First Team Coach, Tony Middleton is 1st Team Batting Coach. Charlie Freeston and Craig White are 2nd Team Coaches and Bobby Parks is the Academy Director Why keep going on about Bates! he may be the best gloveman but he is no batsman. He scored a few 4's but otherwise looked his old awkward self. We love him to bits at the Ageas Bowl Who would you drop and who would you bring in? We are back in the 1st division after a splendid season in 2014. We at the Ageas Bowl all knew it was going to be tough. Look at the number of teams that go up only to come down again. 7th in the table will be a decent result for us. You can only blood the occasional second 11 player. We are doing that with Terry and a young Wheal.

I doubt Saints are insisting he put in a transfer request to avoid paying bonuses. If he runs down his contract we get nothing and we have already turned down £10m from Liverpool. What they want is for Clyne to say I am signing or I am not signing. If the latter they will sell him now.

Taking all into account this was a pretty even day Tomlinson suffered an injury early on (not sure what but he was limping) and after that was bowling off about 7 paces. Bird bowled ok and better with the second new ball but for me he is either not fully up to speed, match fitness wise or not as good as we thought he would be. Berg was his usual reliable self. Dawson dropped Hildreth in the slips when he was on about 12 and that proved costly. However he made up for it with a couple of decent wickets. Wicket looks good for batting. Oh and Michael Bates got a good round of applause when he came to the wicket. Scored two cracking 4's off Tomlinson!

Could have done but passport ran out and I was excluded!

And the winner is ME! 171 points moving up fro 3rd to top in the last game

End of July. Will be available for the 50 over comps and last 5 Championship games. He wants to sign for next season as well!

We need 126 to win. Just chatted to a friend who went all day yesterday. He said the whole team were up for it and it showed on the pitch. Looks like the same today. I back us to get our first win of the season

Ings has gone to Liverpool subject to a medical

87/4 is a good fightback. Bird with his first wicket and Berg has 3

Interesting team against Sussex JHK Adams*, SP Terry, MA Carberry, JM Vince, WR Smith, AJA Wheater†, SM Ervine, GK Berg, JM Bird, DR Briggs, FH Edwards Dawson dropped with Terry coming in. Tomlinson and Wheal dropped for Bird and Edwards. I knew there would be changes as the coaches were very angry with our recent performances and held some crisis meetings during the Worcestershire game. Sussex win the toss and bat so our bowlers will come under close scrutiny.

First let me address the Michael Bates situation. The club recognized he was one of the best glove men in the country but he needed to be able to score runs. Wheater was doing that last season and we had McManus in the wings. It was thought better to let him go. What is surprising is that no other county took him on and he is now playing minor counties cricket. In this day and age in the Championship the wicket keeper must also be bat. The fact that no other county took him on speaks volumes. A great loss to cricket but that is how it goes and it would be unfair to blame Hampshire. Jackson Bird was indeed dross last night but give him a chance. This was his first competitive game. Do not jump to early conclusions. Shah is not fit enough to play the 4 day game any more so he is earning his money in T20 round the world. We would be unable to tie him down to a contract. Wood's knee problem is degenerative and he is not fit and regrettably may never be fit for all types of the game. At present they are restricting his work load to 1 day cricket but as that programe comes to an end he may get a couple of 4 day games at the back end of the season

Steve, when Briggs did not play in the last home game it was for the coaches to see what a 4 seamer attack could do and to decide which one they would leave out to get Briggs back in. I will say no more as it was a private conversation. In that game Edwards showed he was not the answer. They have high hope for Wheal and need to get him some experience. He is very confident but to me far from being ready. We signed an aging Adams, and injured Bird, and then panicked and bought Edwards over early without any 4 day cricket for an age! You have to question the management decisions. One shining light, Berg looks a decent signing similar to Smith was last year.

Poorest day of the season for Hampshire. Batting brittle and they bowling woeful! If it was not for the Lunch and Tea I had booked and the good company I was with, I would have been out of there pretty quick! We are relegation certainties on present form and I cannot see it getting better. Management and Coaches much take equal blame as well. Only highlight was Edwards, who subbed for Smith all afternoon, coming out after tea, going up to the umpire standing at the bowling end, taking of his sweater and handing it to him as if he was about to open the bowling! Cold miserable day in every respect!!

Watched the Arsenal v Aston Villa game with mixed feelings. Do I want Saints in the Europa Cup next season? Do we have enough depth in the squad with the stresses of 2 games most weeks damaging our chances of improving our Premier results of previous seasons? Do I want football on a Thursday and Sunday? Saints have progressed beyond most our dreams since that awful day of Administration. To progress to the next level we must experience European football. Perhaps we need to trust the club are prepared for this next step. If not I fear it will damage progress for a few years. Overall, Europe it is. Thanks Arsenal, great game of football. Shame we had to rely on this result to send us through!

Early season update Coach sees Dawson as 1,000 a season run potential and to fit him into the team he will open through the season. Do not see him as a genuine No 5 or the spin bowler. As Carberry does not expect to play for England again he is happy to drop down to 3 to help Dawson. Briggs has a big future with Hampshire and they appreciate he needs plenty of game time. Wanted to look at 4 seamers for this game to see best 3 going forward. Brad Wheal seen as a fantastic prospect but has never played a 4 day game before hence being eased in. Good to see him take an early wicket. Berg now fully fit and is massively grateful to Hampshire for giving him a chance. So far he is not letting that faith down. Good 50 today and a sprinkle of wickets through the early season. Edwards not fully fit as yet. Game time will help in that respect. Nice early wicket for him though Bird is about 2 weeks from recovery and has remained in the country. As someone said yesterday he had a lunch time bowl. Berg thinks he is a class player and looking forward to him playing.

There will be a minimum court fee of £25 which is recoverable. Other incidental costs may also be recoverable. I did say they would not be high but another cost none the less

I was interested to note one of the appeal judges was Lord Moore-Bick. He is an experienced commercial court judge and I have been on the right end of one of his decisions James Budget Sugars v Norwich Union some years ago. I predict the Supreme Court are unlikely to overturn the decision found on the parking offence unless there is some flaw in both the first court and appeal decision both of which were in favour of the Parking Company. Based on the court case I would pay up to avoid legal costs although they will not be high as it will be a small claims court.

You know I have expressed concerns over some of Davis weaknesses but when he came on yesterday I was confident he could do a good job and he did not let the side down. If we have him in goal for the last 8 games he will give is best. Despite some of the comments on this thread the supporters at the ground gave him a rousing reception and it was lovely to hear the "super Kev" song ringing out from the Northam. He deserves his chance and what a lovely was to go out as a Premier player for a top club.