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“It’s hard to take, because I don’t feel like I’ve done enough to deserve not being on that plane”

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Aug-2025Kate Cross has revealed that she is “struggling to get [her] head around” her “savage” omission from England’s squad for the 50-over World Cup in India.Cross, 33, has been a regular in England’s ODI side since the last World Cup and took her 100th career wicket in the format earlier this summer. But she was dropped during their series against India last month and was left out of the squad altogether on Thursday as a result of England’s decision to pick an extra spinner for subcontinent conditions.”It’s hard to take, because I don’t feel like I’ve done enough to deserve not being on that plane,” Cross said on , her podcast with Alex Hartley. “Everyone that is a current player who doesn’t get selected is going to disagree with selections and going to think that they should be there.Related

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“But what I’m really struggling to get my head around is it all feels like it’s happened so quickly that I’ve just clearly fallen out of favour with Lot [England coach Charlotte Edwards]. That’s a hard bit to get my head [around]. If I’d had 14-18 months of being pretty average at cricket and not performing in an England shirt, then I think I’d understand it a bit more.”I guess to an extent I have, because I didn’t have the best summer in an England shirt and I had a really tough winter and missed out a lot through the back injury. But I think leading into that, I definitely didn’t feel like I wouldn’t be on the plane. Being in the best XI [is] a different conversation, but [not even] being on the plane… It feels savage.”Cross was first left out by Edwards for a rain-reduced game against India at Lord’s – she is not involved in England’s T20I set-up – and did not regain her place for the series finale in Durham. “There’s so much for me to get my head around, and I haven’t processed it,” she said. “It’s still really raw.”England have only picked three frontline seamers for the World Cup in Em Arlott, Lauren Bell and Lauren Filer, with captain Nat Sciver-Brunt on track to recover from injury in time to offer another option.”It’s what you sign up for,” Cross said. “You don’t get to have those amazing highs without having these real lows, but it doesn’t make the lows any easier knowing that they’re going to be there. I probably had a good indication that I wasn’t going to be in this, or it would be tough to come back from being dropped in that last game… But it doesn’t make it any easier.”

“I felt we were 15 or 20 runs short on a pitch that wasn’t as bad as we played in the first ten overs”

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Mar-2024Faf du Plessis pointed to the faltering display with the bat in the powerplay as the reason for Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s loss in the IPL 2024 opener against Chennai Super Kings.Du Plessis, the RCB captain, got off to a flier after electing to bat in Chennai, smashing seven fours in the first three overs. But du Plessis fell to Mustafizur Rahman in the fifth and RCB slumped from 41 for 0 to 42 for 3 soon after.”Unfortunately, we lost a little bit too many wickets in that first seven overs, which meant that the guys needed to bat a little bit and stable the innings again,” du Plessis said on the official broadcast after the game. “And, at the end, I felt we were 15 or 20 runs short on a pitch that wasn’t as bad as we played in the first ten overs.”When you play here, you feel like you have to almost get ahead of the game a little bit in that first six overs because CSK is a very good team in the middle overs. For so many years, they squeeze you with the spinners.”Anuj Rawat and Dinesh Karthik’s 95-run stand helped RCB fight back from 78 for 5 and finish with 173, a score that Karthik, at the halfway mark, suggested was under par. That proved correct as CSK won with eight balls in hand.Rachin Ravindra’s flier handed CSK a 62-run powerplay, but RCB struck back with a few wickets to have CSK at 110 for 4 in the 13th over. That’s when Shivam Dube and Ravindra Jadeja got together. Dube was peppered with short balls – the IPL has a new two-bouncers-per-over rule – a ploy that got him out of his comfort zone. But he didn’t give it away.”We were always a little bit behind in terms of trying to get ahead of the game,” du Plessis said. “They were batting at a place where they were always still in front of the game even though we were pulling it back. We were trying to somehow find some opportunity to get wickets.”Obviously, Dube there you could see, with the short ball, he wasn’t comfortable with that. So, just trying to expose [the weakness] and trying to get some wickets through the middle overs. But at the end, it showed it just was not enough runs.”

