Ted Maul

We've got to be the only club in world football who would wait 2 months to sack their manager after knowing that's what was going to happen and still not have a shortlist drawn up. Incomprehensible incompetence, and if anything they seem to be getting worse.

This would be a spectacular collapse with the Duke ball under cloud cover, never mind under these circumstances I've not been able to watch since just after Budinger got out and it was doing absolutely **** all. Never seen such serene batting conditions off a new ball.

Just like the good old days.

In a spot of bother here now.

Amazed they batted on that long to be honest. Going to be a long couple of days for their bowlers.

Not panicking just yet- they're likely going to have to bowl for 2 full days to get us out twice, that will take its toll in this heat. Still think the draw is by far the most likely result at this stage but I'd rather we got a few bonus points.

One saving grace here is that Middlesex are taking their time about it. The longer they trundle along at 3 an over, the more likely a draw becomes.

Walker redemption arc begins now...

Not a bad shout to be fair... probably the only way we're getting a result out of this

Yeah it clearly isn't working. Our bowlers are faring the worst across both divisions today but you can expect more matches to end in a draw than not, with 4 full days' play.

Kept plenty of grass on the pitch so I'm not sure we were playing for the draw. It's just done absolutely nothing.

As far as opening mornings after winning the toss go, that was an absolute shocker. Wrong call to bowl.

Derbyshire all over Lancs.

An emergency seamer wouldn't have been a bad shout for this one

There have been plenty of occasions this season where they have proved any doubters wrong, but I'm really not getting good vibes for this one.

Forgot he was playing for them! Bloody good job he's out as well Interestingly, we've put Trevaskis in at 3 on our line up graphic.

I imagine we're not risking any minor issues, given the potential for lengthy spells in the field. Glad we've got a few weeks off before the next one- we'll have Holland, Hull and Ahmed back for those.

No Roland-Jones for them, which is a bonus.

Best get to work this morning then!

Agree with that. Unfortunately, we're anything but 'clever' on the commercial side of things these days. Or any side of things, really.

Another injury, Scriven out. Severely depleted attack, kookaburra ball and we've stuck them in to bat... what could possibly go wrong? Gambling on working through their top order this morning, because the forecast for the 5 sessions after that is absolutely belting.

And they were, traditionally. Much bigger. People tend to view club size through the prism of how good they were throughout their youth- it takes a lot of sustained success to really change the size of a club in the eyes of multiple generations. We were well on our way to doing so but completely ballsed it up. If we were to spend 5+ years outside the top flight now, then we'd get a clearer picture on how much this public perception is due to genuine growth, or recency bias.

Going by the adidas template (Oviedo, Aberdeen), that's very similar to how it would look. Bring in Walkers for BC Game and it would be top 3 home kits of all time.

The club's going to be a shitshow regardless of whether we've got a collar or v-neck

Back for the 2nds next week apparently.