It was a funny old week involving mountains of runs and an England fightback. Joe Root built up steadily across the week, culminating in a rare ODI century and even rarer triumph for Cook's men at Headingley. Ajinkya Rahane struck a splendid century in India's winning cause before falling for a third-ball duck in the final match. Durham played Nottinghamshire twice, emerging victorious both times, taking them into the Royal London Cup final against Warwickshire and also potentially deciding the fate of the Championship title.
That now seems destined for Yorkshire, who beat Roses rivals Lancashire by an innings at Old Trafford with a record innings score of over 600. Adam Lyth scored 251 and Adil Rashid an unbeaten 159, together with his eight wickets, as Lancs subsided on home territory.
Another double-centurion was Hampshire captain Jimmy Adams. He put on 253 with Michael Carberry for the first wicket as the county consolidated their promotion place in Division Two. Leaders Worcestershire suffered a second consecutive defeat, this time to an energised Derbyshire, for whom Wayne Madsen contributed 56 and 98 and newly-bearded all-rounder Wes Durston a career-best spin haul of 5-19.
Angus Robson, Sam Hain, James Taylor and Usman Khawaja each reached three figures in the Championship yet fail to make my team of the week thanks to dismal showings in their other innings, but Glamorgan's Chris Cooke ended his first-class century drought in style. His 171 kept his county in the match early on, then Graeme Wagg's 116 not out ensured a draw with Kent, although he was assisted by the fact that all eleven Kent players had a bowl on the final afternoon!
Two red-haired Durham all-rounders also make my Eleven. Paul Collingwood struck 123 runs and claimed a 3-26 in the Championship fixture while Ben Stokes thrashed an excellent 164 in 113 balls in the 50-over semi-final. No doubt he gained confidence from his 3-47 and batting cameo for England, following his three successive ducks earlier in the series. Bhuvneshwar Kumar's brilliant 2-14 in England's trouncing at Edgbaston also merits a place ahead of Dale Steyn and Thisara Perera.
My wicketkeeper is Alex Barrow. While still only 22, he has been in the shadows of Kieswetter and Buttler for a few years at Somerset, hampered by an inability to score runs. However, against Northamptonshire, he made a career best 88, including eighteen boundaries, without which the Taunton side may well have witnessed the visitors' first Championship success of the season.
I conclude with the outstanding batting sequence of the week, served up by South Africa's Faf du Plessis. He scored 126, 121 and 96 as the Proteas won the triangular ODI tournament in Zimbabwe. With just one more boundary in the final he'd have become the first man ever to score four centuries in an ODI series. Gutted! However, he did aggregate an impressive a record 464 runs in the five games and until last week had never reached three figures in 50-over cricket. What a way to break through!
And so my team reads:- Lyth (Yor), Adams (Ham *), du Plessis (SA), Madsen (Der), Cooke (Gla), Collingwood (Dur), Stokes (Eng/Dur), Rashid (Yor), Durston (Der), Barrow (Som +), Kumar (Ind).
