End of day 1

So Yorkshire finish on 341-5 from their 95 overs, some will think that Somerset are once again up against it. But this is Taunton, it is like batting on the M5; 341-5 is a par score I'd say, especially against the bowling attack. Dockerell seems to have bowled well - good economy and picked up Ballance. The real test will be when Somerset bat - how do the top 4 batters get on? The pressure is on them and there isn't much after Hildreth. 
Fingers crossed for a Somerset day tomorrow.

Cidermen...

So my beloved Somerset started the year with such high hopes; talk of championship success for the first time. For those of us who follow Somerset, we knew from previous years that we were close to being a championship winning side. Trescothick leads the troops well, backed up by Hildreth. There are the young guns in Kieswetter and Buttler, but what else? This isn't a championship winning description.

Looking at today's XI against the Yorkies, I look at a side who will surely just be battling relgation: Trescothick, Suppiah, Gregory, Elgar, Hildreth, Barrow, Trego, Meschede, Dockerell, Kirby and Hussain.
20 wickets are required to win a championship match, looking at this side, I struggle to see where 20 will come from. Kirby is in the twilight of his career, Hussain hasn't played much 1st class cricket in the past year and has always been expensive since his move from Glos; Trego opens the bowling but is not an opening bowler. Dockerell will always bowl well but is still young and Meschede has only really shown in limited over cricket. 

So what is the answer? It is easy to criticise, reading the above makes that clear, but how do Somerset improve? Why has the batting been so brittle? Where are our young bowlers? Too much T20 and 1-day focus for me is the problem; score quickly, inventive cricket shots, experiment with different bowling. What happened to batting for long periods of time, leaving the ball, boring oppositions out?

Let's see what happens in the next 3 days at Taunton, how will we bowl? Who will take wickets? Who will face 200 balls?

To follow-on or not to follow-on?

Almost 3 years has past since I began my blog from my gorgeous cottage in Wiltshire. Now 

I relight the inner-blogger, but this time from sunny Somerset.

The 2nd test against New Zealand finished earlier today and there were the usual talking points; England's choice to not enforce the follow-on and the timing of their declaration. For me, England should have enforced the follow-on, sending a clear, cut-throat message to the Australians that were no doubt watching with interest. NZ had been dismissed cheaply again after their disaster at Lords and would no doubt have folded.

As for their declaration - why bat for so long? NZ were never going to score 350 let alone 450, we were lucky that the great British weather let up for a couple of hours so that Swann et al could knock over the last 4 wickets. Cook needs to be more decisive in my opinion, not that I can knock him since he took over as skipper. Time to lose the old English mentality of Hussain and Atherton etc.