Adil Rashid spins a web to restrict Pakistan before ODI champions England take T20 crown too

Matt Roller13-Nov-20223:33

Fleming: Pakistan made ‘massive mistake’ in last four overs

England became the first team to hold both men’s World Cups simultaneously, sneaking past Pakistan in a tense run chase to win the 2022 Men’s T20 World Cup final at the MCG by five wickets with an over to spare.Ben Stokes, England’s match-winner in the 50-over final three years ago, anchored another run chase and ground out his first half-century in T20 internationals in the format’s biggest game. He had battled to 24 off 34 balls, but a late flurry of boundaries removed the scoring pressure.The game changed in the 13th over of England’s chase when Shaheen Shah Afridi slid forwards to complete a catch off Shadab Khan, dismissing Harry Brook. Pakistan’s celebrations were cut short when they realised that Shaheen had jarred his right knee, which had once threatened to rule him out of the tournament.He received some treatment and attempted to return for his third over with 41 needed off 30 balls, but pulled out of his run-up once, then sent one down to Moeen Ali at 71mph/114kph. Iftikhar Ahmed completed his over and Stokes targeted him: he miscued him just short of long-off, but then slapped him through cover for four and launched him back over his head for six.When Moeen started the next over with back-to-back boundaries off Mohammad Wasim, the required rate was below a run a ball. Wasim returned to york Moeen, but Stokes crashed him through cover then hauled him through the leg side to secure England’s title.Sam Curran was adjudged player of the match as well as tournament•AFP/Getty Images

Curran strikes early – and late
England primarily used Sam Curran at the death throughout this T20 World Cup but his role shifted slightly in the knockout stages. Chris Jordan’s inclusion, replacing the injured Mark Wood for the last two games, meant Curran bowled a second powerplay over in both the semi-final and final.It proved crucial. Pakistan started slowly after being asked to bat first on a slow pitch, with Mohammad Rizwan’s slog-swept six off Chris Woakes their only boundary in the first four overs, and Curran – in his second over – struck as Rizwan looked to up the tempo, inside-edging a booming cover drive onto the base of his leg stump.Curran returned at the death and had both Shan Masood and Mohammad Nawaz caught by Liam Livingstone at deep midwicket, using the MCG’s vast square boundaries to his advantage. He finished with remarkable figures of 3 for 12 across four boundary-less overs, winning awards as both player of the match and the tournament.Liam Livingstone completes a catch to send Shan Masood back, his first of three in the death overs•Getty Images

Rashid finds his form
It was a World Cup of two halves for Adil Rashid: he took combined figures of 0 for 89 in 12 overs across his first three appearances, but England insisted they were confident that he would come good when it mattered. He delivered in style, taking 1 for 16 and 1 for 20 against Sri Lanka and India, then made two crucial breakthroughs in the final.Mohammad Haris, Pakistan’s dangerous No. 3, ran down the pitch and tried to clear long-on off Rashid’s first ball but holed out to Stokes, and neither Babar Azam or Shan Masood could get him away. Instead, Masood took on Livingstone, crashing him back down the ground for four and then six to take 16 off his only over.But Rashid struck with the very next ball, Babar miscuing his googly back to him, and then delivered a wicket maiden as Iftikhar struggled to read his variations. He conceded his only boundary in his final over when Shadab slapped him back over his head during a stand of 36 with Masood – but regular wickets at the death restricted Pakistan to 137.Chaos in the chase
Heading into the final, one key battle stood out: England’s opening batters against Pakistan’s new-ball bowlers. Jos Buttler and Alex Hales had demolished India in their semi-final but Shaheen, Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf stood out as the best pace trio in the tournament.Alex Hales was castled by a Shaheen Shah Afridi inswinger•ICC via Getty Images

Shaheen landed the first punch, ripping Hales’ middle stump out of the ground with a full ball that brushed his back pad on the way through, but Buttler countered: Naseem overpitched, desperate for another early wicket, and was pinged through the covers for consecutive boundaries.Phil Salt, batting for the first time in the tournament after Dawid Malan failed to recover from a groin strain, got two early boundaries away. But he picked out short midwicket off Rauf when looking for a third, who roared in celebration.Naseem’s second over was sublime, but somehow cost 11 runs despite him beating Buttler’s outside edge five times thanks to one wild ball down the leg side and an audacious, trademark scoop shot which flew away for six. Rauf reaped the rewards in the following over as Buttler edged behind, and England finished a chaotic powerplay 49 for 3.The Stokes show
With the required rate in check, Stokes and Brook opted to dig in for the next six overs, looking to minimise dot balls without taking undue risks. Both struggled for timing as the ball got older, and boundaries were hard to come by: Stokes scored a single run off his first nine balls after the drinks break, and was repeatedly beaten by Naseem in another brilliant over.Concerned faces all around as Shaheen Afridi stays down after pulling off a sharp catch•AFP/Getty Images

