TRACTOR FOUND MATCH-FIXING ... Tomorrow's headline after a Mr. T. Driver was found to have won his own 'smiley miley' comp.

Somerset's last floodlit game was the televised match away to Durham. The on-site TV screen showed a clear picture, but it was extremely difficult to see the game live for the mist/fog/rain rolling down from Lumley Castle.

A good all-round bowling performance saw all our bowlers take at least one wicket and restrict the Durham total to 162 for 9 off their 45 overs. After a rain break in which 8 overs were lost, I thought of a totally ridiculous low number of runs by which the Duckworth/Lewis calculation would reduce the required total, and was spot-on with just 16. Suspicion of match-fixing was abound when the announcer stated that since 10 overs of the Somerset reply had been completed, there would definitely be a result, then one of the floodlights failed! Despite a couple more failures, man-of-the-match Ricky Ponting dominated the batting, scoring 83 not-out in Somerset's 147 for 4 winning reply with more than 5 overs remaining.

Today we welcome the Middlesex Crusaders to our annual event which boasts the same razzmatazz as Twenty20 but with more than double the amount of cricket (weather permitting). Actually, this is the first of two floodlit games here at Taunton this season, except that the second one against Nottinghamshire on Wednesday 8th September now starts at 12 noon and will not be played under floodlights. These non-floodlit fixtures could catch on, but I recommend playing them on Sundays at 1pm, maybe 12 noon for games in September.

Middlesex arrive here after a nail-biting close finish to their tsl game against Worcestershire at Lord's last week, failing by just 83 runs. This defeat has gently applied the brakes on their domination of the totesport league division 2. A win tonight could see them crowned as division 2 champions, BUT a win for Somerset would not. This is The Crusaders penultimate tsl fixture; their last at Sussex a week Thursday is also floodlit. They are without a few of their key players today because ... we've got 'em all! Rose, Shine, Johnno, Dutch, Laraman and recently Hunt. I'll Betts another signing Shahn't be Weekes away!

Recent floodlit match history here at Taunton suggests that whenever we win the toss and bat first we always win (versus Glamorgan 1999), and whenever we lose the toss against Surrey and bat second, we always win (2001). In other years we've erm ... finished second.

Mr T Driver won last Sunday's 'smiley-miley' competition by providing not only the spot-on answer as 919.4 miles the Saltires traveled down from Edinburgh to Taunton, up to Worcester, Nottingham, and back up to Edinburgh, but also driving time as 15 hours 4 minutes, and fuel costs £304.32. His vital statistics are truly amazing. As this is the third time he's won the Hungry End napkin prize, he gets to keep it.

Today's lucky colour maroon, lucky number, revised due to complaints from members, is now 40, and lucky Sky Sports Channel is 3. Just to reiterate, Sunday's lucky hat was in fact the 'Beachfield Cargo Beanie', not to be confused with the 'J.R.Hartley Fly-Fisher' regularly modeled by our returning superstar Aussie.

When the floodlit fixture arrives in Taunton, it usually signals the tail-end of the season. The footy season is well under way, the evenings are drawing in, Bert the Seagull has migrated south, it's less than 18 weeks to Christmas, and there are only 2 (including this one) home totesport games left in which we can shout with one accord ...

COME ON SOMERSET!!!