Yorkshire 220-8 (96 overs) vs Notts

I think 250 would be nice.
Am I being characteristically over optimistic?

I would hope on current form that Mr Wainwright would be viewing you as pessimistic - why is he at 9 in the order below Pyrah and Shahzad?

If I was Mr Wainwright I'd be telling Messrs Hoggard and Kruis not to make any plans for an early Lunch.

Everyone holding their collective breath?

Wainwright and Hoggy making it look easy this morning. I hope that doesn't mean Newman and Wagh will do the same.

250 - 8 and 2 batting points. dig in lads.

Wainwright should be batting above Shahzad and Pyrah perhaps.
Can they get another 50 in the next 12 overs?
Probably best if they don't try..

No they can't - we are all out but at least we got to 250 - well done wainers

Notts don't appear to have an overseas player this match either and they only have 5 imports from other counties with Hales, Franks, Patel, Shafayat all actually home grown. Admittedly Swann, Sidebottom and Broady would have altered their stronger team but at least its not quite as bad as some of us have made out in the past.

Time for Hoggy to deliver the goods on a Trent Bridge seamers green top

A wicket before lunch would have been nice.
I'm surprised Deon didn't get a bowl. Might just have suited him.

i see the fag packets back.

6 overs from Hoggy and Shazzer apiece and now 4 overs apiece from Kruis and Pyrah who is looking quite expensive so far.

Whats the betting on Wainwright getting a go next or perhaps the fag packet says we should now go back and give the openers another turn together?

I wish Mags would have a bowl himself.
It's one of those curious games where one wicket would probably bring about a bit of a collapse...

or golden arm Sayers, our leading strike bowler and the man in form

looking much better all of a sudden!
Sadly - they've got one hell of a long batting line up...

not a place to bat number 3 - Wagh got a duck as well.

At least they have not got Adams coming in at 10 against us this time as he tore us apart at Scarborough

Whatever happened to Hoggard? He's been almost as ineffective as Mags down the stretch, and just when we need him. Forget blaming Naved, its been senior players like Hoggard, Mags and even Rudolph who've bottled it just when we most needed them.

You have to think England called it right with Hoggy but his decline since coming back to the county game has been quicker than expected - you cannot expect to have a bloke who only bowls half a dozen overs with the new ball when its swinging to be sure of a place in the team and sometimes I am not sure he even wants to bowl with the old ball once the opening spell is over.

Hoggy ALWAYS tries his best.

At 155 for 5 this is a great performance we're seeing from our team. How could any of you stop supporting any team which still has the capacity to inspire and surprise in equal measure?
Come on Yorkshire - let's aim for a first innings lead!

rather spookily their scorecard is almost mirroring ours

Ducks for numbers 3 and 6.
Fifty from one of the openers and decent score by the other.
Single figure failure from number 4.

When we eventually try a spinner, how often do we get an immediate wicket! Oh what might happen if we resumed playing two of them. Still, we are making progress, but Read and Ealham are usually difficultv to prise out

don't worry Steve - my comments had the desired effect as hoggy has taken a wicket!

Similarly with Pyrah who took 2 wickets after we questioned his selection.

You should know by now that whatever I say often gets disproved very quickly by one of the players.

I too spotted the irony when Pyrah made the breakthrough. But it's not quite as funny as those people who first argued that Rashid and Bresnan ought to be dropped and then argued that Yorkshire would be relegated because they were going to be without Rashid and Bresnan for the rest of the season.

Once again our coach and captain are throwing away our chances - 56 overs, but our one spinner having only bowled 4 of them for one wicket and ten runs while Shafayat and Reid dig in with 50+ partnership which could become match winner

They bat a long way down and things are drifting away. Perhaps two days of rain could save us, and 1 day of rain at Edgbaston and Old Trafford would help our cause as well. Otherwise??

Nuff said - some 80 runs too late, Wainwright re-appears. Well done Adil also.

This is a game we can win.
I wish Mags would bowl himself - or even Sayers - we just need a quick partnership breaker and we could be right back in here. They won't want to bat last if we can set them 200+...

That is the problem - unless rain intervenes it is NOT going to be a draw. A season defining two days ahead, win and we are safe from relegation, lose and it`s second division cricket next year. Both teams HAVE to win, Notts to keep in touch with Durham at the top or it`s Durham`s title and us to avoid the drop. Who has got the bottle for it. Notts have a poor record in this area but so have we.

They have scored at nearly 4 runs per over, we managed just over 2 per over. Its miracle time now for us for the next two days or 48 hours of rain.

Close of play. If we can keep the lead down to around 100, we have a chance and the new ball is not far away, but I fear that the Sharafat-Reid partnership could make all the difference. However, if we have a good morning and achieve parity without losing more than 2 wickets, then the outcome could still be very close. As others have said, this weekend is probably the most important of the season.