Stokes looked to have dug himself into a hole with 45 required off 31 balls, but cut the final ball of Rauf’s third over away for four to relieve some of the pressure and when Shaheen gestured to the dug-out that his night was over, he sensed an opportunity. He threw his head back in disbelief when he mistimed his first ball from Iftikhar, the part-time offspinner, towards Babar at long-off but it fell short, and he pummelled his final two balls to the boundary.With scores level after he had brought up his maiden T20I fifty with a slap through the off side, Stokes swung and missed at Wasim and then muscled him away for the winning run. As England’s bench ran onto the pitch in celebration, they did so with their legacy as one of the great limited-overs teams secured.

The three-day match starting July 20 will feature “a number of players from the county circuit”, a Durham Cricket release said

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Jul-2021India are set to play a three-day warm-up match starting July 20 against a County Select XI at Chester-le-Street in Durham. India will use the Riverside Ground “as a home venue for their preparations this summer”, a release from Durham Cricket stated on Wednesday.”The three-day game will see a number of players from the county circuit feature as they go up against the Indian national side,” the release said.There will be 90 overs scheduled per day with the game being played “strictly behind closed doors”, and will be streamed on Durham Cricket’s YouTube channel.India’s Test squad is currently on a break in the UK and is set to reconvene this week to start preparing for the five-Test series starting August 4 in Trent Bridge. R Ashwin also squeezed in a county game for Surrey against Somerset, where he took 6 for 27 in Somerset’s second innings of the drawn game.No tour games were scheduled for the Indian team until recently, and reports had said the visitors had made a late request for a warm-up game before the Test series. Soon after India lost the World Test Championship final to New Zealand in Southampton, captain Virat Kohli had even said that India wanted first-class games before the England Tests.”We obviously wanted first-class games, which I believe have not been given to us,” he said at the post-match press conference. “I don’t know what the reasons for that are. But yeah, other than that, I think our preparation time will be ample for us to be ready for the first Test.”While the squad had been on break, most players got their second shot of the Covid-19 vaccine last week, which was in line with the plans made by the BCCI to keep their players safe on the tour. There have also been recent cases of Covid-19 in the England set-up, when three of their players and four support staff members tested positive before the ODIs against Pakistan.The five Tests will be played at Trent Bridge, Lord’s, Headingley, The Oval and Old Trafford.

South Africa seamer made Test debut against England in January but was overlooked for one-day squads

