Rains bringing frustrated Bears too much down time

ASHLEY’S

OVERVIEW

The weather is starting to hinder our cricket in a big way, with our first Pro40 match being completely washed out on Tuesday night.

The loss of the whole of the first day against Lancashire in the County Championship yesterday means we have less time in the middle to force a result.

The floodlit game would have been a perfect opportunity to practise for our important Twenty20 quarter-finals at Hove.

But by the time the rain had stopped the pitch was just too damp and dangerous to even contemplate a game on such a wet out-field.

It was a shame for Cure Leukaemia who had put so much into the evening so to just get two overs in our ‘one-off’ kit was very disappointing for the charity.

Yesterday, came the news that Freddie Flintoff would be retiring from Test Cricket at the end of the  npower Ashes series due to the injury problems he has been having.

I know as much as anyone just how frustrating and demoralising it can be for a player when injuries keep re-occurring.

With so much international cricket these days, I am sure that Freddie knows that his body is starting to protest against too much action.

At the end of the day no one can take away his contribution to Test cricket over the last decade and to still have him available for the shorter form of the game will mean he can still dominate with bat and ball for a little longer.

He will relish the challenge of these final four Test Matches and I am sure we will see some great things from him and the England Team as the series moves onto Lord’s and beyond.

Monty and Jimmy did a fantastic job of holding on at Cardiff and it was a promising to see resistance and spirit from the tail keeping the series level.

Lord’s will be a massive game in the series.

Back to the Bears: we are looking for our first win in the Championship and with matches cut short by weather we are losing vital game time.

Lancashire are a good side and we will need to try and force a result, luckily Westy has recovered from a throat virus to take part and Belly returns from the England camp.

We are closing in on an overseas signing which hopefully will bolster our bowling attack in the latter half of the season.

As soon as all the documents are finalised an announcement will be made.

Hopefully, we can get at least maximum bonus points from this game if there is not time for a win.