By Grockle
August 29 2002

Who'd be a Somerset bowler? Johnson 6 for 47 and Caddick 6 for 84 and the batsmen just give it back to the opposition again and again. Our lamentable season goes on to another low as we capitulate in Blackpool and find ourselves chasing 408 to win after only two days play!

v LANCASHIRE @ BLACKPOOL 27/28 AUGUST 2002

Black Day 2 in Blackpool?...

What a strange couple of days this seems to be.   Blackpool would not be my favourite ground to try and save a Championship season on but it is what we have dealt ourselves and it started well on Day 1...

Hegg won the toss and chose to bat.  Did he know something we didn't?

No Bulbeck in our side, is Simon Francis now preferred after his good performance against Warwickshire or is Bulbeck still not fully fit?  What does that mean for Saturday?  Who the hell knows..  Marcus Trescothick also didn't make it.  That means he couldn't play at Seaton on Sunday but was expected to be here and now is going to have a decision made for Lords on the day of the game - it doesn't suggest 'fully fit' to me I am afraid.  But, Caddick is back and playing.

However, it is his running mate Richard Johnson who has a good day with the ball as he takes two of the first three wickets before they have got to three figures.  Stuart Law holds up proceedings with an ominous 77 but Francis gets him and Johnno continues to get the lions share of wickets, finishing with 6 for 47 off his 18 and helping us get Lancs out for a very gettable 251.  Lot of overs bowled by Cadd 2 for 81 and Franky and KP weighed in with one each.

What a waste of effort all that was though!  God, who'd be a bowler in this present side?  There you are working your guts out to make your case for a place in this side now that we have possibly two more pacemen joining us and we reply in such a pitiful fashion that any hard work that you have done is neutralised and you have to start again!

We go in to post a first innings lead and 51.5 overs later we are all out for 140, gifting THEM a 111 run lead before the end of the second day!   Highest score?  Keith Dutch for heavens sake with 35.  Some guy by the name of Anderson (now there is irony!) takes 6 for 41 in 11 overs!!  Bowler 7, Blackwell 8, Turner 8, Wood 10.  Buzz nearly got into the twenties.  Burns 18 and Parsons 27.  It is just pathetic when we need exactly the opposite of this.   We are throwing the Championship after the NUL and seem totally incapable of stopping ourselves.  If we produce a great performance on Saturday (and all pray we do), then it just makes this weak and watery effort even more unacceptable!

Miracle time.  Would you blame the bowlers if they capitulated?  I certainly wouldn't.  Do you expect the Lancashire batsmen to have the same 'problems' with the pitch as we seemed to?  Well you'd be naive to do so because they don't!  2 for 6 gives hope but 81 from Byas, 77 from Schofield (CHRIS SCHOFIELD for Christ's sake!!!!) and PETER MARTIN's (!!!!!!) 39 help them get to 296 all out despite 6 for 86 from Caddick, 2 for 51 from Francis and 2 for 73 from Johnson.   Burnsy looks injured and didn't bowl at all in the second innings - looks good for Saturday as well then!  We need 408 to win and it's not even the end of the second day.   We need all the bonus points we can  get and got NO batting ones.   Unless our batting turns around completely, we will walk away from this one with FOUR points.  Chances of winning this one from this position - NONE!!

After 9 overs we stand at 21 for 1 (Cox out for 1 - main batsman 21 in the game....more than other games this month though!!).  Woody and Francis in needing 387 to win or two days to bat out for the draw.  Neither will happen.   I'm not being negative, I'm just working the odds.  We haven't done this with easier targets and this is highly demanding against a side with their tails up on a dodgy wicket!  We have three games after this and we need 20 point in each or this season will be an unmitigated disaster with or without the C&G trophy.  I'd love to see the odds on us winning that on our present form!

PIG SICK!