CLOSE OF PLAY, DAY TWO:
Somerset 326-9, Yorkshire 438 (Yorks 8pts, Somerset 6pts)

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Yorkshire CC form guide (Most recent last) D D D D L
League table: Link
Yorkshire averages: Link
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Somerset website: Link
Yorkshire's all-time CC record vs Somerset: P 160 Won 87 Tied 0 Lost 19 Drawn 54
Stats & Trivia: The highest team total for Yorkshire against Somerset was 589-5 at Bath in 2001.
Next Match : July 10-13 | LVCC: Yorkshire vs. Durham (Headingley Carnegie)

I see we did claen up the last pair ... well don Hoggy on getting a Michelle ... but Rudolph has 'gone early'

told you he should be batting at 4 and not opening....

So his average in this game is only 90.5

How many do we need? I would think Somerset will be able to last out a day to bat for the draw ....... so do we set them a gettable target and hope to get wickets that way?

i would just settle for us being able to make a declaration as it means we must have batted well today.

With rain forecast then it may suit the bowlers a bit more and the 100 run first innings lead we have could be valuable.

Tricky to time the declaration (if we get the luxury) with iffy weather around but suggest we bat to tea as normal and then reassess with view to putting them in tonight for half an hour minimum.

Is it raining or has time stood still?

I don't know if anyone else has noticed but our last seven opening partnerships have been: 19, 67, 35, 26, 15, 9, 0. And of our 12 opening stands so far this season, we've exceeded 50 only three times, with an overall average of only 34.33.

Must be raining as no live commentary, although nothing on Cricinfo or BBC.

58-2 - Mags is out. I am just starting to get edgy now, its looking very similar to Headingley a fortnight ago. Will they be chasing 300 ish on the final day?

I'm a huge Rudolph fan. Where would we be without him? (The second division, for sure) And this is not a criticism, merely an observation.

But its hard not to notice the huge differential between his first and second innings performances. This year he is averaging 78 in his first innings but only 31 in his second innings. Last year was the same with almost a 30 run difference between innings.

Sayers 50 up. Now if we can only find him the right opening partner.

Maybe to solve Rudolph's second inning problem we should play him somewhere different in the order second time round so it feels like a different match.

Great to see Sayers get some runs. He's now 25 and can't really rely on the potential tag anymore. He should be hitting his peak right now.

That is exactly what I was thinking. Why not open with Rudolph in the first innings and bring him in at 4th in the second innings? Thinking "outside the box" is something Yorkshire are not renowned for, but in this case it might be a brilliant tactical move. Come Mags. give it a try!

This is going to be a very tricky declaration. If - and it's a big if - theres rain around, we need to leave ourselves enough time. But otherwise, I could see 450 being a quite achievable target on the last day otherwise.
What's the highest score at Taunton in a 50 over game? I do think it would be worth risking defeat to achieve victory - and i want to see Rafiq bowl 30 overs...

perhaps if we got a big enough first innings total and the opposition had to follow on we might avoid the problem as we could win by an innings.

OK I know this one is so far out of the box in its thinking that its off the radar.

No Vaughan, Kruis, or Naved. Bressy and Rashid off on England duties.

Its hard not to notice that this younger, less experienced side is in a position (rain notwithstanding) to win Yorkshire's first CC match in more than a year.

McGrath and Moxon will have some very difficult decisions to make for the next match.

It might be easier if we are bowled out. At "featherbed" Taunton, with their batting line-up, and our poor bowling attack, 450 is gettable tomorrow in 96 overs. They did get 300 with ease against us a couple of weeks ago and we had a lot stronger bowling side out then. I would hope we can get 30 mins at them tonight but doubt if we will be far enough it front by then.

Lyth out, Gale in.

Another 150-200 runs as fast as possible would be nice. Shahzad can biff it a bit and Rafiq scored quickly againts Worc.

Rain is expected to hit about 5pm apparently.

Its worth noting that four bowlers who aren't in the match due to injuries or England calls, are at or near the bottom of the Yorkshire bowling CC averages:

Kruis 10 @ 38.10
Naved 8 @ 38.75
Rashid 6 @ 38.83
Bresnan 8 @ 55.37

Whereas several of the bowlers who are playing (some of whom might not be playing had injuries and call-ups not intervened) are at or near the top of Yorkshire's CC averages:

Hoggard 20 @ 27.45
Lee 2 @ 31.50
Shahzad 12 @ 35.25
Rafiq 8 @ 35.27

suspect you could add wainwright to those not playing to further strengthen your argument

With 7 wickets in hand, I'd like to see Yorkshire really get on with it this session. A lead of 400 plus is needed before declaring given the powerful Somerset batting and the inexperienced attack we have in this side. Somerset are very capable of knocking off anything in the 4-4.5 per over range.

