County Cricket: Leicestershire and Middlesex March to the Final

Like the heatwaves and drought blighting most of England throughout August – indeed, most of the summer – Leicestershire and Middlesex held fast at the top of their respective groups in the One Day Cup and survived the knockouts, impervious to the threatened cold fronts of the other counties chasing them. 

In Group B, Leicestershire had no fixture and, although Nottinghamshire and Lancashire achieved the wins they needed, the Foxes evaded the quarter-final hurdle thanks to a superior net run rate. Notts despatched Surrey by six wickets, their pursuit of the 299-run target underpinned by a splendid 138 from George Munsey, aided by half-centuries from his skipper Haseeb Hameed and ‘keeper Kyle Verreynne. 

Lancashire’s batters battered Somerset into submission at Taunton, racking up an uncatchable 443-6. Both Keaton Jennings and Rocky Flintoff blazed their trails past 100, Jennings reaching 156 and the teenager 123, his maiden senior century. Only Tom Lammonby made fifty in reply, and it was all over with ten overs to spare. 

In Group B, Middlesex sailed to another easy victory, this time over Sussex. Joe Cracknell thumped 128 off 112 balls before Sebastian Morgan’s 4-46 sealed the deal. Meanwhile, in their last group tie, Yorkshire made short work of Essex, who slumped to 151 all out. Ben Coad and Dom Bess each claimed three cheap wickets. 

The most significant encounter was Durham’s trip to Worcester. If Durham won, they were safely through but Worcestershire could usurp them by means of a hefty margin that would swing the net run rate in their favour. Tom Taylor’s 86 helped them to a decent total of 291 but, despite bowling Durham out 77 runs short, it wasn’t enough. Durham progressed by a mere 0.057 points. 

On Friday at Old Trafford, they resolved any issues to hand Lancashire a 162-run trouncing. David Bedingham (104) led the way with the bat, and leggie Shafiqullah Ghafari (4-36) inflicted most damage with the ball. At York, Dillon Pennington grabbed a second four-wicket haul, restricting Yorkshire to just 273-9, despite the sterling efforts of local 19-year-old Will Bennison. Notts were reeling at 1-3 (Finlay Bean catching all three) only for Verreynne and Haynes to each hit hundreds and take the spoils. 

Sunday’s semi-finals brought the group winners into the fray and each used the rest to their advantage. At Leicester, Hamza Shaikh’s 104 assisted his team to 303-7. Nottinghamshire lost wickets regularly but, with thirty-odd needed with three overs left and Verreyyne at the crease, success was within their grasp. However, Alex Green and Ian Holland instigated a flurry of wickets and that was that. 

It was another fairly close contest at Radlett, where Middlesex edged out Durham by only two wickets. It came down to a battle between two excellent all-round performances. Colin Ackermann returned 71 not out and 3-46 but the home county’s Luke Hollman combined a useful 3-53 with a List A best score of 83 not out to secure a place in next month’s final. 

As usual, the One-Day Cup has allowed some promising youngsters space to shine, emerging from the shadow of the Hundred, and now its back to the County Championship for them to rub shoulders with various better-known cricketers in the proper four-day stuff. 

Team of the Week: Andersson (Der), Jennings (Lan), Munsey (Not), Bedingham (Dur), Neal (Ham), Flintoff (Lan), Verreynne (Not +), Hollman (Mid), Pennington (Not), Shafiqullah Ghafari (Dur), Coad (Yor)

County Cricket: Four-Ton Libby

With just one round of group fixtures remaining in the One-Day Cup, qualification from Group A is very much up for grabs, but in Group B, three counties have opened up a slight gap on the chasing pack. As was the case last week, Middlesex, Yorkshire and Durham are clinging on to the crucial spots. 

Middlesex are the only team definitely through. They easily defeated Derbyshire but Durham proved a tougher proposition. At Chester-le-Street, the home side passed 300, anchored by Alex Lees’s 103 before Geddes (77) and Cracknell (84) kept up the pace of the chase. However, it needed some late, lusty blows from Roland-Jones and Brookes to take the leaders over the line with three balls to spare. Yorkshire remain second on superior run rate but their five-wicket win over Derbyshire also went to the final over. Two century stands, each involving Aussie Sam Whiteman, the Tykes’ reply, while George Hill’s acceleration to 63 not out off 49 balls ultimately proved decisive. 

Hampshire and Worcestershire can still crash the party with convincing victories this week and a little luck. Worcestershire’s home fixture against Durham is the tastiest and could be a winner-takes-all affair. Skipper Jake Libby has taken a liking to this competition. He followed two centuries last week with another pair against Sussex and Glamorgan: four in a row! 

