Tunbridge
Wells was the scene of Nottinghamshire’s fourth defeat of the season, going
down by 285 runs to Kent. Zak Crawley and Joe Denly struck centuries while most
of the bowlers contributed with wickets. Warwickshire also eased their
relegation worries with a three-wicket triumph at York. Tom Kohler-Cadmore awaits
punishment from the ECB for his part in the odious sex competition and he fell
for a second-ball duck as his Yorkshire team-mates struggled against the seam of
Oliver Hannon-Dalby and Craig Miles. Dominic Sibley added two further fifties
to his season’s tally but the finish was tighter than Yorkshire could have
imagined on the final morning.
In
the next fortnight, Somerset face both their nearest rivals, which could go a
long way in deciding the fate of the 2019 title.
In
the Division Two promotion chase, Lancashire opened up a twenty-point margin
with an impressive victory at Derby. England pacemen Jimmy Anderson and Graeme
Onions dominated proceedings with seventeen cheap wickets between them against
a side for whom Luis Reece opened both batting and bowling. Keaton Jennings
needed only one ball to achieve a ten-wicket win.
Glamorgan
and Sussex share second place after their respective draws. After an impressive
sequence of scores for Ireland and the Seconds, Paul Stirling returned to the
Middlesex First XI and duly racked up a ton, as did colleague Sam Robson.
Glamorgan had little opportunity to shine but Marnus Labuschagne did his Ashes
hopes no harm with another half-century and five wickets. At Kidderminster,
Sussex and Worcestershire were evenly matched and no result was possible. For
the visitors Chris Jordan enjoyed a reasonable all-round performance, Ben Brown
added 144 more runs to his summer’s terrific total, Laurie Evans delivered a measured
113 and debutant bowler Aaron Thomason too no wickets but whacked a useful 90.
In
the remaining fixture, just twenty wickets fell across four days at Leicester.
The home side’s opener Hassan Azad compiled two hundreds, and shared a first
innings stand of 320 with Neil Dexter on the way to 487 all out.
Gloucestershire trumped that with 571, the bulk of it from the blades of Chris
Dent and the in-form Ryan Higgins. Horton and Azad again accumulated 211 for
the first wicket, fashioning a remarkably symmetrical partnership in which each
reached three figures before declaring and agreeing the draw.
Both
Sussex and Glamorgan have the opportunity this week to displace the Red Roses
at the top, but only by defeating Durham and Gloucestershire, respectively.
Team of the
Week: Hassan Azad (Lei), Crawley (Ken), Denly (Ken), Dexter (Lei), Labuschagne
(Gla), Higgins (Glo), Cullen (Gla), Harmer (Ess), Onions (Lan), Hannon-Dalby
(War), Anderson (Lan)
