Lancashire 493 for 9 dec (Livingstone 108*, Croft 94, Petersen 83) drew with Somerset 313 (Hildreth 130, Rogers 55, J Overton 51) and 229 for 2 dec (Trescothick 129*, Rogers 75*)Scorecard It is Somerset Day next week. May 11, if you should like to mark the date. It officially commemorates the day King Alfred gathered the West Saxons together before the Battle of Edington in 878, although it has only been in place for a year and some might be inclined to think of it as a marketing gimmick by the local tourist board.There is a Yorkshire Day and a Lancashire Day, of course, probably one or two others as well, so who is to begrudge them? People will come together next Wednesday to talk about their Somerset heroes over a pint of scrumpy and, depending on how Somersets game against Warwickshire at Edgbaston is going, there might be discussion of the cricket. Marcus Trescothicks name is bound to get a mention.In some ways, every day is Marcus Trescothick Day at the county ground in Taunton, so greatly does his spirit seem to animate the place. There is the Marcus Trescothick Stand over by the river and, in time, there might well be a Marcus Trescothick Pavilion (they do like a pavilion here). There cant be many sportsmen who have experienced the feeling of playing in front of a section of the ground with their name already on it - the renaming of the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand at Old Trafford a few years ago is the only comparison that springs immediately to mind - but it is a regular occurrence for Trescothick.There was a 60th first-class hundred to salute on this occasion, his second in as many weeks, as Somerset fought their way to a third successive draw in the Championship. For the last two or three seasons, Somerset have ended up grappling at the wrong end of the table - it took successive scores of 153, 210 not out and 87 from Trescothick last year to help ease fears of relegation - but they can take something from managing to remain unbeaten at the start of this one, despite having yet to play their best cricket.It was not a vintage innings but Trescothicks unbeaten 129 had value far beyond its technical merit. Somerset had begun the day following on 180 runs in arrears but their former captain batted through until the teams shook hands, spending most of it in the company of his successor, Chris Rogers, who added a second half-century of the match. For the Somerset members basking in the uninterrupted sunshine, there was plenty of Banger for your Buck.The way Trescothick moves forward to leave these days is like a man setting himself against the back of a grand piano, ready to heft it up another flight of stairs. His cut may not emit the same sonic boom as it did a decade ago but the ball still flies off the blade; he sweeps as if trying to chop down a tree with one fell swing of the axe. The hands are still soft enough to cover for what the eyes - now peering out from behind spectacles - occasionally miss.He has agreed a contract to play red-ball cricket only and he may have some heavy lifting to do if Somersets start to the Championship is anything to go by. But he still has the appetite for it and, at 40, he is a couple of years younger than, for instance, Mark Ramprakash was when he finally hung up his bat. If the trend for flatter pitches continues and Trescothick remains fit, Harold Gimbletts first-class runs record for Somerset - some 4000 in the distance - might creep into view.Things could well have been different in this match if Lancashire had experienced a little more fortune but - on Star Wars Day, appropriately - the force was with Trescothick. An edge down the leg side did not quite carry to wicketkeeper Alex Davies on 7 and plenty of his early runs came from nicks and nudges behind square; later in the morning session, on 42, a forward defensive bounced back towards the stumps, necessitating a hasty flick away (with the bat, of course). He survived a direct hit from midwicket on 85, legs pumping after being called through for a single by Rogers.Twice during an over after lunch, James Anderson threw his head back in disgust as controlled outside edges flew low through the cordon. There were no observations forthcoming from the bowler, just a look to the ground and a slow walk to retrieve his sweater from the umpire. Anderson doesnt look happy, was the succinct view up in the Marcus Trescothick Stand. Their man was not going to be budged.At the other end, meanwhile, was a batsman with 73 first-class hundreds to his name. Together, Trescothick and Rogers have amassed more than 48,000 first-class runs and they formed the perfect old (rear)guard for Somerset, putting on an unbroken 168 before everyone agreed to call it quits. Not that Trescothick will be going anywhere else anytime soon. Jimmy Garoppolo 49ers Jersey . Once again Jordan Cieciwa (@FitCityJordan) and I (@LynchOnSports) go head to head in our picks. Last weekend at UFC Fight Night 32 my #TeamLynch got the best of #TeamJC by a score of 9-6. Let us know which side youre on for UFC 167 use the hashtag #TeamLynch or #TeamJC on Twitter. San Francisco 49ers Jerseys . -- If Henry Burris has his way, he will be the starting quarterback to lead the Hamilton Tiger-Cats back to the Grey Cup next year. http://www.thesf49ersshoponline.com/Customized/ . Manuel was offered a position the day he was fired. He accepted earlier this week and the team made the announcement Friday. Dwight Clark Youth Jersey . -- Cam Newton pranced into the end zone, placed his hands over his chest and did his familiar Superman pose. Roger Craig Youth Jersey . Carey Price didnt, but he still came out on top against one of his rivals for the No. 1 job at the Sochi Games. The Anahim Lake, B.C., native was stellar in making 39 saves in his home province and Lars Eller got credit for a bizarre short-handed winner as the Canadiens defeated the Canucks 4-1. Once upon a time, when Sundays were as cloudless as our clarity of purpose, we would have donned our whites and taken to the field, and there the modern world would be held at bay for a few sweet, sweet hours by its great antidote, village cricket. But the