Weston Saint

Tahir,was unwell from the time he arrived. Do not give him stick. I will not say what one of the umpires said about his return! Wheater was blanked by the supporters but that is the way he plays. Giving his overall performance he deserves to play over the best glove man in England. From what I know, Bates has turned down a new contract. Unfortunately no other county has been if for him so far! Terry is very disappointed. Alsop sees himself as a batsman who can keep wicket and he is an excellent wicket keeper. The future is bright in that position.

The last two days have been proper cricket and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. Noted some of the comments above but must remind them we have only lost one Championship game this season. We are good enough to play in the 1st Div but we do need one more top rate bowler. Nothing coming through the ranks. That is why we have plumped for Adams. Not much else around at the moment but if we can got the promotion desired perhaps we can pick one up.

Agree with you. Pitch was lifeless and I am not sure bowlers could have done better. Tahir is worrying. Received two warnings. One more and he cannot bowl for the rest of the innings. He keeps landing his left foot on the pitch after he has released the ball. It is a problem he had last time he was here. Meant he had to bowl round the wicket and was less effective. Came back over late on but very close to getting his marching orders.

Agree the club has a good feel about it again, not least the old Saints players being welcomed back into the fold. I have been lucky enough to have been a guest of a friend in the Presidential Suite for the first two league games. On the first Hugh Fisher, Peter Rodrigues and Reuben Agboola were guests with David Armstrong floating around. On Saturday it was Mark Dennis, Nick Holmes and Bryn Elliott with Jim Steel and Jim McCalliog floating. A friend of mine who has a season ticket in the Liebherr suite said David Armstrong was a guest in there on Saturday. Le Tissier was in the Director box as a guest of the club. McMenemy and Crouch were in the box behind me both games. I found out this afternoon that the club have given Ex Saints 5 passes for the Presidential Suite for the season as Ambassadors. The two businessmen who run Ex Saints plus 3 ex players. Cortese had blocked the lost during his tenure as we know. And finally Rupert Lowe is still a supporter from afar and enjoying our revival especially seeing "his boys" coming from the academy into the first team. He was referring to Ward-Prowse this time. Guy Askam is also a season ticket holder in the Liebherr.

One of the big concerns was what agreement the club came to with Schneiderlin to get him to stay. There has been a lot reported in the last few days about him re engaging with the club and stating the squad was possibly stronger than last season and he was satisfied the ambition of the owners was still there. A friend of mine was with our Chairman on Saturday and he confirmed Schneiderlin was happy and not looking to get away in January and will honour his remaining contract. Words I know but fairly reassuring.

Essex play Leicestershire (bottom) and Worcester. We play Kent and Glamorgan. Worcester already promoted so nothing to play for. We need 27 points from last 2 games so one win should do it. If weather interveins it will likely affect Essex as much as us although we have lost more hours to rain this season than any other county!

Good post Steve. Agree with the content.

Mike Richards.

I spoke to former director of Saints on Wednesday and mentioned contracts involving guaranteed first team and he said they just do not exist. It would be madness to include such a condition and no club would. The Management may decide the player is an automatic pick but it will not be in his contract. How come no one came in for Boruc during the transfer window! How come he did not put in a transfer request!

Ah yes you are correct. We have room in our squad.

We have already submitted our squad for this period of the season.

This has to be a plus plus for us We have a good fee whilst he is away. He has a chance to play regularly if he is good enough and we have him back a more polished Premier player or sell him for more than we could have achieved this window. If he continues to be injury prone or not up to it then we have lost nothing more than we would if he stayed and we have him off the wage bill and or £3m to boot.

Strange signing but I am afraid our youth bowling is sparse. If we get promotion a lack of good class bowlers will see us down again.

But i was not there! I was in Hospitality. I could here the jeers on the odd occasion when Pelle managed to head a ball. I thought he was very ineffective but perhaps he will find his feet and timing as the season proceeds.

Well I had a great day with friends. Icing on the cake was having ex Saints Hughie Fisher, Peter Rodrigues and Reuben Agboola on our table for Lunch and after the game. Also chatted to David Armstrong at half time. Good to see Laurie McMenemy and Leon Crouch back at the club as well. As for the football well it was a bit dire. We lacked intensity and bite up front. We were bereft of ideas. I am not sure about Pelle but he is no Lambert and never will be. Very happy with Forster. Looked confident and I thought our defence was solid. We look to have descended to play similar to WBA and the like. Early days yet for a team still trying to get to know one another. Hopefully the only way is up......