The Welsh were involved in two cliffhangers. Andy Gorvin’s edge to the third-man boundary from the last ball secured the triumph over Worcestershire, Libby’s 105 notwithstanding, but in the preceding match against Essex, with Timm van der Gugten blazing away to a maiden List A hundred, they fell agonisingly short. Needing only six from McKenzie-Jones’s concluding over, the centurion and Gorvin could scramble just two singles. The Essex innings was lunched in style by Noah Thain – who has exceeded 70 in his past five innings – and Luc Benkenstein, whose 140 was the highest of the week. 

The best team total belonged to Hampshire. Their 383-9 against Sussex was predicated on a 225-run opening partnership between Ali Orr and teenager Ben Mayes. At number three, Toby Albert also enjoyed himself. His 86 included six sixes in successive deliveries, although spread over two overs. In the very tight Group A, Leicestershire lost their last game, against Kent, but sit top of the table. Their four-point margin should see them reach the knockouts but it is not certain. Nottinghamshire beat Northants but surprisingly lost to Gloucestershire. 

A magnificent 114 from Tom Lammonby inspired Somerset to a 188-run demolition of the hated Surrey but hopes of progress were then thwarted by a heavy defeat at the hands of Northamptonshire, with all-rounder Luke Procter in the starring role. Beating Lancashire this week could yet secure a place in the last six but it is unlikely. 

Team of the Week: Benkenstein (Ess), Lammonby (Som), Bell-Drummond (Ken), Libby (Wor), Geddes (Mid), Procter (Nor), Verreynne (Not +), Van der Gugten (Gla), Douthwaite (Gla), B Green (Lei), Lawes (Sur)

County Cricket: No Thain, No Gain

After week 1 of the One Day Cup, Middlesex were looking the strongest outfit in Group B, but a trip to Worcester upset their 100% start. Josh de Caires achieved another career-best, this time a maiden century of 130, but the experienced Jake Libby led the successful run chase with an unbeaten 109. A few days later, he repeated the score against Essex but this time in vain.

It was a strange week for Essex. In their three fixtures, they racked up more than a thousand runs, passing three hundred on each occasion, yet emerged with only four points. Young Noah Thain was in sparkling form, striking successive tons against Sussex and Hampshire, and team-mates Tom Westley and Matt Critchley also filled their boots, each reaching three figures in the week’s highest total of 376-5. 

Middlesex, Yorkshire and Durham all have four wins to their names, and they had to play each other. Halifax-born Benjamin Cliff’s medium pace scuppered Durham’s innings at York before Wharton and Whiteman saw the home side home by seven wickets. However, Yorkshire’s bid to top the table was undone by Middlesex at Lord’s. Cliff, again, took 4-39 but, despite a modest target of 247, their batting wilted against Zafar Gohar’s spin and Noah Cornwell’s pace and they succumbed to a 35-run defeat. 

Durham had earlier beaten Glamorgan in a high-scoring thriller thanks to Will Rhodes’ 148 not out and two wickets and finished the week with a resounding walloping of Hampshire by nine wickets. Emilio Gay (remember him?) rediscovered that early-season form by notching an unbeaten 104. 

Leicestershire Foxes lead Group A. Recovering from last Tuesday’s poor showing against Nottinghamshire, they proceeded to humble Northants by eight wickets and Somerset by a hefty 164 runs. The Outlaws remain second although they suffered losses to Lancashire and Kent. The latter clash went to the final over but Chris Benjamin’s rapid half-century proved decisive. Daniel Bell-Drummond must be one of the finest batsmen in recent years not to have been capped by England but he accumulated two hundred runs this week to keep Kent in the hunt. 

Other notable performances include Ed Barnard’s dominant 140 in Warwickshire’s victory over Surrey and Jack Morley’s 5-28 for Derbyshire in the 188-run demolition of Sussex. 

The next week’s games include Leicestershire v Kent at Beckenham and Derbyshire’s opportunity to disrupt both Group B leaders, Yorkshire and Middlesex. Durham also host Middlesex at Gosforth. 

Team of the Week: Thain (Ess), Bell-Drummond (Ken), De Caires (Mid), Barnard (War), Libby (Wor), Verreynne (Not +), Rhodes (Dur), Critchley (Ess), Potts (Der), Morley (Der), Cliff (Yor)

County Cricket: Middlesex are Lords of the One Day Cup

Who needs The Hundred when you can celebrate old favourites and fresh talent playing proper one-day cricket over fifty overs: The Three Hundred, if you like.

