Blackie in action
v Lancashire (CC1) @ Old Trafford Wednesday 23 April 2008
Justin wins the toss and chooses to bat first with a side that comprises of;
Trescothick, Francis, Langer, Hildreth, Blackwell, Trego, Kieswetter,Phillips, Turner, Munday, Willoughby
It took Cricinfo about and hour and a half to decide that Mike was starting for the first time. Good job we chose to bat or he might have gone home thinking he wasn't playing!!
About right I suppose. I've suggested that Jones was unlucky not to play instead of Trego after Sunday and besides seeming to state blasphemy it makes little difference and possibly gives us a more confident batting line-up as we are not certain of the nature of Phillips with willow. We are strong at the front end anyway and the top 5 should be able to hold their own even against an attack like the one from the Red Rose cohort.
DAY ONE
Marcus and John open against Chapple and Anderson who seem to have given them a torrid time until the shone rubs off a bit. Frank doesn't last as long as we (or he) would have liked as he is found to be in front at 13 with only 2 to his name. First blood to Chapple. Not a great start and it doesn't get much better when our resident Aussie doesn't make it past half an hour before leaving with the same score after placing another Chapple ball in the hands of Mahood. I think we were hoping for better than 2 for 31.

Trescothick is also struggling to hold down the other end and is dropped early but he seems to have settled when James H becomes his next partner and they start to re-build the innings as Mahmood comes on as first change. Unfortunately, James fails to adapt and the new bowler has him caught behind for 22. 7 short of three figures for his team. Ian Blackwell arrives, still with a rebuilding job to do and he helps Banger move past 50 (after having been dropped again).
Marcus Trudging...
At 77 the luck runs out and we are 123 for 4 with a weight starting to develop on the shoulders of Blackwell and more pressure on Peter Trego because this is the reason he was preferred in the first place.

The boys get down to the job at hand and move the score past 150 and towards 200 but Flintoff takes a hand in the game and has Trigger caught behind at 171 for 28. It isn't going well and it doesn't get better as our young wicketkeeper also struggles against the England allrounder and after helping to add 6 is also caught in front without a run to his name. 177 for 6.
Ben Phillips is the next in but the Lancashire bowlers are in a purple patch and only Blackwell is putting up much resistance. The new tall man goes for 1 at 192 to their young spinner (a good sign we all hope though we also all hoped that Phillips would be more difficult to remove). Turner makes 2 and adds 3 and suddenly it's down to Mike Munday to support the recognised batsman and get us a credible first total. This he does with some aplomb and its the more formidable one who goes first caught behind off Mahmood for a really valuable 64
Munday isn't finished and he works with Willoughby to add another 18 before he is the last man out for 21 at 238. Did Langer get it wrong? Has he seen something in this pitch that we haven't yet? Well one will have to hope so because this is not a competitive total unless there is some sign of 'something' in the wicket. Marshall was given a long bowl but Mahmood, Flintoff, Chapple and Anderson seem to have had the measure of our batting with the only real scores coming from Trescothick and Blackwell.

Somerset have 20 overs to rebalance this game. Surprisingly Turner doesn't take the new ball with Willow. That honour is left to Phillips (not something he's commonly known for) but there doesn't seem to be much happening for our attack and Horton and Sutcliffe take on all comers and send them all away again. No real signs of anyone getting into a groove (it's not a huge number of overs) but the ominous part of it is the 60 runs taken at a cost of zero wickets before the end of play. There's some work to do tomorrow.

MORE TO COME THEN
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Quote:AGod
Meantime, Cricinfo, bizarrely, carries the headline;
"Flintoff sinks Somerset."
I was under the impression this was a 4-day game. Obviously, I was wrong and we were beatean yesterday, thanks to Flintoff.


