| CB40 final: Somerset v Warwickshire Click refresh to read the latest posts, follow the live scoreboard from Lord's and post your thoughts below the line8.24pm: Didn't Alex Ferguson have a phrase for these kinds of situations? With 30 balls to go, Warwickshire need another 36 runs. They have just decided to take their powerplay. Ian Bell is still in, on 77. And Rikki Clarke goes! Out! Caught in the deep down the ground trying to hit Peter Trego into the pavilion. Ant Botha is in now, with Warwickshire on 166 for six and needing 35 from 28 balls as I type...7.52pm: I'd far rather be outside shivering and shouting with the rest of the Somerset fans, but I've had to dash up the three flights of stairs back to the media centre to pass on the news that Somerset have finally taken a wicket. It is not the one they wanted - Ian Bell is still there on 59 - but in the circumstance it will do. It took the return of Alfonso Thomas to do it – in his first over back in the attack Troughton snicked a thin edge through to Kieswetter. That makes it 119 for four. Warwickshire need 81 from 77 balls. Even more intriguingly, it has just started to pitter-patter with rain. They're not going off yet, but if it gets any heavier they may, and Warwickshire are three runs behind the D/L par score at the moment, Maddy has joined Bell in the middle. The truth is that with Phillips bowled out, there's little left in the Somerset attack to worry them apart from Thomas.7.10pm: Ben Phillips has bowled his eight overs straight through, finishing with two for 24, and Trego is starting to turn his arm over. The action is all at Murali Kartik's end though. He's almost had Bell out twice, most recently with a close LBW appeal. But almost is not close enough. Warwickshire 71 for three off 17, which is nine behind the D/L par score. Not that there is any hint of rain in the air, which has turned deep red. They need 129 from 138 balls.6.54pm: The game is afoot. Jon Trott has gone, caught behind off a short, straight ball from Ben Phillips. Ian Bell is looking in lovely touch at the other end though, 23 not out. Warwickshire are 51 for three off 11 overs, needing another 149 to win. Troughton is the new batsman, and he has just slashed a sweet four through cover to move to five not out. Alongside me Vic is struggling to contain himself, his mood oscillating between enthusiasm and frustration. In the field Trescothick looks altogether more phlegmatic, puffing out his cheeks as he chews over his field settings. He has decided to bring on Murali Kartik, Mark Turner's two overs having cost 20 runs. This could be the crucial spell...6.33pm: It's turning into a beautiful evening here, the sun dipping down behind the Warner Stand. Maybe that's why Peter Trego is wearing sunglasses. Chasing down this total surely won't be as easy as all that, what with the nerves of the occasion and the effect of the floodlights. Carter USM has already come and gone, but Jon Trott is stolidly occupying one end. The No3 is Keith Barker. Was Keith Barker. He has just been brilliantly caught by Mark Turner. This could turn into quite a match yet. 20 for two. Warwickshire's two best batsmen are together now, Ian Bell joining Trott in the middle. Alfonso Thomas has his dander up - he clanged a vicious bouncer into Barker's helmet. If he can't get the breakthrough here the match could come down to a duel between Kartik and Bell and Trott. Things are just getting interesting, and enough cider has been sunk to ensure that outside the atmosphere is getting suitably raucous.5.46pm: That's it. Mark Turner has been caught, and Somerset are all out with an over left unused. The last seven Somerset wickets fell for 23 in 8.3 overs. Warwickshire will need just 200 to win. Maybe, just maybe ...5.32pm: Tahir has taken his fifth wicket, for just 41 runs. His spell from the pavilion end was 4-0-14-5. The last of them was Murali Kartik, stumped off a wide down the leg side. Kartik just raised his foot, overbalancing as Richard Johnson whipped off the stumps. Somerset have lost six wickets for 11 runs in a little under six overs. The only people singing now are the Warwickshire fans.5.10pm: The innings is tottering. No, make that toppling. A stately stand of 94 between James Hildreth and Nick Compton was cut short by a foolish piece of running, Hildreth pushed the ball to cover, and was regretting his decision to take the run on before he was half way down the wicket. He didn't even bother to try and ground his bat. Two balls later Jos Buttler was gone too, lbw to Imran Tahir. 175 for three became 175 for 5. What would Geoffrey Boycott have to say about that I wonder? Worse yet, Arul Suppiah has been bowled in Tahir's next over. He made only one so the score is 178 for six. It had all looked so serene when Compton (currently 60 not out, and with the fate of the side resting squarely on his shoulders) and Hildreth had been together, the two scarcely bothering to do much more than scmaper singles, ticking the score along at a run a ball. I should have sent this entry three minutes ago - I can't seem to get through it without another wicket going down. Compton has gone now, lbw to Tahir. 