Split into two groups, most counties played three fixtures in the first week, and only Middlesex triumphed in all three. They top Group B after casting aside Essex, Hampshire and Glamorgan. The last two were nothing short of massacres. Against Hampshire at the Rose Bowl, Josh De Caires produced List A personal bests with both bat and ball, following his 75 with 6-35 from his off-breaks. He didn’t get a bowl against Glamorgan because Toby Roland-Jones, Naavya Sharma and Noah Cornwell ripped out Glamorgan for 66 all by themselves. De Caires plundered ten boundaries as Middlesex ticked off the runs inside ten overs. Interestingly, Roland-Jones is almost as old as Sharma and Cornwell combined. Seamer Sharma claimed eight wickets in total from these, his first List A matches of what could be a long career. 

Other youngsters also made their mark this week. 20-year-old Hamza Shaikh turned out for Warwickshire a few weeks ago but his opening trio of innings in Leicestershire colours yielded 228 runs, including a maiden century against Surrey. He also scored 91 in an epic attempt to surpass Lancashire’s formidable 383-4, which included 135 by Keaton Jennings. South African all-rounder Ruan de Swardt contributed 126 in the same innings, and two wickets to boot. 

That Group A Leicester-Surrey encounter turned out to be a game of two R Patels. Leicester opener Rishi  struck 110, exceeding Surrey opener Ryan’s 97, although it was the latter’s 3-44 that nudged him into my Team of the Week. Blast winners Northamptonshire could not maintain their white ball form, losing to Kent and Surrey despite a run of three half-centuries from skipper Nathan McSweeney. 

Somerset lead Group A, thanks to a couple of hefty batting totals in victories over Gloucestershire and Warwickshire. Tom Lammonby is the competition’s leading scorer so far. Three 80+ innings but no centuries, but Lewis Goldsworthy did reach 103 against Warwicks. 21-year-old Joshua Thomas also caught the eye. 

Partnership of the week belonged to a pair of Monmouthshire products, Jack Hope-Bell (aged 19) and ‘keeper Alex Horton (21). Each notching tons, they shared 240 for the sixth wicket at Neath in a twelve-run win against Sussex, who, along with Derbyshire, lost all three Group B ties. 

Ben Stokes has considerably greater experience, and he made two extremely rare 50-over outings with Durham. No wickets, but an aggregate of 181 run not out, featuring eight sixes, must have delighted both home and away supporters. 

Top bowling figures of the week were delivered by Yorkshire’s Ben Coad (5-12 v Sussex) and Worcestershire’s Fateh Singh (6-32 v Derbyshire). However, such are the vagaries of limited-overs cricket that in their other games, they went for 77 and 81, respectively. Can’t win ‘em all. 

Team of the Week: Jennings (Lan), R Patel (Sur), Luxton (Yor), De Caires (Mid), Lammonby (Som), Prest (Ham), Hamza Shaikh (Lei), Horton (Gla +), de Swardt (Lei), Fateh Singh (Wor), Naavya Sharma (Mid)

Northants Bounce back to win the Blast

So Northamptonshire won the men’s Vitality Blast but it was a rollercoaster ride in the concluding week. The Steelbacks had dominated the Central/West group so ultimately it did not matter that they lost their last two games. The other two group leaders also stumbled across the qualification finish line. Hampshire were trounced by Essex, for whom Matt Critchley took 4-16, and it was Yorkshire’s seamers who inflicted most of the damage in beating Nottinghamshire. 

In the South division, Essex also defeated runners-up Surrey to nick one of the best third-place slots in the knockouts. Lancashire also took two out of two, including a 22-run Roses victory in which Mitchell Stanley claimed 4-30. He also caught Joe Root off Anderson’s bowling for just four. However, it obviously did the England man’s confidence no harm given his fabulous form in the ensuing India ODIs. As for the Red Roses, their efforts came too late to progress in the competition. 

In contrast, Somerset had to fight al the way to advance. They completed an improbable demolition double over Northants at Taunton before thumping Worcestershire by 78 runs at the same venue. Each were achieved on the foundations of barnstorming opening partnerships involving Will Smeed and Thomas Rew. 

It was more difficult for Somerset in their quarter-final with Yorkshire at Headingley. Pacemen Daniel Sams – who enjoyed an excellent week – Riley Meredith and Jake Ball limited Jonny Bairstow’s side to 161-9, but tables were turned when George Hill (2-12) and Hasan Ali (2-30) reduced the visitors to a quivering wreck on 82-8. Enter Craig Overton. With nothing to lose, he single-handedly engineered one of the most sensational winning comebacks in T20 history, clubbing 79 from 30 deliveries – including three sixes from Revis’s final over – to haul Somerset to their sixth successive Finals Day. 

