v Leicestershire TS2 @ Bath 13 June 2004

Sun is shining and we have a side on the pitch though it bears no resemblance to the one in the program! No Francis J, no Gazzard, no McLean, no Johnson, no Dutch, no Turner. In comes Gareth Andrew, Simon Francis, Peter Bowler, Michael Parsons, Matt Wood and Keith Parsons with Burns opening, captaining and keeping.

Make-shift or what? But circumstances are what they are! We won the toss & put em in with Caddick and Parsons M opening from the pavilion and sports centre end respectively. Parsons carries on as he has with a wicket with his first one day over and Maddy returns to the one real building at Bath for zilch. 6 overs gone and the ball is kicking, Mike is looking good but it's 35 for one and a long hot day in prospect.

Robinson goes at 58 caught by Wood during a wicket maiden by Francis (over 12) in comes Sadler as Gareth Andrew replaces a lacklustre Caddick in the 13th. They lose Sadler just before they hit 100 in the 21st thanks to KP who replaced Andrew at the Pavilion and has him caught behind. In comes yet another ex-Bristolian (how many are there around the counties?) Jeremy Snape. Then everything goes into stasis, by the 30th Ian Blackwell is on and it's 143 for 4. Nobody looks in danger or dangerous and its all a bit 'samey' from both sides. Stevens goes to 50 and the Foxes pass 150 at roughly the same time. 250 is on and probably well beyond us...but...you never know.

At the start of the last 10 Frank and Gareth have tightened up giving away only 7 off 4 overs. 200 up in the 38th and the 100 partnership at the same time..ain't looking good. In the 41st with 223 up Stevens goes! But then down went the pedal and despite the loss of 7 wickets Leicestershire finished on 263 - it's a lot but we've got Bowler and Burns and 2 on the board!

By the 6th it has moved on as Burns takes 17 off the over and move to 47. Peter Bowler may not be considered very often in one dayers but if you want stability while a shotmaker attempts to dismantle bowling then you can do worse. Neither of the strike bowlers, Gibson and Cleary are in 'Who's Who' and it shows...Cleary is off for the 8th and Dagnell is on to keep us quiet. Burnsy smacks him like kicking horse for 4 to bring up the 50

The theory seems to be that Bowler hits the bad ball or takes the single to get Burns on strike and then George murders everything that's thrown at him...seems to be working! Until Bowls flips one to Gibson off Dagnell..now can we build on the 60 already up - Cox goes out to try. But Cleary changes ends and Burns goes for 45. Why can't we keep these innings going consistently? We take the initiative and then give it back just when they're going to break! Hildreth looks the part but the rate is dramatically slowed as we reset. 75 for 2 at 14.

Hildreth is refreshingly looking for runs all the time - he seems to uderstand that the function of a batsman is to score and has the talent to put his theory into practice. Coxy gets into the act by bringing up the hundred with a six. A sixty partnership before Buzz takes on Snape and holes out at 125 for 3 in the 23rd. Blackwell is held in reserve as KP enters the fray. A 25 run partnership later (of which Parsons makes 20) and the 150 is up. This one will go to the wire again it seems.

The second 25 comes at a slicker rate and KP is still contributing at 80%. That's a good thing because Hildreth goes almost immediately at 276. Out comes Blackwell and this partnership will probably decide the game. Off we go with Blacky off the mark with a six into the car park. Mad optimism starts to come to the surface. KP goes to 50 with a four off 39 balls (1 x 6 and 7 fours) and we need 69 off 12 overs.

On comes Snape to tempt Ian Blackwell at 201 for 4 aqnd he puts him into the Hospitality tents.  It's Darren Maddy who tempts him.  It goes straight up and then straight down into Nixon's gloves with ice on it!  Not wanted Ian.  In comes Matt Wood and we still need 41 off 8.

Then, suddenly, it's 29 off 6 and Dagnell and Maddy are playing cat and mouse with Wood and Parsons.  Wood is taking the quick singles and KP keeps battering the boards.  It becomes 19 off 5...can we really still lose this one?  Tractor comes out of the FoB tent (sunburned legs has kept him under canvas) and it become him versus their version 'Lewis' for the last 4.

