When rain swept the nation early in the week, I feared the worst: that the weather would decide the Division One relegation battle and the county season would fizzle out in a damp squib. How wrong I was; there were fireworks a-plenty, and a brilliant climax!
Not only did the battle to avoid the drop go right to the wire, but there were also great performances with bat and ball in all eight fixtures played.
Personally, my relief came a day early. At Taunton, a combination of James Hildreth’s century and spinner Jack Leach’s wickets were enough to guarantee Somerset’s safety regardless of what happened at Trent Bridge or Headingley. Jeetan Patel’s 7-34 left Warwickshire needing only 225 to win on the final day, but Leach and the unlikely figure of Tom Cooper claimed nine of the ten wickets to fall, giving Somerset victory and a sixth place finish. That’s the second successive season when we’ve pulled it out of the fire in late September!
Sussex merely needed to avoid defeat to Yorkshire to remain in Division One. However, the champions weren’t happy to sip champagne and play their reserves. Most of their England stars were on the pitch, but Jack Brooks and Tim Bresnan were the pick of the Eleven. In his last game, Michael Yardy did his best, but Sussex’s batting, Ben Brown and Luke Wright apart, has been woeful for much of the summer, restricting their bonus point tally. They lost by 100 runs.
Meanwhile, the first innings scores in Nottingham were fairly even, but then Hampshire grasped the initiative on day three, West Indian seamer Fidel Edwards completing a ten-for in the match as the Notts batting collapsed. Jimmy Adams and Michael Carberry kept their heads and Hampshire had won the one that really mattered. Sussex were relegated by just two points!
Worcestershire’s demise had already been set in concrete so it was a huge surprise that they gave second-placed Middlesex a trouncing by an innings and 128 runs. The two Toms, Fell and Kohler-Cadmore each struck hundreds. In the latter’s case, it was his first in the championship.
By contrast, all four Division Two matches were drawn. It was a cracker at Derby where the home side were set a target of 341 in under a day by Leicestershire skipper Mark Cosgrove, whose 156 had made his side narrow favourites. At 285-2, things looked promising as Chesney Hughes reached three figures. However, once he and Madsen were out, it also became a race against the clock. There were two run-outs and in an exciting finale, Derbyshire closed on 331-8. Mark Footitt took another ten wickets on probably his last appearance for the county. He would be badly missed.
Surrey ended the season as second tier champions, but Northants gave them a rollercoaster ride at the end. Another silky century from Kumar Sangakkara and ten wickets for the young Curran brothers left the Londoners 300 runs ahead. However, the visitors fought back with three centurions of their own and time was against even Jason Roy et al in the final session to deny them victory.
Having lost the first day to bad weather, Lancashire and Essex couldn’t conjure up a positive result either. James Anderson and Alastair Cook faced each other for a change and it was the bowler who was most definitely on top, with match figures of 8-90. The England captain aggregated a mere eight runs in two innings, lbw to, then caught by Anderson! Ravi Bopara and Jesse Ryder scored most of Essex’s runs. Ashwell Prince’s career finished with another half-century while 41 year-old Glenn Chapple could take only three more wickets. He is now cruelly 15 short of the thousand in first-class cricket. Will he be back for more next year?!
In the other game, it was a runfest at Bristol. An unbeaten 180 stand between Ingram and Cooke for Glamorgan on the final day was impressive but was completely eclipsed by Gloucester opener Chris Dent. A mediocre season was turned on its head when he spent more than eight hours at the crease compiling a career-best 268. Few have score more in the Championship al summer!
And so the 2015 summer comes to an end. England won the Ashes, domestic silverware went to Yorkshire, Lancashire and Gloucestershire, and the same old questions were being asked about the demise of four- and five-day cricket, 50-over cricket and basically all cricket other than the IPL. Pathetic! There’s room for all formats; it’s just a matter of finding compromises to fit them in the calendar. However, that’s harder than it sounds!
I’ll be reviewing the domestic season’s star performers shortly but, in the mean time, here’s my final County Team of the Week:
Dent (Glo), Duckett (Nor), Sangakkara (Sur), Fell (Wor), Madsen (Der), Bopara (Ess), Cooke (Gla, +), Edwards (Ham), Leach (Som), Anderson (Lan), Footitt (Der)
