They're actually playing now although there is a lunch break to be taken at 1

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This final week has been a charade unfortunately and has made a lot more people take note of how the ECB mistreat the county championship.

It won't be made any easier by the addition of The Hundred next year.

Bess and Leach are finding plenty of turn to the extent that every ball is an event. In isolation, it's a gripping contest between the Essex batsmen and the Somerset spinners

Oh my, getting a little jittery now.

3 wickets in 12 balls

8 down now

Somerset will have to just stick Essex back in if they get them all out here.

Wheater has surely just got to try and slap a few boundaries with men around the bat. The more runs we get now, the less we'll have to get to win the game.

last 6 wickets fell in half an hour for about 20 runs.

As if this summer would end any other way. Absolutely mental. Even as an Essex fan I wouldn't be too upset if Somerset pull this off.

Surely got to have a little dart at the target here, if only to stop them from putting 8 men around the bat.

It's odd that play has to finish at 5:30. I understand there's a limit to overs in a day but with so much play lost to rain, it seems a bit ridiculous.

1 wicket down. They surely can't can they

Was hoping that Trescothick would at least have taken the catch.

Game over Essex are the champions and have won the double.

Phew. Got a bit hairy for an hour after losing Cook but 20 wickets was always going to be a stretch.

Congrats to Essex Bit of a freak match but over the course of a full season the best team wins.

I'm tentatively excited about the New Zealand tour now. With no Test Championship points at stake, I like to think several of the new boys will get a proper look in. We only need one of Crawley and Sibley to take their chance and we're in business for the South Africa tour.

I'd much rather go into that series with just one batting position (7) in issue, compared to recent series when as many as 5 of the top 7 have all been up in the air. Even if that means keeping Denly around, who will never be a world-beater but should at least hold the fort decently enough until another youngster really forces his way in.

1. Burns
2. Sibley
3. Denly
4. Root (c)
5. Stokes/Pope
6. Pope/Stokes
7. Buttler (for the time being) (w)
8. Curran
9. Leach
10. Broad
11. Archer

I genuinely like the looks of that team, not least because both openers like to soak up deliveries and put a high price on their wicket even if neither is the most exciting or dynamic. If Crawley looks the part, he comes in at 3 for Denly at some point - maybe not in time for South Africa, but presumably at some point in 2020.

I have to say fair play to Somerset for doing their best to create some excitement but looking beyond that, their batting really let them down. Abell's average of 31.50 was their highest for the season. In contrast, Essex had Westley 36.09, Lawrence 38.16, Bopara 39.5 and Cook 45.65. Whilst not great, their bowling was as good as Somerset's but the batting was superior.

It does show the problem that England have though. Cook aside, the best two teams in the country's batting really isn't up to scratch.

Away from them though, Sibley has been class and it looks like we'll now have the top run scorers in the country for 2018 and for 2019 in the England line up. As an added boost, they're both openers. If they perform then that means Root will more consistently come in after 15 overs+ then that will only be a good thing for him and England.

Hain and Northeast had really good seasons and could have been options at 5/6 but Pope looks to be the real deal. I've seen Northeast labelled as the next James Hildreth but Denly should give him hope that a call up could still come.

From a bowling perspective, I think that pace quartet of Archer, Broad, Curran and Stokes with Leach as our spinning option provides a really varied attack rather than 4 right arm medium fast swing bowlers.

I think you're right about Northeast - England's selectors seem to think that, Denly aside, the next batch of England bats are in the 20-25 age range, so maybe Northeast has missed the boat while Sam Hain probably still has a long shot. Northeast doesn't seem to have been seriously in consideration at any point and his name rarely crops up in the discussion on most news sites, from what I've seen. Frankly I think the fact that Crawley has made it in while he hasn't is pretty terminal for his England prospects, considering that for all his promise, Crawley only averages a shade over 30 in first-class cricket yet he's still been considered ahead of Northeast.

Obviously Crawley has plenty of time to improve, but on paper there's no reason to pick him over Northeast who has averaged nearly 40 over a much longer first-class career - apart from the fact that Crawley is an opener, anyway. I suppose the ridiculous competition at 4-6 is a decent reason for Northeast being overlooked, to be fair, just as it was for Hildreth.

As for Somerset... they rarely have high batting averages across the board, to be fair. Traditionally low-scoring ground and, along with Durham, one of the most reliably bowler-friendly results wickets on the county scene. Which is why it's all the more puzzling that Hildreth has never had a look in considering how well and for how long he's scored at such a tough venue.