Meanwhile, Hampshire sailed serenely on. Joe Weatherly was consistently strung all week but it was a masterful 125 from James Vince and a five-for from Sonny Baker who gained revenge on Essex in the last eight. The remaining matches were all quite low-scoring. At Trent Bridge, chasing 164, Surrey were in charge while Roy and Evans were racking up a century opening stand. However, they crumbled meekly in the last eight overs to fall seven short. Northants rediscovered winning ways at Wantage Road. Ben Sanderson’s 4-20 was the key bowling performance, and the batsmen picked off the required 153 with consummate ease. 

So to Edgbaston for Finals Day. Vengeance was sweet for Northants, avoiding a third loss to Somerset in a fortnight. The latter’s Ball and Meredith took seven cheap wickets to give themselves a clear chance of making another final only for Willey and Sanderson, supported by Sales and Harrison, to stifle the Rews. Tom Banton was released by England only to be caught behind first ball! Vince and Weatherley’s 126 for the second wicket underpinned a straightforward victory against Nottinghamshire and we had probably the most deserving counties playing out the evening climax. 

All twenty wickets fell, five of them to Hampshire’s Baker (again) and only Northants’ Ricardo Vasconcelos (88) and tournament top scorer Weatherley (75) passed 40. With seventeen needed from ten deliveries, four wickets in hand and Weatherley still at the crease, Hampshire looked favourites. However, all four fell at the death, and success was sealed when Sanderson bowled Baker. Cue the fireworks…. 

Team of the Week: Hughes (Sus), Vasconcelos (Nor), Vince (Ham), Weatherley (Ham), T Rew (Som +), Critchley (Ess), C Overton (Som), Jordan (Sur), Sams (Som), Sanderson (Nor), Baker (Ham). 

Over the fifteen fixtures, Northants were worthy winners. In addition to those mentioned here, Chris Lynn’s runs, including two tons, the economical leg-breaks and googlies from Calvin Harrison and the under-rated seam of James Sales all contributed strongly. 

My team of the tournament: Lynn (Nor), Vince (Ham), Weatherley (Ham), Donald (Der +), Webster (War), Livingstone (Lan), Willey (Nor), Hasan Ali (Yor), Currie (Ham), Harrison (Nor), Mohammad Ali (Not)

Sir Garry Sobers – Cricket’s Greatest All-rounder

The arguments about who is the greatest cricketer of all time will always rage. WG, Bradman, Hobbs, Kallis, Stokes (per-lease…) and so on, but it is hard to avoid the claim of Sir Garfield Sobers who died yesterday at the ripe old age of 89. 

If you simply tot up runs, wickets and catches, then of course he won’t be up there with the giants of the multi-format era. However, when you consider that his Test run record of 8,032 lasted more than two decades and his individual score of 365 more than thirty, he had stats to support his reputation as a superstar for any age. And remember he reached that high at the age of 21, and remarkably it was his first century! 

Media obituaries will detail his career highs and personal lows, but I shall focus on what little I remember of him as a young cricket follower. Unfortunately, his career ended before my family bought our first colour TV, so my memories of his colourful batting and bowling were entirely in monochrome. I recall his unbeaten 150 for the West Indies at Lord’s in 1973, although his bowling wasn’t used much in that game. In 1968, he gave up club cricket for the first-class county circuit, spending several seasons at Nottinghamshire. 

When his adopted county featured in the BBC’s live coverage of one-dayers, notably the Sunday afternoon John Player League, I had the opportunity to watch his willowy frame cut and pull with abandon, usually encased in a thick sweater. Those were the days when it rained in summer and four an over was considered a blinding scoring rate in List A games! I don’t recall him bowling spin, although that was why he was originally picked for his Barbados debut. However, I did find his left-arm fast-medium action rather awkward, a million miles from Michael Holding’s smooth-as-silk style, but it netted him most of his 1,043 first-class wickets, 235 in Tests. Left-arm seamers were a rare sight in those days so for me he did stand out. 

His six sixes in an over for Notts off Malcolm Nash – another left-arm seam and spin all-rounder – was thankfully captured by BBC Wales cameras and, although I was only seven, I do vividly remember this being A Thing. Dad must have impressed that on my youthful brain. Garry’s body was probably ready to retire in ’74 at 38, and his final performances weren’t his best. However, he embodied cavalier Caribbean cricket before the Windies became crammed with such exciting players to dominate the sport in the late ‘70s and ‘80s. He was too old to register in my first list of heroes such as Clive Lloyd, Viv Richards and Joel Garner but in retrospect he paved the way. Had I been born five years earlier he may well have been at the top. 