Meanwhile, on the pitch the 250 is up, 12 minutes to bowl 3 overs and tight bowling keeping it tense. Gibson makes it interesting as he bowls KP for a truly excellent 73 off 70 balls!  In comes Gareth Andrew needing 10 off 13 balls.  An iffy single first ball, a dot ball and then BANG totally cleaned up and it's 256 for 7!!

Andy Caddick may not have done wonders with the ball today but he was as cool as a cucumber now!  In he comes and takes the obligatory single to get Matt on strike.  He gets a wide ball and that brings it down to 7 off 9.  Woody then smacks Cleary back over his head to create a 3 off 7 and the bowler wides again before the end of the game.  One over, 2 runs required?  Caddy smacks the first ball to the boundary and strolls off - he even smiles as he passes the boundary.

Solid fighting stuff.  It wasn't all good but it was fierce and the youngsters took their places and the senior's did their jobs.  Simon Francis looked the most likely to take wickets.  Mike Parsons looked like he's been there all his life - expensive towards the end but not phased by anything.  James Hildreth is just great to watch.  He puts it anywhere they don't close down.  Keith Parsons, 'Man of the Match' and fully deserved.  Mike Burns very dangerous and very aggressive - kept quite well also - still has the reflexes most of the time!!

Four points and no walk over.  We won this one, we weren't gifted it, they didn't lose it...that has to be a positive and it's on to Hampshire!!

v Nottinghamshire CC2 @ Bath June 9 2004

Festival time again and hopefully Bath will bring good weather and inspiring cricket - it would be only fitting after Bob Appleyard's untimely death earlier this year that this is where we make our stand and begin to move forward to create the cricket unit that should grace this county working with the latent talent we have.

We will not be graced by Mr Johnson however, as he is yet to recover from his niggle. John Francis is back in the frame and Nixon McLean has recovered from his so he will probably be back in his bowling role. Keith Parsons has been called in and it would be good to see him play as his benefit is linked to the festival via the Lashings game on Tuesday night. Simon Francis keeps his place in the squad and will probably play as Johnno is not available and Laraman hasn't made it to this game (there was hope...possibly Sunday?). Keith Dutch is also in the side as the second spin option one would imagine. The Bath wicket is sometimes a bit on the slow side so he may get a game. There have been some comments about the continued inclusion of Edwards in the starting line-up and he is in the squad for this game. Surely he needs to perform here to keep his place. He obviously has talent but he is in a slump and needs a score well in excess of 20!!

Notts come here top dogs in Division 2 and expecting a relatively easy journey through this one. There are rumours that Pietersen is not going to play. Not unhappy about that, he loves playing us in one dayers and I supppose he would also love to show us what we didn't get when he 'decided' to stay at Trent Bridge in the early months of this year. We have Ian Blackwell so we can live without EU 'Englishmen' I suppose. I doubt we scare them but we've been here before and we sometimes play our best cricket when no-one expects us to do it.

Come and watch in the next few days. If you've never been to a festival ground, you could do worse than Bath and let's hope that after the next five days, we're not all saying that you COULDN'T do worse than watching Somerset County Cricket Club!!

Day 1

I have to admit I'm not sure whether there was stoppages for rain today...it was a bit muggy here and we did have rain at about 4:00. But by then it would have made little difference to probably one of the best batting days we have had this year. Peter Bowler has spent the first half of the year picking up the majority of the opening runs and Neil Edwards has struggled. Today he finally got past the barrier that has been stressing him. An opening partnership of 100 got the ball rolling but when Franks got the 'Old One' for 38 and then Jamie Cox for one 7 runs later we probably all expected the usual capitulation. However, Neil had passed 20 by then and James Hildreth is starting to be an experienced hand at this situation. Together the young partnership started to motor and they added 104 before Hildreth became Franks' third victim on a good day for him. An excellent 60. Edwards finally succumbed at 87 but we had a really solid base then and that was built upon by Burns (35) and Blackwell (55*).

