At
Chelmsford, the White Roses scraped a mere three bowling bonus points and
couldn’t even muster 200 runs in total as champions Essex were merciless with
the ball. Simon Harmer and Jamie Porter each claimed five victims and ended as
the division’s top wicket takers, while their county ended the season unbeaten
and with twice as many wins as their nearest rivals. You can’t say Essex didn’t
deserve to be champions!
So, with a
day remaining, Yorkshire were stuck on 148 points. Somerset were in the driving
seat against Middlesex but unable to top 147, while Hampshire were facing
defeat at relegated Warwickshire. As a Somerset fan I was mightily relieved
when a combination of a rare James Hildreth century and brilliant bowling by
Jack Leach dealt Middlesex a fatal blow. We were safe, finishing a single point
ahead of the Lords brigade. All Middlesex could do was anxiously track
Hampshire’s second innings travails at Edgbaston. In the end, they managed to
block and nudge throughout the day to secure the draw they needed, reach 148
points and consign the champions to Division Two status next summer. Phew!
In the other
game, Lancashire inflicted only the second defeat of the summer on Surrey.
Incredibly the latter finished third despite winning only twice. The reason was
the mountain of runs provided by Kumar Sangakkara, Mark Stoneman and Rory Burns
but for some reason they frequently failed to bowl sides out twice.
In Division
Two, Worcestershire beat Durham by 137 runs to top the table. Daryl Mitchell
produced his seventh century of the summer then Ravi Ashwin rounded off his
brief spell at New Road with a five-for to take the title. Predictably, Northamptonshire
came back from Leicester with a ninth victory. Sanderson and Gleeson nabbed
fifteen wickets between them, and opener Luke Procter accumulated 176 runs –
more than anyone else this week – but still it wasn’t enough to overhaul
second-placed Nottinghamshire.
Hove was the
only venue this week where batsmen were mainly on top. Sussex plundered 565
first innings runs and Notts replied with 477. Michael Burgess’ inaugural three-figure
score and Chris Jordan’s 147 led the way for the home team, but Billy Root and
Chris Read – in his last ever match – responded with centuries of their own.
Neither county could win from that situation and so the ever-popular Read could
retire with a promotion and a five-point cushion. It was a bitter-sweet outcome
for Northants whose five-point deduction for a slow over-rate in the recent
contest with (ironically) Notts ultimately cost them dear. Northamptonshire’s
poor batting also let them down.
Elsewhere,
Michael Hogan finished the season impressively with ten wickets, taking him
above 500 in a long first-class career,
in Glamorgan’s triumph over Kent at Canterbury. Derbyshire also made hay on
their travels, beating an unfamiliar Gloucestershire outfit by five wickets. They
needed centuries by Madsen and Hughes and some declaration bowling, but a win’s
a win.
And, to
summarise, final congratulations to skipper Ryan Ten Doeschate and coach Chris Silverwood
for steering Essex to such an impressive Championship campaign. Nottinghamshire enjoyed a fruitful summer,
too. As for my predictions back in April, they were mostly wildly adrift as
usual. Only my tip for Worcestershire to go up proved correct and, fortunately,
my pessimism for Somerset’s prospects proved unfounded, but it was touch and
go. Watch out for my forthcoming County Team of The Year review!
Final Team of
the Week: Wells (Sus), Procter (Nor), Denly (Ken), Hildreth (Som), W Root (Not),
Burgess (Sus +), Jordan (Sus), R Patel (Mid), Harmer (Ess), Leach (Som), Hogan
(Gla)