Still, I think there's a good bit of talent in that England side and I have high hopes for the November tests. I like to think that Root, back down at 4 and under less intense scrutiny than he was during the Ashes, has a great opportunity to find his best form again. A ton in that first NZ test will do him the power of good.

Imagine a world in which England can regularly put on 200 runs before that incredible middle order of Stokes/Pope/Buttler is even called upon... we can dream

Oh, and I agree 100% about the bowling attack, it looks a perfect mix. I'd love to think that Sam Curran can add 3-5mph to his baseline pace as he gets a bit older too, which shouldn't come at the cost of much or any of his natural swing and would make him all the more threatening. He's a top, top batsman for a #8 too.

Perhaps Northeast needs to develop into a decent part time spinner, take a few wickets on the county circuit and get a chance to go on a tour against a team on the sub continent to get a look in?

In all seriousness, his time probably has gone, if I was him I'd be asking to play at 3 (or even open) for Hampshire. Vince did it at the start of the season but for some reason moved back to 5 and they moved an all rounder up the order instead.

Before Leach came onto the scene, wasn't Taunton considered a batting paradise which put a * next to Hildreth's names because anyone could score the volume of runs he did on that deck etc so there were too many draws. It is more of a result wicket now but then I'd argue that Essex have done the same at Chelmsford so they're rolling out teams cheaply but have found a way to get runs too.

Back to England, 100% agree, if Burns and Sibley can regularly lay a bit of a foundation for Root and the middle order to succeed. If they can then that will also take some of the pressure off Root as captain.

Buttler at 7 in an ideal world where he scores blitzing centuries would be immense but I'm hoping Foakes will get another chance to make that position his own.

https://www.wisden.com/stories/exclusive/people-selected-team-idiots-michael-carberry

Another good Wisden article. I do recall a lot of man-love for Michael Carberry during that Ashes series. Fair to say he was poorly treated.

Can't believe how badly Rory Burns' average compares against the other openers since Strauss, considering the difference in how well he seems to have played. I guess the difference is that he's not had any "easier" series to bed in - chucked in at the deep end with a tricky tour in the subcontinent and then an Ashes series where bowlers were ridiculously dominant.

I think you'll see improved stats from Burns now he's had his position cemented by his efforts in the Ashes. It was a decent effort from him anyway but when you compare him to the other top order bats then he was in a league of his own.

Carberry should have been partnering Cook in the summer of 2014 rather than Robson who got most of his runs on flat decks at Lords. When you look at that list of who has opened though, Carberry isn't wrong when he says the selectors have picked players who were surely going to fail; Moeen, Trott (although on a decline), Hales, Duckett, Roy etc.

Other than Carberry, the only other player I probably would have given more tests to was Compton. I didn't massively rate him but thought he did a decent enough job when he played and looked like he had a game plan to occupy the crease.

Compton was fine. Unspectacular but never outright poor, and he didn't have any glaring weaknesses in his game besides scoring TOO slowly, which at the time was seen as a big no-no considering the Aussies had just successfully brought Warner into their Test side. My recollection of the order of events might be slightly off, though.

Imagine having two decent but unspectacular openers both averaging 30 now... crazy how badly standards have slipped from the days when we had a full lineup of batsmen all of whom averaged 40+, and even then I used to moan non-stop about Ian Bell

Perception and context is everything though, isn't it.

Compton, Carberry, Robson, Stoneman, even Hales - all considered failures with averages between 27 and 31.

Meanwhile, Burns and Hameed are both considered successes despite averaging 29 and 32 respectively. Hell, Joe Denly averages more than Burns as an opener, albeit over a smaller period.

Nick Compton was considered a failure despite scoring more centuries (2) at a higher average (31.12) than Rory Burns (1 and 29.25)... oh, and Compton got his 2 tons in 10 matches, whereas Burns has 1 in 12.

Lies, damned lies and statistics...

Good point, I was actually pretty surprised by Hales' average. In my head I only really remember him getting one decent score, I think against the West Indies. He just never looked solid.

Burns' position was in a bit of doubt though and a poor series may well have seen him dropped and we may have been looking at a new opening pair of Sibley and Crawley for the NZ tests. He was averaging something like 23/24 wasn't he so he's bumped his average up by 5 or 6 runs in one series so his position isn't in doubt. I think people have more belief in him to carry on an upward trajectory to something in the low 40s. If Sibley can manage the same then we're in dream land.

Obviously in Hameed's case, his stats are more impressive due to playing on turning pitches against the number 1 team on their turf, one innings with a broken hand etc. Incredible how much his stock has fallen in the last 2 and a half years. I do worry about the guy's mental state and hope he'll be picked up by another county who will back him.