No double-centuries in the County Championship this week, but 23 year-old opener Rory Burns came pretty close. He was one of three Surrey centurions in the drawn game against Gloucestershire but, one short of a first-ever 'double', Alex Gidman caught him off Liam Norwell's bowling. Michael Klinger also reached three figures in the home side's response but my other opener of the week is Michael Carberry. Dropped by England for the Sri Lanka Test series, the Hampshire man struck 125 in the top-of-the-table clash with Worcestershire, adding a 25-ball 38 in the T20 a few days later.
Ravi Bopara was also back on county duty, thumping runs for fun in both formats. His brilliant 162 for Essex preceded two brutal 20-over blasts - 81 against Kent and 66 off the Gloucestershire attack. Ed Joyce has been in fine form for Sussex all summer and he added another century in Sussex's defeat to Somerset. He also demonstrated that he is not a one-trick pony by knocking 45 in 32 balls in the biff-bash Surrey game.
I've already mentioned the Burns 199 but his team-mate Jason Roy also achieved a career best for Surrey. In the same innings, he destroyed the weak bowling with 121 in 71 balls, and took 3-9 for good measure. In the T20 clash with Sussex, his unbeaten 81 from 43 balls helped his side to a ten-wicket triumph. Jesse Ryder normally earns plaudits for his beefy batsmanship but his bowling stats were radically improved by a double five-wicket haul for Essex in the Championship. His T20 cameos may not have been in the Bopara class but nonetheless wins him a place in the week's XI.
Darren Stevens is never far from contention and the Kent all-rounder was his county's outstanding performer yet again. His 105 in the first-class draw with Essex was followed by 3-22 and a 39-ball blitz to smash Kent back in the game with Glamorgan and snatch a tie. Another top-notch piece of multi-tasking was delivered by Derbyshire's David Wainwright. Best known as a slow left-arm spinner, his batting has improved in recent years. Both skills were to the fore as his 109 and second-innings 5-54 were instrumental in beating Division Two wooden spoon rivals Leicestershire.
The latter's only bright spot was wicket-keeper Niall O'Brien's scores of 89 and 71. The Irishman's batting just edges out Tim Ambrose and Worcestershire's Ben Cox, despite the latter's long-awaited debut hundred. Cox's colleague Saeed Ajmal produced another spin masterclass - a 7-63 against Hampshire while the final seamer spot was a race between David Masters (for his economy in rare T20 outings), Steve Magoffin for his 6-60 at Taunton and Alfonso Thomas (5-40) in the same contest. However, not even the Sussex match could achieve the rare feat of capturing four wickets in four balls, as the Fons did in Somerset's victory.
In short:- Burns (Sur), Carberry (Ham), Bopara (Ess), Joyce (Sus), Roy (Sur), Ryder (Ess), Stevens (Kent), O'Brien (Lei, +), Thomas (Som), Wainwright (Der), Saeed Ajmal (Wor)