Firdose Moonda06-Apr-2020Dane Paterson, the seamer who made his Test debut for South Africa in the 2019-20 summer, has ended his career in his home country and intends to play professionally in England from this season.Paterson could be left in limbo, however, after an interview to confirm his Kolpak deal with Nottinghamshire, scheduled for March 23, was postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic, amid great uncertainty around the fate of the English summer.ALSO READ: PCA backs move to two overseas players as Brexit pushes Kolpak window shutWhen Kolpak deals become invalid, which is due to happen when the UK leaves the European Union on December 31, Paterson will continue playing in England as an overseas professional, although it is unclear if counties will still be able to accommodate foreign players. Despite the uncertainty over the start of the cricket season in the UK, Paterson has not been re-contracted to his local domestic franchise, the Cobras.Paterson’s decision caught Cricket South Africa off guard, especially given that acting director of cricket Graeme Smith had been in communication with the ECB and the CEO of the Cobras’ franchise, Nabeal Dien, while Paterson was weighing up his options.Paterson was approached by Notts in late February, at which point Dien took the news to Smith, who made contact with ECB chief Tom Harrison. Upon learning that Kolpak deals will cease to exist at the end of 2020, Smith relayed the information to Dien and was then informed Paterson had changed his mind and would remain in South Africa.ALSO READ: England players volunteer salary reduction amid season uncertaintySince then, however, Paterson has had another rethink and decided to pursue his opportunity in England, forcing Smith to remove Paterson from South Africa’s winter training squad. “It surprises me that he made that decision, given all the information he had,” Smith said.However, Ashwell Prince, Paterson’s coach at the Cobras, was sympathetic to the choice his former player had made.”When a player gets to over 30, especially as a bowler, they don’t have that many years left in you,” Prince said.
“I’m sure these guys sit down and calculate what realistic opportunities will they have of playing for the Proteas and if not, they will consider other options. I think this is probably how this came about.”Paterson debuted at Port Elizabeth in January and played in two of the four Tests against England this summer. However, he was overlooked for the one-day leg of the summer against England and Australia, despite already having four ODI and eight T20 caps, a fact which Prince believes may also have forced his hand.”It is disappointing but the player is also asking themselves, ‘if I just played for the Proteas a few weeks ago, why am I not in any one-day squads, any T20 squads?’. He might be thinking maybe he only played in that Test because so many guys were injured. KG [Rabada] was suspended, [Lungi] Ngidi was unfit or injured and then the one-day squads come out, the T20 squads come out and he didn’t feature in any of them.”South Africa endured a torrid home season, losing the Test series 1-3 to England and winning only one out of the five series they played, an ODI rubber against Australia. While their Test campaign was blighted by the absence of Ngidi, who was sidelined with a hamstring injury, and Rabada’s suspension, their limited-overs squads were experimental as they sought to cast the selection net widely.Smith explained that the team management is in the process of working through long-term plans for players, including Paterson, who was among the 40 players earmarked for intense training camps. Although those sessions have yet to get underway, with the country currently on the 11th day of a 21-day lockdown, Paterson will no longer be part of them.Paterson is the fourth player to attempt to take up a Kolpak deal ahead of the 2020 summer. Hashim Amla and Vernon Philander, who have both retired from international cricket, were due to begin deals with Surrey and Somerset respectively while Farhaan Behardien ended his Titans’ career and signed with Durham.Dwaine Pretorius would have been the fifth after he, like Paterson, was courted by Nottinghamshire but Pretorius did not follow through with the deal after discussions with CSA. Pretorius also made his Test debut in the series against England and has since been awarded a national contract.An insider told ESPNcricinfo that Pretorius had not been guaranteed game-time or a central contract as an incentive to stay in South Africa but was provided with reassurance that he was in the selectors’ plans across all three formats. The same cannot be said of Paterson, who was only considered for Tests this summer and who the same source believes “still has quite a lot of work to do on his own game”.

The three players had been handed eight-week suspensions in December, for their tweets criticising the facilities at the Southend Stadium in Karachi during the Emerging Teams’ Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Jan-2019Three UAE cricketers – Rohan Mustafa, Ahmed Raza and Rameez Shahzad – who were suspended last month, were asked by the Emirates Cricket Board to issue formal apologies to the Pakistan Cricket Board for criticising ground facilities in Karachi during the Emerging Teams Cup. In a statement, the Emirates board confirmed that the apologies had been “received and accepted” by the PCB.The players had each been handed eight-week suspensions from international cricket for violating the ‘Player’s Code of Conduct’ and requirements for the use of social media. The players had tweeted criticising the ground facilities in Karachi after rain wiped out their hopes of a semi-final spot in the Emerging Teams Cup. They had also been fined and the Emirates Cricket Board has said the collected fines will be donated to a Karachi-based charity. The three players, although unavailable for selection, have been training alongside the national squad, which is preparing for the upcoming series against Nepal.”Following the recent disciplinary sanctions imposed on three of its professional players, Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) has today confirmed that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has received and accepted formal apologies made to them by the players,” a statement by ECB said. “As a gesture of good will, ECB will donate the fines imposed on the players to a Karachi-based charity. All three players continue their training and, although ineligible for selection, are currently involved in an intense training programme alongside players that will represent the UAE in the upcoming UAE v Nepal series.”In December, the UAE captain Mustafa, left-arm spinner Raza and middle-order batsman Rameez had taken to Twitter to express their frustration after their match against Hong Kong was abandoned due to rain, wiping out their hopes of a semi-final spot.In a match played at the Southend Stadium in Karachi, UAE had restricted Hong Kong to 87 for 4 in 31 overs before a spell of rain lasting about half an hour interrupted play. However, the venue had inadequate tarpaulin covers to protect the pitch, and water leaked onto the square. Despite several hours of using sponges, the ground staff failed to dry the pitch. As a result, the match was abandoned, with the teams sharing points. A win would have boosted UAE’s prospects of playing the semi-final.The PCB, however, has not made a statement and on the fitness of the venue for future games. ESPNcricinfo understands the Pakistan board is aiming to host women’s international games at the venue in the near future.

