Sun setting on Somerset?
Somerset's missing fizz and the Blast's missing England players feature in this week's countdown of the things that mattered
One name is incongruously placed in the T20 Blast table. Somerset's defeats - the more bizarre the better - have become a Finals Day ritual. So has their consistently excellent cricket to get there. Copious batting power and, led by Alfonso Thomas, some of the canniest limited-overs bowling around: it has been quite the T20 formula.
As England declared the start of the new era, post-Flower, post-Pietersen, post-Ashes whitewashing, ECB chairman Giles Clarke admitted: "The team had lost connection with the supporters." Part of the plan to reconnect, it has been widely assumed, was to make England players available for more county fixtures.
Player focus: Adam Rouse (Gloucestershire)
The Blast is offering talent being missed another route into the county game. Adam Rouse - the fifth wicketkeeper Gloucestershire have used so far this season - is shaping up as the latest example. As you would hope from someone who lives in Farleigh Wallop, Rouse can give the ball a good whack. In his second game for Gloucestershire, Rouse's unbeaten 35 off 16 balls - including three fours from Doug Bollinger's final over - secured victory against Kent. He now hopes to convert his month-long trial into an elusive professional contract. Rouse, who turns 22 today, had led a nomadic cricketing existence: only eight days before, he had been playing for Kent 2nd XI against Gloucestershire.
"I think I threw that back in their face and they probably won't want to have anything to do with me now!" Rouse told the Bristol Post. "This is all about me putting myself in the shop window and I have a month to show what I can do with Gloucestershire. I know they have two wicketkeepers coming back from injury and, if there is nothing for me here, then at least I'm in a position where other counties can see me play."
Lancashire have never triumphed in England's T20 competition. Six wins from nine games (including Friday's Roses washout) suggests they are well equipped to change that this year.
As he showed by taking 2 for 17 in Durham's victory over Derbyshire, Paul Collingwood remains a canny limited-overs bowler, with his abundance of cutters and nagging wicket-to-wicket style. In 23 overs this season, he has now taken nine wickets at 17.11, conceding runs at only 6.69 an over. These are figures of which an overseas bowler would be proud. In an age when few former England players are involved in the county game, his success should be celebrated.
Jason Roy thrashed 63 off only 25 balls against Hampshire on Friday: his fifth half-century in seven Blast innings this season. Hitting with power down the ground, Roy is making himself into a viable contender for the international T20 side - especially with switch-hitting worthy of a certain former England player. But he could probably do without Kevin Pietersen taking to Twitter to call for his England selection.