A rich variety of cricket entertained British cricket fans this week. England’s demolition of hapless Australia at Trent Bridge rightly stole most of the headlines, with Stuart Broad’s incredible first innings 8-15 unlikely to be bettered by anyone all season.
Fortunes were reversed in the Women’s Ashes Test. Jess Jonassen enjoyed an impressive debut with two half-centuries, beginning with a 99, before Ellysse Perry made up for a poor game with the bat by taking 6-32 to clinch the match. England now need to win all three T20 fixtures to retain this version of the Ashes.
Earlier in the week, Yorkshire took another step closer to retaining the Championship by dismantling Durham. Wickets tumbled on the first day, then a double-century stand involving Glenn Maxwell and Adil Rashid piled the pressure onto Mark Stoneman’s men. Plunkett and Rashid completed the job with the ball.
Joe Root may be shining for England but his county ex-colleagues are doing just fine without him, 38 points clear with a game in hand. Middlesex moved back to second place with an exciting victory over Sussex. They came from behind to snatch it by 20 runs, thanks largely to more than 200 runs from Dawid Malan and fine seam bowling by James Harris et al, Steve Magoffin did his usual stuff for Sussex but Malan defied him to set a target that proved just too much.
The London side overtook Warwickshire who came a cropper at the Rose Bowl against Hampshire. James Vince struck a rare century and Fidel Edwards nabbed nine wickets to give the bottom side hope of escaping the drop. Worcestershire remain in trouble after a defeat to Nottinghamshire. Captain Chris Read top-scored for the victors and saw them home by five wickets.
In Division Two, Glamorgan’s loss to Gloucestershire and Surrey’s triumph at Colchester leaves Lancashire and Surrey scorching favourites to be promoted with four matches remaining. Rory Burns scored more runs than anybody else this week, while spin duo Batty and Ansari twirled away industriously for fifteen wickets between them. Monty Panesar made a more modest return for Essex, for whom Nick Browne and Mark Pettini contributed centuries.
There were no hundreds at Swansea, but David Payne was probably the star perfomer, taking eight Glamorgan scalps. Leicestershire enjoyed their first home victory for three years, beating Derbyshire by three wickets. Sadly for them, their sixteen points awarded for the win were later docked because of their persistently poor disciplinary record. It’s normally their on-pitch performance which leaves them bottom of the League but in 2015 it may owe more to whingeing at the umpires.
Finally, the Nat West Blast entered its quarter-final phase. There have been some encouragingly big crowds this summer, particularly at the larger grounds like Edgbaston. The Birmingham Bears were roaring again against Essex, while Hampshire needed James Vince and bad light at New Road to beat Worcestershire, en route for a sixth consecutive Finals Day appearance. David Willey’s 40-ball century and 3-27 took Northants into the semi-finals, while Lancashire join them following a dramatic tie today at Canterbury. Kent went out on wickets lost!
Team of the Week: Burns (Sur), Willey (Nor), Vince (Ham *), Madsen (Der), Malan (Mid), Perry (Aus Women), N O’Brien (Lei +), Woakes (War), Broad (Eng), Edwards (Ham), Magoffin (Sus).
