Today I played a match in the 2024 season with Somerset against last year's champions Kent. Kent have got some really good bowlers, but Sunil (Indian top batsman) played good for the first time this year. Before this he had 80 runs @ 16 with a best of 41. He came in with Somerset in a bit of trouble at 4-83 in the second innings (effectively 123 for 4). He got a partnership with keeper Stafford of 163 after which he had 50/60-odd runs. Then came the tailenders. With Sunil on 68 and the score on 265-9 Holland came in. His career average is 9.26. Together they stood for 177 runs when Holland got out for 8 off 61! That's the way to defend your wicket and keep your partner on strike! In this partnership there were 22 extras, so Sunil had made 137 off the 177 runs!
