Seeing England win even a match away is always a treat and a series win, being as rare as hen’s teeth, is even better. We’ve been very fortunate to have seen our fair share of wins on foreign soil now in fact never seen England lose. Didn’t hear about any hotel debacle. We stayed somewhere called the grand Kandyan which purported to be a 5 star and there can’t have been many other decent hotels in Kandy so maybe they were there or moved there. The sun and heat was pretty brutal there. Maybe because in other places like the West Indies and oz there’s a breeze defo not in Kandy. That said it’s a bit of a tradition for the buffoons section of England fans to park ourselves in the full force of the sun. Perhaps something in Noel cowards quote that only mad dogs and Englishmen stay out in the midday sun. You definitely question the logic when you see the locals sensibly hiding away in the shade...

Easy enough in the end. Series win. Time for home. Looking forward to the cold.

3 wickets or 75 runs. Everyone seems confident here I’m not so sure. Then again I’m a pessimist. Either way not sure I agree with sky bets odds of 1/6 which puts this as a done deal.

Well that fella nearly made it to safety. Good win for England. Away wins seem as rare as hens teeth so take them where you can.

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Watched today from the fort. Frankly prefer it to being in the ground. Wasn’t as diligent with suncream so paying for it now though.

Since the start of the summer Nos 7-11 have averaged 29 and Nos 1-6 28.06. After foakes’ performance I’m not sure Bairstow gets back in for the next test. He is averaging 30 for the last two years and has only averaged more than 35 in one year of his test career, 2016.

Under the circumstances good draw. I was worried going into the 8th minute of the 5

I don't think smallwood realises he can use his hands

Chorley beat wolves in the fa cup one year at burnden. Think played Preston at ewood in the next round.

Dirty Leeds playing some good stuff here to be honest

Yeah after the Sri Lankan team bus was ambushed they’ve been in exile ever since. I was going to go to Dubai/Abu Dhabi for Pakistan’s “home” game about 5 years ago. I forget the reason I was told I couldn’t go. With Dubai and the strong ex pat community apparently it was well attended but in Abu Dhabi the scene was similar to a nothing midweek county championship game. Seem to recall the latter game suffered from things like alcohol bans and some sort of dress code. Not one for the tourists. Although one of the lads tour with has been to Pakistan before the ban and he said conditions were spartan at best. Stuff like stepping over dead dogs en route to the ground.

10-6 is a decent lead going into tomorrow. Considering it was 0-3 and the final game going pear shaped for a potential 0-4. So just need 4 1/2 pts to win. Victories for rose, fleetwood, Molinari, Stenson and a half from Casey will do nicely.

Wouldn’t be far off the top if games lasted 80 mins.

Shocking dive.

Looks like the old guard being dismantled. So far Croft, brown, lilley have been shown the door. Clark obviously left. For me parry and lester and all the overseas/kolpacks can go. Hopefully chapple and chilton next but doesn’t sound likely.

More classic Allott and Lancashire. Talk. He seemed to suggest he has no say in the managers future so quite what he actually does as director of cricket remains a mystery. Annoyingly he seems aware of issues but almost denies anything can be done. Also we will look to youth is just code for no signings. “Hameed got more opportunities than he deserved.” No shit. They both started to make division 2 sound like a promotion by the end. Just as I shall remember hodgkiss’ words, I shall also remember Allott’s words: “We’ll only be in div 2 for 1 season”. Let’s see Paul.

The Lancashire chairman speaks: “We will categorically learn from this summer and demonstrate to everyone what this Club is capable of...We believe that Lancashire, with its history, legacy and resources should be competing at the highest level of the game, and this means promotion next year and vying for the Championship the year after...We accept that in order to achieve this we have to perform to an appropriate level and more consistently in all areas of the game, particularly the batting, and we are determined to achieve and bring success to the Red Rose. This winter we will focus on ensuring that the vision and aims of this great club can progress and be realised” Could have summarised that up with the 3 words blah blah blah. They’re great at talking. Not so good at doing. I’ll remember those words when bugger all happens and when googling to see who the hell our overseas player is.

Lancashire stats: Best 2 bowlers in the division and more bowling points than any other team. Dismissed for less than 200 10 times in 23 innings. Yet been taking about our batting issues for 7 years since winning the cc. Why has little to nothing been done!!! Time to put the concert/conference money to some serious use other than relaying the outfield. Even a batting coach worth his salt would be a starting point.

One feels not appointing Stuart law was a missed opportunity. Apparently Onions is injured but I suspect he’s been put in the naughty corner for, correctly, publicly criticising the batting. The Stasi, sorry board, don’t like home truths particularly those expressed in public. No doubt a similar injury that Clark has had ever since it was announced he was moving to Surrey, the miraculous t20 finals day recovery aside. Selecting Parry over Parky was just bizarre. As for Hameed he’s still a kid so could come good. But I'm not sure the chuckle brothers chapple and chilton have what it takes to coach him back to form. In his debut season a cc average of nearly 50 and a test average of 44. The following season cc average of 30. This season an average of 9. That’s a sharp decline. Perhaps Hameed is looking for a move in the hope a change of scenery will bring back form.

Any news on Dack?

Throughout the 90s we seemed to win at Stamford bridge every season. Since then we’ve lost every single time I’ve been which was most seasons. Opposite to Newcastle where whilst living up their my Geordie mates had worked out we hadn’t won in the league there since the late 1950s. We eventually beat them in 2003 (Paul Gallagher) then we’ve won there something ridiculous like 8 or 9 times since.

Phew. Do we know games last 90 mins.

He we go.

Or maybe not