Blacky, with Carl Gazzard have taken the score on to 318 for 5 and we still have some batting to come with Dutchy and our now famous tail who can put another 50+ on the board. If the two incumbents can stay there tomorrow we could be looking at a score in excess of 400 for the Outlaws to go for. Then it's up to the bowlers to get rid of them quickly and cheaply. Good solid Day 1 boys let's consolidate and then hammer them in the second half of Day 2. That would be very very nice!

Day 2

Resuming at over 300 with 5 wickets in hand and a batsman of Blackwell's talent on strike, you've got to bank on a plus 400 score. And we so nearly made it!! But how did we get from 318 for 5 to 399 all out (missing out on the bonus point by one run)? Well it was probably due to Gazzard going without adding too much to his score and Blackwell, the mainstay, only sticking around for another run. Both victims of 'Mr Hair' (is it still as 80's perm-like - Roger Daltrey eat your heart out) Ryan Sidebottom. Dutch didn't stay long and it was Andy Caddick who put it about a bit with 27 off 30 balls faced. 399 isn't bad but we were hoping for probably another 50 to be satisfied.

So it became a case of get them out cheaply (hopefully for something under 249). Not to be though. Bicknell decided if we could do it so could he! Despite dispatching Gallian early (for 10 at 18) when he snicked a Nixon to Carl G, it was not going to be our day with the ball. Anrag Singh stayed and stayed and Bicknell piled on the shots and we didn't see another wicket for 159 runs!

Simon Francis got Singh, but that just brought out Warren who added another 80 with the rampant Bicknell. Two late strikes made it look a bit better but Warren out to Blackwell and Sidebottom C&B Caddick was not enough to put us in control. They are 266 for 4 needing a mere 134 to pass our total and with a lot to come.

How did we bowl? Well the pick was Nixon who bowled 15 overs taking 1 for 30. The other seamers went for a lot more - Caddick went for just over 4 and Francis went for twice McLean's total from the same number of overs. Notts jusst kept the scoreboard ticking and we now have to fight to get anything from this game. If they pass us and establish a lead then they'll be hoping for a second innings collapse and a small total to get on the fourth day. We need to put a stop to that and hope that we can bowl them out cheaply in the fourth innings to get our win. It's interesting but unless we can break through before lunch tomorrow, it looks like we are moving towards another draw!!

Day 3

145 for 2 at Tea on Day 3.  Coxey is on 55 and Hildreth has reached 29.  Notts passed us by 61 with Simon Francis finishing with 4 wickets - but he gave away over 100 to get there.  Then again, it's progress.  Still too many overs with a four ball although he is now able to generate genuine pace..

Bad news is that Carl Gazzard has broken a finger and prbably won't keep or bat in this game again.  Rob Turner has a back injury so it'll be down to Burnsy to do it all.

Good news is that Laraman is bowling during the interval and this bodes well for Sunday (hopefully) or the Rosebowl (if necessary).

Hildreth goes straight after Tea (bowled Smith) without adding anything and out comes Mr Burns who gets straight off the mark and the 150 arrives in his first full over.

The score motors to 175 after Hildreth goes with Burns adding 24 while Buzz goes into his shell a little.  It's too good to last and 'George' wafts at one and is out caught in the slips.  Enter the 'Blackman' .  Just as this experienced pair start to get THEIR eye in, we put the EVIL EYE on Cox by saying how well he is playing,  Jamie immediately mis-reads Smith and loses his off stump trying to cut him.  184 for 5.

Blackwell LBW Smith for 9 is not what you want to read next but that is how it goes and it is all down to Andy Caddick!!  This is also unfortunate because Ealham catches him off Smith again for 3 and we are watching another game slope off as Francis comes out at number 9 with less than 200 on the board and one batsman not available.

Nixon is last and he arrives with the score on 220 when Dutch is caught off Sidebottom for 23.  He lasts one ball and Notts need 160 to win.  Don't plan your Saturday around the cricket - the 4th day will be Notts and was..it all finished at about 2:30 and we lost by 7 wickets.  Ho Hum!!

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