...on his 10th first class century! Great innings.

agreed but without wishing to put a dampener on things he now needs to either get on with it or get out as quick runs are the order of the day from now on.

But no Brophy, Rana or Bres to biff a few in the middle order so I suggest Shahzad comes in next

Almost 400 on now,with about ten overs to bowl,would normally suggest a dec.was imminent.
But when will it come?

I think mags will want 450 to be honest.

Then he does not deserve to win,by being so defensive in his approach.
I hope you're wrong,ten wickets are required and if the opposition can score 400 plus to win in the last innings then all credit to them.
It hardly even happens,so let's get bowling.

I just don't think Mags dare risk losing this one; we'd never recover from it.
I just wish we had two spinners. Hopefully Mags will be prepared to put Rafiq on at one end and just leave him to bowl. He seems to under bowl his spinners.
Be lovely to declare tonight and get one wicket before the close. Preferably Trescothick.

Well we didn't declare around 440 in the lead at the close, could be a good day hopefully tomorrow with a dry overcast weather forecast for the day and rain tonight along with a 4th day wicket should help the bowlers ,could be the turning point in our season.

I'm sure we'll declare overnight, gonna be tough to get them all out in a day when they won't be attacking hopefully Rafiq will come of age tomorrow and do the business.

And guess who now has the highest batting average on the team? (Hint: Both he and his late father are/where wicketkeepers.)

Yorkshire have yet to declare, while now ahead by 441 runs with one day to go. i.e. Yorkshire will set Somerset at least 442 runs to win in a maximum of 96 overs. That's 4.6 per over an over, IF McGrath declares overnight. (He will!)

Notts set Lancashire 393 runs to win and put them in with six overs to go (and took a wicket) on the third day. i.e Notts set Lancs 393 runs to win in 102 overs. That's 3.85 per over.

It will be interesting to see who was right. Hopefully, both captains will be.

Can I remind the people who expected us to declare at 400 that our attack is Hoggard, Shahzad (23 first class wickets), Pattterson (20 fcw), Rafiq in his 3rd game & Lee on his debut. As a comparison the Notts attackk is Pattinson, Sidebottom, Shreck, Ealham & Patel.

I fully expect us to declare overnight .. or possibly after 3 overs to up the rate to 5 an over

What ever we do we mustn't lose. I'll leave the declaration to Mags and Moxon for all there other faults I can't recall a misjudged declaration.

My take; we won't get 10 wickets in 96 overs, so don't lose. Bat on!

I guess it comes down to several factors. Do we risk 4 points (for a draw) by losing the match; or do we go for the extra 10 points we'd get for the win?

A loss and we would be in very serious demotion trouble. A win and we could go has high as 4th in the table. A draw and the status remains quo.

Also, we need to factor in where McGrath ranks his place in history. If we don't win this match it will tie the LONGEST NON-WINNING STREAK in Yorkshire history. I'm sure McGrath won't want that legacy hanging around his neck, either.

well done so far over the 3 days to all of the team but this last day is so important.

We can't afford to lose , I would hate to think what it would do to team moral but we have a genuine chance of winning......let's hope we can !

Good luck and c'mon Yorkshire !

Run scoring is so easy at Taunton, and we know that Trescothick can destroy bowling attacks.I think i'd bat on for another 4 or 5 overs to make the asking rate impossible. If they're faced with a totally defensive position, it might just alter their approach. Can you imagine Tresco trying to defend for 30 overs?

I don't think it would matter, he'd score the same way

anyone thought about the impact of the weather?

Not sure the timing of the declaration will make any difference - looks like it could be a draw whatever we do.

To win you have to take a risk now and again and to win you have to accept that sometimes a declaration may back fire on you.

Never mind the inexperience and lack of wickets of the bowling attack. they got all 10 in the first innings didn't they?

If we adopted that approach and philosophy then the Lawson/Rashid purple patch 3 years ago would never have happened.

Declare - declare now and get on with the task of winning the game - anything else is negative and fully explains why we are where we are.

if they can get 400 they can get 450 as well with some of their batsmen. If we get them out then they can't get any more runs.

Carpe diem!

Agree we have to declare overnight but they have every chance of getting that total. It would have a devastating effect on the teams morale and confidence if we declare and they knock the runs off but we have to take that risk.