179 for 7 and Somerset have lost four for four in the space of 14 balls. Tahir has taken three for one in six deliveries, and is running around the ground being pursued by his teammates. Thomas and Philips are in, with seven overs to play, and Somerset are in dire need of a dash of what Keith Parsons gave them back in the 2001 C&G final, when he finished the first innings with a flurry of sixes.4.28pm: Things have tightened up here, Warwickshire have pulled themselves back into the match. Somerset battered 41 from their first six overs, but have only just brought their 100 up and the innings is now halfway through. Barker added Trego's wicket to Trescothick's, and Kieswetter got himself tied up in a tangle as soon as he stopped hitting out and started to play more soberly. All three fell trying to hit over the top. Seems there is something a little do or die about the team's approach. Barker is a name that has bad connotations for me, ever since some short-lived days as a drama critic when I described a production of Pinter's Birthday Party as "bound to be a banker". There was a typo, and it went into the paper as "bound to be a barker". Apparently some of the readers thought I was making an obscure allusion to a joke that none of them knew. I wasn't. Anyway, I'm rambling. It has turned into a glorious day, the sun just hot enough to make you feel as though summer has a week or so left in it yet. Somerset 110-3 off 21 as I type this.3.32pm: Bah. Keith Barker's first ball has struck the first blow for Warwickshire. He came into the attack to replace Carter the Unstoppable Six Machine, who had been hit to all parts by Marcus Trescothick - who had promised that his team would come out swinging from the hip - and Craig Kieswetter. His first three overs cost 25. Trescothick could just have given himself a little more time to have a look at Barker's medium pace before trying to loft him over mid-wicket way. Still, the Somerset fans are only cheering louder now, why? Because Weston-Super-Mare's finest all-rounder has just come to the crease. Peter Trego himself. He assured Vic Marks before the match that his "tears are all dried up now". He's just taking guard. At the other end Kieswetter looks as though he may be trying to hit himself into form, he's already struck a crisp cut and fine lofted extra cover drive for four, and currently has 21.3.25pm: Quick score update: 43-1 off seven, Trescothick the man to go.2.59pm: I tried to remain scrupulously neutral in that first entry, but I've just been downstairs for a cigarette (yes readers, I failed to quit while I was away) and my objectivity has been torpedoed by the cries of Som-er-set la-la-la Som-er-set la-la-la ringing around the ground. The Guardian and Observer are being represented at this game by Vic Marks and myself, we must be one of the most one-eyed commentary pairings ever to cover a match. Maybe Andy in Brum will pop up below the line to help restore a little balance to today's coverage. Surely all the neutrals out there are supporting Somerset after the season they have had, losing the T20 final on countback and finishing as runners up in a Championship decided by the very last delivery of the competition. The charm of being perennial plucky losers only stretches so far. The players are coming out onto the field. Warwickshire are in a huddle, and a roar has just gone up around the ground as the Somerset openers have come out, swinging their arms and windmilling their bats around their heads. The Bears fans are outnumbered, in the press box and out of it ...PreambleAfternoon from Lord's, writes Andy Bull, doing his best to shrug off the depressing news that broke this morning and focus on what is about to unfold in front of him. What a miserable way to start a Cup Final saturday. At the ground there is a feeling that, not for the first time this season, what is happening on the pitch is going to have to compete with developments off it in the thoughts and conversations of everyone watching and writing about this game. Hopefully by the time play starts those concerns will be drifting out of mind, we'll see. The ground is only a third or so full, at a rough estimate. The timing of the match has certainly deterred a lot of people from making the journey up from the West country. Even as I type the news has come through that Warwickshire have won the toss and chosen to field first. A curious move that, given that it means they will be chasing under the lights later on. Still, for now, the sun is peeping out from behind a swarm of puffy grey clouds.Clydesdale Bank 40CricketSomersetWarwickshireAndy Bullguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Suzuki records 10th straight 200-hit season By 2010-09-23T18:14:28ZTORONTO (AP) -- Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki became the first player with 10 straight 200-hit seasons on Thursday, breaking his own record with a single to center in the fifth inning of the Mariners' game against the Blue Jays.... hosted.ap.org |
F1 pays tribute to former Lotus boss • Original team manager passed away at home on Monday• Bernie Ecclestone honours man who ran Lotus from 1982Formula One has paid tribute to former Lotus team boss Peter Warr after his death from a heart attack at the age of 72.The sport's commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone said in a message on the official website that he had lost a good friend: "When Peter was in Formula One he helped me to build it to what it is today."Warr, who died at home in France on Monday, was Lotus team manager under founder Colin Chapman and went on to run the team for seven years after the Briton's death in 1982.He attended this year's season-opening Bahrain grand prix to witness the Lotus name return to the sport with Malaysian entrepreneur Tony Fernandes."Peter was a great supporter of our racing aspirations and it was fantastic to meet someone with such knowledge, spirit and passion for Lotus and for our sport," Fernandes said.Formula OneLotusguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Tampa Bay Rays among teams on clock for playoff success Carl Crawford walked to pretty much the only position he has known as a major leaguer left field for the Tampa Bay Rays. rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
United star gets South Korea going with a win SOUTH KOREA, who previously had won just a single World Cup finals game away from home, this time romped through in a canter. Their two goals could have been doubled or even trebled and it was highly appropriate that the second of them, early in the second half, should go to the Manchester United attacker, Park Ji-Sung. timesonline.co.uk |