Andy Balbirnie’s swift 83 was in vain as Bangladesh A chased down a target of 171 with four balls to spare in a match that was reduced to 20 overs a side

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Oct-2017
ScorecardFile photo – Andy Balbirnie goes for the sweep•Getty Images/Sportsfile

Bangladesh A clinched the one-day series against Ireland A with a four-wicket win in the fourth game in Cox’s Bazar. The match was a 20-over per side affair – both teams agreed to a shortened fourth match as they did not want to play three one-dayers in as many days. The final match of the series, on October 26, will be a 50-over match.The home side strode towards the 171-run target through a quick third-wicket stand between captain Nazmul Hossain Shanto and Al-Amin. They added 58 runs in just 5.2 overs, with Shanto’s 26-ball 47 including four boundaries and three sixes.After Shanto’s dismissal in the tenth over, Al-Amin took Bangladesh A within ten runs of victory, before he was dismissed for 67 off 40 balls. He struck eight fours and two sixes. Barry McCarthy took two wickets while there was one each for Andrew McBrine, Peter Chase, Stuart Thompson and Simi Singh.Earlier, Andy Balbirnie’s quickfire 83 took Ireland to a competitive 170 for 7. Balbirnie struck seven fours and four sixes in his 51-ball innings. He added 65 runs for the fourth wicket with Sean Terry, who made a run-a-ball 28. Pace bowler Imran Ali Enam took three wickets while Mahedi Hasan, Abu Hider and Abul Hasan took one each.

Tim Bresnan made an unbeaten 72 to keep Yorkshire’s Championship hopes alive, as Nick Compton’s dropped catch cost Middlesex

