He could just have jumped on a train in just over two hours. However he got there he's there now. He still might be batting before 6.30.

NZ have been in poor form for months, having lost a series in India (no shame in that) but then tests at home to South Africa and Bangladesh. Kane Williamson has been out injured for most of our Winter and only arrived in England at the weekend after the IPL and some paternity leave and no red ball cricket at all.

If he has been a driver it's in the same as I was formerly a driver. I drove a van for a year after University before two careers ending up in a senior role. Before the Raos decided to buy Rovers he was running their business in South Africa.

No it isn’t. They are playing Birmingham Bears on 3/7 at OT.

I think it's an experiment to see how the crowds go putting the men's game at 3pm and the women's at 7pm rather than the other way round. Obviously they're trying it on a day when the schools are off and I imagine a lot of people are off work as it's only a 3 day week. Friday's games are the other way round.

The YouTube coverage is decent, although the commentary can be one-sided if you just have home commentators as last night. I'll be there this afternoon too Den.

No, but it's half term and only a 3 day working week...........

The club did say the game was a sell out yesterday. Earlier in the week I had a look and there were about 250 spare seats and there did seem to be some gaps around. Mind you the 6 seats in front of me were full for the first innings and not for the second. Considering how animated they had been I guess they had just moved, maybe to the party stand? That did look a bit more than full. Probably a lot of demand as the stand was reduced as it has to be taken down for the upcoming concerts.

It was pretty good in the cheap seats underneath you Gav as well.

Maybe not that surprising as he is from Birmingham. In any event he's likely to be playing for England quite often.

For the avoidance of doubt I agree that Jake has shown tremendous courage in coming out. My post above was in response to others saying that they had not heard of him. That probably applies to the vast majority of football fans, including me. There’s no chance that this was pre-emptive to a tabloid sting.

I’m no betting expert but I assume each way on a 9/4 favourite won’t mean a fortune.

No. Favourite but finished 2nd.

At the moment Jake is a young lad who has just got a professional contract. He has scored I think 30 goals for the youth team at Blackpool this season but his first team experience is currently 9 minutes at the end of their last game at Peterborough, where they lost 5-0. He might become a great star in the future, he might just as easily disappear without trace.

I sincerely hope that Rovers fans will drop the usual chant when we play Blackpool next season, although frankly I’m not too optimistic.

It sounds like a combination of a great interview and his close relationship with Ben Stokes - both NZ South Island men.

It now looks like Brendan McCullom will be the new red ball coach.....

To put the reply in context I asked at the Forum on 19/4 whether the club had had any response to their complaint about the Millwall game postponement. The response from Steve was no, but I've just had a response about Hull after 4 months!

arbitro - I got a copy of that from the club last week whilst I was away and it was on my list to post it. Steve Waggott mentioned at the last Forum that he had just got a response from the EFL and he described it officially in the minutes as "vague and disappointing".

I thought you were boycotting?

Alright then - 4,996. On top of the 18,500+ already sold.

You’re not seriously suggesting that there are 5,000 Rovers fans waiting on the result of this game before buying for tomorrow?

The First XI membership was £90 I think. Given the ticket I've just booked for the Roses T20 would have been £42 had I been paying it's a bargain.

Full member Den? I had a full membership years ago but found I hardly went so let it lapse. Last year I had a T20 membership and managed most games so this year I've gone for the First X1 package - any 11 days. I went to day 2 of last week's Championship game to start.

If anyone is planning to go to the T20 Roses match at Old Trafford on 27th May it is nearly all sold out so you need to buy now.