Leicestershire
and Derbyshire have 100% records from their two fixtures. The former owe a
massive debt to batsman Colin Ackermann and bowler Clint McKay. The Aussie
bowler’s 5-11 against Worcestershire was even more impressive given that he had
been ill. It was a good week for the Worcester ‘keeper Ben Cox. His batting has
come on in leaps and bounds in the past few years and he combined a
Championship hundred against Gloucestershire and a T20 half-century.
In the South
group, both Kent and Hampshire nabbed two victories, the latter the only county
so far with three wins from three. Openers Daniel Bell-Drummond and Joe Denly harvested
plenty of runs across the week, Denly’s unbeaten 116 from 63 being the
highlight. Sussex’s Luke Wright and Glamorgan’s Colin Ingram each struck 101 in
the same match at Arundel, but when the South African captured the wickets of
Ross Taylor and Ben Brown, it left Wright too much to do and the home team fell
18 short.
He biggest
crowd of the week was crammed into Lord’s for the Middlesex-Surrey derby. That
man Kumar Sangakkara top-scored yet again, striking 70 in 42 deliveries, but
the seamers Helm, Stirling and Southee clattered the stumps regularly. None of
the home batsmen really got going and Gareth Batty’s 4-14 seemed to have won
the match until, with the last pair at the crease, Steven Finn swung Rampaul
for the winning boundary.
Next week,
Hampshire have a good chance of extending their winning run to five matches by
beating Essex and Sussex and regaining their T20 mojo.
Team of the
Week: Bell-Drummond (Ken), Dent (Glo), Denly (Ken), Wright (Sus), Ingram (Gla),
Ackermann (Lei), Cox (Wor +), Howell (Glo), McKay (Lei), Harmer (Ess), Batty (Sur)