wheel of fate is ever spinning and before long we slid off the teamsheet, distracted by family, work and the myriad other calls upon our time. Sulking in our tents like so many modern-day Achilleses, we could only slowly appreciate when the game might fit back into our lives, or we might fit our lives back into the game. And when, finally, we are tempted back into the fray, we search for our old armour in vain.And theres the rub: what do we do about equipment? Do we kit ourselves up to the eyeballs or just stroll out with the barest of bare necessities? Theres a fine line to be walked here, and its the one between the pavilion and the middle. And back.As we all know, cricket is played largely in the head (certainly my best innings have taken place there), but its not just our attitude or expectations that count: the opposition has a part to play here, too. No one wants to be that player, do they? The one whose journey to the middle (and back again) is accompanied by the fateful words all the gear, no idea.But if we judge a player by the gear they sport, or their journey to the crease, we are fools and may well end up hoist by our own petard.I am told that when I walk out to bat against a new team, they can be somewhat worried. Not because my swagger is akin to that of some legendary Greek warrior, my bat cutting slices in the air like a demiurges scimitar, but because my gait is, well, Im not sure how best to describe it, other than to say it wouldnt strike fear into your average penguin. Teams have been known to ask the umpire if they should bowl nicely, and how the hell Im going to run between the wickets.But my problem with cricket isnt Parkinsons, its lack of talent. Of course, it doesnt help that my bat shakes, my feet wont move and my left-hand grip is fast diminishing, but once Im out of the blocks, Im plenty quick enough to steal singles. My appearance makes expectations dip, however - and my life in the middle somewhat easier (sometimes). And my kit? As Nicholas Hogg pointed out recently, cricket can be an expensive pastime, but then, what hobby isnt? When I was 21 I taught at a contemporary-music school, and my evening classes were full of middle-aged men who, finding that they were suddenly richer in both time and money than they had been in 20 years, decided to revisit their youth in the shape of the electric guitar. You think crickets expensive? Try catching the guitar bug. These men would often show up to class with a different guitar each week, each worth more than my entire rig, while I was still playing the guitar I bought for ￡150 when I was 17. And you know what? These uber-axes didnt make them better guitarists, but they did have two very positive results (apart from keeping guitar makers in business). The high-quality guitar not only allows the player to squeeze that little bit more out of their ability, but, perhaps more importantly, it makes them feel good. And that, for me, is the point of the exercise.If theres a pastime more perfectly tailored forr good-old-days romanticism than cricket, however, Ive yet to discover it.dddddddddddd Hed never have got away with that if he had one of the old bats, Its all the fault of helmets, DRS is ruining everything, hang on, no, T20 is ruining everything, oh, wait, Covered pitches are ruining everything, and so on and on. The image of the old-timer with his fraying, ill-fitting pads and 20-year old bat coming to the middle and showing up the middle-aged arriviste with the hand-shaved wand and moulded thigh pad is as seductive as ever it was. But its not only a daft image, its unfair to both parties.Weve all played that shot before. You know, the one where body, bat and ball become one for a split-second and your spirit is electrified. You enter the realm of the truly sublime as you transcend time and space and the ball, oh, the ball. No one moves in the field, because everyone feels what you feel. Perfection. The nature of a really good bat is such that using it increases the chances of experiencing this harmonic convergence.Now, youre not going to tell me that our mythical old-timer isnt going to get more value from his shots using a good bat.I have a good bat - a very good bat, in fact. Every so often I play a shot that is almost worthy of it, causing one or other of the fielders to ask me what it is. I reckon its worth 20% of my runs over the course of a season, and more to the point, if I time a worthy shot early enough, my confidence soars. If Im out early, no ones any the wiser. (Im, ahem, between sponsors)The same goes for protective gear, except that not only does well-designed, well-made kit help you function better, it protects you better. As a keeper, I want the best gloves I can afford. They feel better, help me take more catches, and protect my hands better. In fact, I want fitted gloves, because my little finger never quite sits right and its vulnerable enough as it is. (If anyone fancies making me a pair, drop me a line.) I often see other, better keepers with greatly inferior gloves, and after getting over my embarrassment wonder why they dont step up a gear... in gear.What matters most in the professional game is results. There is no Armenian judge giving extra points for style, just a scorer marking down the result of each ball. Of course, pretty runs have a different psychological impact on the game than ugly runs do, but no team worth its salt picks a player who makes elegant 20s over one who makes ugly 60s. Do they? But we dont play the professional game. We play real cricket, recreational cricket. We are the giants on whose shoulders the professionals stand. In our game, its all about feeling good. Its a game we play for pleasure, and if it makes you feel good to play with a ￡400 bat, and you can afford it, then you just go for it. After all, youre effectively subsidising the whole cricket industry. And its almost Christmas.Dont forget, however, that while an awesome bat may allow you to get full value from your shots, it might just make a bowler take you more (or less) seriously than they ought, and it will certainly allow the opposition to get full value from your feathered edges. ' ' '