Leaders
Somerset suffered an embarrassing innings defeat at Headingley where Keshav
Maharaj took ten wickets, one of five bowlers to achieve the feat. Three Yorkshire
batsmen also scored centuries as Somerset struggled throughout, missing Gregory
and Leach on England Lions duty. Meanwhile Essex held their nerve to beat
Warwickshire by 187 runs and knock Somerset off their perch for the first time.
Alastair Cook struck a couple of eighties, but the greatest damage was inflicted
by Peter Siddle and Simon Harmer with the ball.
Nottinghamshire
were dealt another blow at home to Surrey despite two six-fors from Ravi
Ashwin. The Indian star was outdone by the homegrown talent that is 20 year-old
Sikh Amar Virdi. Yet to play a single one-dayer for his county, he finished
with impressive match stats of 14-139.
At
Southampton Hampshire and Kent played out a high-scoring draw. Felix Organ
struck a maiden ton and Riley Rossouw was also in the runs, but the visitors’
Joe Denly produced the game’s highest individual score, 154. Darren Stvens
rolled back the years with a trademark 60 and seven wickets. It will be interesting
to see how his body deals with a T20 campaign, this time with Derbyshire!
All
Second division counties were also in action, and Lancashire pulled away from
the pack thanks to an innings victory over Sussex, whose recent meltdown has
seen them plunge from third to eighth. Skipper Dane Vilas hit an unbeaten 132
and caught five Sussex batsmen, while Matt Parkinson took ten wickets. At least
the Old Trafford visitors rallied a bit in the second innings, led by Delray
Rawlins’ first ever hundred, but it was too little too late.
Glamorgan
slipped up at home to Middlesex. Skipper Dawid Malan’s 166 was easily the best
score of the county week, and Toby Roland-Jones maintained last week’s good
all-round form proving that it wasn’t essential to be a slow bowler to succeed.
Chris Rushworth was another example of a seamer who mixed it with the spinners.
He claimed ten Worcestershire victims in Durham’s 109-run victory at Chester-Le-Street.
Northamptonshire
advanced to third spot despite their win against Derbyshire being only their
second of the summer. Thomas Bavuma top-scored with 132 and Ben Sanderson took
seven wickets. In the final pre-Blast fixture to finish today, Gloucestershire
finished off bottom-placed Leicestershire. Jack Taylor had been bowled one
short of a century but his captain’s first-innings 125 set up the six-wicket
success.
The
promotion race behind Lancashire is now wide open but we must wait another
month to find out whether Glamorgan can hang on. Middlesex are beginning to
look ominous challengers at last, while Worcestershire and Sussex have probably
put themselves out of reach. At least all eighteen counties have a chance of
winning the Blast. Let’s hope the World Cup has inspired greater numbers to pour
through the turnstiles from Canterbury to Cardiff, Lord’s to Leicester,
Chelmsford to Chester-le-Street, and that the players keep them royally
entertained.
Team of the
Week: Cook (Ess), Robson (Mid), Denly (Ken), Bavuma (Nor), Malan (Mid), Vilas
(Lan +), Roland-Jones (Mid), Maharaj (Yor), Ashwin (Not), Virdi (Sur),
Rushworth (Dur)
