By Grockle
June 29 2002

Jones put in 6 for 110 but there was little behind him. Warwickshire go into the fourth day needing 5 wickets and we need 198 runs. Two newish men at the crease and an awful lot to do before the end of Saturday.

WARWICKSHIRE CC1 @ EDGBASTON 26 JUNE 2002

DAY ONE

DAY TWO

DAY THREE

DAY FOUR

Down the proverbial...do we have the paddle?

It didn't go too well did it?  Their 258 lead did not end before 275 as hoped and Ostler's 110 not out was only the start really.  Brown put on 124 with the ton man before he went at 334 and although Ostler hiumself went 3 runs later, his 175 put Warwickshire firmly in pole position.  Smith helped Wagg to a 9th wicket 50 and the Bears to over 400 and we finally put them to bed at 423, a mere 446 ahead with a day and a half to go.  For the third day running, Jones' bowling was the highpoint from our point fo view.  33 overs and 6 for 110 would have been great had others not gone for roughly the same amounts.  We just took our wickets with too many runs between them!!

Long road to victory...

It started better, with 48 going on before we lost a wicket (Holloway for 28).   Wood and Burns nearly doubled the score before the younger man became the second victim at 85.  It didn't look much of a problem until Burns went with only another 40-ish runs on the board (If everyone scores 40 we'll be nearly there!).  At 123 for 3 we were starting to slide behind the required level of scoring to win this one.   Burns' 54 was followed by a brace of 16's by Bowler and Parsons and the creek we were up was starting to smell. 162 for 5 had the smell of defeat about it but the position was turned in the right direction by a spirited stand from Turner and Blackwell which amounted to 77 runs with Blacky getting by far the lions share.  The problem is that the free scoring one in the partnership was out before the close (Blackwell for 64) and Rob Turner and Keith Parsons have a mountain to climb or a day to defend for in order to get us anything valuable out of this one.

Turn(er) of fortune?...

For us to come out of this with something, Rob and KP will have to put together centuries because although they are no slouches, Bulbeck, Johnson and Jones do not have the 198 runs that Somerset need.  The majority have to come from the two men at the crease at the moment.  It would be a hell of an achievement....let's hope I'm reporting it in 24 hours time!!