Many years ago, my sister and brother-in-law gave me his autobiography – signed at Liverpool Street station – for a birthday or Christmas gift. It wasn’t the most riveting, I admit, but it fleshed out Sobers as a human being and cricket observer rather than a mere collector of Test records. Now here we are, awash with other writers eulogising his amazing feats. As a legend, perhaps he doesn’t quite match the Don but, as an all-rounder, he is the GOAT.

England v India at Cardiff: A 99 on a hot day!

Earlier this year, an email newsletter from Glamorgan CCC notified me that Sophia Gardens had secured one of England’s summer ODIs against India. It had been seven years since my previous live cricket experience so, despite personal health concerns, I thought, what the hell, and bought a ticket. To be honest, I doubted I would be successful, but the response was immediate: I was in! 

My lengthy hiatus was nothing to do with a lack of enthusiasm or any beef with the venue, more a shift in priorities. Maybe a lack of inspiration with the cricketing fare on offer, too, regular readers will now, I am not a Glammy supporter. Another deterring factor is the vagaries of the Welsh weather but I certainly need not have worried on that score. The extensive July heatwave has turned Cardiff into the Costa del Taff; the sky was clear blue, the sun almost overhead and so hot that even I went jacket-free. 

I won’t record here an over-by-over account of the match itself. You can read that elsewhere. The atmosphere was fizzing, largely thanks to the generous contingent decked out in blue and orange. I love being surrounded by India fans; unlike many young Brits, they are there mainly to enjoy the sport. Yes, they will cheer their heroes to the rafters but it’s the cricket that counts, no booze, no post-match recriminations, no demands for the head coach’s sacking. I sat in the Family enclosure, the quaintly named Jellyfish Stand, situate at cow corner at the River End almost below the Indian dressing room balcony. Great surroundings, with the added benefit on such a scorcher of being in the shade for the second half of proceedings.   

However, any match experience is bound to be affected by what pans out on the pitch. As things transpired, it wasn’t an exciting contest. India’s dismissal for a mediocre 233 meant England could play it nice and easy, take singles and the occasional boundary to maintain a steady 4.7 an over. This they achieved with metronomic efficiency, for which they had, not for the first time, a certain Joe Root to thank. 

Since I last sat in the Sophia Gardens crowd watching these two nations, in a T20, so much has changed. I think the only players to have remained were Virat Kohli, Joe Root, Adil Rashid and Jos Buttler. Now aged 65, I was thrilled like a young boy admiring a vintage Kohli one-day innings and Root’s unshowy accumulation. There was a typical straight six out of the ground from Buttler, crisp drives from Shubman Gill and some glorious pulls from Sam Curran. Probably the noisiest cheers came when Bumrah clipped Mahmood’s last over for eighteen, including a delightful flick through midwicket to the boundary near me and a pull for six over fine leg. 

233 was never going to be enough but when Bumrah, his ludicrous stuttering walk-up and straight-armed delivery a wild wonder to behold, induced Duckett to edge the first ball to Kishan, we thought: “Oh, hello….” Bethell didn’t last long either, but when you have Root and captain Brook in harness, England fans needn’t fret. Brook’s clownish attempt to repeat an earlier ramped six cost him his wicket but his Yorkshire mentor nudged, cut, flicked and drove to see the game out. 

Root was on 97 with twenty still needed and Gus Atkinson at the other end. My neighbours and I jokingly mused on the unlikely scenario of the Surrey bowler’s boundaries or wides or yet another no-ball from Bumrah depriving the batting genius of his deserved ton. No illegal deliveries but – blow me! – the improbably duly happened, and his partner duly pulled Prasidh through a gaping leg-side gap to clinch the much-needed victory. I winder what Joe was saying to Gus as they shuffled together back to the pavilion where a jubilant Brook was waiting… 

So what are the abiding memories of the day? Two all-time greats in Kohli and Bumrah chatting behind me on their balcony? The queues for the water-refilling stations? The towering trees of Bute Park as a backdrop? Jofra Archer working Rohit over? One of the Indian sub fielders handing his (much-needed) shades to a boy in the crowd? The call-response cries of “Boom-Boom – Bumrah!” whenever the bowler started another brief spell? All of the above! Seven years away, and it felt as if it was yesterday.