Yorkshire stand atop the North division thanks to more fine batting performances, especially by their wicket-keepers. In the six-wicket victory over Durham, for which Stephen Cook and Michael Richardson both reached three figures, it took a special innings from Jonny Bairstow to power to their tough target with two overs to spare. In a rare outing for his county, the England man plundered 174 in just 113 balls. He was assisted by Aussie Peter Handscomb, who helped himself to a superb 140 himself against Derbyshire, and almost 300 across the week. Even in defeat against Worcestershire, his 88 did at least keep the White Roses in contention for a while.
Nottinghamshire won three out of three, taking them to third place. Samit Patel had a decent week but the star solo performance came from Billy Root, who made 107 not out against Warwickshire. And he isn’t even the best batsman in his family! Elsewhere, Leicestershire opener Mark Pettini followed a magnificent 159 with a duck, and Stephen Croft’s rapid 127 for Lancashire against Warwickshire included a 34-run over off poor Oliver Hannon-Dalby.
Bowlers found life hard again this week, but Durham’s novice medium-pacer James Weighell maintained his excellent start to his 50-over season, adding another 8 wickets to his tally. His 4-34 against Leicestershire was the stand-out statistic.
Further South, Somerset held on to their 100% record. The Taunton crowd last Tuesday enjoyed 706 runs and when Daniel Bell-Drummond (106) and Alex Blake (116 in 58 balls) set a massive target, things looked gloomy for the home side. That left the stage for a Peter Trego special. He doesn’t bowl these days, but he can still whack the ball around. His 135, backed by half-centuries from Elgar and Hildreth, took them almost all the way before van der Merwe and Gregory applied the final boundaries. Somerset smashed well over 300 again at Cardiff, where Jim Allenby chose the fixture with his previous county to produce a special innings. His 144 not out was the highest score but partners Dean Elgar and James Hildreth provided the fireworks.
Glamorgan did at least win a match for a change, clinching a nail-biter at Sophia Gardens versus Essex by just one run. Colin Ingram struck a brilliant 142 and, when the visitors lost their first two wickets for two, the Welsh side looked firmly in control. However, two century partnerships involving Varun Chopra took Essex to just seven runs from victory in the final over. Unfortunately for them, Harmer, Porter and Wagner couldn’t find the all-important boundary.
At least Essex did find themselves on the right side of an extremely close contest at the Oval. Surrey paceman James Dernbach took 4-31 but Simon Harmer did last the distance this time, guiding Essex to the finishing line with four balls remaining.
However, it was Sussex who enjoyed three consecutive successes during the week. New signing Laurie Evans stole the show against Kent with an 86-ball 134 not out, and the momentum could take them to the knockout stage. Amidst all these hundreds, credit to Middlesex’s Toby Roland-Jones for accumulating combined stats of 8-81, including 4-10 against Hampshire.
Next week’s Essex encounters with Sussex and Somerset could be thrilling, while Friday’s West Midlands derby involving Warwickshire and Worcestershire looks particularly tasty.
Team of the Week: Bell-Drummond (Ken), Bairstow )Yor +), Richardson (Dur), Handscomb (Yor), Madsen (Der), Bopara (Ess), Blake (Ken), T Wells (Lei), Roland-Jones (Mid), Weighell (Dur), Dernbach (Sur)
