The super-dry tracks may have been to most batsmen’s liking but bowlers were able to hasten a few extremely decisive results in the County Championship. Yorkshire even went as far as breaking the competition’s record for a winning margin by runs, humbling Worcestershire at Headingley by a whopping 504. Inside three days! The home side knocked 425 on day one then, when Coad and Thompson reduced Worcester from 90-0 to 162 all out, the dominance became still more pronounced. Dom Bess struck his maiden century, Malan and Bairstow upped the tempo before declaring, setting a fanciful target of 610. Worcestershire barely lasted a session, the seamers again in charge.
At Hove, Sussex were on course for a similar slaughter, with Somerset their hapless victims. They inflicted the greatest damage with the bat on days two and three. Tons by Tom Haines and John Simpson helped Sussex to a second-innings total of 501-7 but there was no Banton blockbuster to save the game (he was out for a duck). Abell, Gregory and Pretorious showed some resistance but young left-arm seamer Sean Hunt took his match tally to nine wickets and his side to victory by 260 runs.
It was a much tenser finish at Chester-le-Street. Durham and Warwickshire produced a belter which could have gone either way. Local lad and last year’s England under-19 captain Ben McKinney top-scored with 153 but there were runs made all the way down the order for both teams. On the last day, chasing 339, Warwickshire were reduced by Potts and Raine to 90-5, but the combination of Ed Barnard’s experience and canny play by the youthful ‘keeper Kai Smith and all-rounder Michael Booth, polished off by a six from Ethan Bamber, took them over the line by one wicket.
Champions Surrey could manage only a draw at The Oval against Hampshire despite a couple of hundreds by Dom Sibley. To their credit, the visitors recovered from 35-3 overnight to bat out the last day, thanks largely to Nick Gubbins’ 117 and Toby Albert’s unbeaten 78. At Trent Bridge, Nottinghamshire and Essex also appeared too well-matched to achieve a win for either county. Notts batsman Jack Haynes (142) shepherded the tail in the second innings to make it safe, leaving Essex no time to launch an attack.
The Easter fixtures include Surrey facing a run-happy Sussex and the other joint leaders, Warwickshire and Nottinghamshire playing each other in Birmingham. The holiday weekend weather forecast looks grim, though.
In Division Two, Kent became the only county to win their opening two games, defeating Middlesex by eight wickets at Canterbury. Bowlers were largely in charge for the first three innings until the Kent duo of Ben Compton and Tawanda Muyeye tipped the balance the other way with an unbroken third-wicket stand of 225.
Despite their two wins, Kent sit a point behind Leicestershire at the top following the latter’s draw at home to Derbyshire. Runs flowed continuously, although only Martin Andersson (101) reached three figures. Interesting to see Leicester’s former boy wonder spinner being used as an opening batsman, not without success.
At Old Trafford, Lancashire were forced to follow on after Northamptonshire racked up 496 and Calvin Harrison took 4-34. However, Josh Bohannon (155) led the Red Roses to the security of a draw, although tall leggie Harrison captured another seven wickets. In the Severn derby, Gloucestershire generally had the better of Glamorgan. Cameron Bancroft and Oliver Price laid the foundations of a likely success but the ever-reliable Colin Ingram ensured that didn’t happen. They next travel to bottom side Middlesex, Gloucestershire aim to deny Kent a third successive win and Lancashire host leaders Leicestershire.
Team of the Week:- McKinney
(Dur), Sibley (Sur), Haynes (Not), Malan (Yor), Ingram (Gla), K Smith (War +), Potts
(Dur), Harrison (Nor), Booth (War), Thompson (Yor), Hunt (Sus)