That was an immense win on a flat wicket. Who said we cannot bowl out sides twice. Now we have Leicester home (they are bottom) followed by Kent again home and finally Glamorgan away (they are second from bottom) so it is in our hands. To answer some of the questions above. 96 overs per day. If interrupted use of extra half hour on days 1 to 3 which equates to 8 overs min. If slow over rate game goes on until 96 overs or reduced calculation is completed so that is why some games go on to 7pm and over. Lunch taken at 1pm and tea when 32 overs left to bowl in the day Last day there is no extra half hour but 96 in the day reduced pro rata if interrupted. 1pm lunch and 3:40 tea. Final hour only starts when 16 allocated overs to go. Example of last day if uninterrupted 96 overs. Say slow over rate for whatever reason, and 80 overs completed at 5:30pm then that is when final 16 overs start and must be bowled save draw declaration. Does that help explain?

The lead was not enough. This is a decent wicket and if Kent got a good score we would have had last use. You turn the screw tomorrow, get a 400 plus lead and it should be another win.

Comes over well in interview and decent English.

Agree, there was never going to be the money available. To reach the level he wished you needed to sprinkle the team with a few outstanding internationals at £100m per week wages. FFP and the owners would never have allowed that to become reality. We all knew that but I cannot understand how the players did not see it.

I stopped posting on the football side of this forum as I was so angry with many of the posting I might have posted something out of character and not only lose credibility but also regret it after. However things have cooled now so I am back for occasional posts. I can understand the many expressions of disappointment on here but you need to take into account the reality of the situation we are in. We finished 8th, were being lauded as playing attractive effective football but with a wage limit. Suddenly we lose our drive and ambition when Cortese departed. A Manager who was also credited with the style and drive then left along with the best players that had got us to that level. If you were outside the club you would immediately think something was very wrong. The club may still be ambitious with their targets but such targets will likely say some thing along the lines of "if I am good enough and of the standard of those departing why would I want to go to that club if they cannot keep their players" So we then move down to the second choices and find most of them have options to go to other clubs who are more stable. So now we are at the level we are now. While we may not be as strong, collectively, as we were last season there are plenty of teams in the division with equal or worse squads. What I saw on Saturday suggests we can compete and the additions like Long will help. We need to stabilize, rebuild our reputation, expand our commercial arm and show the world we are club worth watching and playing for. We have done it before. I am sure the club will give it ago again. I was a "glass half empty" until I saw the team on Saturday. Now I am a "glass half full"

Thought we let Notts get about 20 too many but proved wrong. How important was that drop when Vince was on 20. It came hard to Hales but he should have held it. We are without Maxwell (not a big loss on this years form and Shah should be available) and Abbott for finals but we have a good squad

Was about 4,500 yesterday but about 10,000 through the gates today. too the club a bit by surprise but they are delighted. Chairman of ECB was there for 2 days but no other Director and no one from Major Games Committee. Sad but telling?

Great win for England who deserved every moment. Enjoyed all 5 days and nice to round it off with a celebration lunch in the Robin Smith suite with friends. Cook and Anderson posed for photos with two of my friends who were celebrating their 60th Wedding anniversary. Nice touch from Rod Bransgrove to put a bottle of champagne on our table. Let us hope for an Ashes Test.

Hampshire were very upset when the fixture date was announced but ECB indicated it was because of the tight schedule. Negotiations then took place and ECB accepted it was not an ideal start on a Sunday and agreed to cover ticket losses for the first 3 days. The gate was 15,500 on Sunday, 10,500 on Monday and about 8,500 yesterday. Not sure about today yet but projections were about 4500. The position of the game may mean a decent walk up This was more about showing the ECB we could handle Test cricket and so far everything important has been positive including the wicket. Good batting strip with something in it for the bowlers. It is rated as a perfect test wicket so far. I am enjoying my time there and off shortly for the 4th day. In all the club are disappointed with the crowd turn out but very positive overall. Ticket cost is always an issue but compares with other grounds. For non members I believe it was about £65 per day. I bought a package of all 5 days for £156 which equates to £31.20 per day. Effectively at £52 per day face value on the ticket it gives me day 4 and 5 free. And I have on site parking free and have been home within 20 minutes of the finish. I live between Weston and Woolston. No traffic delays for me.

Good win but mighty close. Well done to Luke Wright but thankfully not enough. Rimmington left out to get Dawson into the side. Wood tells me that although he is still not able to play 4 day cricket he should be available for the up and coming 50 over competition. Good to meet up with Nick Pothas again. He is now a batting coach with Sussex. Some very relieved coaches and players tonight.