Yorkshire v Glamorgan CC 3-6 May at Headingley

Seven down, and the extremely dangerous pace of Lyth and Bess has been deemed too dangerous for a guy who has been batting for a day. Cricket does shoot itself in the foot sometimes, does it not?

It is the lightning that has driven them off TM rather than the light.

It wasn't the lightning that led the players off, it was the two Glamorgan batsmen. After a couple of flashes of lightning, I estimate over 15 miles away and the far side of Leeds, while the game was in play the two batsmen just walked off without speaking to or consulting the umpires(who just watched them open-mouthed) or the Yorkshire players

The latter stayed on the field at their positions and watched again m a bit open-mouthed at the 'welch' men, (intentional mis-spelling) while nobody on the terraces moved and several shouted, "is that a declaration or what? Are you not coming back?" Perhaps they don't get lightning in Africa or Wales but they ignored everyone especially the umpires .

Perhaps the Glamorgan coach had coached them how to ignore everyone and just walk off. Strange and quite honestly more than a bit rude.

Yes I know, I was there too. In fact it was the two batsmen who walked off first without as far as we could tell any discussion or reference with or to the umpires or other players. There are ways of doing things.

Maybe it was the crowd, the umpires and Yorkshire players who were all wrong, still standing there or sitting on the terraces and in the latter case shouting at the departing Glamorgan batsmen,"Is.that a declaration?"

I would normally take my lead from the umpires when they come on the field for start of play or leave when play has finished. I assure you the batsmen were off before anyone else moved but that was my perspective from the NE Upper

Fisher's injury on the 3rd day was caused while chasing a ball to the boundary, rather than his usual long list of bowling injuries. It could have happened to anyone and hopefully he will be back soon. I do think it is becoming apparent that in order to keep him on the pitch he has to operate in a lower gear than he his capable of, which doesn't make it ideal that he is sharing the new ball with Coad.

Having said that we do though have maximum bowling points for the 5 games we have played, and once again it's getting the wickets in the second innings, the first innings against Derbyshire, when the oppositions backs are up against the wall and they have gone fully defensive where we stumble.

The weather hasn't helped, neither has the new normal of pitches getting better and better the longer the game goes on. When condemning our bowlers we shouldn't lose sight of the calibre of players who have held us up, Ingram, Northeast, Bracey, Madsen etc. these aren't mugs with a bat.

Next game is against Sussex, where we are without Root and Brook, so go in as underdogs for a change against the leaders. Perhaps the Hove pitch will be prepared to get a result and we can see what we are made of.

If we could bring in an experienced overseas quick bowler, even if only for the next two Championship games I wouldn't be against that.

All very frustrating, in so many different ways. We can do nothing about the weather, except to play the game in summer. In the 'old days' this would have been the first game of the season, not the 5th. The pitch is tied in to the weather, but I am not convinced there is any desire to produce a fair one, bat v ball, or an interesting one. We know the ECB does not want that. If only we could have had one as spicy as my lunchtime samosa, from across Kirkstall Lane!

The bonus points are another problem. Brian Close would have declared at around 350, with a lead of 130. From there, there would be two ways of winning: bowl them out, and knock off whatever runs were needed. If that was 300, so what? Closey never had the luxury of a batting line-up as strong as this one. That failing, there would still be time for a declaration and run chase on the final afternoon. Do the maths!

By batting on and on....and still on....we condemned the game to drift and die. Yes, it was pleasant in the sun, watching Brook and Tattersall gorge themselves on weak bowling. Lovely batting, gorgeous, except that Harry seemed to lose his timing the longer he stayed. Perhaps having a public net failed to stir the juices?

We might just have done it, with a bit of luck, two or three freak run outs instead of one. Closey's attack of Trueman, Nicholson, Illingworth, Wilson and himself would probably have found a way. But even they would have found it tough on this turgid pudding.

Thank goodness we don't play cricket at Headingley again until near the end of the season.