Another Ramprakash ton, Flintoff economical as ever and Bond seen down at the Rose Bowl. Eventful first day and yes, for those that read my post at lunch yesterday, I got it all horribly wrong. Somerset were batting first, not Cambridge. In future, I will trust Cricinfo and not the beeb. As it happened Somerset were batting according to BBC Sport but then there was a completely fictional scorecard with Somerset bowlers appearing which I stupidly took at face value. I mean, where did they get the info from?!

Anyway, I could rant on that for hours. Somerset are, as the headline suggests, crushing Cambridge unmercifully. Whether this is good practice for the likes of Sussex or Surrey remains to be seen but it’s the fixtures that have been dealt.

I have to stretch back into the mists of time to conjure up images of Ian Blackwell fully fit and firing but it is a joy as anyone at Fenners will probably testify. 109 off 111 with only 7 fours? Well, I’m reading that off BBC Sport ( I know, but old habits…) which presumably means IB did a hell of a lot of running. A 59 from John Francis is a fillip for him and is another player whom Somerset will be able to add to the mix while Hildreth (63 yesterday - and in my fantasy team so bat like a demon please) and Wes Durston (62) both got useful practice in.

So Somerset declared on 354-4 off 77 overs and promptly decimated the Cambridge top order. Caddick (1-25) and Willoughby (3-17) got stuck in and a wicket for Phillips saw Cambridge to 69-5. If Somerset are to kick off the season with a bang, they’ll want to be ruthless here and aim to polish off the students before the end of the third day – although, getting maximum practice is likely to be uppermost in their minds.

Have joined the Grockles Fanasy Cricket League (Scrumpy & Sixes XI) with a stellar lineup of:

Langer (c), Hildreth, Benning, Denly, McKenzie, Wright, Mustard, Willoughby, Hoggard, Jones, Lewry

* No Ramprakash which is a risk – given that the man has scored another bloody century (England, are you seeing this?! I don’t care if he’s 67, pick him for goodness sake!)