Worrall Wins it for Surrey

Plenty of positive results and a few nail-biters in the Championship this week. The leading three in Division One all won, with Surrey’s fourth on the trot keeping them comfortably at the summit. They overwhelmed Worcestershire at The Oval with a day to spare. The reliable Jordan Clark top-scored, but it was Dan Worrall’s ten-wicket haul which caught the eye. 

It was a real game of two halves at Chelmsford, where a 209-run partnership between Ed Barnard and Michael Burgess and three wickets apiece for Yates and Simmons piled pressure on Essex late on Saturday. However, their spinners Matt Critchley and Simon Harmer turned the tables, leaving the home side an awkward target of 330. At 12-2, things looked grim but Jordan Cox made 112, then Matt Critchley was left high and dry on 99 as he and Harmer sealed the deal. 

It was another topsy-turvy affair at Taunton. Tom Banton and James Rew have struggled so far this season but each reached three figures as Somerset stormed to 554 against Kent. When Overton and Pretorius led a useful attack to dismiss Kent for 178, the visitors looked as if they’d been on the end of a lethal Usyk combination. However, they seemed to have bounced up from the canvas on Sunday when Zak Crawley’s 238 helped the visitors to 388-2. Undeterred, Somerset struck back with three late wickets, and left themselves with a potentially tricky 180 to score by the end of the match. Fortunately, Matt Renshaw and Andy Umeed struck the perfect balance of watchfulness and strokeplay to secure an eight-wicket triumph and maintain Somerset’s second place. 

At Trent Bridge, Hampshire came away with their first success of the summer, defeating Nottinghamshire by five wickets. Apart from Lyndon James (106 not out), the hosts found runs hard to come by against Abbas and Abbott in particular, and it required a sixth-wicket century stand from Middleton and Fuller to drag Hampshire from 44-5 to reach the finishing line.

 Ben Stokes’ first Championship outing for two years lured the media to Blackpool and he achieved a welcome five-for but only twenty runs for Durham. Hopefully the journos present also stayed to observe not one but two players who hit tons in each innings. Keaton Jennings performed the feat for Lancashire then David Bedingham, trying to save and possibly gain an unlikely victory on day four, repeated the achievement. He and the more belligerent Ollie Robonson placed Durham just 161 short with seven standing but, when Bedingham was caught behind off Nathan Lyon, the remaining batsmen capitulated leaving Robinson unbeaten on 171, handing Lancashire their first win of 2024.

 They stay bottom, though, and need to beat winless Warwickshire to extricate themselves from the relegation places before the four-week red-ball break. Essex hop over the Tnames to Kent and Somerset head north to face Durham in bids to keep Surrey in their sights. The champions follow the M3 to meet Hampshire who look woefully short of runs. 

In the second tier, Sussex rediscovered their winning ways at Hove, but Yorkshire pushed them all the way in a low-scoring contest. Ben Coad and George Hill bowled well for the Tykes but Ollie Robinson (the other one!), Sean Hunt and, by capturing Joe Root’s crucial wicket, Tom Haines, bowled the South Coasters to victory by only 21 runs. 

Middlesex are just seven points behind after beating Glamorgan in another nervy finale at Sophia Gardens. Mark Stoneman (129) delivered a heathy first-innings lead before Marcus Labuscagne (111) and Colin Ingram (105) steered Glamorgan back inti the game. With Mason Crane spinning five men out, it looked touch and go but the ninth-wicket partnership between Davies and Helm extended to 52 to nick it by two wickets. 

At Leicester, Gloucestershire declared on a mammoth 706-6. Openers Cameron Bancroft and Ian Charlesworth put on 313 and the pace accelerated with James Bracey and skipper Graeme van Buuren. On day four, Leicestershire made runs throughout the order to dig out a draw. The outcome was the same at Derby, where Northamptonshire generally had the better of things. A rapid 153 not out by Emilio Gay propelled them to a declaration capable of giving the bowlers something to aim at in two-and-a-bit sessions. At 141-7, that looked a great decision but Zak Chappell and Anuj Dal added 108. Two snap wickets put Northants on the verge of victory only for Dal and the last man Dupavillon to survive the final two overs. 

Next week’s Division Two highlight is set to be the top two counties battling it out at Lord’s. Should be interesting… 

Team of the Week:- Crawley (Ken), Jennings (Lan), Gay (Nor), Bedingham (Dur), Banton (Som), Robinson (Ken +), Barnard (War), Critchley (Ess), Hill (Yor), Worrall (Sur), Robinson (Sus)