There were plenty of fine performances at Lord's to overshadow those seen in last week's county fixtures. From Cook's 162 to the Root and Stokes show, not forgetting Trent Boult's nine wickets in what was, until the last day and a bit, an encouragingly competitive New Zealand side.
In the County Championship, there were plenty of runs, too, at Taunton, which sadly meant only three substantial innings could be completed. Jack Leaning and Tim Bresnan reached three figures for Yorkshire but the game was unusual in that two players were out on 99: Somerset's Tom Cooper and the visitors' Adil Rashid, who did much to ensure his side didn't lose. Credit to the Overton twins for smashing a rapid tenth wicket stand of 80-odd, including 19-ball 50 from Jamie!
It was an exciting finale at Hove, where Sussex edged a thrilling low-scoring game against Warwickshire by a single wicket thanks to a six from Chris Jordan. Earlier in the match, Oliver Robinson had taken 6-33 and Luke Wells almost carried his bat for 92. However, Durham advanced to the Division One summit by winning at Worcester, overcoming a large first innings deficit. Skipper Paul Collingwood struck his 31st century on his 39th birthday to ensure his team didn’t suffer another meltdown. Steve Borthwick had scored more than half the team’s total in the first innings, before John Hastings’ 7-60 kept the target within reach.
In Division Two, Lancashire predictably went 32 points clear at the top, defeating Derbyshire by an innings. A huge partnership between South African veterans Alviro Petersen and Ashwell Prince settled matters early on, the latter serving up 230 runs. He is on a great run of form at the moment. Surrey are looking strong, too, despite – or because of - KP’s midnight flit to India. They defeated Kent at Beckenham by three wickets after Jason Roy held his nerve with a typically aggressive 60 not out on the final afternoon.
Michael Klinger made an impressive return to Gloucestershire, thumping 126 in 68 balls against Essex, and Ravi Bopara made some useful contributions for Essex, too.
So my Team of the Week, including Test match heroes and T20 Blast stars reads as follows:-
Klinger (Glo), Cook (Eng), Leaning (Yor), Prince (Lan), Bairstow (Yor, +), Stokes (Eng), Collingwood (Dur, *), Jordan (Sus), Lilley (Lan), Boult (NZ), Hastings (Dur)
