While England were polishing off a 3-0 series win against Pakistan, the county circuit was mostly concerned with finalising the initial ‘conference’ stage of the 2021 Championship. The week got off to a miserable start. The English government’s response to the rampant Covid Delta variant may be to abandon all safety precautions but the virus made its presence felt from the start.
Kent’s entire First XI was forced to isolate before the start of their Group 3 match against Sussex. Their makeshift side managed to avoid defeat against their neighbours who themselves fielded an unfamiliar line-up. 20 year-old opener Ali Orr and 19 year-old seamer Jamie Atkins put Sussex in the driving seat but Kent’s Hastings-born Harry Finch responded with a gutsy 115 to earn a draw.
In Group 1, Essex and Derbyshire had already begun play at Derby when a positive test wiped out the home side and forced the abandonment. It seemed tough on Essex who needed victory to have a chance of defending their title. Fortunately it wasn’t Covid which ultimately thwarted them but Warwickshire, whose draw at Worcester ensured that not even a maximum-point win would have handed them a top-two place. The West Mids derby was quite high-scoring in a generally wet week. Daryl Mitchell and Ed Barnard struck tons for the home county but South African Pieter Malan scored 141 and 77 not out for Warwickshire in what has been a weak season for their batting.
Nottinghamshire consolidated their position as leaders with a draw at Durham. Losing the second day to rain made a result less likely, despite Joey Evison’s impressive first-innings 5-21, and Durham managed to bat out the final two sessions.
In Group 2, Sam Robson’s 154 and seven wickets for Tim Murtagh propelled Middlesex to their second triumph of the summer, beating Leicestershire by 121 runs. However, given they have lost seven out of the previous nine, they still finished last. The battle at Cheltenham to decide which of Gloucestershire and Hampshire advanced to the top group went the way of the visitors. New recruit Nick Gubbins struck an unbeaten 137 and Colin de Grandhomme took 4-31 to establish a huge lead. Tom Lace responded with an excellent 118 but none of his colleagues reached 30, leaving Hampshire to knock off the required 54 with the loss of three wickets.
However, it was Somerset who remained at the summit despite a rollercoaster ride at The Oval. Stand-in skipper James Hildreth made 107 and Jack Leach twirled his way to 6-43, leaving Surrey in trouble at the start of day four. Following their opening gambit of 429, Somerset then tumbled to just 69 at the hands of spinners R Ashwin (6-27) and Dan Moriarty (4-20), giving Surrey a glimmer of victory hope. At 25-2, Somerset must have fancied their chances of a similar skittling but a draw was eventually agreed.
In Group 3, Yorkshire and Lancashire were already guaranteed Division One status but Keaton Jennings led a high-scoring Lancashire top four until the weather, and a dangerously unfit Headingley outfield brought the clash to a premature conclusion. In Cardiff, Glamorgan’s fifth wicket pairing of Kiran Carlson and Chris Cooke put on a mighty 307 against Northamptonshire but their bowlers couldn’t finish the job on the final day. Both will play in Division Two when the Championship resumes after The Hundred weaves its spell.
Team of the
Week: Robson (Mid), Jennings (Lan), P Malan (War), Gubbins (Ham), Carlson
(Gla), Cooke (Gla +), D’Oliveira (Wor), Evison (Not), W Davis (Lei), Leach
(Som), Murtagh (Mid)
