With Notts
sitting pretty at the top of Division Two, it looks like a successful finale
for veteran wicketkeeper Chris Read. The county were thwarted in their bid to
extend their lead by the rain but Steven Mullaney’s 168 and five cheap wickets
against rivals Kent showed they have promotion in the bag even with two months
to go.
Meanwhile, in
the top tier, the loss of almost two days’ play couldn’t halt Essex’s impressive
march to the Championship title. At Chelmsford, after dismissing Middlesex for
under 250, openers Nick Browne and Alastair Cook put on 373 for the first
wicket. Cook’s departure merely brought in Varun Chopra whose own century, with
Browne’s ‘double’, took Essex past 500 without further loss. He was only
batting because Tom Westley left mid-match to join the Lions. Incidentally
Westley also reached three figures, so everyone’s a winner!Nevertheless, it was Simon Harmer's 9-90 which wrapped things up in stirring style.
In the week
when all Championship fixtures were day/night events, it was such a shame that
awful weather ruined so much of them. Little more than a day’s play was
possible at Headingley, but at least those who witnessed some action were able
to see yet another batting masterclass from Kumar Sangakkara. His 180 not out
at almost a run a ball was his sixth hundred in ten innings. He’ll be sorely
missed in the second half of the summer, and not only by Surrey.
At the Rose
Bowl, almost the whole game was concertina’d into the fourth day. True to form,
Somerset had the worst of it but, amidst the clatter of wickets (many by Hampshire’s
Gareth Berg), managed to hold on for a draw. Last week I despaired at the
plight of Somerset’s young skipper Tom Abell, hoping he managed some runs this
time. So what did he achieve? A pair of ducks! Everyone is allowed temporary dips
in form but poor Tom is desperately in need of confidence, which surely now can
come only from a drop to the Seconds or club cricket, I’m afraid.
The Edgbaston
weather wiped out the final day of Warwickshire’s contest with Lancashire, but
not until Shiv Chanderpaul had compiled another 141 to his 26,000+ first-class
run tally. Andrew Umeed’s 113 for the home side was only his second century but
there’ll be plenty more, I’m sure. Jos Buttler made a rare Championship
appearance for Lancs but fluffed his lines by scoring three runs in two innings
and 26 balls. Haseeb Hameed fared little better.
Down in
Division Two, there were two nail-biting finishes. At Northampton there was a
cracking conclusion to proceedings. Duckett, Wakely and Keogh each struck
centuries en route for setting Leicestershire a hefty target of 394 in just
over a day. Colin Ackermann seemed to be steering them to victory, ably
assisted by Mathew Pillans, With time running out on Thursday evening, and just
three runs needed, Pillans holed out to Cobb and blew their chances of a first
win of the season.
Derbyshire did finally break their duck, beating
Glamorgan by 39 runs at Cardiff. Star performer was Derby debutant Hamidullah
Qadri. At the age of 16 (yes, 16), the Afghanistan-born spinner claimed 5-60 to
end the Welsh rearguard. Elsewhere, there wasn’t much to shout about amidst the
raindrops at Hove and Chester-le-Street, apart from Luke Wright’s 118 and a
Mark Wood five-for.
Next week, if
the sun shines, the key matches could be Kent v Northants and Somerset’s trip
to Scarborough. With Gary Ballance likely to be lining up for England, this may
be the visitors’ best chance for nicking that elusive victory.
Team of the
Week: Browne (Ess), Hales (Not), Mullaney (Not), Sangakkara (Sur), Ackermann
(Lei), Wright (Sus), Read (Not +), Berg (Ham), Harmer (Ess), Hamidullah Qadri
(Der), Wood (Dur)
