I usually start my review of the week's County Championship fixtures with the notable wins. However, having endured the heartache of watching Rikki Clarke and Oliver Hannon-Dalby frustrate the Somerset attack on the final afternoon at Taunton for well over an hour, this had to be the bill-topper! So, despite more runs from ALviro Petersen, a fine century from Nick Compton (including some T20-style innovation to set up the declaration) and a rare hundred for Jos Butler, Somerset's April hoodoo goes on and still no victories in three games. Worse was to come with news that Craig Kieswetter broke his thumb and will miss six weeks. Meanwhile, Warwickshire can take heart from their rearguard action and time-wasting tactics having been comprehensively outplayed for three days.
At The Oval, Graeme Smith finally reached double figures in their draw against Sussex, for whom Luke Wells starred with 208 and Chris Jordan claimed another five-for. This week sees Surrey crossing the river for the London derby at Middlesex in a game which could help decide who wins the title - or relegation. Who knows?! At Derby, the home side were well beaten by neighbours Nottinghamshire. Stuart Broad enjoyed a good first-class practice session with eight wickets, and James Taylor did his hopes of an England recall no harm at all by scoring 112. Yorkshire also notched their first Championship victory of the summer against Durham. They did it the hard way after Graeme Onions and Mark Stoneman enabled the home side to set the Tykes a not-so-difficult target of 336, because Joe Root made a nonsense of the declaration and pitch to amass 182, falling one ball before his side get the winning runs. With his Lions captaincy announced today, it's been a good week for the boy from Sheffield. If Bresnan and co can get rid of Chesney Hughes quickly, Yorkshire should make it two out of three triumphs by the weekend.
In Division Two, Steven Crook enjoyed another fine all-round performance as Northants eased twenty points clear at the top. They beat Gloucestershire by seven wickets. Relegated Worcestershire lost their second game, this time by an innings to Hampshire. The victors' bowlers shared the wickets but skipper Jimmy Adams carried his bat for 219 as his team compiled 500-9. The Lancashire weather got the better of Lancashire and Kent in the other match played last week. James Anderson and Kyle Hogg were the pick of the bowlers on display, Katich and Prince were again in the runs for the Red Rose outfit, although Kent's Brendan Nash was the only man to reach three figures as matters headed for a stalemate on day four.
Hampshire ought to beat Essex although David Masters returned from injury to strike early blows. Alastair Cook is also having a rare bat for his county which desperately needs his runs. Leicester v Gloucester has a bottom-of-table ring to it even this early in the season, while Glamorgan could defy critics (including me) by defeating Lancashire at Colwyn Bay. A win for Northants at Canterbury will open up a big gap in the promotion race, but Kent are due some runs from their top order, so Stephen Peters et al shouldn't count their chickens just yet...
