It was back to the four-day grind, rather than the four-over blitz for the county bowlers but, for the first time this summer, they seemed to seize the upper hand in the County Championship. There were no flat track pitches, scorched by flaming June. Instead the damp air contributed to several five- or six-wicket hauls for seamers and spinners alike.
Surrey and Leicestershire were the only two sides to register victories as the rain began to bite early in the week. The former moved clear of Hampshire at the bottom of Division One with a straightforward defeat of Nottinghamshire. Lumb and Wessels were kept quiet, Hales was on England duty and Notts were twice bowled out for under 200. Zafar Ansari’s 6-36 finished things off.
It was a good week for Lancashire. Captain Steven Croft, Hasim Hameed and Liam Livingstone each reached three figures but couldn’t get the better of Warwickshire at Old Trafford. Debutant Matt Parkinson celebrated with 5-46, while Steven Parry also chipped in with a five-for in the T20 Blast when rolling Worcester over for just 53. They remain top with the same points total as Yorkshire, who had a rollercoaster ride at Chester-le-Street.
Steve Patterson’s 6-56 helped the White Roses to a healthy first innings lead, only for Keaton Jennings to carry his bat second time around. His double-century anchored a total of 507-8, but a century partnership by Lyth and Leez settled the final day nerves and Yorkshire batted out the draw.
In Division Two, Essex’s charge was halted again, this time by Leicestershire. Revitalised in 2016, the away team earned their second Championship win of the campaign at Chelmsford, despite a Monday washout. It wasn’t the batsmen but the seam attack of Clint McKay and Charlie Shreck who did most of the damage, before hurrying to a four-wicket triumph.
Kent narrowed their lead to six points at a rather damp Cardiff, but Glamorgan perhaps edged the play. Mitch Claydon took eight Welsh wickets but Graham Wagg aggregated 149 runs in the match. They just need to take more wickets if they are to avoid the wooden spoon.
The other double-hundred of the week was scored by Billy Godleman of Derbyshire. Having lost the whole of day one to the weather, from 13-2, he and Wayne Madsen progressed their innings to 264, ultimately declaring at 467-5. Things looked even more rosy when Ben Cotton and Tony Palladino left Worcestershire reeling at 18-5. There was a slight recovery but Worcester applied themselves better when following on, and ground out a draw on the final day.
Northamptonshire remain winless but with better weather down at Arundel they would surely have closed out the match against Sussex. Azharullah’s 6-68 and Adam Rossington’s career-best 138 not out from 121 balls gave Northants a 300-run leading margin before Joyce, Nash and rain denied Wakely’s side the win they deserved.
Next week, it’s Middlesex to face Lancashire and Hampshire entertaining Somerset while in the lower tier, Kent must surely topple Essex at the top as they host struggling Derbyshire.
Team of the Week: Jennings (Dur), Godleman (Der), Madsen (Der), Rossington (Nor), Croft (Lan +), Livingstone (Lan), Wagg (Gla), Ansari (Sur), Parry (Lan), Azharullah (Nor), McKay (Lei)
