In the last week of 2022 county cricket, the second relegation slot wasn’t decided until the final afternoon, and boy, was it close. Gloucestershire, doomed to drop for much of the summer, registered a second consecutive victory against rivals at the bottom, defeating Yorkshire by 18 runs inside three days. That result meant that the Tykes were looking safe, provided second-placed Hampshire avoided a reverse against Warwickshire.
Edgbaston suffered rain on day one, so the home team, with Rob Yates making 104, declared early in 272-4. Hampshire weren’t intending to make things easy but, despite skipper Vince striking 98, they were bowled out with only a marginal first-innings lead. Warwickshire’s second effort upped the strike rate but lost wickets steadily, leaving Hampshire a target of just 139. Nevertheless, this was a case of all or nothing for Warwickshire and their persistence paid immediate dividends. Oliver Hannon-Dalby dismissed Organ in the third over and from then on, it was all about Liam Norwell. Once Nick Gubbins fell with the score on 124-8, you’d still bet on Fuller, Wheal and Abbas steering Hants home but Norwell had other ideas. He finished on 9-62 and Warwickshire won by five runs. The 21 points accrued lifted them three above Yorkshire into the safety zone.
Oops. That wasn’t in the script for Andrew Strauss, whose proposals for a pathetic six-county Division One would surely have gambled on Yorkshire being one of the six, along with Surrey, Middlesex, Lancashire, Nottinghamshire and Essex or Warwickshire. There’s still time for the pieces to fall into place by 2024 but hopefully the ECB blueprint to destroy first-class county cricket will yet be scuppered by the counties themselves. It wasn’t in the script for Shah Masood, either. Poached from Derbyshire and named as Yorkshire’s 2023 captain, he’ll remain in the Championship’s second flight after all!
Surrey seem in no peril of being frozen out. However, already confirmed as champions, the London moneybags couldn’t end the year unbeaten. At Old Trafford, Lancashire triumphed by an innings and their maximum bonus points also carried them ahead of Hampshire into second place. Keaton Jennings’ 199 propelled him to the top of the run-scoring league but it was slow left-armer Tom Hartley’s 5-52 which throttled Surrey’s chances of a draw. His victims included Burns and Amla before the last seven wickets tumbled for 31 runs.
Essex finished fourth after overcoming Northamptonshire in a low-scoring clash. The result was tough for Jack White, whose nine wickets pushed the visitors all the way. In the end, the ever-reliable Simon Harmer came up trumps with 6-49. He seems to do it year after year. Somerset ended the season the way they started, with a thumping loss, tis time at the hands of Kent.
After a shaky few weeks, Nottinghamshire confirmed their promotion with a 462-run demolition of Durham. No fewer than four of their batters reached three figures, led by Matt Montgomery’s 178 and featuring a Steven Mullaney special: 136 off 111 balls. For two and a half days days, Glamorgan looked set to steamroller Sussex, but a second-innings triple-century opening partnership between Ali Orr and Tom Haines halted Glamorgan’s march to victory and promotion in its tracks.
A fourth-day washout at Worcester also ended Middlesex’s hopes of a seventh victory, but a draw proved sufficient for them to secure a return to Division One. Like Middlesex, Derbyshire racked up more than 500, built on a stand of 251 between Luis Reece and skipper Billy Godleman. The latter hasn’t been in the runs in 2022 but his 158 elevated him past the 10,000 mark in a seventeen-year first-class career. The match was also notable for a maiden century and five-for from 18 year-old Rehman Ahmed, one to watch next year.
But that’s it for this season. It’s been great to enjoy a
full summer of cricket, out of the dark shadow of Covid. England have thrived
and, despite an apparent national media blackout, all formats of county cricket
have produced some excellent action. I’ll be reviewing the outstanding players shortly
but for now here is my final Team of the Week.
Orr
(Sus), Haines (Sus), Jennings (Lan), Montgomery (Not), James (Not), Cooke (Gla
+), Rehman Ahmed (Lei), Zafar Gohar (Glo), White (Nor), Hartley (Lan), Norwell
(War)