George Dobell at Lord's21-Sep-2016
ScorecardHe may have scored two Test centuries and played a part in England series victories in India and South Africa but, around these parts at least, Nick Compton is in danger of being remembered as the man who dropped the 2016 Specsavers County Championship.Had Compton, in the slips, held on to the relatively straightforward chance offered by Andy Hodd on 22 off Steven Finn, Yorkshire would have been 87 for 5 and in danger of seeing their relatively long tail exposed. One of the runners in this three-horse race may well have fallen away.Instead, the chance went down and Hodd, in partnership with the wonderfully resolute Tim Bresnan, added 116 for Yorkshire’s fifth wicket to keep their side in the game. The extent of the dent put into Middlesex’s Championship aspirations remains to be seen but it may well be that Compton has inadvertently done his former club, Somerset, a huge favour. A future in ‘He should have gone to Specsavers’ adverts is unlikely to provide much consolation.Such a reputation would be harsh, of course. Compton played crucial roles in two recent victories against Durham and Nottinghamshire and may yet have a defining contribution to make here. But when title races become as tight as this – and this one is beautifully, breathlessly tight – the importance of such moments is magnified.The concern for both these teams is that their excellence – and this has been a terrific game of tough, high-quality cricket albeit one marked by some significant dropped catches – is in danger of cancelling each other out. While Somerset do battle with a foe currently boasting the resilience of a butterfly, these two teams are bashing each other into a double knockout.For victory alone is unlikely to be enough for Yorkshire. With Somerset seemingly on course for victory at Taunton, Yorkshire need to not only win but win with a minimum of four batting bonus points. They therefore have to score 350 (or more) within the first 110 overs of their first innings here. With 115 more runs required from 41 more overs and three bowlers with modest batting pretensions to come, much remains required of the two batsmen who will resume in the morning.That Yorkshire remain in the race at all is largely due to Bresnan. Having bowled with skill and persistence to help squeeze the life out of the Middlesex batting, he then produced his highest score of the campaign – and his fifth half-century – to take his side within sight of first-innings parity.It’s hard to imagine Bresnan pulling out of a game like this due to weariness or lack of focus. Indeed, you imagine he may well report for duty with an arm hanging by a thread or nursing a nasty attack of the bubonic plague. While there were some murmurs ahead of the game that he was a little high at No. 5 in the batting line-up, he justified his promotion with a mature innings featuring much patient defence and some fine shot selection.Six of his seven fours came on the off-side – a couple of meaty drives, a couple of beefy cuts and a well-judged reverse sweep the most memorable of them – with one laced through midwicket. Reflecting the improvement in his batting, he took his career average above 30 for the first time during the course of this innings and, if he makes the 100 his side probably requires, it will stay there.He came to the crease with the three batsmen above him in the order having failed to contribute a run. Toby Roland-Jones, comfortably the pick of the Middlesex seamers, had defeated Alex Lees with a full ball and drawn edges from hard-handed prods by Gary Ballance and Andrew Gale. By the time the previously fluent Adam Lyth played on in Steven Finn’s first over, perhaps slightly surprised by the pace of a fuller delivery, Yorkshire were 53 for 4 and in danger of seeing their challenge fall away.Had Compton been able to cling on to the chance offered by Hodd – instead he seemed to go at it with hard hands – Middlesex may have taken an unassailable advantage in this match. But, as the sun came out and the ball softened, so batting started to look a little easier and the teams go into day three with the game all but even.Hodd played Ollie Rayner especially well. Refusing to let him settle, he scored at almost a run-a-ball off him, hitting him off his line with reverse sweeps and punishing him if he dropped short. Even after he departed, beaten by a full one from Roland-Jones that he tried to force, Rayner was unable to gain much purchase from the dry-looking square and was twice thrashed for sixes – one drive, one pulled – by David Willey. Though Willey also departed before the close, Azeem Rafiq gave Bresnan good support to keep Yorkshire’s hopes just about alive. Still, 350 looks some way distant.”We just tried to take the game situation – and the table situation – out of it,” Bresnan said. “We tried to focus on little goals: ten runs at a time. They bowled really well at us for a little spell and made it really tough for us. But cricket is about little battles and we managed to overcome that challenge and kick on.”With the clientele we’ve got in dressing room we never say never. We’ve managed to win from some unbelievable positions this season and if we can get up to 350 we’ll be in a good position. We’ve got 40-odd overs left to get 350, which should be plenty of time. We’ll just take it in tens.”Yorkshire’s bowlers were little short of magnificent in the morning session. While Jack Brooks, as accurate and whole-hearted as ever, finished with career-best figures of 6 for 65, he would be the first to admit he was the beneficiary of a sustained performance by all five seamers that never allowed Middlesex to score at even 2.5 an over. It was relentless in the way Test bowlers tend to be relentless: building pressure; forcing batsmen to earn every run. Even with little help from the pitch or the overhead conditions, they were so disciplined that Middlesex were never able to get away from them. Yorkshire aren’t giving up on their status as champions without a hell of a fight.Eventually that pressure showed. Nick Gubbins, perhaps mindful of Middlesex’s sluggish run-rate and keen to gain at least a third batting bonus point, was drawn into a loose drive that ended his fine innings, before James Franklin edged a good one that demanded a stroke. Unsure whether to go for a third batting point or deny Yorkshire a third bowling point, Middlesex blocked for a while only to then give it away when Tim Murtagh slogged to mid-off with just 20 balls left before the cut-off. It may yet prove to be crucial. In all, Middlesex were able to add only 62 runs for the loss of five wickets in 26.3 overs in the morning session. Without Gubbins’ century – and the dropped catch that allowed him a life on 22 – they would have had no answer to Yorkshire’s fine attack.”We’re in a dogfight, but we’re hanging in there,” Brooks said. “We didn’t let them get away and we’re still in there fighting. Bressy has worked his way up from eight to five with his batting and he’s probably been our best bowler in this game as well after coming in as fifth seamer. It shows what a world-class bowler he is.”The equation for Middlesex is, at least, simple. If they win this match, the Championship is theirs. The winning bit is far from guaranteed, though.”It’s nicely poised,” Roland-Jones said in understated fashion afterwards. “We’re trying to treat it as if it’s any other game when it’s obviously an experience you want to be part of and it’s quite high pressure.”You try not to pay too much attention [to what has been happening at Taunton], but of course you see it there. Our attitude coming into the game was to win it. If you come into the last game and dangle the carrot that if you win it you win the Championship, you take that. It’s not a bad place to be.”It will probably be no consolation to any of the sides that fall short – and truly, all three deserve better than disappointment – but the quality and intensity of this encounter reflects wonderfully well on English cricket. Perhaps familiarity has invited a certain complacency (if not contempt) to England’s first-class competition but if we still value developing Test players we will tinker no further with this great competition. The 9000 or so spectators who have attended over the first two days know this already; it’s a shame not all those inhabiting the ECB offices just beside the Nursery Ground share their enthusiasm.