You make it look so easy, SuperBob. 
Lords, tomorrow night (Not on TV). The first time weāve played a T20 there. Will make a nice change from standing in a field in Uxbridge or Richmond. At least when I played there I could get in the pavilion.
I went to the rose bowl a few years ago to watch a veterans 20/20, then a World Cup England match on the screens, then England vs Sri Lanka 20/20. It went on all day and was brilliant but I got proper fucked up and donāt remember much of the evening. Love cricket in the sunshine!
T20 Finals Day - 3 matches one after the other - is usually a good opportunity for some serious all day drinking!
Especially if itās bloody raining.
Iām intrigued, LBD, who did you use to play for?
OTās. Waterlooville. Botley. Winchester.
Just seen that Hampshire have been in touble with the ECB disciplinary board, for having 5+ players done in the last 12 months.
We have been fined Ā£4000 and given a suspended points deduction of 16 in the Championship and 2 in each of the T20 and One Day Cup. If we another incident in the next 12 months, the deduction will apply to the relevant competition.
Better keep our noses clean, especially in the CCC.
Me too. Weather supposed to be good. Am taking a few people from work so hoping the boys put on a good performance
Thatās an impressive list, LBD; some very fine players have represented Old Tauntonians over the years! I would love to have a cricketing CV like that; mine amounts to just a handful of games for my works team.
I couldnāt bat or bowl but I always fancied myself as a half-decent wicket-keeper. I would turn up my collar and cock my cap at a jaunty angle in the style of my boyhood hero Alan Knott. I also used to dive around a lot ā for no particular reason other than it seemed to amuse the slips and other close fielders.
But, unfortunately for me, a chap laughingly known as the teamās fixtures-and-social-secretary, who was a useless fat lump with a club foot, also liked to play wickie, and because he was unable to run, and also because he was the chap who arranged the piss-ups, he got to wear the gloves whilst I got shoved out on the boundary, which was embarrassing because I was hopeless at catching and even worse at throwing. It wasnāt long before I found myself relegated to twelfth man duties, i.e. preparing the sandwiches and cup-cakes for the tea interval.
So thatās the rather pitiful summation of my cricketing career; but it didnāt dampen my love for the game, which, now I come think about it, is perhaps somewhat surprising.
Anyway, I canāt sit here talking about myself all day ā as much as Iād like to ā so getting back to Hampshire: whilst I like to see the team competing to the maximum with an up-and-at-them edge to their game they do now have to be extremely careful not to overstep the mark, because, as you say, a 16 point deduction could be fatal to our chances of staying up this season.
Enjoy yourselves at Lords tonight, fellas!
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That 16 point deduction WILL happen. The ECB hate Hampshire - no Ashes Test in 2019, points deductions for poor pitches (Tony bloody Pigott thought that Hove pitch for the Sussex/Warks game was ok the other day I noticed - no innings total over 200 with variable bounce all the way through. Two 2nd XI matches already abandoned there this year. Pigott used to play for Sussex of course)
Particularly annoying because weāve already gotten rid of the main culprit - Matt Coles
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All good points, SO5 4BW.
Itās completely galling that weāve never been awarded an Ashes Test.
James Vince picked for the England T20 next Tuesday, only one game, so he wonāt be playing in the 4 dayer v. Somerset.
Bugger!
Thatās good news for Vince but a damn nuisance for Hampshire - just when heās started to hit some form.
Letās hope England donāt mess him about.
Dawson in at 5, I guess.
Wish I was going to Lords this evening. 
Enjoy yourselves!
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We won! More tomorrow as Iām watching the golf. (Hi, Phil).
A good night out at Lordās - not much better then a few beers in the sun watching Hampshire beat Middlesex. Shame I canāt make the RB one tonight
I followed the match on the cricinfo live feed and was getting a little nervous 10 overs or so into the Middlesex innings until Smith, Briggs (apart from one over) and Arafat put the brakes on.
What a great bonus Smithās bowling in the shorter format games has been for us since he signed!
Golf? GOLF?
Chambers Bay is as close to proper golf as Bearsyās JWP thread is to TSW matchday threads!
Good that Monty nailed the trouble with the greens BEFORE the start and then went out & showed the nippers how to play. Have to say it makes for stunning TV visually but IMHO the only thing missing is Stuart Hall and some bloke running onto the fairway with a Joker whenever someone tries to go for a green in two!
Part of me just keeps saying āwould serve the USGA right if the grumpy old man who never won a major was to finally do it at 51ā
Annoyed OSN (ie Sky) decided to show Kent v Essex yesterday thought a T20 from Lords would have been a better choice so was reduced to Solentās Twitter updates for news, sounded like a good game & looking forward to seeing what Vince can do. (What a series the ODIās have been!)
Odd that comment about ECB hating Hampshire, after the comments from Michael Vaughan et al that Ageas is now the best cricket venue in England outside of Lords that I was reading all last week after the ODI.
Apart from missing the opening overs after M25 headache and then stupidly queing at the wrong gate to collect tickets, it was a fine evening.
Sat in the middle of the Grandstand, surrounded by half of āThe Cityā most of whom scarcely watched any of the play. When Shah hit a 6 that rebounded off the ledge above us, we had a good laugh when it ricocheted into a group of them spilling the Bollinger.
Great batting by Shah and Carbs and also Ervine, who came in at the end and hit his first 3 balls for 4. The bowling was a bit off last night, with too many wides, but despite Stirlingās knock hit was over once we got him out.
I must thank the Highway Authority though, for shutting the M3 at Basingstoke last night, forcing us on to the A33 and taking me back to the 80ās and then closing J5 of the M27 at the airport, without any prior notification. Bastards!