I confess that after the first few results when we contested the top spot with Lancashire in the second division of the county championship that this was going to be the year when the county reclaimed its proper place in cricket's hierarchy. We should have taken a crushing defeat by the red rose county at Colwyn Bay in our stride. After all, Lancashire has been virtually all-conquering this season. However, there seems to have been an undue effect on the players' self-confidence, not helped by dismal failures in the one-day competitions. Undoubtedly, though, the biggest blow was having to cede Marnus Labuschagne to the Australian tourists. Securing the services of Kraigg Brathwaite was a great coup, but came too late the shore up the soggy middle of the championship season. If we had won one of those matches, this week's weather would have seen to it that we finished higher up the beach than our challengers. (A word of sympathy for Somerset who seemed to be on track to win their first country championship, only to be thwarted at the last.)
A bright note is the probable return of Labuschagne for the 2020 season. We still need a Waqar Younis capable of clearing out obstinate tail-enders to have a perfect division-winning team, but otherwise things look promising. Now can we please have more than just the one week in Wales' second city?
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