Morning after thoughts

Having given the matter considerable thought, I think that some of our wounds - far too many, in fact - were self-inflicted last night.

Starting with selection. On a wicket which was dry and dusty, would it not have made a lot more sense to play Matt McKiernan? Another leggie, bowled at the right time and the right end (I'll come back to that) would have been better and, on a horses for courses basis I would have played him in preference to Rampaul last night. It was tailor-made for the lad and seems a waste of his talents to be omitted on such a surface.

Then there's tactics. I don't think Gary Wilson did a good job last night. As skipper, he would have had final say on the side's line up and for me, got it wrong. Then there was the game itself.

Bowling Critchley to a short leg side boundary, against a batsman far happier against spin than pace was professional suicide. Of course he was going to slog against the spin and a short boundary made the percentages very much in his favour. That over cost us the game and I am not blaming the bowler, but the skipper who put him on at the wrong end at the wrong time. He was always going to have a dart at that stage.

It meant that Viljoen, who bowled well and would have troubled the batsmen more, didn't bowl his allocation, which was quite an oversight.

Then there was the batting order. For me, when we lost Riaz, Dal should have gone in. He scores quickly from the outset, improvises well and crucially runs fast between the wickets. Wilson doesn't, and although he hits well when he gets going, we had our foot on the accelerator and with that quick running, could have kept it ticking over last night. That point was rather proven when he went in last night, at nine, when it was too late. And one should never discount the incentive a player has against a county who released him...

Tonight, I hope for a faster, bouncy pitch for those seamers and a win will still see us able to qualify. We then play Northamptonshire at home and Worcestershire away, followed by Leicestershire at home and Durham away.

I see all of those games as winnable at our best and other games, as a correspondent pointed out earlier, mean something has to give. Nottinghamshire have to play Worcestershire twice and Yorkshire twice, Lancashire play Durham twice and the latter have to play Worcestershire and Yorkshire.

Plenty to play for BUT we must have a replacement for Wahab Riaz for the closing games and then knockouts if we get there. Yes, it was great to hear that we have Riaz for two more games, but playing Leicestershire and then going to Durham without a second overseas would be silly, careless, thoughtless - call it as you will. We are allowed two, and if we are in the mix, we should have two.

If we are so strapped we can't afford one, say so. If we aren't, then let's have supporters' minds put at rest, because it is the main subject of my post bag at the moment.

To answer the question - yes, we do need that overseas. Ideally one who can bat and bowl but I would be open on that.

But I would be very unhappy if the role is not filled.

More from me later. Good luck tonight lads!