It’s amazing what a couple of wins can do. Suddenly, from the fringes of relegation, Somerset find themselves in second place in the County Championship having won a low-scoring fixture against Durham. I don’t know whether it was a deliberate ploy to negate the power of Durham’s seamers but Taunton’s traditional batter’s paradise was transformed into an extraordinary spin-friendly surface, and Jack Leach and Rolaf van der Merwe duly took advantage, nabbing fifteen wickets between them.
Runs were also hard to come by at Headingley, and again it was a spinner who outshone the rest. Yorkshire beat Warwickshire by only 39 runs, with Adil Rashid taking 7-61 in total, ably assisted by Jack Brooks and the evergreen Ryan Sidebottom. The 38 year-old returned after his dressing-room football injury (yes, really!) to take his 400th first-class wicket for his county.
The White Roses now sit fourteen points behind Middlesex with a game in hand. The London derby ended as a draw, with Jason Roy and George Bailey swapping centuries, and ‘keeper Ben Foakes contributing a couple of unbeaten 60s. However, the biggest individual score of the week by a mile was Will Smith’s 210 for Hampshire against Lancashire. They forced a follow-on but a draw was almost inevitable.
In Division Two, Kent moved within a point of leaders Essex after beating Worcestershire by ten wickets. It was a real team effort but credit to Sam Billings for taking seven catches in the first innings. Glamorgan remain bottom after being humbled by Northamptonshire. Nicholas Selman carried his bat for 122 in the first innings but he was one of many second innings flops as Ben Sanderson claimed a career-best 7-20.
Promoted to five, Ryan Ten Doeschate scored 83 and 109 for Essex in their draw with Sussex at Colchester. There were a couple of late-order centuries, too, thanks to Chris Jordan and Graham Napier, both of whom did well with the ball, too. Leicestershire also failed to overcome Derbyshire, but it was Ned Eckersley, batting at seven, who made three figures in each innings.
The week also featured the T20 Blast quarter-finals. Yorkshire remain in the hunt for the Treble after bowling Glamorgan out for 90, Rashid’s 4-26 he pick of the figures. David Willey’s 38-ball 79 almost won the match on its own. Northants also progressed against Middlesex, Nottinghamshire’s Samit Patel took 4-20 to beat Essex while Mark Stoneman top-scored for Durham in their defeat of Gloucestershire.
Meanwhile, the Women’s T20 franchise competition hotted up. Nat Sciver and new England captain Heather Knight were in fine form, but Katherine Brunt’s hat-trick for the Yorkshire Diamonds against Lancashire was perhaps even more notable. She ended up with 3-6 in three overs.
Next week sees quarter-finals in the Royal London Cup as well as another round of Championship fixtures. The highlights could be the Roses match at Old Trafford, but the Middlesex-Durham clash at Lord’s could go a long way to decide the title. With so few games being won, anyone putting together two further victories could snatch the pennant. Maybe even Somerset!
Team of the Week: Smith (Ham), Selman (Gla), Sciver (Sur Stars), Bailey (Mid), Ten Doeschate (Ess), Billings (Ken +), Eckersley (Lei), Adil Rashid (Yor), Jordan (Sus), Leach (Som), Sanderson (Nor)
