Random thoughts

The knives are being sharpened in some quarters after last night's thrashing - no other word for it - by Lancashire. There's a fair old rivalry between the two sides and little love lost with some supporters. As those who read my earlier blog will know, I didn't see last night's game so am less traumatised than some today. Thanks to regular updates I followed the batting decline with interest and increasing despair from the boundary edge in the game I was playing.

It was a return to the ignominy of some of last year's one day performances and I hope that it is not too frequently seen this year. Equally I hope that with the arrival of Chris Rogers our batsmen aren't planning to switch off and expect the skipper knocks them all the time. With the exception of Garry Park he got precious little support last night. Reports suggest the track was freshened by the shower mid-innings but the fact is that Gary Keedy, like Robert Croft, thrives against our batsmen and made short work of the middle order.

I was disappointed in the absence of both our spinners last night as the attack looked too "samey" for me. If a batting side is going well, often a change of pace can make a difference and this season's games have suggested a major role for the spinners. Perhaps John Morris felt they were out of form or read the track wrong. Certainly du Plessis batted us out of the game as at this stage we're a good way from chasing down that sort of total.

I disagree with Charles Collins who says that we're not advancing as he expected. We've lost two games before last night because of the toss and du Plessis played a blinder last night. Morris says that players are allowed to have good matches against us and will on occasion take the game away. History is full of examples. Without Bradman's phenomenal performances throughout the 1930's, Australia would have lost most series against England. Many even games were taken from the national side by the genius of one man. The Lancashire centurion last night had one of those games where you see it like a football and took full advantage.

Our batting lacked nous last night and I'm sure that Morris, Law and Rogers will have talked through the failings. We can't discount it happening again, but one lousy show doesn't ruin a season.

Thus far we have been competitive and that is progress. I suspect that our hopes of FP Trophy progress disappeared last night, but most fans would be satisfied if the remaining games brought wins over Glamorgan and Northants. The Essex side are better than us and, although it hurts to say it, so are Lancashire. They must be, as they've now beaten us easily twice in quick succession.

For tomorrow I'd like to see a spinner in the side and a return to the bowling discipline that has been a feature of the season before last night. I'd also like to see the batting restored to the look of composure we saw at Northampton, rather than suggesting that Corporal Jones from Dads Army was replicating in our middle order shouting "Don't panic".

It's a blip at this stage. I'll have other words for it if it continues, but let's not over-react at this stage guys. We're improving, but invincible we ain't.